Wan Hai Hotel December: Voyage
The second gathering of Wan Hai Hotel, titled Voyage, delves into the rich maritime history of the pan-Asia-Pacific region through nautical notes and the everyday lives of seafarers. It traces the routes of seafaring communities who, guided by currents, tides and monsoons, navigated the "invisible" sea routes. These communities identified the shapes of islands amidst the waves, decoded star charts, and passed down their embodied, nature-driven wisdom through secret nautical notes shared within their circles. The emergence of these bustling waterways is intricately tied to the transformative formation of land and ocean, as well as maritime colonial expansions. These treacherous waters have borne witness to transnational migrations driven by resource extraction, confrontations between imperial powers, and the precarious lives of seafaring nomads.
Voyage offers a full day of events, including a lecture and conversation on films. Maritime historian Liu Yijie will present a lecture unraveling the hidden knowledge within the 16th-century nautical guide: Voyage with Tailwind. Meanwhile, the conversation on films Drifting features works from Stephanie Comilang, Amiu and Irwan Ahmett & Tita Salina.Filipino-Canadian artist Stephanie Comilang's film Search for Life (2024) traces shipping routes used by Spanish conquistadors after the colonization of the Philippines. It brings together global maritime cargo movements from the perspective of Filipino seafarers. The documentary Shapowei (2015), co-directed by Amiu, follows maritime archaeologist Xu Lu, who is based in Shapowei, as he retraces the region's rich seafaring history through the oral histories of master shipbuilders and seafarers, exploringturbulent voyages of the past. Bila Anda Tiba Anda Menyesal (When You Arrive You'll Regret) (2022) is a voyaging diary to several islands in Riau Archipelago by Indonesian artist duo Irwan Ahmett & Tita Salina. In one of Asia's busiest waters, the Strait of Malacca, they made observations by sea travel and encounters with equator passers from Nusantara concerning issues of geopolitical turmoil such as borders, colonial period, sultanate period and globalization. The roundtable conversation will bring together Shapowei director Amiu, the film's protagonist Xu Lu, and Zhang Wen, an associate professor from Shanghai Ocean University known for her recent fieldwork in the Zhoushan Archipelago, as guest speakers.
Liu Yijie
Liu Yijie (b. Fuzhou, Fujian), graduated from Xiamen University in 1982. He formerly served as the Deputy Editor and Senior Editor at China Ocean Press, and is currently a Distinguished Professor at Fujian Normal University. In 2018, Liu was the Chief Expert for The Major Project of the National Social Science Fund of China, Collection, Compilation, and Research on the Visual Representations of the Ancient Maritime Silk Road. He is also the Vice President of the China Society for Maritime History Studies and a core author of The New General History of China: Maritime Volume. Liu's research focuses on maritime history, maritime culture, China's Maritime transportation history, China's navigation and shipbuilding history. His notable works include A Study of "Voyage with Tailwind", The Maritime Silk Road of China, and An Analysis of the Genglubu of the South China Sea.
Amiu
Amiu is a documentary filmmaker known for directing acclaimed works, including The Bund, South of the Ocean, Shapowei: A Port Floating on Time, and Kucha: Kucha. He also served as the chief director for In the Countryside and The Ideal Countryside.
Stephanie Comilang
Stephanie Comilang is an artist living and working in Berlin. Her documentary-based works create narratives that look at how our understandings of mobility, capital, and labor on a global scale are shaped through various cultural and social factors. Her work has been shown at the Tate Modern, Hamburger Bahnhof, Tai Kwun Hong Kong, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Julia Stoschek Collection, and Haus der Kunst. She was awarded the 2019 Sobey Art Award, Canada's most prestigious art prize for artists 40 years and younger.
Irwan Ahmett & Tita Salina
Irwan Ahmett and Tita Salina are self-taught artist duo based in Jakarta. Their initial work is to place the imagination through performative intervention in the midst of chaotic public space of megapolitan Jakarta, which faces the dilemma of uncontrolled urbanization and pollution. The development of networks in art, activist and scientist circles has encouraged their artistic practice to progress toward the more profound and deeper circumstances. They are currently working on a long-term project related to geopolitical turmoil in the Ring of Fire - Pacific Rim, the most prone region to natural disasters as well as traumatic consequences which is caused by the persistent ideological violence. They see their high mobility as the main vehicle to participate in residency programs, research, field study and exhibitions especially in specific areas, which are paradoxical such as some heavenly yet deadly beautiful places on earth. Irwan and Tita wanted to find answers about planetary anxieties in regard to human existence by means of evolutionary perspective and to produce knowledge through arts related to injustice, humanity and ecology.
