走出去更要走进去——全国中青年视觉艺术策展人赴美策展工作坊侧记

文王妍峰 Wang Yanfeng 译张海鹰 Zhang Haiying

走出去更要走进去
——全国中青年视觉艺术策展人赴美策展工作坊侧记

“Going out” and “Going into”——Sidelight on Exhibition Planning Workshop in the U.S. by Middle-aged and Young Chinese Visual Art Curators

文王妍峰 Wang Yanfeng 译张海鹰 Zhang Haiying

开放式对话现场 The Open Dialogue

“经过1年多的精心筹备，中美双方合作为期2个月的工作坊如期而至。我相信，这次工作坊是近距离的交流，是学术上的互鉴。中国文联始终致力于服务和培养艺术家，搭建国际化的交流合作平台”，在简朴的开班式上，工作坊团长、中国文联文艺研修院副院长冀彦伟用“为什么交流”“交流什么”“怎么交流”对这个已列入中国文联2016年度重点工作的项目提出希望和要求。近日，由国家艺术基金资助、中国文联国际联络部协助、中国文联文艺研修院主办的“2016全国中青年视觉艺术策展人赴美策展工作坊”在纽约开启了合作交流的帷幕。

在短短两周内，工作坊团员走访了位于纽约曼哈顿、布鲁克林区和皇后区等的18家艺术机构，其中既有非政府机构，也包含公立与私立博物馆、美术馆，艺术院校、画廊、拍卖行、艺术家驻留机构，以及非营利艺术中介。工作坊团员、四川美术馆策展人冯石认为，每天的早出晚归和数万步行走“直接丈量了纽约的艺术地图，同时，也让自己对于艺术之于社会和国家的意义、对于自己的使命有了更为清晰的认知和重构”。

从单向到双向

“我们这次的项目基点是在同一平台平等地双向交流”，在工作坊的微信工作群里，文艺研修院的项目组成员谢洋艺正与纽约艺术基金会的朱迪跨时差地音频沟通。

作为合作方，基金会执行总监迈克尔·罗伊斯表示：“能为这群杰出的中国策展人搭建和纽约艺术界领军人物沟通的平台，我们感到非常荣幸，我们希望让双方有机会互享策展经历，将交流心得带回各自的工作机构和所服务的文化社群中”。

工作坊期间，为了让大家从更高的立意重视此次工作坊，冀彦伟带领全体团员拜访了在纽约的“家”——中国驻纽约总领事馆，文化参赞李立言、文化领事慕享宏、马晓琛、王萍、郭文梅等热情会见了全体成员。李立言向大家介绍了总领事馆的基本情况和中国艺术文化项目在纽约的现状。他表示，此次团员们必须学会使用“艺术”这门世界语言，用自己的智慧和能力，“润物无声”地向世界阐释推介更多具有中国特色、体现中国精神、蕴藏中国智慧的优秀文化，为提高国家文化软实力而共同努力。

对此，冀彦伟说，国之交在于民相亲，民相亲在于心相通，策展人应该坚持通过创新、沟通、合作、展示、体验、学习与碰撞等方式方法，让更多更好的中国艺术作品走入世界民众的心。随着世界格局的改变，各国开始感受到了中国综合国力的崛起与强大。在中国驻纽约总领事馆举办的此次活动，不但让大家体会到“家”的感觉，更是唤醒了团员的爱国热情。

从1米到0.1米

走进机构，走近策展人。团员在讲座交流之后进入驻留机构工作1个月。如果说讲座交流的物理距离是1米，驻留工作的距离则是0.1米。

重视当地文化保护与跨文化交流。多家非政府组织在本地文化保护和跨文化交流的过程中成就显著。正如纽约艺术基金会发展部总监马克·罗西耶所介绍的，目前纽约非营利艺术机构筹款通常包括四种途径：政府支持、企业与私人基金会赞助、个人募捐，而其筹资前提要基于纽约具体的税收制度。掌握资金来源之后，他们有针对性地推动社区当地或他者文化中本土艺术的发展，并开展艺术教育活动服务于所在地区的民众，最大特点是在项目遴选上以当地民众需求为导向，结合不同艺术家作品特质挖掘潜力推动项目，促使多元文化背景的群体增进对彼此的了解，并稳固当地的社会结构，同时也让民间艺术参与到当代艺术的话语空间。此外，博物馆、美术馆也扮演着重要的文化解说者角色，并极具公共服务意识。

