我想和你谈谈，但不是你们
‘Alternativesto Ritual’ presents third solo project:
Iwant to talk to you, but not to all of you by LiRan
开幕：2012年12月07日，晚7：00
展期：2012年12月07日至2013 年1月12日
主办：德国驻上海总领事馆文化教育处
地点：歌德开放空间，上海，福州路318号高腾大厦101室
电话：086 21 63912068
空间开放时间：上午10：30至下午6点（周一至周五），下午1点至5点（周六），周日闭馆
如需了解更多信息请联系：高菁
jing.gao@shanghai.goethe.org
《我想和你谈谈，但不是你们》针对艺术体系内各种邂逅背后所蕴含的可能性和局限性进行了探讨。这些邂逅既包括艺术家、策展人和其他文化实践者之间的对话与碰撞。
在艺术体系内，一方面，我们迫切地需要通过对话进行分享与交流；但同时，这种迫切的交流自身也存在局限性。李然的视角正是围绕这些对话与交流展开，并与本次展览策展人比利安娜·思瑞克共同创作了一批新作，从不同的角度和层面对交流的有效性进行探讨。此外，在探讨、甚至控制对话的同时，艺术家也对作品的阅读方式提出质疑。
根据李然的提议，他与策展人的一次对话成为本次作品的序曲。谈话伊始，他先分享了自己的一些经历和故事，并谈到了展览中“艺术家博物馆”板块所展示的一批图像。这些“抽象”的图像仅仅展示了日常生活中，每次参与对话的艺术家、策展人、朋友以及周围的环境物品的局部。在对话过程中，李然还分享了很多图片场景中发生的讨论内容。同时，他也提出了一系列原本鲜少被公开讨论的话题，包括策展人在项目中的角色、策展实践与艺术实践的区别、策展的创作过程、本次群展中的展示的文献资料、以及其他与艺术体系内实践者息息相关的话题。
艺术体系所面临的问题究竟如何能够被传递、被交流，而在以展览的形式呈现后又将被如何解读，这些都是艺术家希望深入探讨的。李然近年来的艺术实践也多围绕这些主题展开，而对于他的影像作品的肤浅解读往往无法脱离对其演技的评价。
他将这些情景作为艺术实践的幻境来进行探索，很难与人分享、也很难实现有效交流。这些也正是他所谈到的那些图像所面临的困境。虽然很难明确地阐述，但是我们始终希望能够找到其他可能的途径来开放讨论、并探索参与讨论的人彼此之间的距离。
简介
李然1986年出生于湖北，目前工作生活在北京。2009年获四川美术学院油画系，获学士学位，他是“公司/Company”项目的发起人与参与者。在他的作品中，他通过模仿者的角色出现，将自己寄付给偶遇、身体经验。他一次次化身为各种角色和事件，在检验自我边界的同时，也向艺术本身的虚拟性提出自己的角度。
李然的作品曾在休斯顿当代美术馆，深圳oct当代艺术中心，中央美术学院美术馆等机构展览。他也曾参加过第九届光州双年展，第七届深圳雕塑双年展。李然曾在北京魔金石空间，上海艾可画廊举办过个展(2012)。他也曾参加过纽约Meulensteen画廊、北京站台中国艺术机构等画廊举办的群展。
艺术家博物馆
继胡昀的个人艺术项目“我们的祖先”之后，艺术家陆平原将在 “艺术家博物馆”为大家带来全新的艺术创作。对于陆平原来说，一种有主题性的收集和展示是博物馆的基本初衷，此次将由两个完全不同的角度来展现对于博物馆的思考和挑战，都将通过歌德学院的办公空
间展示出来。
作为“惯例下的狂欢”的部分陆平原的博物馆项目”将于2012年12月7日起向公众开放。
关于持续展览项目“惯例下的狂欢”：
策展人：比利安娜·思瑞克（BiljanaCiric）
艺术家：高铭研，胡昀，李然，陆平原，胡向前，宋拓
时间：2012年9月30号持续项目
特别项目：从乌托邦到现实-我们的艺术世界是如何被建构的-项目发起人-Alexandra Hodby, Seng Yujin, 比利安娜·思瑞克
策展助理：GraceTng
在为期半年的时间内，展览将邀请多位艺术家开展艺术项目并分阶段进行呈现。受邀艺术家通过各自的艺术实践展示他们对于身处的艺术体系、价值观念和展览策划讨论的思考与立场，同时，将展览本身作为进一步参与的工具。通过艺术家、策展人及所有参与者的合作，一个主要问题将被展开：展览如何在今天成为一个真正开放，且具有生命力的分享平台？
艺术家将反思中国文化架构及特殊语境下的社会框架等议题，而这些又如何构建个体身份性和艺术实践并在系统内部对各种关系进行定义，这都是我们亟待思索的问题。艺术家将探索不同的展览模式、语境和形态如何反映出个人对于社会结构的态度。
展览试图围绕机构、机构化的形式和展览制作之间的关系展开探讨，这一关系在80年代的中国便已存在；80年代末受阻中断；90年代中期短暂重现，而进入21世纪后，艺术体制化及市场的驱动，直接影响、操纵着今天的当代艺术。
