石玩玩：艺术的习惯法及其被超越

文/张钟萄

石玩玩生于1981年。他从2009年至今约10年的作品已呈现出自己的特征：作品涉及交换或转译、以组合构成继而表现出碎片化，以及创作过程的去物质化与社会化取向。如果以去物质化与社会化为方法特征，那么石玩玩在中国80后艺术家，以及过去10年的中国当代艺术中具有相对明确的标志。就他过去10年的创作母题而言，广义的社会取向是基本关切。石玩玩的转折点是2011年的《伊斯坦布尔的画家》，其转折意味在于：1.这件作品让他小有名气；2.它汇集了过去10年出现在石玩玩创作中的基本要素，尤其是文字、图像与声音的交互转译，以及社会关系；3.受艺术生态影响而改变的艺术理念；4.直接的政治主题逐渐减少；5.更多。

文字、图像与声音间的相互转译是石玩玩的常用手法，这在2009年的《在艰苦的岁月里》中已出现。《在艰苦的岁月里》围绕小学课本中看图说话的同名文章展开，艺术家剪掉图中的老人，在画旁播放一段朗读文中关于老人形象描述的男孩录音。相关要素延续至《伊斯坦布尔的画家》，艺术家给凭空设想的人写信，竟在9个月后收到同名人的回信，并为这位陌生艺术家画了肖像。《伊斯坦布尔的画家》延续了《在艰苦的岁月里》的基本要素，但其生产过程，在很大程度上脱离了艺术家的创作设定或艺术框架，将艺术的生死存亡交给现实生活的偶然性。石玩玩的创作自此不再囿于工作室。

《望京少年》（2013）进一步推动《伊斯坦布尔的画家》的基本要素，是石玩玩过去10年最具灵性的一件作品，也是他在这段时间内的创作方法走向成熟的标志。《望京少年》同样基于社会关系与社会议题、涉及声音与图像的转译、涉及与艺术家之外的人合作。但相较于《伊斯坦布尔的画家》，这件作品更彻底，也更干净地脱离艺术家的设定与艺术框架：《伊斯坦布尔的画家》的创作之源是艺术家自己，源自艺术家对画廊体系与艺术家工作室相“勾结”后造成同质化审美的不满；《望京少年》的创作之源是街坊邻居，是邻里间关于偷窃少年的传闻。如果说《伊斯坦布尔的画家》中的艺术设定还有50%，那么《望京少年》中的减至0；如果说艺术家在《伊斯坦布尔的画家》中还是“先天”的导演，剧本来自艺术家，那么在《望京少年》中，艺术家只是“后天”的导演乃至场务，剧本出自生活之手。石玩玩被现实生活的偶然“灵性”吸引。或者说，走向现实的社会空间、接纳实际的社会关系，在石玩玩的创作中逐渐取代书斋式的社会观念。

在《清贫》（2013）、《首尔游记》（2013）、《影梅庵忆语》（2016）与《胡志明的风景》（2017）等作品中，艺术家继续面对现实社会空间的偶然性，以碎片形式的文字呈现。2017年以来，石玩玩的创作更大规模地走向社会空间与社会关系：《照沟渠》（2017）中的石节子村民与借用灯泡、《残片：明宣德青花松竹梅纹盘》（2018）中与观众的有偿交换，以及《爱丽丝》（2019）、《西北街的微光》（2019）、《夜将至》（2020）、《月光》（2020）、《街角物语》（2020）等作品中的民众合作创作。《伊斯坦布尔的画家》和《望京少年》中的创作手法，在这些作品中日趋成熟，介于合作与参与型艺术之间。确切说，石玩玩这10年的作品是准合作与准参与型的艺术创作，因为在石玩玩的大多数作品中，合作或参与者都出现在作品的生产过程中：他们以不在场的方式出现，以不在场的方式与艺术家一道完成作品。这与艺术家念兹在兹的某些参与型艺术有所不同，这种差异源自艺术家自身的思考。

2011年，石玩玩意识到，中国当代艺术的艺术趣味逐渐被画廊系统主宰，在惶惑与迷茫中，他被造就了《伊斯坦布尔的画家》的偶然灵性击中。突破艺术体制/机构的框架，以突破自身创作空间的偶然方式实现。或者说，石玩玩看到了由艺术体制划定的艺术边界，它关乎狭隘但高额的利益得失，并约束着艺术创作与审美趣味的自由。艺术边界的局限性，反向约束艺术家的自我意识。如同在发达资本主义国家的当代艺术一样，艺术家的艺术身份在很大程度上被当代艺术所规定，而非相反。

转折点上的社会空间与社会关系，打开了石玩玩反思艺术身份自身局限性的门。他不断践行这种创作手法，并趋于成熟，但这种手法在很大程度上也开始呈现为一种习惯性方法。走向社会空间、接纳社会关系，卷入合作与（准）参与，在一方面是趋于成熟的创作方法，在另一方面，这种方法的方法也渐成习惯。虽然石玩玩在后续作品中仍保有他一贯的可贵之处：譬如以市场交换（价值）之外的交换阐释社会关系、走进社会空间指涉现实议题、并不在中国脆弱的艺术语境中展现西方类似作品中的对抗性，但这种习惯性方法如何超越自身，并形成更系统的方法，却是这位1982年生的艺术家所不得不面对的问题。

根据习惯性方法进行艺术创作本无可厚非。熟稔艺术的媒介、形式、主题，乃至空间，都需要艺术家在找到“初级”方法后反复践行。习惯性方法的日趋成熟，也预示着逐渐构筑完成的艺术自我（及其边界）。在不到30岁时，石玩玩意识到，画廊与市场（交换价值）系统构筑起了审美-趣味的“习惯”之墙；10年之后，横在中国当代艺术中的这道墙，非但没有成为许多年轻艺术家眼中的“障碍”，反而成为兵家必夺之地。换言之，由画廊或当代艺术系统所主宰的艺术趣味，成了艺术自我早熟的催肥剂，有时更是催眠剂：抛开无知，身处其中者要么知之为不知，要么“知其不可而为之”。不过，摆脱习惯法，不仅是艺术家的职责，更广泛的艺术话语、理论与批评系统也无法置身其外。艺术话语与批评本可能协助艺术家形成更为系统的方法——哪怕在让他们警惕习惯法这件事上有所作为，但它们耽溺于习惯的程度，虽非出于蓝却弯道超车胜于蓝。

   2011年，石玩玩潜在地感受到围绕艺术体制、画廊审美，以及自我的局限性。这种局限，在更大语境中是艺术身份自身的局限。无论何时，意识到这种局限性都是走出习惯法的第一步——无论何时，都必须有主动意识到这种局限性的意识。就此而言，石玩玩过去10年的去物质化与社会化手法，已经在同批次艺术家中展现了某种持之以恒的“超越”。但等待他以及我们所有人的，还有“被超越”。因为我们很容易就变成自己的障碍。

——————

张钟萄

哲学博士，关注伦理学、艺术哲学和城市研究，并从事艺术相关研究工作

Shi Wanwan: The habitual method of art and be transcended

by Zhang Zhongtao

Shi Wanwan was born in 1981. His works of about 10 years from 2009 to now have taken on their own characteristics: they involve exchange or translation, composition and then fragmentation, and the dematerialization and socialization of the creation process. If characterized by dematerialization and socialization methods, Shi Wanwan has a relatively clear mark among Chinese post-80s artists, as well as Chinese contemporary art in the past decade. As far as his motifs of the past decade are concerned, in a broad sense the basic concern is social orientation. The turning point for Shi Wanwan was An Istanbul Painter in 2011. Its turning point means that: 1. It made him somewhat famous; 2. It brings together the basic elements that have appeared in Shi Wanwan’s work over the past decade, especially the interactive translation of words, images and sounds, and social relations; 3. Artistic concepts changed by the influence of artistic ecology; 4. The gradual reduction of direct political themes; 5. More.

Translation between words, images and sound is Shi Wanwan's common technique, as shown in "In Those Hard Years" in 2009. In Those Hard Years revolves around an article of the same name in an elementary school textbook. The artist cut out the old man in the text illustration and plays a recording of a boy reading the description of the old man in the text beside the picture. The relevant elements continue in "An Istanbul Painter," in which the artist writes to a visionary and, nine months later, receives a reply from the same celebrity and paints a portrait of the stranger. "An Istanbul Painter" continues the basic elements of "In Those Hard Years", but its production process, to a large extent, is divorced from the creation setting or artistic framework of the artist, leaving the life and death of art to the chance of real life. Shi Wanwan's work is no longer confined to the studio.

"The Wangjing Youth" (2013), which further drives "An Istanbul Painter," is one of Shi Wanwan's most inspirational works of the past decade and a sign of the maturity of his creative approach during this time. The Wangjing Youth is also based on social relations and social issues, involves the translation of sound and images, and involves working with people other than artists. However, compared with "An Istanbul Painter", this work is more thorough and cleanly separated from the artist's setting and artistic framework. The creation of "An Istanbul Painter" originates from the artist himself, which is caused by the artist's dissatisfaction with the homogenized aesthetic caused by the "collusion" between the gallery system and the artist's studio. "The Wangjing Youth" is the creation of the neighborhood, it's a neighborhood tale about a teenage thief. If the artistic setting in An Istanbul Painter is still 50%, then the setting in The Wangjing Youth is reduced to 0. If the artist in "An Istanbul Painter" is still a "born" director and the script comes from the artist, then in "The Wangjing Youth", the artist is only the director and even the scene, and the script comes from life. Shi Wanwan is attracted by the casual "spirituality" of real life. In other words, we should move towards the real social space and accept the actual social relations, and gradually replace the book-style social concepts in the creation of Shi Wanwan.