Xu Lu
Xu Lu is an independent scholar of maritime archaeology and a pioneer in introducing experimental nautical archaeology to China. His research focuses on traditional shipbuilding, navigation, fishing techniques, the technological history of ship cargo, and the relationship between sailors and the sea. Xu Lu authored the technical specifications for the construction of the sailing vessel Princess Taiping and oversaw its shipbuilding project. He is also a heritage inheritor of the traditional Chinese shipbuilding techniques from Yuegang, Zhangzhou.
Zhang Wen
Zhang Wen holds a PhD in Anthropology from Nanjing University and is currently an Associate Professor at the College of Marine Living Resources Sciences and Management, Shanghai Ocean University. Her research explores topics such as environmental anthropology, the history of fisheries, maritime culture, and social changes in pastoral communities. In recent years, she has conducted extensive fieldwork in the Zhoushan Archipelago. She is the author of Disembedding Nature: Environmental and Social Change of a Pastoral Area in Inner Mongolia Since 1949 (2016) and the translator of Becoming Salmon: Aquaculture and the Domestication of a Fish (2021).
Long Yitang
Long Yitang (b.1992, Shaoshan) is a curator and writer. He graduated Xiamen University in Art Management (BA) in 2014 and China Academy of Art in Curatorial Studies (MA) in 2021. His current work centers on self-organization, communality, and On-Site Curating. In recent years, Long has organized numerous curatorial, field trips, and research projects focusing on the historical geography of flows and environmental media in the southeast coastal regions and river hinterland.
In 2015, Long co-founded the AXIS Art Project and won the 2016 Emerging Curators Project award from the Power Station of Art, Shanghai. That same year, he founded the independent art space 404 Not Found Lab, which has developed a series of community-based theatre-art practices in Houtian, Xiamen. Since 2017, he has also been involved in the Gazetteer-Novels project, curating various residencies, exhibitions, and workshops. In addition to curating, Long explores alternative ways of connecting through his writing.
