露台 The Terrace

装置: 显示屏幕,音箱,单频录像,灯光,音乐,声音,文本, 2021年 “原音:太原的地方音景”展览,太原长江美术馆

这是基于在太原东山晴社区的人文地理田野实践,以美术馆露台空间所做的特定空间系列装置作品,探讨地方想象的新可能性。 艺术家把美术馆四楼户外露台,重新建构为展开有关东山晴社区地方想象的特定场所。露台,是西方都市化生活方式发展中的一个符号。在中国,露台是戏台的早期形态,也与村落形态有关。站在美术馆露台,环望仍在建设中的东山晴社区,艺术家邀请观众和社区居民,感受和发问自己所在的地方。 整个作品以露台和户外阳台为完整空间布局,呈现一组共四件作品,分别为“这是什么地方?”“想象的风景 I”“想象的风景 II”“回家的路”。以灯光、装置、声音、音乐、影像、文本等多种媒介形式,重新聆听地方,观测地方,叙述地方,想象地方。只有注入私人情感和意义,空间才能转变为真实的地方。艺术家希望通过分享自己对当地社区和太原的私人地方想象,以地方想象来重建地方。

作品1:“这是什么地方?”

装置: 霓虹灯牌,音箱,音乐,声音,铜板蚀刻文本,2021年
声轨:<身体地理学>。蝉鸣,下雨,刮风,环境声,即兴演奏的钢琴,以及合成器。

这是艺术家作为短暂停留的外来者,在美术馆所在之东山晴社区,及其附近区域游荡三天后,所分享的一份私人地方想象与体验记录。作品包括三部分。依据艺术家手写文字“这是什么地方?”所制作的霓虹灯光装置,挂在露台外墙高处,朝向东山晴社区。这是艺术家对自己的提问,也是对观众和社区居民的提问。铜板蚀刻的文本,包括一个自制的“地方音景田野观测表”,以及基于田野游荡记忆所选取和写作的九个“私人地点声音写作文本”。氛围音乐与声音部分,是艺术家回到北京工作室后,配合田野录音聆听和文本写作,即兴创作的氛围音乐(网页下拉到底聆听),作为对田野游荡的情感回应。这些音乐,结合露台外社区的日常声响,共同形成新的声音环境场域。霓虹灯,文本,音乐与声音,将美术馆露台转变为面向社区的地方新戏台。

作品2:想象的风景I

声音装置: 木亭,音箱,指示灯,音乐,声音,2021年
声轨内容: 石块,水流,火堆,环境声。即兴演奏的管弦乐,以及合成器。女声旁白。

“想象的风景”,是关于打开地方想象可能性的尝试。I 和II是并置的两个作品。借用传统的观景亭以及太原至今仍残留的碉堡造型,在面向社区的露台位置,艺术家设置了一个封闭的观测亭。亭子面向社区的面板上,留有若干狭小的观察口。进入黑暗的观测亭,观众在通过音箱聆听声响叙事的同时,可以观望东山晴社区,以及亭子内部的光线投射,重新想象自己所处的地方。艺术家虚构了一个关于东山晴社区的“旁白故事文本”,并以此为基础即兴创作音乐,结合声音采样,以女声旁白方式把故事完整讲述给观众(网页下来到底聆听)。这个故事讲述了土壤、砖石、杂草、蟋蟀和鸟类,糅杂了历史、现状与未来,重新想象了社区的地方性可能。

作品3:想象的风景II

有声录像: 显示屏幕,音乐,声音,2021年
声轨内容:基于田野录音所做的电子原音音轨。录音素材包括:交通声响,建筑工地施工,午后阵雨,锣鼓排练,老人唱戏,拍打桥栏,电梯上下,抚摸铁钟,燕子鸣叫,水流轰鸣等等。其他音乐包括,即兴演奏的管弦乐,钢琴与合成器。

艺术家在网络上发现了短视频up主“街拍太原”小余,一位久居太原十多年,从事防水施工的河南人。小余喜欢跟随自己的工作,穿行在太原城市内外,每天简单拍摄并朴实介绍他所看到的太原。从他拍摄的将近4000个短视频中,能看到一个普通人眼里太原这个地方的方方面面。艺术家选取了其中部分内容,分离视频和旁白音频,并结合自己的太原地方印象,辅助以基于田野录音创作的电子原音音轨,重新架构叙事,创作了一个新的视频。播放中的视频,被平行放置在东山晴社区户外实景之前,在其多重太原影像交错重叠之下,人们可以重新聆听、看见和想象太原。

作品4:回家的路

概念作品 2021年

东山晴社区的建设之初,面对城市化进程中的种种问题,建筑师们围绕社区营造做了不少思考和努力。长江美术馆在设计之初,经过调研,定位为社区会客厅,城市和社区的开放式连通器。因此,美术馆专门设计了从街道入口楼梯,到二楼户外平台,再到连桥通往社区的公共流线。社区居民们可以通过这条路线,自由使用公共空间以及方便回家。因为种种原因,目前美术馆通往社区的这条通道已经关闭一段时间。因此,艺术家藉由此次展览之机,与馆方协商,要求馆方在展览期间,重新打开美术馆的社区通道,保持居民回家的路畅通无阻。