In his works Poverty (2013), Seoul Travel (2013), The Reminiscences of Tung Hsiao-Wan (2016) and The Landscape of Ho Chi Minh (2017), the artist continues to face the contingency of the real social space and presents it in the form of fragments. Since 2017, Shi Wanwan's works have moved on a larger scale into social space and social relations: "But The Moon Shines On The Ditch" (2017) of Shijiezi villagers with borrowed light bulbs, the paid exchange with the audience in “Fragments: Blue-And-White Plate With Pine, Bamboo and Prunus Xuande Reign, Ming Dynasty” (2018) , as well as the people in the work collaborate in " Alice " (2019), northwest street light (2019)," the night will come " (2020)," moonlight " (2020)," street corner monogatari "(2020). The techniques used in "An Istanbul Painter" and "The Wangjing Youth" are maturing in these works, and are somewhere between collaborative and participatory art. To be exact, the works of Shi Wanwan in the past 10 years are quasi-collaborative and quasi-participatory, because in most of the works of Shi Wanwan, the cooperation or participants are present in the production process: they appear in an absent way and complete the work with the artist in an absent way. This is different from some of the participative art that the artist is obsessed with, and this difference comes from the artist's own thinking.

In 2011, when Shi Wanwan realized that the artistic taste of Contemporary Chinese art was increasingly dominated by the gallery system, in bewilderment and confusion, he was struck by the accidental spirit that made "An Istanbul Painter." Break through the framework of the art system/institution, by breaking through their own creative space by chance. In other words, Shi Wanwan sees the artistic boundary defined by the art system, which concerns the narrow but high profit and restricts the freedom of artistic creation and aesthetic taste. The limitation of artistic boundary restricts the artist's self-consciousness in reverse. As with contemporary art in developed capitalist countries, the artist's artistic identity is largely defined by contemporary art, not the other way around.

The social space and social relations at the turning point opened the door for Shi Wanwan to reflect on the limitations of artistic identity. He kept practicing this creative technique and gradually matured, but this technique also began to appear as a habitual method to a large extent. Moving into the social space, embracing social relations, getting involved in cooperation and (quasi-) participation, on the one hand, is a mature method of creation, and on the other hand, the methods of this method have become habits. Although Shi Wanwan in subsequent works still retain the beauty of his usual: such as the exchange market (value) exchange interpretation of social relations, going into social space refers to practical issues, it does not show the antagonism of similar western works in the fragile artistic context of China, but this kind of habitual method how to transcend itself, and form a more systematic method, that's the question the artist, born in 1981, has to face.

There is nothing wrong with making art in a habitual way. Mastering the medium, form, theme and even space of art requires the artist to practice repeatedly after finding the "primary" method. The growing maturity of habitual methods also presupposes the gradual construction of the completed artistic self (and its boundaries). In his late twenties, Shi Wanwan realized that the art gallery and market (exchange value) system built a wall of aesthetically interesting "habits". Ten years later, this wall in Chinese contemporary art has not become a "barrier" in the eyes of many young artists. Instead, it has become a place that must be seized by military strategists. In other words, artistic interest, which is dominated by galleries or contemporary art systems, becomes a precocious aphrodisiac, and sometimes a hypnotic, of art itself: leaving ignorance behind, those who know as don't know or "you can't do it but you do it anyway". However, it is not only the duty of the artist to get rid of the habitual method, but also the broader system of artistic discourse, theory, and criticism cannot be excluded from it. Artistic discourse and criticism might have helped artists to develop a more systematic approach -- even if they had done something to alert them to habitual method -- go beyond the original system and create new working methods.

In 2011, Shi Wanwan was potentially felt around the art system, the gallery aesthetic, and the limitations of the self. Whenever this limitation is recognized, it is the first step out of habitual method -- there must be an active awareness of this limitation at all times. In this sense, the de-materialization and socialization techniques of Shi Wanwan over the past decade have demonstrated a certain persistent "transcendence" among the same batch of artists. But what awaits him, and all of us, is "be transcended". Because we can easily become our own obstacles.

——————

Zhang Zhongtao

Ph.D., focuses on ethics, philosophy of art and urban studies, and engages in art-related research

看不见的驻客

文/宋振熙

1972年，伊塔洛·卡尔维诺（Italo Calvino），首次发表了他的小说《看不见的城市》。这位才气横溢的文学大师，用后现代的手法为我们带来了叙事想象所包裹下，对世界秩序的认知及反思。小说虚构了忽必烈大帝与马可·波罗之间的对话，让两种世界观在叙事城市的奇幻中发生碰撞，精彩至极。然而，卡尔维诺的小说仿佛成为了某种预言，在今天全球化城市景观中显得更加真实：城市的发展进程带着社会每一个个体，走向了文化记忆的反面，真正看不见的城市来临了。当我和艺术家石玩玩在澳门共谋本次艺术项目时，便想让艺术家通过自己的艺术创作方式，让卡尔维诺书中的马可·波罗走到现实中，以一种社会介入的方式唤起我们对社群、地域、空间、个体在文化和经济关系中别样形状的思考。让艺术行动成为叙事者的笔记，让看不见的城市得以显现。

石玩玩的艺术创作有自己的一套系统方法。对于他来说，艺术创作的结果并不是其价值的核心部分，重要的是过程。展厅中的作品指向的是每个艺术行动中的观念脉络。在他本次澳门驻地展览之前的作品中，我们可以发现，社会介入是其常用的一种创作手段。这是一种建立在关系美学之上新的公共艺术模式。2017年 与金范九合作的《香雪海计划》则是一个代表之作。从一个旧物溯源，找寻时代情境下人与人之间看不见的社会关联以及情感记忆。石玩玩在社会空间中发展出对观念艺术的层层建构，让艺术行动成为创作过程中的核心能量。更具有吸引力的是，他非常强调创作的叙事性。他挑起的是人类所一直拥有的故事欲望，几乎每一件作品，石玩玩都在用自己的论述方式呈现一个完整并带有现实性的故事。2017年，《桃花树计划》则是利用旧城改造的废墟中长出的小野花绘制成画，透过网路贩售，再将贩售所得在未来的新城中种植桃花树。在陶渊明的家乡，呼应《桃花源记》的文本，将被扭曲的城市化进程以及群体性情感勾勒，并厚实可感。所以艺术家就像《看不见的城市》中不断述说的主人公马可·波罗，只不过他的讲述是以艺术行为的方法得以呈现。

在叙事中，石玩玩有三种方式保障其抒写的故事更具有美学上的活力。其一是他常常让更多的社会群体参与到其艺术行动中来，成为其作品创作的主体之一，消解艺术家作为创作者的主体身份。艺术作品的过程将会遭遇到更多的不确定性，石玩玩需要随时应对不可预知的“写作”走向。作为最终的陈述者，艺术家要再次构造艺术作品的动机、过程和结果。这就是我们常常在当代艺术创作中所发现的“不确定性”的美学意义。第二，石玩玩擅长用多重转换的手法来制造艺术作品观念的表达内容，他善于设定艺术行为中的游戏规则，参与者和自己在不同阶段之中形成内容的转换，让人们在一系列转换中更加清晰的看到观念的形状。《香雪海计划》中，旧冰箱最终被点亮成为新冰箱，看似回到原点的过程中，那些当年制造它的人们重新被聚集，情感和记忆重新被杂糅，交织出新的样貌。观念从物走向了非物的关系再回到物化本身。参与者和作品观看者，都在这样的转化中，体会到了艺术家在叙事背后所制造出的反思内涵。其三，石玩玩擅长用重复行为(repetition action)作为创作语言。在当代艺术中，重复行为的语言并不少见，在反复无效中来解构艺术家观念所指，无效性是一种强烈的否定语言，是拆解命题的手段。但石玩玩的重复行为更像是寓言故事写作中常常出现反复描述，以循环来强化观念的意义。这次澳门即将展出的作品《一千次抚平你的心》则是重复行为创作语言的代表。每一次无效，都是强调自身内在情感的表达。看似无效，却对叙事积极有效。三种手法建构了石玩玩创作的标志性风格，也给观者在最终的作品展示界面中，寻求到了多样性切入观看的可能。随着石玩玩创作历程的深入，他个人作品的风格特征更加强烈。

本次在澳门举办的个展项目，正是将石玩玩置于一个看不见的驻客角色，一个澳门城市历史与当下阅读者的角色，一个再度抒写“看不见的城市”形貌的角色。石玩玩以笔记的概念引入整场展览叙事，三件作品都把海作为叙述内容的引子，让“自我”这样一个临时驻客的个人经验和城市历史文化记忆联系在一起，让三件作品之间形成看不见的紧密关联，反复勾勒地域文化和个体之间的思考形状。从欧洲的爱琴海到北方渤海，再到澳门南中国海，三片看似无法构成连贯性的海域，却由一个驻客由内向外的联系在了一起。《一千次抚平你的心》以个人情绪表达作为本次展览的切入口，艺术家开始平静讲述自己和海之间的经验关系。作品《礼物》是将对海的想象作为对象，是一次自身与海对话的思考笔记。作为本次展览的核心作品《海边笔记》则是基于前两者更加递进式的观念思考。艺术家运用了田野调查的方式，社会性介入到了澳门地域、人文、社会的末梢神经当中，让历史和当下在大海的符号情境下获得了重新对话的可能。作为这个笔记的撰写者，石玩玩调动了自我想象和历史文本，让城市的固化形态有所松动，参与笔记的城市个体也将获得了一次对城市历史文化记忆重新塑形的机会。展览在这个作品面前获得了某种意义上的深化，对话自我、对话大海、对话历史，这如同《看不见的城市》中，那个忽必烈大帝——俨然被虚构的对象，在这里所留下的只有叙事者石玩玩自我和其产生的思想观念的对话。

回看石玩玩的多年创作脉络，在地性仿佛是艺术营养，是其不会放弃的观念塑造基础。无论是在北京、上海、湖南常德、菲律宾马尼拉、南京、苏州、杭州、土耳其伊斯坦布尔、韩国首尔、越南胡志明、甘肃叶家堡、甘肃石节子村、台北、香港和澳门，他正向一个游历的驻客，在每一个地方畅想出不同的故事，城市的过往和现世能够有新的述说，他说给这个城市倾听，说给这里的生活的人们倾听，说给自己倾听。石玩玩的内心之中，艺术不再是一个禁锢在墙面上的装饰之物，它是流淌进过自己身体进入地域空间、串联公共生存情境下的行为历程。驻客是不被看见的临时存在，但只有他的介入，那看不见的城市才会带着生命力走向回归。

——————

宋振熙 策展人 中国美术学院媒体城市研发中心策展部主任

本文为石玩玩在澳门后牛房实验坊个展前言

Invisible Guest-in-residence

by Song Zhenxi

In 1972, Italo Calvino published his novel Invisible Cities. The talented literary master presented to us with post-modern techniques his perception and reflection on world order wrapped in a narration of imaginary journeys. The novel fictionalizes a conversation between the emperor Kublai Khan and Marco Polo, where two worldviews collide in cities of fantasy under narration, which is extremely exciting. However, Calvino’s novel seems to have become a prophecy that virtually turns into reality in today’s globalized urban landscape: the development of cities carries every individual in society to the other side of cultural memory, announcing the advent of invisible cities. When discussing with Shi Wanwan about this art project in Macao, I proposed his launching Marco Polo in Calvino’s book into reality through his own works of art, so as to, via a kind of social intervention, inspire us to reflect on communities, locality, spaces, and individuals’ different thoughts in cultural and economic relations. The idea was to transform artistic actions into narratives, and make invisible cities visible.

