Rockbund Art Museum 上海外滩美术馆

From 26th June to 26th August 2018, Rockbund Art Museum is very proud to present Systems, the first institutional solo exhibition in Shanghai by Lin Tianmiao, curated by Alexandra Munroe, Samsung Senior Curator, Asian Art and Senior Advisor, Global Arts, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, with Xiaorui Zhu-Nowell, Assistant Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

The artist considers the exhibition to be a site-specific project exploring four key concepts: ‘individual consciousness’, ‘collective consciousness’, ‘public consciousness’, and ‘ultimate consciousness’. Each concept corresponds to a floor in the museum, from the second floor up to the sixth floor, as visitors embark on a sensorial journey of ‘consciousness’. The exhibition comprises a body of work representative of her practice over twenty years, together with several large-scale, interactive installations, which the artist has created recently in 2017, and have never been shown before to the public. Material of archival significance will also be exhibited at the same time.

Since the early 1990s, as one of the first female Chinese artists tackling installation and video production, Lin Tianmiao has continuously explored various media throughout her practice. Using materials that evoke the traces and symbolism of feminine life such as cotton, thread, silk, fabric, and needles— she works on these materials by wrapping these everyday objects and covering them, thereby revealing her interest and reflection on everyday life and traditional handicrafts. With a unique imagination and perspective, she has proceeded to develop a distinctive, sensitive, and intricate deeply personal style. From early works such as Day-Dreamer, High !!! and Loss and Gain, visitors can become aware of the value the artist places on material and method, as well as an artistic practice filled with tactile deftness and vitality. In 2017, after a twenty-year practice, she made a break from the traditional media she became associated with, instead choosing to use glass—a man-made material widely used in modern life—in order to take on challenges never attempted before. Lin Tianmiao began a collaboration with Shanghai Museum of Glass; starting from the initial stages of grasping the peculiarities of glass, to investigating artisanal techniques, and then dealing with scientific issues such as ‘mechanical motion’ as a way to experiment within her installations. She has sought to achieve a balance between art, science, and technology, by involving a richer and more multi-faceted method of exploration. Precisely due to these concurrent and frequent shifts in material, methodology, and visual language, visitors familiar with Lin Tianmiao’s work will gain a new perspective to experience her oeuvre.

Titled Systems, the concept originates from the system of the human body and draws from a range of modern critical and political theory, as well as from contemporary psychology. As consulting curator Alexandra Munroe describes, “Lin creates or poses ‘systems’ that examine, expose and reimagine the workings of the self in relation to shifting social and technological realities. These systems function on a physical as well as allegorical, even poetic, level. Throughout her immersive work in all media, the human body is her central concern.”

The catalogue designed and produced for this exhibition will be a continuation of the research in the exhibition, bringing together archival material, selected texts, and exhibition images. The texts will form an integral component of Lin Tianmiao’s solo exhibition Systems, which offer to the viewers a trajectory to engage with different readings derived from the exhibition. A series of public education events will also take place in conjunction with the exhibition to further explore different themes related to Systems.

2018年6月26日至8月26日，上海外滩美术馆将隆重迎来林天苗的上海首场个人专题展览“体·统”，由美国纽约古根海姆美术馆亚洲艺术部三星资深策展人亚历山德拉·孟璐担任本展的顾问策展人，朱晓瑞担任助理策展人。艺术家视整个展览为一个特定场域的项目，展开四部分概念的探究：“个体意识”、“群体意识”、“公共意识”、“终极意识”，概念与楼层相呼应，依次从美术馆二楼展厅纵向延伸到六楼，为观者带来一场心理和感官上的“意识”之旅。作品涵盖她二十余年创作脉络中极具代表性的装置作品，以及艺术家自2017年起制作且从未向公众展出的数件玻璃材质的大型交互装置，届时，具有文献意义的手稿也将一并展出。

九十年代初，作为中国首批尝试装置和录像制作的女性艺术家之一，她不断尝试各种创作媒介，通过具有女性生活痕迹和符号意义的材料如针、棉、线、丝、布，将这些材料加工、缠绕、覆盖于日常物件上，透露着对日常生活和传统手工艺的关注和反思，以一种独到的想象力及视野形成了鲜明、敏感且细腻的个人风格。从早年的旧作《白日梦》、《嗨!!!》和《失与得》，观众都不难体会到艺术家注重材料和方法的选择，充斥着手作的质感与生活的温度。2017年，创作二十余年的她却突破一贯使用的传统媒介，选择广泛应用在现代领域需人工合成的玻璃材料，尝试前所未有的创作挑战。林天苗开始与上海玻璃博物馆合作，从最初掌握玻璃的特性，逐步研究工艺技术，提取“机械”运动等更具有社会化识别标志进行装置实验，寻找科技与艺术之间的平衡点，介入到更丰富的层次和多维度的探索。正是由于材质、创作方法及视觉语言的转换往往是同步的，了解林天苗作品的观众，会因为其材质的转换获得一次全新的体验。

