中间实践新展预告丨“Afterall 展览史系列”与它的世界

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中间美术馆视出版为一种创作实践，其“中间实践”项目专注于呈现艺术领域的出版实践。

中间实践第九期

Inside-Out Art Practice 9th Episode

“Afterall 展览史系列”与它的世界

Afterall Exhibition Histories and Its Worlds

展期：

2021.10.16-2022.2.27

策展人：

黄文珑、周博雅

地点：

北京市海淀区杏石口路50号中间美术馆一层西侧阅读区

中间美术馆即将举行第九期“中间实践”，聚焦“Afterall展览史系列”丛书，追溯他们从2010年至今对西方及西方以外世界的展览事件的研究成果。这一策展项目的出发点仍在于反观我们的艺术世界——我们似乎陷入了展览不断发生且看似欣欣向荣，实则愈发同质化的困局中。1999年，任职于伦敦中央圣马丁学院的教授、策展人查尔斯·埃舍（Charles Esche, 1963—）与马克·刘易斯（Mark Lewis, 1958—）联合创立Afterall艺术研究与出版项目。彼时伦敦成为艺术市场的中心，创造力被工具化，在这样的环境中，艺术品也成为商品和符号。Afterall的创立初衷即是关注艺术正在逐渐丧失的社会性与批判性。2010年，它的子项目“Afterall展览史系列”成立，该项目旨在把“展览”作为媒介，构建一种区别于传统意义上由艺术家、艺术作品主导的全新的艺术史叙事。

北美与西欧对“展览”的系统性研究要追溯至1990年代。这在很大程度上归因于彼时艺术史研究开始广泛涉足对于社会、历史和政治语境的讨论，而非单单只关于艺术作品本身的语言。随着国际双年展、独立策展人制度及当代艺术市场在全球范围内的普及，“策展人”也逐渐成为与“艺术家”同等重要的角色，“策展”成为艺术生态中显性的一环。2010年前后，欧美多个机构建立了围绕“策展”这一话题的出版项目，包括《关于策展》（On Curating，瑞士，2008），策展主义者（The Exhibitionist，美国，2009），《红钩期刊》（Red Hook Journal，美国，2011），《策展研究期刊》（Journal of Curatorial Studies, 加拿大，2012），《做策展人的艺术家》（Artist as Curator, 意大利，2013）。“Afterall展览史系列”即诞生在这一潮流之中。作为较早进入这一领域的“展览史系列”，其工作方向也在自身实践的推进中变得清晰。将“展览”作为可被讨论的对象，在一定程度上弥补了单一线性与经典化的西方艺术史叙述，也对在亚洲、非洲、拉丁美洲的艺术实践给予了同样的关注。相比于“策展”可能产生的以策展人为主导的权力中心，展览史更加注重对展览中多个角色的描摹，而展览所能反映的历史真实也常常隐藏在这些被忽视的细节之中。

“Afterall展览史系列”从2010年至今已出版12本书。在此，我们将其中前11本划分为“为何展览”（Why Exhibition)，“艺术全球化？”（Making Art Global?)及“当艺术面向公众”（Art Becoming Public）这三个主题进行讨论。其中，“为何展览”聚焦于 “二十世纪六七十年代策展人维姆·贝伦（Wim Beeren，1928–2000，比利时）、哈拉德·塞曼（Harald Szeemann, 1933–2005，瑞士）、露西·利帕德（Lucy Lippard, 1937–，美国）、艺术家策展人理查德·哈密顿（Richard Hamilton, 1922-2001，英国）的策展活动。他们的工作提出展览成为一种创造性实践的可能。“艺术全球化？”则对1989年的第三届哈瓦那双年展（古巴哈瓦那）、“大地魔术师”（法国巴黎）、1998年的第二十四届圣保罗双年展（巴西圣保罗）和2000年上海所举行的数个展览（包括第三届上海双年展）进行案例研究。这些展览的相似之处在于策展人尝试打破以国别进行划分的展览惯例，而将来自亚洲、拉丁美洲、非洲等在后殖民语境下常被“异域风情”和“民族性”等语词代表的艺术创作，与参与了当代艺术话语体系建构的西方当代艺术创作一并打散且并置在一起，企图模糊“西方—非西方”的二元对立关系而构建一种真正“全球的”艺术体系。然而“全球艺术”的概念确能成立吗？抑或结合展览在现实中呈现的状态，此类实践反而印证了这种二分对立的顽固性呢？“当艺术面向公众”分别关注了1977年的Festac 77‘第二届世界黑人及非洲裔文化艺术节，1982年至1984年苏联“公寓艺术”团体的实践，1992年至1998年由泰国艺术家发起、众多泰国大学生参与的“清迈社会装置节”及1993年发生在芝加哥的“文化行动”公共艺术项目。这些实践与发生在机构中的展览相比更为野生、面向人群更为广阔。而这样的艺术实践之所以诞生，要么是因为不具备机构展览的条件，要么是因为不满足于机构僵硬的展览模式（大部分为美术馆白盒子结构），并均决心以一种协同创作与社会实践的方式，令个人、观众和社群等同样参与到艺术的制作和重新定义中去。