Shi Wanwan has his own systematic methods for artistic creation. Creative results are not what he values most as what matters to him is the process. Works in the exhibition room point to the conceptual context of each artistic action. In his works before this artist-in-residence exhibition in Macao, we found that social intervention was a creative approach he often used. That is a new approach to public art based on relational aesthetics. The Xiangxuehai Project, co-created with Jin Fanjiu in 2017, was a representative work in this regard. Tracing an old object’s history, the work explores invisible social connections and emotional memories between individuals within context of times. In the piece, Shi Wanwan developed a multi-layered structure for conceptual art in the social space, enabling his artistic action to become the core energy in the creative process. What's more appealing is, he emphasizes narrative power in his art. Provoking mankind’s desire for story, in almost every work, he presents a complete, realistic story using his own narration method. In another 2017 work, the Peach Blossom Tree Project, the artist turned into paintings small wild flowers grown in ruins amid old city renovation, sold them online, and then with the sales income planted peach blossom trees in the future new city. The piece, created in Eastern Jin dynasty poet Tao Yuanming's hometown, echos with the ancient poet’s prose Peach Blossom Spring (Tao Hua Yuan), delineating distorted urbanization process and collective emotions, profoundly and tangibly. Therefore Shi is acting like Marco Polo in Invisible Cities who constantly narrates, except that his narration is presented through artistic action.

In his narrative, Shi Wanwan used three methods to ensure more aesthetic vigor for his stories.

First, he often allows more social groups into his artistic activity to become creative subjects in his work, in order to dillute his subjectivity as the artist. Such doing exposes the creative process to uncertainties, resulting in unpredictable ‘writing’ possibilities for him to deal with at any time. And as the final narrator, Shi Wanwan must re-establish the motive, process and result of the artwork. This is where lies the aesthetic meaning of ‘uncertainty’ often found in contemporary art creation.

Second, Shi Wanwan is good at using the method of multiple conversion to create contents to express his artwork’s concept. He is adept at setting game rules for artistic actions, facilitating conversion of contents by participants and himself in different stages. That allows people to see more clearly conceptual shapes in the series of conversions. In the Xiangxuehai Project, the old refrigerator is finally lit, becoming a new one. In the process of seemingly returning to its original status, its past makers are converged again, and emotions and memories are mixed anew, altogether creating a new form. The concept has moved from the material to the non-material relation before reverting to materialization. Participants in and viewers of the work thus come to understand the connotation of reflection presented by the artist behind his narrative during such conversions.

Third, Shiwanwan is good at using repetition action as a creative language. In contemporary art, the language of repetition action is often used, to deconstruct artist's concept in repetitive invalidity, where invalidity serve as a strong language of negation and a means disassembling the topic. However, Shi’s repetitive action looks more like repetitive description often seen in the writing of fables which uses cycle (repetition) to enhance the significance of ideas. Soothe Your Heart a Thousand Times shown in this Macao exhibition is a representative work using the creative language of repetitive action. Every invalidity helps accentuate the artist’s expression of inner emotions. It may look invalid, yet in fact it actively and effectively strengthens the narrative.

These three methods combine to define Shiwanwan’s signature style, while also providing viewers with possibilities to appreciate the work from different angles on the final display interface. Needless to say, as Shi delves deeper in his creative process, his personal style can only become stronger.

This solo exhibition held in Macao gives the artist opportunities to play the roles as an invisible guest-in-residence, a reader of Macao’s current urban status and history as well as a writer re-depicting ‘invisible cities’. Shi Wanwan begins the exhibition narrative drawing on the concept of notes. Starting with the sea as the lead-in to the narrative, all the three works on display weave personal experience of a short-term guest-in-residence (the ‘self’) with the historical and cultural memory of the city, forming an invisibly close interrelationship while repeatedly sketching thoughts in between local culture and individuals. From the Aegean Sea in Europe to the Bohai Sea in northern China, and to the South China Sea surrounding Macao, the three apparently unconnected seas are linked together both internally and externally by a visitor. The exhibition starts with personal expression of emotions in Soothe Your Heart a Thousand Times, where the artist begins by calmly narrating his experience and relationship with the sea. On the other hand, the work Gift deals with his imaginations of the sea, which are virtually notes of thoughts on a dialogue between the artist himself and the sea. And, Seaside Notes, considered the central piece of this exhibition, constitutes a progressive conceptual speculation built upon the other two works. Using field research method in Gift, the artist socially intervenes in the peripheral nerves of Macao locality, culture, and society, allowing for a possible dialogue between history and the present in the symbolic context of the sea. As the writer of the notes, Shi Wanwan mobilized his own imagination and historical texts to free up city stereotypes, which in turn gives individuals who participate in ‘writing’ the notes an opportunity to reshape historical and cultural memory of the city. With this work conversing with self, the sea and history, the meaning of the exhibition is deepened somehow. However, all is fictitious, just like emperor Kublai Khan in Invisible Cities. What remains here is only the dialogue between narrator Shi Wanwan’s self and his thoughts, concepts.

Looking back at Shi Wanwan’s creative trajectory along the years, localness seems to be his artistic nutrition, and the basis for his conceptual construction – something that he will never give up. Being in Beijing, Shanghai, Changde in Hunan, Manila in the Philippines, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Istanbul in Turkey, Seoul in South Korea, Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Yej

iabao in Gansu, Shijiezi Village in Gansu, Taipei, Hong Kong and Macao, he has always been a travelling guest-in-residence, imagining different stories in every place, creating new narrations for the cities’ past and present and telling them to each respective city, to its residents and to himself. In Shi’s heart, art is no longer a decoration confined to the wall, but a journey filled with actions that flow through his body into local spaces connecting with the public’s living conditions. Being a visitor is an invisible temporary existence, but his very intervention enables the return of invisible cities with vitality.

Song Zhenxi

curator and director of the Curatorial Department of Media City Research &

Development Center, China Academy of Art

荷李活小姐

文/陈贶怡

石玩玩，喜欢进行场域特定艺术的创作计划，也喜欢观众的参与。他的几个可以被归类为“新类型公共艺术”(New Genre Public Art)的创作计划都简洁明快且充满了趣味，例如2017年在湖南常德(陶渊明诗中的桃花源)进行的《桃花树计划》：将旧城改造的废墟中长出的小野花绘制成画，透过网路贩售，再将贩售所得在未来的新城中种植桃花树。在这样的作品中揉杂着一种过去与未来、旧城与新城、文学与绘画之间的巧妙串联，正是这种美学趣味使城市的变迁变得戏剧化，也避免落入大多数社会介入式艺术(socially engaged art)那种令人厌烦的伦理态度与道德劝说。

石玩玩的另一类作品则是从一个叙事出发，例如《胡志明的风景》，将一本越文书籍《情人》中22段描写当地风景的段落，以艺术家初学的越南语朗诵出来，再邀请一位越南人根据所听到的录音将22个风景画出来。而《望京少年》则是邀请十位北京望京街区的居民，将当地公认为是小偷的维吾尔族少年的长相描述出来，再画下来。这次在香港进行的特定地点创作计划也相当类似，是以画廊所在街道(荷李活道)命名的《荷李活小姐》，他选择了曾羁留香港的作家张爱玲写的第一部小说《沉香屑·第一炉香》中描写一位香港女子外貌的段落，再邀请自愿参与计划的香港女性观众，根据这段叙述将张爱玲笔下的这位少女画出来。

这种有趣的创作方式，首先可以被视为是一种“艺术的换位”(La transposition d’art)，亦即使用另一种艺术形式来“誊写”(transcrire)一个已经存在的艺术作品。波特莱尔常常醉心于此类创作方式，他常试图将绘画作品誊写成文字，他笔下的波西米亚人可能来自于Jacques Callot的版画，而盲人则是以Pieter Brueghel的画作为蓝本。最著名的是他对画家Constantin Guys的推崇，并从而发展出他的“现代”(modern)美学理论。对波特莱尔而言：“美无可避免的永远是一个双重的构成(...)美是由一个永恒的、不变的元素，和一个相对的、因时制宜的元素所构成”如果诗人常常游历于艺术史上的名作，并不只是因为它的历史价值，而是因为“历史发生在现在”。而波特莱尔还表明Guys令他最为折服之处，在于他总是凭着记忆作画，如此一来，画家精神中的事物所产生的印象，就可以被观众的思维所重建。这种记忆的创造与重建的过程，将会召唤出观众与艺术家最重要的一种能力：想像。

石玩玩将张爱玲1940年代的小说在2019年以绘画的方式进行换位，启动的无疑也是这种穿越时空的记忆、重建、想像，终至创造的过程。所不同的是他将创造的任务交给了观众：在我们因为展场中对于同一对象展现出的截然不同的描绘而失笑时，正是所有的参与者为了再现一个不存在的事物而奋力一搏的时刻，然而正因为这位荷李活小姐的非实存，让观众精神中的事物全都因为想像而活跃了起来!