“惯例下的狂欢”试图找到一种抗衡当前艺术生产惯例的方式；提出新的个人实践和参与形式，改变以往审视艺术体系的主导方式。
“惯例下的狂欢”特别单元：艺术家博物馆
“惯例下的狂欢”是一个多元而富于变化的展出概念，将以个展和群展相结合的形式呈现。群展的策展理念源于第五届卡塞尔文献展“对现实的质疑——今日图像世界1972”，由哈罗德·赛曼（Harald Szeemann）策划的此次展览在世界展览史上享有极其重要的地位。在“将生活浓缩于展览之中”的口号下，为期100天的展览为艺术创作及其与体制和展览制作的关系提供了全新的解读视角。
“惯例下的狂欢”借鉴第五届卡塞尔文献展特设“艺术家博物馆”板块，邀请艺术家重新对“艺术家与博物馆”这个话题进行思考。
艺术家个展将在项目主空间呈现，而“艺术家博物馆”则将在机构的办公空间以群展的形式呈现。每个月，“艺术家博物馆”的一位参展艺术家都将在歌德开放空间的主空间内为观众带来自己的独立项目。
“艺术家博物馆”除了集中展示各个艺术家的实践与思考，1972年卡塞尔文献展的文献资料也将进行平行展示，并将于整个项目的最后阶段呈现艺术家丹尼尔·士伯艾里未曾实现的作品“蛋糕里的艺术”，改作品原作为1972年卡塞尔文献展的参展项目，但由于各种原因最终未能完成。
参与项目的艺术家将通过歌德学院组织的一系列公共讲座、网络平台、图书馆等渠道呈现自己的实践与思考成果。歌德学院的每一处空间都将被用于项目的开展。
歌德学院此番除了作为展示空间，还将作为讨论的发生地，进一步将“展厅”转变为半开放式的聚集讨论之地。对话将以小组讨论的形式开展，对体制和各种艺术实践进行反思。同时，还将与专业艺术期刊展开合作，包括由艺术家发起的电子期刊PDF。此外，讨论内容也将整理为文稿发表。之后，亦将集结成册出版发行。
展览跨时长，以期为反思和更多元艺术形式的探讨提供更多的空间。艺术家不仅创作并展示作品，而且还应静下心来，对当下的文化环境及“生产过热”的现象进行反思，以歌德学院所提供的平台为契机，再次让机构与艺术家携手合作，对我们身处的系统本身展开批判性思考。
Openingreception: December 7th 2012, 19:00
Duration:December 7th 2012 to January 12th 2013
Venue:Goethe Open Space, Shanghai, 101 Ascendas CrossTower, 318 Fu Zhou Lu, Shanghai
Tel: +86 21 6391 2068
Presented by Departmentfor Culture and Education (DCAE) of the Consulate General of the FederalRepublic of Germany in Shanghai
Opening hours: 10.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Mo.-Fr.)and 1 p.m.-5 p.m. (Sa). Closed on Sun.
For more information contact: Gao Jing
I want to talk to you, but not to allof you explores both possibilities andlimitations of encounters in the art system. These encounters includeconversations between artists, curators and other practitioners in the field aswell as audiences.
There is an urgent need to share through conversations in the art system,yet at the same time these much needed exchanges have limitations. Li Ran’sconcerns revolve around these conversations and explore how much of thesediscussions could actually be communicated, through many different levels inthis new body of works, in which he collaborated with Biljana Ciric, thecurator of this exhibition. He explores and manipulates the conversation andquestions the readings of these works.