The Terrace

Installations
Screen, speakers, single-channel video, light, music, sound, texts, 2021

The outdoor terrace on the fourth floor of the Changjiang Art Museum was rebuilt as a specific place to unfold the local imagination about the Eastern Heights community. Terrace, aside from symbolizing the development of the western urbanization lifestyle, is an early form of the theatrical stage in China, related also to the village form. Inviting the audience and community residents to stand on the Museum’s terrace and look around the Eastern Heights community, which is still under construction, the artist attempts to motivate the public to think about where they are. An installation set that consists of four individual works, namely What is This Place, Imaginary Landscape I, and Imaginary Landscape II and The Way Back Home, the entire work manipulates terraces and outdoor balconies as a complete spatial layout. In the form of light, installation, sound, music, video, text, and other types of media, “place” is heard, observed, narrated, and imagined anew. Space is transformed into a “place” only when people establish a sense of belonging with their personal experiences and emotions. By projecting his imagination of the local community and Taiyuan, the artist wishes to rebuild this place by provoking local imagination.

“What is This Place?”

Installations: Neon billboard, speakers,music, sounds, copper plate etching texts,2021
Soundtrack: “Geographies of the Body”.Cicadas, rain, wind, environmental sounds, impromptu piano, and synthesizer.

This is a private record of local imagination and experience that the artist shares as a short-stay outsider, after wandering for three days in the Eastern Heights community and its nearby areas where the Museum locates. This work consists of three parts. Creating a neon light text installation of “What is This Place?” in the style of his handwriting, the artist poses the question to the audience, residents of the community, and also to himself by hanging the billboard high above the outer wall of the terrace, facing the residential areas. The texts etched on the copper plate present a self-made “local soundscape field observation table” and nine “texts on private places” selected and written based on the artist’s wandering experience. After returning to his Beijing studio, the artist improvised ambient music in accordance with his text writing and field recording, creating a sound installation that he considers as an emotional response to his wandering in the field. This music, combined with the surrounding daily soundscapes of the community, forms a new acoustic milieu. Neon lights, text, music, and sound transform the Museum’s terrace into a new “theatrical stage” for the local community.

Imaginary Landscape I

Sound Installation: Wood pavilion, speakers, indicator light, music, sounds,2021
Soundtrack: Stones, waters, fires, environmental sounds. Impromptu orchestral instruments, and synthesizer. Female voiceover.

Imaginary Landscape I attempts to open up the possibilities of imagination towards a place. The I and II are two juxtaposed works. Influenced by the traditional Chinese pavilions and the WWII bunkers remaining in Taiyuan, the artist sets up on the terrace, facing the community, an enclosed observation pavilion that possesses several narrow windows. Upon entering the dark pavilion, the audience can watch the Eastern Heights community and the light projection within the limited space while listening to a sound narrative via speakers, reimagining where they are. The artist improvised music based on a fictional text about the community that he makes up. Incorporating with field recording, the story is conveyed to the audience through a female voiceover. This story is about soil, masonry, weeds, crickets, and birds that mingle with history, present situation, and the future, thus reimagining the possibilities of placemaking by the local people.

Imaginary Landscape II

Video with sound: Screen, music, sounds, 2021
Soundtrack: This is an electroacoustic music soundtrack created based on field recording. The recording material includes sounds of: traffic, on-site construction, afternoon showers, gongs and drums rehearsal, old people singing, slapping bridges, elevators up and down, stroking iron bells, swallow tweets, water roaring, etc. Other music includes, improvised orchestral music, piano and synthesizer.

The artist found the vlogger “ Taiyuan Street Shooting” Xiao Yu on the Internet, a Henanese who has lived in Taiyuan for more than ten years and is engaged in rainproof maintenance. Walking through the city of Taiyuan as part of his job, Xiao Yu is interested in taking videos every day to introduce what he sees in the city. His nearly 4,000 online short videos demonstrate all aspects of Taiyuan from an ordinary perspective. The artist selected about 200 short videos, editing the image to integrate with his music improvised based on his impressions towards the city, thus restructuring a new narrative video placed in parallel to the scenery of the Eastern Heights community. With multiple images of Taiyuan interlaced and superimposed, people get a chance to listen to, see and imagine the city anew.

The Way Back Home

Conceptual work 2021 
 
Eastern Heights community faces various problems at its early stage of construction owes to the process of urbanization. Architects make a lot of effort concerning the community-building and thus positioning Yangtze Art Museum as an open “parlor” that connects the community to the urban city. A staircase entryway uprising from the street is designed to bridge the terrace on the second floor to the residential community, creating a public area where residents can use freely and via which, to reach their homes. Upon the request of the artist, this passage, which was closed due to various reasons, is now re-opened during the exhibition period, to keep the residents’ way home unimpeded.

1. “这是什么地方?”-展览现场

2. 想象的风景I - 展览现场

3. 想象的风景 II - 展览现场

想象的风景 II (全片)