或者，换个方法说，如果德勒兹(Gilles Deleuze)透过“差异”(different)的概念想要告诉我们，在“重复”(repetition)之中并没有两个东西会一模一样，而“同一性”(identity)并非事物的首要原则，“差异”才是，那么石玩玩的创作方式正好引导着观众走向后现代的真实世界，因为在差异的原则之下，真实的世界不可能是一个永恒不变的存有(being)，它只能是一个存有的过程(becoming)。在对荷李活小姐的重复叙述(重复肖像)所产生的差异中，生产出的并不是一位虚拟的人物，而是整个香港的呼之欲出的真实，真实的香港，香港的真实。

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陈贶怡博士，策展人、艺评家、国立台湾艺术大学美术学院院长、博士生导师、教授

本文为艺术家在香港NIDO AISA画廊《荷李活小姐》项目展览前言

MISS HO LEE WUD

By Kuang-yi Chen

Shi Wanwan prefers to projects of field specific art and the participation of the audience. Several of his projects which can be classified as "New Genre of Public Art" are concise and interesting. For example, Peach Blossom Projectcarried out in Changde of Hunan Province, the Peach Bloosom Source in Tao Yuanming’s poem, in 2017, in which Shi Wanwan drew little wildflowers from the ruins of the old town online to get the money to plant peach trees in the new town. There is a mixture of the past and the future, the old and the new town, also literature and painting. It is this aesthetic taste that makes the changes of cities dramatic and avoids falling into the boring ethical attitude and moral persuasion of the majority of social interventionist art.

Another kind of Shi Wanwan’s works is based on narrative. Take The Landscapes of Ho Chi Minh for an example, he 22 paragraphs describing the local scenery in a Vietnamese book Lover were read out by a new learner in Vietnamese, and then a Vietnamese was invited to draw 22 pictures according to the recording heard. Wangjing Youth invited 10 residents of Wangjing District in Beijing to describe and paint the faces of Uighur teenagers who are regarded as thieves there.

The site-specific project in Hong Kong is quite similar. It is called Miss Ho Lee Wud, named after the street where the gallery is located (Ho Lee Wud Road). He choosed the passage depicting the appearance of a Hong Kong woman in The First Censer, the first novel by the former Hong Kong writer Eileen Chang, . According to this account. And Hong Kong women who volunteered to participate in the project was invited to paint the young woman. This interesting approach to do art can first be regarded as an "artistic transposition" (La transposition d'art) which was to"transcribe" an existing work of art in another form of art .

Baudelaire was often obsessed with this skill and he also tried to transcribe his paintings to words. His Bohemias may have came from Jacques Callot's prints, while the blinds are based on Pieter Brueghel's paintings. Most famously, he admired the painter Constantin Guys and developed his "modern" (modern) aesthetic theory. For Baudelaire, "The beauty is inevitably a double composition. The beauty is made up of an eternal, constant element, and a relative, time-and-time element.” If poets often travel in the history of art, it is not because of its historical value, but because of "history takes place in the present". Baudelaire also showed that what Guys impressed him most was that he always painted by memory so that the impressions of the artist's spirit could be rebuilt by the mind of the audience.This process of memory creation and reconstruction will call forth imagination which is the most important ability of the audience and the artist. In 2019, Shi Wanwan transposed Eileen Chang's novels in the 1940s in the way of painting, which undoubtedly started the process of such time-traveling memory, reconstruction, imagination and finally creation. The difference is that he leaves the task of creation to the audience. When we laughed at the completely different depiction of the same object in the exhibition, it was the moment when all participants struggled to reproduce a thing that did not exist. However, it was the non-existence of this Miss Ho Lee Wud that made all the things in the audience's spirit come alive with imagination!

Or we can put it another way, if Deleuze is trying to tell us there are no two things that are exactly the same in repetition and identity is not the first principle of things but the difference through his concept of difference .So the creation of Shi is just leading the audience to the postmodern real world because the real world can not be an eternal and unchanging being but only be a process of being under the principle of difference. In the difference created by the repetition of Miss Ho Lee Wud narration ( the repetition of portraits ), what is produced is not a virtual character but the real of the whole Hong Kong，the real Hong Kong.

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Kuang-yi Chen

Doctor of Contemporary Art History, University of Paris X

Dean of college of fine arts, national Taiwan university of the arts

Professor in the department of fine arts

石节子的微笑

石玩玩&赵晨

本文是应石节子美术馆之邀，基于2017年11月份在石节子村创作《照沟渠》所做的一篇对话，文章首次发表于石节子美术馆微信公众号，感谢赵晨博士为本文所做的帮助，也感谢石节子美术馆、石节子村与靳勒村长给予作品的帮助。

赵晨=赵

石玩玩=石

在地性作品背后的普遍性意义是“人心”

赵:在这件作品里,石节子这个地方是不可替代的,还是换成其它地方也行?

石:考虑方案的时候,肯定还是希望这件作品不可替代,这也是在地性创作的基 本特征和最大价值。石节子这个地方本身就是一个很特殊的地方,艺术家遇到 这种地方一般都会很兴奋,比起普通的地方,会容易使上力。其次,在地性创作 也是我现在思考的一个方向,所以,肯定还是想做一件不可替代的作品。

赵:结果你认为达到了没有?

石:应该算达到了吧。

赵:如果是在你老家如皋的农村,也有这样一个小村子,你做一个一模一样的作品行不行?

石:肯定不行的。我觉得这件作品的结构挺清楚的,我从全村13 户居民家里,把他们家正在使用的灯泡借过来,在村边的一个山坡上,组成了一个大笑脸。从形式的角度,我再去借一堆灯泡组成一个笑脸,那没问题。但脱离了石节子这个特殊语境,那作品的指向就完全发生了变化,变成另外一件作品了。这也是我们常说的,当代艺术不是一门形式主义的艺术,我们不能只是从作品的形式来判断作品,这样也容易误读作品。

赵:你同意所有的在地性作品都是针对专属语境做作品吗?变成特殊语境的定制 作品?

石:是的,特殊语境容易给作品明确、足够的力量,但也确实容易限制作品的格局。我觉得作品来自于特殊场所、特殊语境,但我希望作品背后的格局能更大。 比如黄永砯的两本美术史,其实不仅仅讨论的是美术家的事,更多还是中西方现 代性的问题。《照沟渠》我也希望“照到的”不仅仅是石节子村,或者石节子村 的问题,我觉得还是一种普遍意义上的“人心”。“我本将心向明月,奈何明月照沟渠”,还是具备一种普遍意义的吧。艺术家不也是这样吗?

赵:你指的是不是,所有的社会环境都有无奈的因素?

石:是的,打个比方,你说你做艺术这么多年,你图的啥?你说是理想,那这个理想真能实现吗?很难讲,如果不能实现你还干吗?你不还得干吗?

赵:你说的是什么理想?

石:没那么具体,就是你做艺术的原动力吧。你说你为什么做艺术?

赵:做艺术是从动物本能到理性自觉的一种需求吧。对艺术家来说,做艺术是为 自己做,还是为其他目的做,这个问题你怎么看?

石:这个不可分割,都会有。尼采把人的两端解释成动物性和超人性,一个是回 到人性的最基本属性,一个是超越普通人的最高属性。他在《悲剧起源》里将艺 术起源也分成酒神说和日神说,比如音乐是典型的酒神,造型艺术、雕塑之类的 是日神。但今天你看,其实很多艺术形式两者都有,你很难说是动物性、本能在 帮助你进行艺术创作,还是超理性在推动你的艺术创作,这个没法分开,也不用 分开。作品是给别人看的,还是给自己看的,也是一样的,往往是混在一块的。 往往造成悲剧的是,艺术家把这两点人为分的太开了,艺术家做艺术一辈子只给 自己看,不管别人,就给自己做艺术,其实可能吗?我觉得不可能的。还有一种, 艺术就给别人做的,给市场做的,艺术家自己不重要,真能做到这样吗?杰夫·昆斯都不敢这样承认。

   所以做完这件作品,我也反问过自己,这件作品的出发点是在地性创作,但这件作品真的离不开这个山沟吗? 这件作品实施完之后,这些灯在山谷里亮了一夜,老靳的父亲还觉得特别浪费电,因为这一夜是没人看的,我也走了,村民也都睡了。我觉得就这样没人看的时候,一个大笑脸在山沟里亮一夜,这种感觉挺好的,挺孤独的。

赵:挺好的。我还要问的是,艺术家的意愿得到满足了,那村民们得到什么呢? 石:艺术在历史进程中,艺术在人类的发展中,到底扮演一个什么样的角色。艺 术到底能给予社会什么?这是一个很大的问题,也是我们所有人都面临的问题。 在北京、上海、纽约、伦敦和石节子,都会存在这个问题。回到这个作品,这件 作品我想应该是无法给村民带来什么直接好处的,甚至对村民的生活还会带来不 便。但我想,为什么村民、村长还是给予了我巨大的热情,帮助我完成了这件作 品。

赵:为什么呢?

石:我觉得首先是信任,我不知道他们是否能理解我的创作意图,或者说他们是 否同意我的观点,但基于对艺术的信任,这么多年他们一直是这么做的。其次, 是中国传统里最朴素的待客之道。我是客人,客人的愿望总是应该给予最大可能 性的满足,即使有些无理,也不用挑明。所以,即使你给他们生活带来了不便,一夜家里都没有亮光,这些都没问题。

认知世界和改造世界同样重要

赵:这个我同意。回到艺术能给村民什么这个问题上,我举几个例子。一个是村 民在节假日里,自己花钱请人到村子里唱戏。在这件事里,村民们自己掏了钱, 但享受到了他们自己需要的精神生活;第二个是老靳说的,他三叔在卡塞尔接受 媒体采访时记者问他“艺术和雨水哪个更重要?”老人家说:“如果没有艺术, 我也不会来德国开这么大的眼界,但我们是庄稼人,没有雨水我们没法生活,所 以艺术重要,雨水也重要。”第三个就包括你的这件作品。这些事里都有现实生 活和精神生活的关系。你怎么看待这几个例子?