As proposed by Li Ran, the conversation with the curator serves as a pointof departure for the works in this exhibition. He starts the conversation bysharing his own experiences and discussions that took place in the images heexhibited in the Artists’ Museum section of this exhibition.These abstract images show only parts of the artists, curators and friendsduring their conversations and random objects of daily life. Throughout theconversation, Li Ran shares more of the discussions that occurred in thesituations depicted in these photos. At the same time, he starts a rarelypublicly raised discussion on the role of the curator in this project, thedifference between curatorial and artistic practice, and the curatorialcreative processes, archival material exhibited as part of the group show andmany other issues that practitioners face within the art system.
The artist explores how much of these concerns about the art system couldbe communicated and how it is interpreted after being presented through anexhibition. These are reflected in Li Ran’s artistic practice in recent yearsalthough superficial interpretation of his video works usually does not gobeyond comments on his acting skills.
He explores these situations as an illusion that ispart of artistic practices, which is hard to be shared or communicated. Theseare the same difficulties faced through the images that he talks about. Despite the difficulty in portraying theseideas, there is always an urge to find other possible channels to open updiscussions and explore distances between participants of these discussions.
I want to talk to you, but not to all ofyou is presented as a part of Alternatives to Ritual, an ongoingproject.
Artist Biography
<p CxSpMiddle" style=";;text-autospace:none">1986 Born in Hu Bei, Li Ran is currently lives andworks in Beijing. Graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Oil PaintingDepartment with BFA, he is both the initiator and participant of the 公司/Company project. In Li Ran’s works, heconstantly performs the role of an imitator and gives himself over toencounters and bodily experiences. His repeated performance of various rolesand events challenges the idea of the self while providing a perspective intothe virtual nature of art itself.
Li Ran has exhibited at the Contemporary Arts MuseumHouston (CAMH), Shenzhen OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT), Cafa Museum (CAFAM)and other venues. His works have also been featured in 9th Gwangju Biennial,7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale. Li Ran has held solo exhibitions at BeijingMagician Space, Shanghai Aike-Dellarco Gallery (2012) and also participated ingroup exhibitions such as: New York Meulensteen Gallery; Platform ChinaContemporary Art Institute.
Artists Museum
With the closing of his solo project Our Ancestors, Hu Yun will leave the group exhibition, Artists Museum while a new work by LuPingyuan will be presented in one of the offices at Goethe Institut. To LuPingyuan, a museum’s role is to collect and exhibit based on a subject ortheme. Through two works, Lu explores how museums challenge its traditionalpurposes.
Lu Pingyuan‘s ArtistsMuseum project will be exhibited from December 7th 2012 onwards as part ofthe exhibition.
About‘Alternatives to Ritual’:
Curator: Biljana Ciric
Artists: Gao Mingyan, Hu Yun, Li Ran, LuPingyuan, Hu Xiangqian, Song Ta
Art Worlds in the Making: From Utopia to Reality a project by Alexandra Hodby, Seng Yujin,and Biljana Ciric, among others
Duration:September 30th 2012- ongoing
Curatorial assistant: Grace Tng
Alternatives to Ritual invited artists to develop projects over a half-yearperiod. The artists invited have shown an interest in discussing art systemsand their values, different levels of relations in contemporary art, and exhibitionmaking through their practice. They also have used display strategies as a toolfor engagement. One of the main questions that we pose, through workingtogether with artists, curators and all other participants, is how exhibitionscan serve as an open and dynamic resource today?
The artists willreflect on cultural constructions and social frameworks in the special contextof China and how all these form individual identities and artistic practices aswell as define relations in the system that we urgently need to question. The artistswill also explore how different formats of exhibitions, contexts and conditionsof appearance can reflect individual attitudes towards our social constructions.
The exhibition tries toopen up the discussion on the relationship between institutions, institutionalformats and exhibition making in China that has existed since the 80’s, which wasinterrupted after 1989, and had a short appearance again in the mid 90’s. Itwas then interrupted again after the year 2000 due to an institutionalizationof the art scene and its market driven existence which are till today itsstrongest forces.
Alternatives to Ritual attempts to find a way to resist current rituals ofproduction and dominant ways of looking at the art system through proposingalternatives in the form of individual practices and new ways of engagement.
About ‘Artists’ Museums’
Alternatives to Ritual will be presented in a format of constant change, between solo andgroup exhibitions. The group presentation takes its point of departure from oneof the most important exhibitions in history of exhibition making: QuestioningReality – Image Worlds Today, 1972curated by Harald Szeemann as a part ofDocumenta 5. “A concentrated version of life in the form of an exhibition”,with the aim of being presented as a 100 day event, provided at that time, anew reading of artists’ production and its relation to institutions andexhibition making. The so-called Artists’ Museum section of Documenta 5 will betaken as point of departure for Alternativesto Ritual to invite artists to present their own artists’ museums.