“环海旅社”十二月“航途”
环海旅社第二期“航途”将从泛亚太地区历史上的航行图谱和随海浮沉的个体生命出发，构想一场从船寮和海上行旅出发的情境。随着洋流和季风变化，海民驾驶大小航船，穿梭于海上那些“不可见”的航道，并在沉浮中辨认出岛屿形状、辨认夜空里“谜语”般的星图，并让充满自然感知的具身认知在民间的航行秘本中流传。这些繁忙水域的形成与海洋和陆地的自然形成以及航海时代殖民权力的扩张不无关联。凶险海域见证为资源开采和权力争夺的跨国流动，也目睹海上游牧民族的遭遇与日常。
“航途”将带来一天集讲座和映后谈的活动。航海史研究学者刘义杰通过一场讲座拆解16世纪民间航海指南《顺风相送》，“浮生环流”映后谈带来艺术家及导演斯蒂芬妮·康米兰、阿谬以及艺术家组合伊旺·艾迈特&蒂塔·萨利娜的作品。斯蒂芬妮·康米兰的《寻找生命》（2024）从菲律宾海员的视角出发，勾勒出全球海运货物流动的轨迹，追溯了西班牙殖民菲律宾后所开辟的航运路线。纪录片《沙坡尾》（2015）由导演阿谬跟随居住在沙坡尾的海洋考古学家许路的脚步，在造船世家师傅和讨海人的口述记录中追溯历史中动荡的航行。伊旺·艾迈特&蒂塔·萨利娜的《当你抵达时你会懊悔 》（2022）是一则在马六甲海峡廖内群岛的行旅日记，在这片亚洲最繁忙的水域上与从跨越赤道的马来群岛航行者们交流，涉及与地缘政治有关的边界争议、殖民历史、苏丹王朝以及全球化等议题。映后谈邀请《沙坡尾》导演阿谬和主人公许路、近年来在舟山群岛进行田野的环境人类学者张雯來对话，由“航途”系列项目共同策划人龙奕瑭和上海外滩美术馆策展人钱诗怡主持。
刘义杰
福建福州人，1982年毕业于厦门大学，原海洋出版社副总编辑、编审，福建师范大学特聘教授，2018年度国家社科基金重大项目《中国古代海上丝绸之路图像的收集、整理与研究》首席专家，中国海外交通史研究会副会长，《新编中国通史·海洋卷》核心作者。研究方向为海洋史、海洋文化、中国海外交通史，中国航海史、中国造船史。代表作有《<顺风相送>研究》《中国古代海上丝绸之路》《南海更路簿述论》。
阿谬
纪录片导演，先后担任《外滩》《下南洋》《沙坡尾》《龟兹·龟兹》等纪录片导演，担任纪录片《在乡村》《理想的乡村》总导演。
斯蒂芬妮·康米兰
斯蒂芬妮·康米兰是一位在柏林生活和工作的艺术家。她以纪录片为基础的作品通过多种文化和社会因素探讨了我们对全球范围内流动性、资本和劳动的理解如何被塑造。她的作品曾在泰特现代美术馆、汉堡火车站美术馆、大馆当代艺术馆、TBA21基金会、朱莉娅·斯托什克收藏和艺术之家展出。她于2019获得索比奖，这是加拿大颁发给40岁及以下艺术家的最负盛名的艺术奖项。
伊旺·艾迈特与蒂塔·萨利娜
伊旺·艾迈特（Irwan Ahmett）与蒂塔·萨利娜（Tita Salina）是一对来自印尼雅加达的自学艺术家组合。他们早期的创作通过想像性的表演介入雅加达混杂的城市空间，来回应这座陷入失控城市化和污染困境的超级都市。随着他们与艺术家、社会活动家和科学家等跨领域网络的不断扩展，他们的艺术实践逐渐转向更深刻和复杂的主题。他们近年来的项目聚焦在环太平洋火山带的地缘震荡。这片区域不仅是全球自然灾害最频发的地区之一，也因持续的意识形态暴力而留下创伤。他们积极参与各种驻地计划、研究、田野及展览，在既美丽又危险的矛盾场域间移动。伊旺与蒂塔从进化的视角反思人类在地球上的焦虑，并以艺术为媒介生产知识，来探讨社会不公、人性与生态问题。
许路
海洋考古独立学者，将船舶实验考古学引入中国的先行者，主要研究领域在传统造船、航海、渔法、船货技术史，以及船员社会与人海关系。2006年发起和主持赶缯战船复原工程，是“太平公主号”帆船建造需求规格书制定人和造船工程监造人，漳州月港中国帆船营造法式非遗传承人，参与国家社科基金重大项目环中国海海洋文化遗产调查研究、NSC-ANR合作研究计划中国海海洋知识之建构等项目。探险家学会（The Explorers Club）国际会士，中国海外交通史研究会理事。
张雯
南京大学人类学博士，上海海洋大学海洋生物资源与管理学院副教授，研究方向为环境人类学、渔业历史、海洋文化、草原社会变迁等，近年来主要在舟山群岛从事田野工作。著有《自然的脱嵌——建国以来一个草原牧区的环境与社会变迁》（2016），译著《成为三文鱼——水产养殖与鱼的驯养》（2021）。
龙奕瑭
策展人，写作者。1992年生于韶山，2014年本科毕业于厦门大学艺术管理专业；2021年硕士毕业于中国美术学院策展专业。目前主要关注自组织、共通体和现地策展（On-Site Curating）。近年来，他组织和策划多场基于东南沿海与流域，有关流动的历史地理与环境媒介的策展、行走和研究。他于2015年参与创立“轴艺术项目”（AXIS Art Project），并获得2016年上海当代艺术博物馆“青年策展人计划”奖项；同年创立独立空间404 Not Found Lab，组织后田协商组，在厦门开展一系列社区-剧场的艺术实践；此外，他从2017年起，参与“方志小说”，策划多场驻留、展览和工作坊。同时，他通过写作，寻找策展之外的连结方式。