石:去德国给予了村民眼界的提高,甚至于自豪感的提升,这些都是潜移默化的。 我们无法用修个厕所、挖个水道这样方式来论证艺术无用论。更放宽点说,艺术 或者文化的作用是帮我们更好的认识这个世界,认识我们的生活了;而工具可以 直接改造生活。你说,是认识世界重要,还是改造世界重要?我觉得老靳这 10年的工作,确实造成了村民自豪感的提升、眼界的提高,从而给改造他们的生活带来了可能性,在这里面,艺术或者说艺术活动起到了重要作用,这么说不为过。 赵:你觉得我举的这三个例子有差别吗?

一次共同的“情感经历”

石:你说对艺术家来讲艺术跟生活哪个更重要?看起来一样的问题,但其实不同 之处在于,艺术对于艺术家来说是自主选择,而艺术对村民来讲,不是主动的选 择。这样看来,是有点不公,但我觉得 10 年的过程就证明了村民们对于这种选 择的认可。

赵:艺术有权力让别人生活不便吗?

石:没有。但在这件作品里,这又是特别重要的一个环节,所以,在不影响作品的前提下,把这种不便降到最低,就一个晚上。这里面村民的不便和沟渠里的笑脸都是这件作品里必不可少的一个部分。我自己觉得,村民们还挺喜欢这件作品 的,他们觉得挺漂亮的。我原来想,如果他们不愿意,我就在9点前给他们还回 去,结果他们说不用,他们还没看呢!我突然感觉到了他们的参与感,这其实是一件我们一起完成的“事儿”,在这件事情里,大家各有分工,大家都要付出,不计较彼此,是一种协商。但事情有没有意思很重要。所以,最终,大家都很满意这件事,在“干了件有意思的事”的前提下,我们达成了共识。所以,这就不是问题了。
赵:只是一件“事”?

石:从某种意义上讲,是的,只是一件事。就像一群陌生人一起干了一票特棒的 事,然后就散了。其实更像是一种共同的“情感经历”,在这样的“情感经历” 里,在那一瞬间,大家达成了共识。其实这是我觉得公共性艺术最有魅力的地方, 而不在于是否留下什么东西,或者只是某种关怀。

不以生产图像为目的,图像只是自然形成的结果 。

赵:《照沟渠》现在是一个录像和一张摄影图片吗?

石:是的,录像更像是一个作品的纪录片,交代了这件作品的完成的过程和最终 的效果。照片就是一张黑夜里的“笑脸”。

赵:你为什么不选择把这 13 户村民的“黑夜”展示出来?

石:你的问题是,当我把这笑脸点亮的时候,背后13 户村民家却是暗的,为什么不把这个交代清楚?我不太倾向于怕观众看不懂,什么都面面俱到说不停。其实录像里这些都交代清楚了,所以最终我把想象留给了观众。也许大部分观众只看到了“笑脸”,但“笑脸”背后的代价,光亮背后的“黑暗”是我们不太容易察觉的,这也是事实,也是这件作品存在的价值。没看到,没想到也没关系,只看到笑脸也没关系,有些事,是需要我们再想想的。

赵:相比较传统艺术只呈现经典结果,当代艺术可以展现过程、台下,戏剧艺术 中有打破第四堵墙。视线的转移可以带来视角的拓宽。这种不只是展现台上一分钟,而是连带着真实的展现一分钟背后的台下十年功的血肉连带关系,这样的表 现手法在当代艺术里屡见不鲜了。在这个前提下,我是否可以理解,你把13 户 村民家即时的状况排除在作品最终形式之外,是否还是一种传统思维模式?

石:不同意啊,如果我只展现一张照片,可能会被你问倒。但我还有一个录像,这个录像包含了所有的过程,所以我认为呈现方式并不传统。我理解你说的意思,在这件作品里,我的目的并不是做个“灯”而已,而是从与村民商量、到借灯、到用借来的灯组成笑脸、到山崖上亮一宿以及13 户村民家陷入黑暗,这一系列全过程,构成了这件作品。借用尼古拉斯·伯瑞奥德的观点:艺术史的发展从单纯的做个东西的“thing”、到有艺术家、艺术家签名的形式的“works”、到今天的“event”。与“works”的不同,“event”不是一个孤立的物质,也不是一个孤立的“image”,它应该是一个一连串的事件组成的场域,虽然它最终跟观众交流的还是“图像”,但此“图像”已经非彼“图像”了。简单的说,经典艺术的核心价值就是创造“图像”,而事件艺术不以生产图像为目的,图像只是事情自然生成的结果。

赵:我们再做个假设,你如果在每个村民家,在村民不知情的情况下都装上监控 摄像头。当你在山崖上亮灯的时候,你能获得最真实的村民反应,这样是不是更 让你的作品触碰到真实呢?
石:我不同意你的观点。毫无疑问,如果我把这13 个黑乎乎的监控摄像与亮着灯的微笑同时在展厅展示出来,观众会更好懂。但是观众好懂与作品更好之间并 没有必然联系。其次,村民将灯泡大方的借给我,就不用去猜测村民是否真心借 给我,还是会有其他不同观点了。他借给我,就是信任,不用再多想这个信任是 否真心,没有必要。

Shijiezi’s Smile

By Shiwanwan & Zhao chen

This article is an invitation to the Shijiezi Museum, thisdialogue based on an artwork named " But the Moom Shines on the Ditch"made in August 2017 in Shijiezi Village. The article was first published in theWeChat official accountat the Shijiezi Museum, and thanks to Dr. Zhao Chenfor the help of this article, I also thank the Shijiezi Museum, ShijieziVillage and Jin Le major for their help.

Zhao Chen=Zhao

Shi Wanwan=Shi

The universal meaning of the local works is" the human emotion".

Zhao: So Shijiezi is the irreplaceable location in this work? Can other location be replaced?

Shi: I certainly hope this work is irreplaceable whenconsidering the plan. It is also the basic characteristics and the mostimportant value of local creation.Shijiezi is such a special place that artistsare usually excited to be here.In the other word,they are more likely to beinspired in Shijiezi. Secondly, local work is one of the directions I ' mconsidering right now so I prefer an irreplaceable work.

Zhao: As far as this result is concerned, do you achieved whatyou wanted?

Shi: Maybe, I think.

Zhao: Can you draw an identical painting if there were a samevillage in your hometown, Rugao?

Shi: Definitely I can’t. The structure of the work is clearenough，I think.I madea big smile on a hillside beside the village in some bulbs in use which Iborrowed from 13 households of the village. Formally, It doesn't seem anydifferent that I borrowed such a bunch of bulbs to form a smiling faceagin. However, the direction of the work will completely changed and the workitself will became another piece of work after breaking away from Shijiezi, the special artistic conception.That is our saying goes, contemporary art isdefinitely not formalistic that we can’t consider work only by its form or thework is easy to misread by the public.

Zhao: Do you agreethat local works are all done for the special artistic conception?

Shi: Yes, the special context makes the work clear andpowerful enough but it is also really easy to limit the pattern of a work. Workcomes from special place and special context, I think. But I also hope that thereis a much larger pattern behind the work. For example--the two books on arthistory by Huang Yongping, in fact, they include not only artists discussing butalso the current generation of Chinese and Western issues. I also hope that the"shine" is not only Shijiezi village or its problem but also the "heart" in the universal sense. "My gaze toward the moon, but the moon shines on the ditch” There is also full with universal significance inthis poem.And artists are also like this.

Zhao: Do you mean that all the social environment partlyresults from resignation?

Shi: Yes. For example, you have been working with art for manyyears, and what for? Ideal? Are you sure you can achieve it? It is hard to say, is that true?And will you continue your work if the ideal cannot come true?There’s no doubt that your answer is yes.

Zhao: Ieal? You mean what?

Shi: Just like the motive force of your art work.Why are youin art?

Zhao: Art is a kind of need which is from human instinct torational consciousness. What do you think about that if the artists does artwork for themselves or for other purposes?

Shi: They are indivisible. Nietzsche interprets the two endsof man as animal and superhuman--the first is to back to the most basicattributes of human nature and the other is opening the eyes to the highestattribute beyond ordinary people. In the Origins of tragedy, he divides theorigins of art into the Dionysus and the Sun-Gods,such as a typical Dionysus, musicand typical Sun-Gods like the plastic arts and sculpture.But as you can see, In fact, nowadays many art formscontain both of the above. It’s hard to tell whether what helps you create artis animal or super rational. It can't be separated and doesn't have to do. Justlike that wheather the work is for others or for yourself. Tragically, some artists split the two points toofar.They do art to show themselves all their lives , regardless of others. Thereis also an artist whose art is not important to others and to the market.Is itrealistic? Jeff Quance can’t admit that, either. So afterfinishing this work, I also asked myself, the starting point of this work islocal creation, but is this work really inseparable from this mountain andditch When the lights lit up all night in thevalley, Jin's father felt that electricity was a waste of electricity, becauseno one had seen it that night and I had gone too, the villagers also had goneto sleep. It’s a prettynice feeling that a big smile in the valley overnight when no one is watching,Ithink, a bit lonely.

Zhao: Not bad. But I also have a question to ask, what do thevillagers get when the artist's will has been satisfied ?

Shi: In the course of history and in the development ofmankind,what role does art play and what does art give to society? That is abig problem that we all face and it exists not only in Beijing, Shanghai, NewYork, London but also Shijiezi.Back to this work, I think it has not brought anydirect benefits to the villagers, and even taken inconvenience to the lives ofthe villagers. But I guess why the villagers, the village chief, gave me greatenthusiasm to help me finish the work.