Individual solo presentations will be on display in the mainproject space while Artists’ Museums will be presented in office spaces as agroup show. Every month artists will leave the Artists’ Museum space in orderto present independent project in the main Goethe Open Space and later leave theexhibition.
While each artist hashis own presentation in the group exhibition section of the Artists’ Museum,archival material of the Artists’ Museum presentation from 1972 will also be ondisplay. Besides archival material of Artists Museum from Documenta 5,in the last stage exhibition will present unrealized project Kunst in der Torte by Daniel Spoerrithat originally suppose to be the part of documenta 1972.
The artists will dealwith the different aspects of the Department forCulture and Education (DCAE) as an institutionand structure through public talks, utilizing its online platform, andemploying a specific approach to its library and its history to name only a few.Every space of the DCAE will be used – from the project space to the offices.
Besides being anexhibition space, DCAE will serve as a space for closed door discussions aftergallery hours, turning the gallery space into a semi private place forgathering. Discussions organized will be held between small groups of invitedindividuals with the aim of reflecting on our system and its practices.
Discussions will beorganized in collaboration with, PDFartists independent e- journal.
This format of the exhibitionwill be held over a long period, providing space for reflection and on-goingdiscussions, inviting artists not only to produce and exhibit their works butalso to slow down and provide the time needed to reflect on our currentcultural conditions and the over production so common in the art field today. Theexhibition re-engages institutions which are working together with artists toact as provocateur of thought, giving critical reflections on our system.
About Goethe Open Space
Goethe Open Space is a project of theDepartment for Culture and Education (DCAE) of the General Consulate of theFederal Republic of Germany in Shanghai. It aims at providing spacefor young and emerging artists to present their practice and at the same timestimulating the dialogue between China and Germany in the field of contemporaryart.
关于"歌德开放空间"
"歌德开放空间"由德国驻上海总领事馆文化教育处发起，旨在为年轻的新生代艺术家提供交流、展示和讨论的平台，同时进一步推进德中两国在当代艺术领域的对话。
Alternatives to Ritual
Public program series
Discussion between SuWei and Li Ran
Presented by Department for Cultureand Education (DCAE) of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic ofGermany in Shanghai
Date: December 8th 2012, 19:00
Venue: Goethe Open Space, Shanghai, 101 Ascendas Cross Tower,318 Fu Zhou Road, Shanghai
Tel: +86 21 6391 2068
Goethe Open Space is proud to present an ongoing public discussionseries during the exhibition period of Alternativesto Ritual. The formats of discussion will range from open public talks toprivate closed door discussions around each solo exhibition. This discussionseries will be held on regular bases to engage the different curators, writers,artists in dialogue with the artists on the exhibitions presented over a halfyear period. As the third of the public program series, a discussion between Su Wei and Li Ran will be held on December8th.
The discussion will be held in Chinese with English interpretation.
Limited seatings. Please RSVP to info@shanghai.goethe.org to attend the talk.
Introduction
Art Practice as aconstant ‘return to’
Li Ran’s recentpractice offers challenges to the work of criticism. In his mostmonologue-based video and performance pieces, he uses mimicry, reproduction,and satire to reflect his thinking of art practice itself. This means that thenormal train of thought in contemporary art criticism towards the conventionsof cultural and social criticism is unable to truly understand his work forwhat it is.
As an art criticand curator, Su Wei sees Li Ran’s practice as a refusal to elitistictheoretical elaboration and explication, yet it is precisely this point thatoffers a valuable reference for art criticism: the return to the context of thework of the artist is, in the end, the most basic task prior to upholding asense of distance, and this return, on an essential level, is a return to artitself.
In this talk, LiRan and Su Wei will share their thoughts of art practice as a constant ‘returnto’, which is outside the system and unconfined to aesthetic absolutes; areturn to the perception of the context of the art industry withself-awareness; a return to the progress of creation embued with contemporarysignificance by pinpointing a creative position before embracing any valuejudgements.