“Afterall展览史系列”的最新出版物《艺术与它的世界：展览，机构，当艺术面向公众》（Art and its Worlds: Exhibitions, Institutions and Art Becoming Public）是一部十年回顾性文集，也是他们根据“当艺术面向公众”的关键时刻所提出艺术史的另一种可能。正如本书序言中所说，“艺术因一场展示而获得生命，它的展现情境决定了它的生命力。”因此，展览史的研究便是对当艺术面向公众这一时刻的全方位拷问——在“面向公众”这一抽象的言说之下，存在着多种具体的表现样式：从美术馆白盒子的展览形式，到持续一个月的大型活动、公共场域的临时变革，音乐、戏剧、文学集会等等。艺术创作的形成不再单单依靠于艺术家在工作室中独自创造的神性时刻，而是集合了场地建设或租赁、策划、宣传、社群参与等来自多方的努力，在转变艺术生产方式的同时也回馈于更广大的群体。这些灵活的“一时一地”对不同场域产生了短暂又长远的影响，不断向我们逼问，展览，历史与艺术之间产生的动态关系是否为只于“圈内”流传的艺术实践生产方式及对象提供了一种拓宽的思路？这便是我们今日讨论“展览史”的意义所在——从过去的实践中寻找应对当下艺术与艺术机构的所面临问题的破局之法。

“Afterall展览史系列”既是一个具有整一性的连贯项目，同时也具有自我组织的灵活性。他们的出版包含了对“展览”系统化的档案收集，如展场图、平面图、参展艺术家名单、策展人书信、回忆文章、艺术家采访、口述历史等，呈现来自当时的实践者及参与者多面的、甚至相互冲突的对于事件的理解与评价，以帮助读者站在一个更为广全的角度重审历史现场。在过去的十年中，“展览史系列”与巴德学院（美国纽约）、哥德堡大学（瑞典哥德堡）、亚洲艺术文献库（中国香港）、奇穆伦加杂志（南非开普敦）等机构合作研究与出版，委托多位研究者创作专题文章，从不同的切入点分析、整合、连接和展览相关的议题。“展览史系列”的出发点并不是为了刻舟求剑，寻求一个唯一存在的真实，回溯过去的意义最终是为了对自我的察觉与批评。

中间美术馆一贯把“展览”话语作为机构创作的中心，也把“展览”作为艺术史研究的重要线索。这体现在自身展览筹备的过程中——我们在展出作品的选择、组织和呈现方面进行了各种尝试，将展览的设计和美学作为叙事和表达语言的一部分，不断致力于丰富这个语言系统。我们也在“展览作为展览”的系列演讲中不断地拓展策展话语的内涵和可能性。我们深切地感受到，当下，人们一方面对“策展人”的角色推崇备至，另一方面又缺失真正的策展意识。国内院校对于创造性“策展”方法的教学不足，而更倾向于培养艺术管理等行政技能。我们在此情境下呈现“Afterall展览史系列”，期望能借此机会强调“展览”本身在机构实践中的重要性，并与同道中人“Afterall展览史系列”一同讨论展览的原理。在展期中，我们将围绕这一系列研究与出版组织相关的学术活动及讲座。

策展人介绍

黄文珑

黄文珑在从事艺术行业之前，是一名码农。现为北京中间美术馆助理策展人，参与梳理编舞家文慧的创作经历，参与筹备大型研究性展览“巨浪与余音——重访1987年前后中国艺术的再当代过程”与“后现代主义与全球80年代”，联合策划了展览“忍不住转身”“从艺术到Yishu，从Yishu到艺术”，策划了“王璜生 | 出版让思想‘发声’”。

周博雅

现于中间美术馆担任策展助理，关注能揭示人类复杂境况和集体性情感状态的写作与艺术作品，尤其是与道德心理学及现代主义相关的讨论。她本科毕业于浙江大学哲学系，硕士毕业于芝加哥大学艺术史系。曾任2020年首届下榻艺术节项目专员。