Zhao: Then why?

Shi: Firstly, the trust,I think is trus. I don't know if they understand my creative intentions or ifthey agree with me but they've beendoing this for years because of their trust in art. Secondly, it is the simplestway of hospitality in Chinese tradition. As a guest, my wishes are always being giventhe greatest possible satisfaction even if it’s a little unreasonable, they would also not identify.So that it doesn’t matter even if you'reinconveniencing their lives and there's no light at home all night.

It's just as important torecognize the world as to transform it

Zhao: I also agree that. In response to the question of what art can give to villagers, I will cite a few examples. One is that if villagersspend money to sing in the village during holidays,than they paid themselvesfor the spiritual life they needed. The second was said by Lao Jin. When histhird uncle was interviewed by the media in Castle, the reporter asked him,"which is more important about art or Rain Water?" "if therewere no art, I wouldn't have come to Germany to have such a big view," said the old man. "but we are farmers. We can't live without Rain Water. The art is important, too." The third is from the work of yours. Theseexamples all include the relationship between real life and spiritual life. What do you think about those?

Shi: Going to Germany gave villagers a better outlook and even a higher sense of pride, all of whichwere imperceptible. We cannot demonstrate the futility of art by repairing a toilet and digging a waterway. Broadly speaking, the role of art or culture is to help us better understand the worldand our lives but tools candirectly transform life. And do you think itis important to know the world or to transform the world? I feel that Jin's 10years' work has really led to an increase in villagers' pride and vision, thusbringing about the possibility of transforming their lives. In this case, artor artistic activities have played an important role. That is not to say toomuch.

Zhao: Do you think the three examples are different?

Shi: Which is more important to an artist do you think, art or life? It seems that the problem is the same, but the difference is that art is an autonomouschoice for artists but not an activechoice for villagers. This may seem unfair, but I think the 10-year process isproof of villagers' acceptance of this choice.

A common "emotional experience"

Zhao: But does art havepower to make people inconvenient ?

Shi: No. But this is also aparticularly important link in the work, so we keep this in convenience to aminimum without prejudice to the work, just one night. I think the villagersalso like this work and they think it's pretty. I thought if they didn't wantto, I'd give them back before 9: 00.But they said no, they hadn't seen it yet!Isuddenly saw their sense of participation. It was actually a task we hadaccomplished together. In this case, everyone had a division of labor andeveryone had to pay and regardless of each other--it was a negotiation. Butwhether it's interesting or not is important and in the end, everyone is happywith it. So on the premise of doing something interesting, we reached aconsensus.And than there is no problem.

Zhao: So it’s just one “thing”?

Shi: In one sense, yes. It was likea bunch of strangers doing a great thing together, and then they broke up. Infact, it’s more like a common "emotional experience", in a moment ofthat, we reached a consensus. This is what I think is the most attractive partof public art, not whether or not to leave anything or just some kind of care.

Images are only the result of naturalformation, not for the purpose of producing images.

Zhao: Is the work ” But the Moom Shines on the Ditch” a video and a photographic picture?

Shi: Yes. The video is more like adocumentary about a work which explaining the process of completion and thefinal effect of the work and the photo is a "smiling face" in thenight.

Zhao: Why not show the"night" of these 13 villagers?

Shi: You mean, when I lit up this smiling face, the 13 villagers behind it are dark. Why not explainthis clearly? I don't like to be afraid that the audience won't understand so that I should not stop explaining everything.In fact, this is clear explained in the video, so I finally left myimagination to the audience.Perhaps most of the audience only saw the "smiling face," but the price behind the "smiling face" andthe “dark” behind the light are not easy to detect. This is not only the factbut also the value of the existence of this work. It doesn't matter if theydon't see it or just see a smiling face. After all, some things need to bereconsidered.

Zhao: Compared with traditional art which only presentsclassical results, contemporary art can show the process and which under the stage, what’s more, drama art has broken the 4^thwall.The shift of sight can lead to a broadening of the perspective. This isn 't just a minute on the stand but with a real display of the next ten years ofblood and flesh ties. Such a watch is not uncommon in contemporary art . Underthis premise, can I understand whether you are still a traditional mode ofthinking when you exclude the immediate situation of 13 villagers' homes fromthe final form of your work?

Shi: No, you can’t. If I showedonly one picture, I might have nothing to say. But I also have a video thatcontains all the processes, so I don't think the presentation is traditional. I know what you mean, but in this work, my purpose is not to make a "lamp" but the whole series of processes which makes up this piece ofwork, including consulting with the villagers, borrowing a lamp, making asmiling face out of a borrowed lamp, shining on a cliff for a night and sinking13 villagers' homes into darkness. To paraphrase Nicholas Burriold, theevolution of art history has ranged from "thing" that human do simplyto the "works" in the form of an artist's signature and to"event" today. Unlike "works", "event" is not anisolated substance or an isolated "image". It might be a field o fevents and although it ultimately communicates with the audience with the"image," this "image" is no longer the "image." Simply put, the core value of classical art is to create "images" and images are only the natural result of things,but the artof events does not produce images for the purpose.

Zhao: Let's assume that if you put monitoring on every villager's house without the villagers' knowledge, you can get the truest reaction from the villagers when you light the lights on the cliff. Does this make your work more real?

Shi: I don't agree with you. There is no doubt that audiences will easy to understand the work if Ishow the 13 monitors and the shining smile. But there is no necessary connection between the audience's ease of understanding and the better work. Secondly, the villagers lend me light bulbs generously, so I don't have to guess whether the villagers really lend them to me or there will be other different views. It istrust that he lent me so I need not think more about whether this trust istrue.That's not necessary.

关于石玩玩

隋建国

第一次对玩玩有印象，是2005年10月在后现代城的“一万年”展览上。他的作品是一根4米长，被用车床车的很光滑的一根直径有7、8厘米的、带有蓝白和肉色花纹的大理石石柱（确切说应该是石棍），中间断开来，断口留有新茬。作品要求两个民工双手握着这根断开的石棍，尽量端平端直将断茬対准在一起，像两个人共同端着一根没有断开的石棍。现场两个人就这样端着，直到力气和耐心用光，石棍的断茬对不准。人不是机器，总有力气用尽的时候，而且两个人也很难平衡对方的着力点，几乎是一开始就不断出现断茬松动，然后是错动，同时石棍开始高低不平左右不直。我当时看出来，玩玩的作品着力点与雕塑家不同，瞄准的是端着石棍——被要求尽量将断茬对准的两个人的努力。因此这件作品就被玩玩自己命名为《石玩玩》。

后来我们一起参加了“打鸟”等一系列活动。

再后来看到玩玩用观念艺术的方式做了更多不同形式的作品，涉及时间，空间，记忆与图像，关心政治，阶级，种族与革命。累计看下来，知道玩玩在他那一代人中走出了一条自己的路。

在去年尤伦斯的青年群展上，展出了他的《伊斯坦布尔画家》。最普通的一张画在A4大小尺寸纸上的素描，是借助现代网络联系方式才终于找到这个叫做阿里的艺术家，将一次冒险的想象化为现实。

玩玩的作品总是经由超越现实而与现实联系在一起的，而且也总是通过揭示生活中的缺憾而完成对于生活的关怀。在他最新的作品：《一首小诗》里，他将一整本圣经用墨水涂掉，只留下二十个字，这二十个字隔着许多页串成了小说《牛虻》里的一首诗:’“不管我活着，还是我死去，我都是一只，快乐的牛虻”。小说中的主角，写下这首小诗的亚瑟，是被自己的生父也是天天捧着圣经的大主教蒙坦里尼判处了死刑。

玩玩其实有好几件作品涉及到他对于革命的想象，从中可以感觉出他对于自己所身处的文化环境的思索与反省。这“一首小诗”中描述的牛虻，或许就是他对于自己的期许。

——————

隋建国，艺术家，中央美术学院教授、博士生导师，学术委员会副主任

本文为《墙报》年度艺术家项目推介词

About Shi Wanwan

By Sui Jianguo

My first impression of Shi Wanwan was created on an exhibition entitled “Ten Thousand Years” which was held in October 2005 in the Post-modern City. The work presented by him at that exhibition was a 4m long rock stick, with a diameter of 7-8cm. The stick had already been lathed, showing blue and white and incarnadine patterns on the body. It was broken in two halves, resulting in raw edges at the fractures. Two workmen were asked to catch the two broken halves as level as possible, as if the stick were intact, until their strength and patience ran out. As the strength of human body cannot last such a long time as the machine does, and it was too difficult for the two men to keep the two halves aligned, the sticks were unsteady from the beginning and gradually became worse. I realized at the exhibition that, unlike sculptures, Shi Wanwan’s work highlighted the efforts made by the two workmen holding the sticks to keep them aligned. Therefore, this work was called Play Stone.

After the exhibition, we participated together in some other activities, such as “Hunting Birds”.

From then on, concerned about politics, social class, race and revolution, Shi Wanwan has presented more works in the form of conceptual art, relating to time, space, memory and image. These works convince me that Wanwan has already found his own way, compared with his counterparts.

At the Group Exhibition held last year in the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Wanwan displayed his work An Istanbul Painter - an ordinary sketch drawn on a piece of A4 paper. Wanwan found the Istanbul painter named Ali through modern Internet communications, turning an adventurous imagination into reality.

His works are all associated with reality by being beyond the reality, and care for actual life by revealing regrets in life. In his latest creation entitled A Poem, he inked out all the words in a Bible but leaving a total of twenty Chinese characters in different pages which constituted a poem in The Gadfly. The English version of this poem is “Then am I a happy fly, if I live or if I die.” Arthur, the leading figure in the novel, who wrote this poem, was sentenced to death by his natural father Bishop Montanelli who was always carrying around a bible.