在工作坊期间，团员们了解到，纽约的艺术发展重视公共服务功能，如布鲁克林博物馆为当地中小学生提供艺术教育的服务，其一层大厅还为当地居民提供婚宴场地租赁服务；布鲁克林艺术协会致力于推动纽约布鲁克林区的文化艺术项目以服务于本地区民众，项目形式涵盖扶持艺术家创作实践与艺术教育。总体上，美国对于公共艺术的赞助、策划、执行和评价已形成较为完整的体系，对激励公共艺术创作提供良好的资金扶持和相对开放的公共环境，并以此带动当地文化艺术的发展。

纽约的艺术机构在发展策略上非常重视学术、科技、商业平台间的资源共享，不仅体现在个别艺术家的创作上，也反映在机构的日常运作中。工作坊造访的大都会博物馆，作为世界四大博物馆之一，诚然其延续着大型博物馆的展览策略，较稳定地设立以地域和历史衍变为依据而划分的永久陈列区，但其展品却始终处于循序渐进的“换血”状态，例如大都会博物馆与纽约佳士得拍卖行的合作，为博物馆筹集资金维护藏品、更新馆藏资源和开拓全球化市场都提供更有效的渠道。

团员、中央美术学院副研究员刘礼宾和团员、中国文化对外交流集团策展人孙凤为驻留机构雕塑中心的同仁做了关于中国当代艺术的分享。在被戏称为鲁西口音的英语作为沟通媒介的框架下，刘礼宾介绍了中国当代艺术发展的情况；孙凤则介绍了中国艺术展览国际交流的历史，中美艺术交流中的重要展览以及近期策展方向，双方的探讨从展览策划、学术研究、新媒介传播再到中美文化、中国当代艺术的新动向以及价值等，美方策展人听得津津有味，都感觉双向的和近距离的交流是最优的。

中国文联文艺研修院常务副院长傅亦轩在接受媒体采访时说：“我们在国内、国外做过多次策展人研修班，但是像这次这样时间长、形式多、距离近、重交流的项目还是不多见的，我们希望这20位策展人在未来20年回头看时，能看到这次策展工作坊的价值和意义”。“国家艺术基金和中国文联做的这项工作正逢其时，作为一名独立策展人，我在世界上多个国家行走工作，让我想不到的是美国同行乃至其他国家的同行为我们的国家财政资金支持这么好的艺术项目叫好，他们认为我们很幸福，也很有潜力。回去之后，我将与更多同行和艺术家分享我这一路的满满的收获……”工作坊团员、独立策展人郭净感受到了背后的力量和暖意。

策展人全神贯注聆听报告Curators Listened to Lecture Attentively

“After careful preparation for over a year and thanks to the joint efforts of our Chinese and U.S. colleagues, this 2-month-long workshop is launched as expected. I am confident that it will facilitate close-range communication and mutual academic learning. As always, CFLAC aims at providing service and training for our artists by building up international platforms for exchange and cooperation.” Mr. JI Yanwei, vice president of the Academy of Literary and Art, CFLAC (ALAC) made such remarks at the modest launching ceremony, explaining its “why”, “what” and “how”as well as expressing ardent expectations for this key project of CFLAC in 2016. Thus, the “Exhibition Planning Workshop in the U.S. by Middle-aged and Young Chinese Visual Art Curators”, hosted by ALAC and subsidized by the China National Arts Fund, opened up its exchange and cooperation activities in New York.In just two weeks, participants of the workshop visited 18 New York art institutions across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, covering NGOs, public and private museums, galleries, art academies, auction houses, artist residences and nonprofit art agencies. Every day, the participants went through early rises, late returns and over ten thousand counts of footsteps in between. Ms FENG Shi, a curator from Sichuan Art Gallery, regarded such experience as “direct measurement of the artistic map in New York”, “a re-construction of one’s understanding over the significance of arts to one’s society and motherland” and “a reminder for a clearer vision of one’s mission”.

From Single Track to Double Lanes

“The base line of this workshop project is that we conduct equal and mutual exchange over a single platform.” Stella and Miracle, taskforce members at ALAC, went on across-time-zone audio communication via group talk of WeChat APP specially set for the workshop with Judy at New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).

Mr. Michael Royce, Executive Director of NYFA, representing the U.S. partner for the workshop project, said, “We feel honored to establish a platform for these outstanding Chinese curators to communicate with leading members of the New York art circles. We do hope that both sides may have opportunities to share curatorial experiences and bring the learning from the exchanges back to our respective organizations and to the cultural communities that we serve”. While in New York, Mr. JI Yanwei led the participants on a ‘home visit’ to the Chinese Consulate General, with a view to enhancing their understanding of the project from a higher perspective. It was a happy gathering with the cultural officials headed by the culture counselor, Mr. LI Liyan. After introducing the basics of the Consulate General as well as the status of Chinese arts and culture programs in New York, Mr. LI Liyan emphasized that participants of the workshop should learn and master the universal language of art, apply their intelligence and capabilities to the interpretation and promotion of Chinese culture overseas, introduce to the world more and more art works that embody Chinese characteristics, spirits and intelligence.