Inside-Out Art Practice 9th Episode

Afterall Exhibition Histories and Its Worlds

Dates：

2021.10.16-2022.2.27

Curators：

Huang Wenlong, Scarly Zhou

Address：

Inside-Out Art Museum 1F West wing reading zone, No.50 Xingshikou Road, Haidian District, Beijing

Focusing on “Afterall Exhibition Histories,” the ninth episode of “Inside-Out Art Practice,” to be held by Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, will trace the project’s research on exhibition events in the West and beyond from 2010 to the present day. The starting point for this curatorial project remains a reflection on our art world, which seems to be caught in a dead-end marked by a constant, seemingly thriving, but increasingly homogenous pattern of exhibitions. In 1999, Charles Esche (1963- ) and Mark Lewis (1958- ), professors and curators from Central Saint Martins UAL, co-founded Afterall. It is an art research and publication project with a primary concern for the social and critical nature of art that was gradually being lost, at a time when London had become the center of art market, where creativity was being instrumentalized, and artworks were becoming mere commodities and symbols. In 2010, its sub-project “Afterall Exhibition Histories” was launched, which aims to use the “exhibition” as a medium to construct a new art historical narrative that is different from the traditional one dominated by the “artists-artworks” model.

The systematic study of the “exhibition” in North America and Western Europe dates back to the 1990s. This was primarily due to the fact that the research of art history back then began to engage more extensively with social, historical, and political contexts than with the discourse of the artwork itself. As international biennials, independent curatorships, and the contemporary art market became more widespread around the world, the “curator” gradually came to equal prominence as the “artist,” and “curating” became a visible part of the art ecology. Around 2010, several institutions in Europe and the United States initiated publication programs on the topic of “curating,” including On Curating (Switzerland, 2008), The Exhibitionist (USA, 2009), Red Hook Journal (USA, 2011), Journal of Curatorial Studies (Canada, 2012) and Artist as Curator (Italy, 2013). The “Afterall Exhibition Histories” was born out of this trend. As an early entrant into this field, the direction of the series has also become explicit in the advancement of its own practice. The use of the “exhibition” as an object of discussion compensated for the monolithic and classical narrative of Western art history to some extent, and also gave equal attention to art practices in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The history of exhibitions focuses more on the portrayal of multiple roles in the exhibition than on the power center driven by curators that “curating” may produce, and the historical realities that exhibitions could reflect are often hidden in these neglected details.

The “Afterall Exhibition Histories” has published 12 books since 2010. In this exhibition, we divide the first 11 books into three categories: "Why Exhibition", "Making Art Global?" and "Art Becoming Public". Among them, "Why Exhibition" focuses on the curatorial events in 1960s and 1970s by curators Wim Beeren (1928-2000, Belgium), Harald Szeemann (1933-2005, Switzerland), Lucy Lippard (1933-2005, USA), and artist-curator Richard Hamilton (1922-2001, UK). Their work proposes the possibility of the exhibition being a creative practice. "Making Art Global?" conducts case studies of the Third Havana Biennial (Havana, Cuba) in 1989, Magiciens de la Terre (Paris, France) in 1989, the 24th Sao Paulo Biennial (Sao Paulo, Brazil) in 1998, and several exhibitions held in Shanghai in 2000 (including the Third Shanghai Biennial). The similarity between these exhibitions lies in the curators' attempt to break the conventional curatorial strategy of dividing the artworks by country. Instead, they juxtaposed the artworks from Asia, Latin America, and Africa, which are often represented by terms such as "exoticism" and "ethnicity" in the post-colonial context, with Western contemporary artworks that have participated in the construction of the contemporary art discourse. Such attempt is to blur the dichotomy of "Western vs Non-Western" and to construct a truly "global" art system. But is the concept of "global art" valid, or does this practice confirm the persistence of this dichotomy in light of how exhibition was perceived by public in reality? “Art Becoming Public” focuses on the practice of the FESTAC ’77, the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977, the Soviet APTART from 1982 to 1984, the Chiang Mai Soical Installation 1992 to 1998 which was initiated by Thai artists and involved many Thai university students, and the Chicago Culture in Action public art project in 1993. These art practices, which are wilder and oriented towards a wider audience than institutional exhibitions, were born either because they did not have the conditions for institutional exhibitions or because they were not satisfied with the rigid exhibition model of institutions (most of which happened in white boxes of art museums) and were determined to engage individuals, audiences and communities into the production and redefinition of art in the way of collaborative work and social practice.