Actually, Wanwan has displayed his imagination about revolution in several works, reflecting his contemplation of the cultural environment he is in. The gadfly described in A Poem may indicate his expectations of himself.

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Sui Jianguo, Artist, Professor, Doctoral Advisor and Deputy Director of the Academic Commission, China Central Academy of Fine Arts

This is a recommendation for the Artist of Year project of Wall Post

非常久远的玩笑

魏星

在80后的年轻艺术家群体中，石玩玩是比较善于思考和涉猎较广博的， 这就使得他的作品常常具有一些反思的色彩， 这些反思通常都是指向某种历史片段或者意识形态的表现形式，又或者是当下的社会现实的一个现象。这些当然也是很多当代艺术家所关注和思考的对象和课题， 但石玩玩的作品同时又呈现出轻松，诙谐，与温暖的色彩，非常具有个人化的印记和风格，带有一些年轻人特有的浪漫、调侃，没有过分沉重的文字和文本的注解，和所谓政治正确的负累与教条，这就让他与别的艺术家拉开了距离。在他的作品里很难找到清晰的对于某种主义的解读和倾向，他注重的似乎更是自由和独立的自我表达， 这似乎也是80后的一种集体表征。
 
在他即将于北京唐人举办的个展里， 一共将展出五件作品，都是装置和影像作品。其中《颜色革命》涉及到国旗与国家政治和时代变迁的关系，16面国旗几乎囊括了一个时代--一个被意识形态分割的时代。浓缩了从一种全球化“共产国际”到另一种全球化的过程。

《在艰苦的岁月里》来自80年代的小学教材。因此它构成了80后一代人的时代记忆和意识形态结构的一部分。在这部影像作品里，老人的形象从视觉中离去，留下来的只是小孩子的倾听和小孩子的诉说（耳机里的声音）。《自由引导人民》看上去更像是对法国政治的玩笑，红白蓝三色旗下所覆盖的是性感的女人体。但其实红白蓝三色象征着我们从一种"全球化"（共产国际）转移向另一种全球化（自由主义）的这种光谱移动的过程。当我们拉开三色旗，意味着正在解构这种历史意识的来源，而最终吸引你的目光的是女人的身体。在这里，诱惑既是引导， 而人民则永远将会被引导。

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魏星，策展人，原当代唐人艺术中心艺术总监

本文为石玩玩个展《非常久远的玩笑》前言

About A Very Long Joke - Shi Wanwan Solo Exhibition

by Wei xin

Amongst the young artists of the post-80’s,Shi Wanwan is relatively more fond of thinking and is well-read which makes his artworks reflect sentiments of introspection, these introspections are often projected upon moments in history or related to expressions of ideology or the current status of the society. However, those topics are shared by many other artists, but Shi Wanwan’s artworks often shows light-heartedness, mockery illustrated with mild colours, his personal style shows the romanticism and a joking nature of the youth, without much literary explanation and burden of needing to be politically correct. That make his artworks stands out amongst others works. It is hard to find a clear manifestation or tendency towards a certain “ism” in his work, he attaches more relevance to the independent and freedom of self-expression which is probably the collective-feature of the post-80’s generation.

The five pieces shown in his up-coming solo exhibition in Tang Contemporary Beijing are all installation and video-works. “Colour Revolution” involves the relationship between the national flag and the transition of the political zeitgeist of the nation, the 16 flags represents almost an entire age, an age divided by ideology. The work condenses the entire historical phase - from the globalization of “Communist International”, to the globalization in our present times. Video installation piece “Gadfly” came from the artist’s personal reading experience where the father signs the death warrant of the son and the death-note the son left to his lover. Spirits are high and light-hearted. The water (tears) is the reminisces of those hurting in the society, or the reminisce of the society.

“Hard Times” came from primary school text books in the 80’s, making it an integral part of ideology and memory and of the post-80’s generation. In this video art-piece, the old man disappears from the image, leaving behind the telling and listening of child. (the sounds in the earphone)

“Freedom Leads the People” looks more like a satire of French politics, a flag of red, white and blue is covering the body of a sexy lady. Actually, these 3 colours signifies the transition of optical transition of one form of globalization (Communism) to another (Liberal Capitalism), telling us that as the audience analyzes the process of this transition, we will inevitably notice only the sexy lady. Here, temptation is what leads and the people will always be led.

——————

Wei Xing, Curator, former Art Director General of Tang Contemporary Art

This is a preface to Shi Wanwan’s personal exhibition A Very Long Joke

晕车事件

梁半

第一次坐辛云鹏的车是在2012年的春天，当时是在看完展览后去望京吃饭的路上。他邀请我坐他的车，他的车小巧可爱，从各个角度看都挺老实敦厚的。我打开车门，三个大汉坐在车后座，根本没法再坐人，我们就挤了挤，还是没法进去。最后没办法我只能坐在其中一哥们腿上。他趁红灯停车时间给我介绍了这几位操着北京口音的哥们，他说被我坐腿上的是东城区的，后来关于这几位北京人就再也没有听他提起过。倒是坐在东城区那哥们腿上的那种肉麻感觉让我每想起都全身不自在，有种说不出的痒一直从屁股蔓延到头皮。我当时对车没啥概念，也不知道他的车是好车还是坏车，后来我和他去做车保养， 才知道这牌子的车全北京只有一家4S店，他每次保养都得从东坝大老远跑到西边。印象中，坐他车时他常说：我小时候北京二环以为都是农村，没有电。出了二环就能逮到蝴蝶。除此之外，我们有时会聊聊艺术的事情，说到作品时，倍认真。有次我调侃他作品做得差，他突然停车，我以为他要赶我下车，我当时已经做好像孙子一样道歉的准备。我问他怎么回事？他一本正经地说：让他们先走。边说边做挥手叫行人过马路的动作。后来发现这家伙只要是车前面有行人都会让行人先通过。我想，他踩下刹车，手一挥的那瞬间，一定很享受指挥行人快速通过马路的快感。

被我坐过无数次的车除了小辛的车外还有石玩玩的车。石玩玩的车让我过目难忘，原因在于这车造型很圆润。而且我一直纳闷一大老爷们怎么就选择了红色的呢？后来才知道红色是他的幸运色。每次做玩玩的车都让我回忆起中学时代的往事，因为他的音乐就只有周杰伦的歌，《东风破》和《千里之外》是常听到的，

我问他搞艺术的都听叽里呱啦的电音，为什么你听那么淳朴的音乐， 他说，他就是喜欢周杰伦， 没什么理由，从大学听到现在。

有次我和玩玩约好去茶馆见面。我刚好在他家附近，他说顺路过来接我，我就在路边等他。等了10分钟，远处一辆红色圆润小车缓慢行驶过来，我看这车不对劲，怎么被撞成这样！车开到我身边，他摇下车窗露出个大脑袋叫我上车。我看他这车从车尾到车前门划了一道硬伤，我打开变形的车门坐进去，问他这车怎么撞了?他说没事，有保险。根据他后来的描述，这起交通事故大概的说法是：在他家小区里，他不小心撞到其他车了， 那车很讨厌，路本来就窄，那车硬停那。撞到后，一群在旁边打牌的大妈和远处保安一直看着，他觉得特尴尬。因为他要赶时间，不可能在那干等车主过来。要么给车主写个电话说车是他撞的。这时保安小跑过来，挥舞双手，咧着大嘴说：你赶紧走啊，这车老停这挡道他活该。他想想也是，留了个条子后走掉了。在旁人看来，撞了车还不赶紧溜会显得特傻。最后我也不知这倒霉的车主得到赔偿了没。从玩玩的嘴里还得知他一件特别惊险的事情。那天晚上他半夜从我家走五环回他家，他开着开着前面突然出现一块巨石，准备装上那刹那，他心里想着：这次完了。但他还是下意识转了方向盘，噗通，车震了一下。车虽然没有正面撞上去，但车侧面还是撞到了那个被他说成是大石头的怪物。这次惊险的经历让我觉得不可思议，我甚至怀疑这件事得真实性。

他俩的车我现在还是一直在坐，但不知是什么原因我最近坐辛云鹏的车老是晕车（除非是坐副驾驶座），他说是我身体有问题，叫我多多注意身体。我也没太在意，可很奇怪每次我坐他车后座都会晕。和我有同样遭遇的还有石玩玩，有天他跟我说坐小辛的车晕得实在受不了，吐了。真的吐了！

——————

梁半，艺术家，石玩玩好友

本文发表于2015年《艺术时代》杂志

望京少年

李杰

从《伊斯坦布尔画家》到《望京少年》，对于石玩玩而言，绘画不再是单纯的语言表述与再现事物的工具，它成为了艺术家手中的道具、证物或沟通途径。绘画的动因也渐变成为对绘画的功能和对象的质疑。《望京少年》中的少年形象是艺术家通过采集不同人差异化的声音描述，参照绘制出的肖像。石玩玩试图打开绘画单向表达和逆向阅读的方式，让绘画从一开始变得开放：参与者的一件，绘制对象的不确定性、艺术家的主观介入以及观者的阅读经验一同构成了作品。

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李杰，策展人，A4当代艺术中心艺术总监

本文为石玩玩个展《望京少年》前言

Wang Jing Youth

by Li Jie

From An Istanbul Painter to Wang Jing Youth, to Shi Wanwan, painting is no longer a simple instrument for narration and representation, but a kind of props, evidence or medium of communication. The motivation of painting gradually changes into a query on the function and object of painting. The image of Wang Jing Youth was created by the artist on the basis of various descriptions of different people. The artist attempts to break the common practice of unidirectional expression and backward reading by making the painting be open at the very beginning: opinion of participators, uncertainty of the object, subjective interruption of the artist, and the reading experience of viewers, all of these constitute the artwork.