展览名称“体·统”，概念原生于人体系统，从一系列的现代批判、政治理论及当代心理学出发，正如顾问策展人亚历山德拉·孟璐所说：“林天苗创建并提出‘系统’和‘体系’的检测，揭露和重新塑造自我在社会和技术现实变化中的运作方式。这些系统在物理上、精神上，甚至是诗意层面上都有一定作用，在她所涉足的所有工作中，人体是她的中心关注点，身份与社会环境的关系问题成为其思考和实验的内容，并贯穿于整个展览中。”

为本次展览设计制作的画册将会成为展览研究的延续，其中收录了研究文献、撰写文章及展览现场图，作为林天苗个展“体·统”总结性的文本，也为观众带来与展览不同的阅读路径。美术馆感谢亚历山德拉·孟璐、皮力、鲁明军和朱晓瑞为本出版物做出的特别贡献。同时，一系列公共教育活动将在展览期间举办，以进一步探讨“体·统”下的相关话题。

“意识”之旅

作为展览的开篇，二楼展厅中心是全新大型交互装置《反应》，观众需一人走入展厅中央，进入一个充满未来感的白色“洞穴”空间装置，置身于艺术家创造的内部空间之中，开启一段私人化的体验和感知。他/她将手腕放置在感应器上5至10秒，感应器采集的脉搏跳动的频率，蓝色荧光液体会从螺旋盘下的玻璃管中缓慢滴落。短暂的时间内观者可视、可感、可听到自己的“血液”动感状态，这种探索是个体与机器之间一对一的反应，所蕴含的是“真我”与“假我”在设定环境中的彼此相遇，相遇也成为凝视和感知、了解、辨认和质疑自我的过程。与此一壁之隔，是林天苗创作于世纪之交的代表作《白日梦》，它却是由最常见的、便宜易得的白棉线为主。展览地面置有一个悬空的床垫，其上方放置一张与床垫等大的画布框，画布与床之间被无数根白棉线上下连接着，床垫表面的布被向上牵引，隆起的身体形状好似脱离空间。在光影交错下，棉线交织而隐约凸显的素描人形是艺术家自身的形象的解构，探讨形成自我身份的过程。强烈的视觉张力令人联想其制作过程中难以想象的大体量手工劳动。

三楼的展厅将展出其新作《暖流》，与人们的群体意识、日常经验、生活方式有关，运用化学实验所使用尺寸各异的玻璃器皿，制作为一组组独一无二的结构，它们被连接于竖立于墙体内的大转盘上。其中，象征生命本体的粉红荧光液体，在彼此联通的玻璃仪器中进行“自转”，被社会、文化大型机械带动其反向“公转”，形成了宇宙“公转”与“自传”共构依存的关系。而另一件早期重要的影像装置作品《嗨!!!》则是完全不一样的视觉体验和呈现方式。她用物理镜头投影一个巨型动态肖像，持续交替变动的高频及低频震动传递在棉线与图像之间，并伴随着彩色图像从女性肖像转为黑白的中性形象。在影像的变化过程中，声音从浑厚的贝斯声变为尖锐的高音，一种宏大到纤细敏感的体验，被视觉、声音同时释放出来。

正如专门为此展览量身定制的大型装置《我的花园》将占据美术馆四楼的整个空间，借以“有真为假，作假为真”的公共意识概念，观众们被邀请去参观一个由玻璃器皿构成的“温室（花园）”，让人感觉沉浸在一种充斥着自然园艺、科学技术和大胆的艺术想象的壮观结构之中。这里的整个地面铺有柔软的粉色地毯，不同直径、高低的粉色花盆内直立着类似植物的玻璃管，玻璃管中喷流着各种透明的绿色液体。观众可以从玻璃管上印刷文字识别植物的名称，如“指甲花”（ 中文植物学名为“散沫花”，拉丁学名为Lawsonia inermis），有趣的是，当俗名再度被译成英文的时候，“指甲花”为“nail dye flower”，它们将再生为一种新的话语政治。而这一过程体现了俗名和“专业国际标准”之间的随意性和差异性。

五楼的《失与得》是本次展览的点题之作：从个体、群体、公共上升到终极“意识”的体现，艺术家提炼了骨骼与工具幽默的结合点，日常工具原本有它专属的功能和属性，当工具与身体骨骼“嫁接”后，其功能和属性被重组，似乎无意间将严肃的死亡问题不断地扩展和延伸，随即新的意识产生。当观众走到美术馆六层，结束即将的“意识”之旅，他/她将在中庭区域看到林天苗创作的手稿。无论是透视图、剖面图、还是平面图，每一份手稿都有着工程制图般的精确考量，每一份都反映的是艺术家创作思考的历时过程。