In response, Mr. JI Yanwei re-iterated that heart-to-heart communication holds the key to the amity between peoples which in turn leads the way to sound relations between states. He urged the participants to bring more and better Chinese art works into the hearts of the people around the globe by means of artistic innovation, communication, cooperation, exhibition, experiencing, studying and questioning. This visit to the Chinese Consulate General in New York brought a sense of home to the participants, and enhanced their sense of duty and mission to the home country.

From 1 Meter to 0.1 Meter

The workshop emphasized on going into art organizations and getting close to local curators at work. After lectures and exchange visits, the participants went into corresponding organizations and worked there for one month. If the physicaldistance between the teachers and the students was set at 1 meter, that at the curators’ posts was reduced to 0.1 meter.

团员即兴创作 Attendees' Improvisation

The workshop also emphasized on cultural preservation and cross-culture exchanges. Several NGOs showcased their outstanding achievements in this regard. Mr. Mark Rossier, director of the Development Department of NYFA, introduced four ways of fund-raising common to non-profit art organizations in New York, i.e., government support, enterprise sponsorship, private foundation sponsorship and individual donation. Such fund-raising is based upon the specific taxation system in New York. After securing the funding wells, such organizations conduct targeted events to promote the art development in local communities and provide art education service for the local people. The major feature is that the projects are selected according to local people’s demands and in combination of individual artists’ characteristics and potentials. The purposes of these activities are to promote mutual understandings among groups of diverse cultural backgrounds, to stabilize local social structures and to accommodate folk arts with discourse space into contemporary arts. Furthermore, museums and art galleries in New York, with a strong sense of public service, play important roles as culture expounders.

Participants of the workshop learned that special attention is given to public service function in the art development in New York. Brooklyn Museum offers art education service to students of local elementary and middle schools. Its lobby hall is for lease to accommodate local people’s weddings. Brooklyn Arts Council makes efforts to promote arts and culture programs within the Brooklyn District in service of its local people. Its programs include those supporting artists’ creative works and art education. In general, the U.S. has established a rather comprehensive system for the funding, planning, execution and evaluation of public arts, which provides sound funding and open environment for artistic creations, and boosts the art development in local communities in turn.

Art organizations in New York attach importance in their development strategy to resource sharing across academic, technological and commercial platforms, as seen not only in individual artists’ creation, but also in daily operation of the organizations. Participants of the workshop paid visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA). As one of the top four museums in the world, it adopts the exhibition strategy common to large-scale museums, i.e., as a rather stable practice, setting up permanent exhibition sections according to geographical divisions and historical development. However, the exhibits within these sections are in constant alteration. As another example, the cooperation between MMA and the Christie’s provides an effective channel for the museum to collect funds for its art crafts conservation, collection resources renewal and global market development.

Mr. LIU Libin, an associate researcher at China Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Ms SUN Feng, a curator from China Arts and Entertainment Group, both as participants of the workshop, made presentations on Chinese contemporary arts for their colleagues at the Sculpture Center where they stayed and worked at the latter half of the workshop. Mr. LIU Libin elaborated on the development of Chinese contemporary arts with a heavy accent of Shandong provincial dialect in his English. Ms SUN Feng introduced the international exchange history of Chinese artistic exhibitions, key exhibitions in Sino-U.S. art exchanges and directions for recent exhibition planning. The twoway discussion extended from exhibition planning, academic study and new media communication to cultures of China and the U.S., new trends and values in Chinese contemporary arts. U.S. curators quite enjoyed the presentations and discussion. Both Chinese and U.S. curators at work felt that such doublelane and close-range communication may bring an optimized effect.

Mr. FU Yixuan, executive vice president of ALAC received media interview on this workshop. He made such comment as follows, “Though we have organized curator trainings and workshops both at home and abroad for many times, it is a rare case that we have a program of such a long span, multiple training methods, close range and heavy emphasis on exchanges. We hope that the 20 participants may look back at this workshop in 20 years’time, and then identify its true value and significance”.“China National Arts Fund and CFLAC have really taken on themselves a timely job to support our workshop. As an independent curator, I have walked through and worked in many countries. Quite out of my expectation, my counterparts in the U.S. and other countries applauded on China National Arts Fund’s support to such an excellent program. They felt that Chinese curators are lucky and full of potentials. Upon returning home, I will share my full load of learning and experience with many fellow curators and artists.” Ms GUO Jing, an independent curator as one participant of this workshop in U.S. felt the strength and warmth in these sentences.