——————

Li Jie, Curator, Art Director General of A4 Contemporary Art

This is a preface to Shi Wanwan’s personal exhibition Wang Jing Youth

伊斯坦布尔画家

ON\OFF策展小组

石玩玩近来尝试着把艺术实践抛入社会关系的偶然性中去完成，这使的他工作成为了一种社会测试。

《伊斯坦布尔画家》是石玩玩根据自身所想象出的一个身处异邦的镜像，在石玩玩的设定中，“他”是一个三十岁左右的叫做“阿里”的年轻画家，居住在一个他毫不了解城市，如伊斯坦布尔。经过了各种可能的途径与漫长的过程，石玩玩找到了那个伊斯坦布尔的画家，展览中的55张文件与邮件呈现了这个经历，而素描肖像则是根据阿里的自我描述所画。但实际上，石玩玩的出发点并不是为了验证个人的想象，而更多是在观念中建构一种可能性的社会关系，并在其中实验几率的可能。

——————

本文为《伊斯坦布尔画家》参加“ON\OFF-中国年轻艺术家的观念与实践”展览中，策展团队撰写的作品介绍。

发表于同名展览画册。

An Istanbul Painter

by ON\OFF Curators team

Shi Wanwan attempts to insert his own artistic practice into the arbitrary flow of social relations. his work itself becoming a social survey.

An Istanbul Painter is a foreign individual of Sui Wanwan`s own imagining-a young painter, around 30 years old, named Ali. Although She Wanwan knows nothing of a city like Istanbul, he eventually locates the individual through a long process of exhausting all possible channels. The 55 pages of email correspondence shown here are the result of his effort, as the portrait he draws of the artist, based entirely from a written explanation from Ali himself. Shi Wanwan undertakes this process not to test his imagination, but to realize a probability.

——————

This is an introduction to An Istanbul Painter at the ON/OFF: China’s Young Artists in Concept and Practice, prepared by the curation team

Also published in the exhibition book

让你拥有不一样的经验

方敏儿

十三个播放着电影片段的小屏幕，分置于十三张油画作品旁边，这是石玩玩新的个展“正如你所见，你也可以拥有”的系列作品。他看过的这十三部电影中用来布置场景的油画作品，曾经只为影像而生，而今被石玩玩绘制成真正的油画作品，与影像并置展出。

跟很多人一样，石玩玩爱看电影。作为艺术家，电影里出现的那些绘画作品引起了他的兴趣。 石玩玩将原本只是电影里出现的，用于布置场景的一件件道具画作，那些为了制造影像的幻觉现实而有的“作品”，脱胎成真实的绘画作品，在此展出。该作品所脱胎的母体，就在作品旁边小屏幕反复播放着的影片中。从中，我们可以得到它作为一个道具曾经存在的证据，也可以看到它在电影的幻觉现实中的另一种存在。

在当代艺术中，电影也是作为一种视觉资源和技术手段借鉴和挪用，成为绘画艺术形式的图像来源，电影跟绘画本身各自拥有独特的视觉语言与形式感，而两者之间的关系在这系列作品中更显得非比寻常。

电影虽然是由一个虚构故事或根据真实的故事再重新改篇而成，但制作成电影的元素则要求真实性…“真实的”布景成了绝对和普遍的要求… 在电影里现实与虚幻的辨证组合是电影艺术的主要特征，当代的影视艺术中的图像是以真人表演的逼真性或数字化科技手段创造出来的虚拟性却又在十分逼真的空间来牵引人们的视线 ， 例如：以真实的人（演员）去演译一个人物角色、所有道具背景都是“被设计”过的“真实”物品。电影这种虚拟的现实视觉空间造就了石玩玩创作出具意义的视觉艺术作品。

这系列的创作中，石玩玩运用这数字科技化的复制产物－电影，并凭双眼与自己的推测去复制电影某一虚构但超逼真的一幕，当中的一个元素－一幅绘画， 并再将之直接成为一张独一无二、具有原真性的绘画（由于石玩玩只能依靠电影片段亲手临摹作品，所以肯定跟电影中作为道具的那张真实绘画是不一样的。）

在20世纪时的美术史中，很多艺术家透过绘画这形式以多方位和多层次地试验各种各样的观念技法和材料。这次展出的绘画作品便不只是一张传统形式的绘画而已，在这系列作品里，虽然油画是占着非常重要的位置，但绘画中的各种基本元素包括题材方式 、线条、材料与技法则是相对次要的，所有绘画的体裁均是来自不同形式与时空及国度的虚构而“真实”的电影空间里的一张虚拟但逼真绘画，之后艺术家再将之直接绘画成为一张唯一的、具原真性的油画，并摆放在现实空间里真实地呈现给观众 。石玩玩巧妙地将电影在现实与虚幻之间的独特性，再结合绘画本身的特别之处，开阔了绘画与电影相互之间的发展可能性。

绘画的一个特别之处是运用动作中某一顷刻，所以就要选择最富于孕育性的那一顷刻，使得前前后后都可以从这一刻中得到最清楚的理解，再加以想象理解 ，而石玩玩则有意利用电影这一媒介去延伸和深化绘画这一特征，他在所选取的多套电影里的空间中，不只是纯粹复制定格了具孕育性或重要性的一刻，而是再复杂地进入那一刻的空间，并选取里面所出现的一张画，之后临摹那张绘画，甚至是画框，令作品超出了对“原作”简单的直观描绘，它更深层地混淆了现实空间与虚拟的真实之间的边界，这些真实的绘画的存在，是需要依靠电影里那个高度逼真的虚拟世界再延伸出作品的意涵，它更尝试让观众进入一个既具有电影中的戏剧性的虚构但逼真的领域，但同时让观众透过绘画的真实存在而陷入在一个独有而疑幻疑真的复杂空间之中 。

石玩玩的创作手段，是让观众利用可触碰甚至乎可拥有的真实物件－十三幅绘画－作为一个入口，并透过电影艺术里独有的虚拟又超真实的世界，再进入那世界的某一顷刻中独有的复杂空间，才能体验到作品背后的体裁，这种进入多维空间的经验，开拓了绘画形式之界线的一个可能性。

方敏儿，独立策展人

本文为石玩玩个展《正如你所见，你也可以拥有》前言

Giving You a Different Experience – The Works of Shi Wanwan

by Janet Fong

Thirteen oil paintings placed next to thirteen small screens playing movie clips: this is the series of works that makes up Shi Wanwan’s new solo exhibition, As you can see,you can also possess it. The thirteen oil paintings were once used as scenery decorations in movies Shi saw. While they were once made solely for the films, now Shi Wanwan has painted them into real artworks and exhibited them alongside the videos.

Like many people, Shi Wanwan loves to watch movies. As an artist, he became interested in paintings that appear in movies. Shi Wanwan took those prop paintings that were originally used as scenery decorations, “artworks” that only exist to produce a film’s sense of illusory reality, and recreated them as real oil paintings for this exhibition. The body from which the artwork was born is the film clip played on repeat on the small screen next to the work. From this, we can the evidence of how they once existed as props. We can also see the other existence they had in the films’ illusory realities.

In contemporary art, film is treated as a visual resource and a technical method to reference and appropriate, becoming a source of images for the artistic form of painting. Film and painting each has its distinct visual language and formal sense. In this series of works, the relationship between the two mediums is made extremely exceptional.

Although movies are either created from a fictional story or by altering a true story, the elements that compose a film must have a real quality. A “real” set has become an absolute and universal requirement. The dialectical synthesis between the real and the imaginary within a movie is the primary feature of film art. The images in contemporary video art use the verisimilitude of real human performance or the artificiality of digital technology to lead the viewer’s gaze within an extremely lifelike space. For example, when using real people (actors) to interpret a character’s role, all of the props in the background are “real” objects that have been “designed.” This sort of fabricated real visual space in movies contributes to how Shi Wanwan creates meaningful visual artworks.

In this series of works, Shi Wanwan uses a digitally reproduced product, film, and relies on his vision and on his own inferences to reproduce fictional yet very realistic scenes, wherein one element is a painting. He then mechanically transforms these into unique, authentic paintings (though because Shi Wanwan must copy from the movie clips by hand, they are certainly different from the real prop paintings in the films).

In twentieth century art history, many artists used painting to conduct experiments concerning technique and material from various standpoints and theoretical levels. The works exhibited are not merely traditional forms of painting. In this series of works, although the medium of oil paint plays a very important role, other elements of the paintings, including theme, line, material and technique, do have a lesser importance. All of the painting styles come from the artificial, yet realistic, paintings in the fictitious, “real” film spaces, which also come from different genres, times and nations. Afterwards, the artist takes these works and mechanically paints them as unique, authentic oil paintings, placing them within a real space for the audience. Shi Wanwan cleverly uses film’s unique ability to straddle reality and illusion and integrates the particular characteristics of painting to unlock the artistic potential that lies between painting and film.

One unique characteristic of painting is its deployment of a single instant. Therefore, the painter must select the instant that is most rich in significance, the moment that allows the full context to be clearly understood, to which is added the understanding provided by imagination. Shi Wanwan deliberately uses the medium of film to extend and intensify this characteristic of painting. He doe not merely copy or freeze the frames that were important or meaningful; rather, he enters into the space of the moment with an attention to its complexities, selecting the paintings and copying them (even including the frames), allowing the works to transcend simple direct portrayal. He profoundly blurs the border that lies between real space and fabricated reality. The existence of these paintings must rely upon the high degree of verisimilitude in the films’ fabricated worlds to extend their meanings. They try to compel the viewer to enter into a realm that simultaneously seems like life and possesses a movie’s sense of dramatic fiction. Yet at the same time they allow the viewer to get caught up in a unique and ambiguous space through the real existence of the paintings.

Shi Wanwan’s creative practice is to allow the viewer to use the thirteen paintings, these tangible, even obtainable, objects, as an entrance point. Then, through the fabricated yet hyper-real and unique world in film, the viewer may enter into the complex space of a single instant. Only then can the viewer experience the genre that underpins the works. The exp erience of entering into a multi-dimensional

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Janet Fong, independent curator

This is a preface to Shi Wanwan’s personal exhibition As you can see, you can also possess it