Art and its Worlds: Exhibitions, Institutions and Art Becoming Public, the latest publication of the “Afterall Exhibition Histories,” is a decade-long retrospective as well as an alternative vision of art history they proposed based on the pivotal moment of “art becoming public.” As stated in the anthology’s introduction, “If art relies on a show, or showing, to come to life, then the exhibition similarly refuses self-sufficiency, relying on its social, political and economic context and contingencies (the land and the weather) to determine its vitality and sustainability.” Hence, the study of exhibition history is an all-encompassing interrogation of the moment of art becoming public – underneath the abstract rhetoric of “becoming public,” there are various specific forms of expression: the white cube aesthetic in art museums, large events lasting as long as a month, temporary changes in public spaces, or gatherings of music, theater, and literature, etc. Art practice no longer relied solely on the divine moments created by artists alone in their studios, but instead brought together efforts from multiple parties, such as venue construction, rental, curating, promotion, or community participation, transforming the way art was produced while also giving back to a broader community. These flexible “moments and places” have a transient yet far-reaching impact on different fields, constantly questioning us if the dynamic relationship between exhibition, history, and art has provided a broadened thinking for the methods and objects of artistic practices and production that are merely circulated “within the circle?” This is the meaning of our discussion of “Exhibition Histories” today –to find a break out of the dilemma faced by art and art institutions today from past practices.

The “Afterall Exhibition Histories” is a coherent and consistent project, and at the same time it obtains flexibility of self-organizing. The publications contain a systematic archival collection of the “exhibitions,” such as installation views of an exhibition, floor plans, lists of participating artists, curatorial letters, reminiscences, interviews with artists, and oral histories, etc., presenting multifaceted and even conflicting understandings and evaluations of the events from the practitioners and participants at the time, to help readers revisit the historical scene from a broader perspective. In the past decade, the “Exhibition Histories” has collaborated with institutions such as Bard College (New York, USA), Gothenburg University (Gothenburg, Sweden), Asia Art Archive (Hong Kong, China), and the Chimurenga Magazine (Cape Town, South Africa) on research and publications, commissioning a number of researchers to create thematic articles that analyze, integrate, and connect topics that are relevant to exhibitions from different entry points. The starting point for the “Exhibition Histories” is not to seek a sole reality, disregarding the changing circumstances. The significance of looking back to the past lies in self-awareness and criticism.

The Inside-Out Art Museum has always placed the discourse of “exhibitions” at the center of its practice, and has taken the “exhibition” as an essential thread for art history studies. This is reflected in the preparation of the exhibitions. With various efforts we have made in selecting, organizing, and presenting the works on display, we regard the design and aesthetics of exhibitions as a part of our narrative and expression, a system that we have been continuously working to enrich. Moreover, we keep expanding the connotations and possibilities of the discourse of curating in our lecture series “Exhibition as Exhibition.” We deeply feel that the role of the “curator” is highly esteemed at present on the one hand, while on the other, there is a lack of real curatorial awareness. In China, the teaching of creative “curatorial” methodologies is rather inadequate in domestic institutions, which meanwhile give more attention to the cultivation of administrative skills such as art management. Presenting the “Afterall Exhibition Histories” in this context, we hope to take this opportunity to highlight the importance of the “exhibition” itself in institutional practices, and to discuss the principles of exhibitions with our fellows, the “Afterall Exhibition Histories.” We will organize academic events and lectures related to this series of research and publications during the exhibition period.

Curators

Huang Wenlong

Before entering into the art world, Huang Wenlong worked as software developer. She is assistant curator at the Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum. She researched on Beijing-based choreographer Wen Hui's practice. She worked as assistant curator in major research exhibition Waves and Echoes: A Process of Re-contemporarization in Chinese Art Circa 1987 Revisited and Waves and Echoes: Postmodernism and the Global 1980s. She co-curated An Impulse to Turn, From Art to Yishu, From Yishu to Art, and curated Wang Huangsheng: Publishing Enables Thinking Out Loud. 

Scarly Zhou

Scarly Zhou is currently working as a curatorial assistant at Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum. She cares about writings and artworks that reveal the complex human living conditions and collective affective state, with a focus on the discussions around moral psychology and modernism. She has a B.A. from Zhejiang University Department of Philosophy and a M.A. from University of Chicago Department of History of Art. She was the project coordinator of Stay Art Weekend 2020.