作为一种还原形式的艺术实践
李然最近的实践向批评工作发出了挑战。在他的录像和行为作品中，他常常以独白的面貌出现，运用模仿、复制和戏谑的方法呈现他对艺术创作本身的反思。这使得走入文化和社会批判窠臼的当代艺术批评无法真正理解他的创作的实际指向。
作为艺术批评家和策展人，苏伟把李然的工作看做一种对精英式的理论铺陈和阐释的拒绝，恰恰这一点为我们当下的艺术批评提供了可贵的参照：还原艺术家工作的语境，始终是我们在秉持距离感之前最需面对的基本工作，这种还原,在更本质的意义上,也是对艺术本身的还原。
李然和苏伟将在此次对谈中分享他们各自对作为一种还原形式的艺术实践的思考。这种还原，是还原到系统之外艺术本身之上，而不拘于美学的绝对性；还原到对行业语境中的感知中，而保持足够的自省；还原到一种当代意义上的创作，在接近任何价值的时候，明确创作的立场。
About the speakers:
Su Wei
Born in 1982, Su Wei is an independent artcritic and curator based in Beijing and Hong Kong. As a constant contributor toIndependent Criticism and LEAP, his writingshave appeared in various art magazines and publications. In his work hefocusses on theoretical practice and contemporary art. Su Wei participated inthe 2012 Curatorial Intensive of ICI(Independent Curators International) in New York. He was involved in thecuratorial team of Little Movements:Self-Practice in Contemporary Art presented at OCT Contemporary ArtTerminal (OCAT), Shenzhen, China (2011). He co-curated the 7th ShenzhenSculpture Biennale ‘Accidental Message:Art is Not a System, Not a World’(OCAT).
苏伟
苏伟，1982年出生于北京，是生活在北京和香港的年轻批评家和策展人。他是《独立批评》和《艺术界LEAP》的长期撰稿人，他的文章收录于不同的画册、期刊和出版物中，当代艺术的理论实践和写作是他的工作重点所在。他曾是ICI（Independent CuratorsInternational）2012年Curatorial Intensive纽约策展课程的成员。苏伟参与策划了深圳OCT当代艺术中心举办的展览“小运动：当代艺术中的自我实践”(2011年,深圳OCT当代艺术中心)，并共同策划了2012年深圳雕塑双年展“偶然的信息：艺术不是一个体系，也不是一个世界”（深圳OCT当代艺术中心）。
Li Ran
<p CxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;;text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;;text-autospace:none">1986 Born in Hu Bei, Li Ranis currently lives and works in Beijing. Graduated from Sichuan Fine ArtsInstitute, Oil Painting Department with BFA, he is both the initiator andparticipant of the 公司/Company project. In Li Ran’s works, he constantly performs the role of animitator and gives himself over to encounters and bodily experiences. Hisrepeated performance of various roles and events challenges the idea of theself while providing a perspective into the virtual nature of art itself.
Li Ran has exhibited at the Contemporary ArtsMuseum Houston (CAMH), Shenzhen OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT), CafaMuseum (CAFAM) and other venues. His works have also been featured in 9thGwangju Biennial, 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale. Li Ran has held soloexhibitions at Beijing Magician Space, Shanghai Aike-Dellarco Gallery (2012)and also participated in group exhibitions such as: New York MeulensteenGallery; Platform China Contemporary Art Institute.
李然
李然1986年出生于湖北，目前工作生活在北京。2009年获四川美术学院油画系，获学士学位，他是“公司/Company”项目的发起人与参与者。在他的作品中，他通过模仿者的角色出现，将自己寄付给偶遇、身体经验。他一次次化身为各种角色和事件，在检验自我边界的同时，也向艺术本身的虚拟性提出自己的角度。
李然的作品曾在休斯顿当代美术馆，深圳oct当代艺术中心，中央美术学院美术馆等机构展览。他也曾参加过第九届光州双年展，第七届深圳雕塑双年展。李然曾在北京魔金石空间，上海艾可画廊举办过个展(2012)。他也曾参加过纽约Meulensteen画廊、北京站台中国艺术机构等画廊举办的群展。
About the Exhibition
Alternatives to Ritual invited the artists to develop the projects over a half-yearperiod. The artists invited have shown an interest in discussing the artsystems and their values, the different levels of relations in contemporaryart, and the exhibition making through their practices. They also have used to displaystrategies as a tool for the engagement. One of the main questions is , throughworking together with the artists, the curators and all the other participants,how the exhibitions can serve as an open and dynamic resource today?
The artists will reflect on the cultural constructions and the socialframeworks in the special context of China and how all these form theindividual identities and the artistic practices as well as define therelations in the system that we urgently need to question. The artists willalso explore how different the formats of the exhibitions, the contexts and theconditions of appearance can reflect the individual attitudes towards oursocial constructions.
The exhibition tries to open up the discussion on the relationshipbetween the institutions, the institutional formats and the exhibitions makingin China that has existed since the 80s, which was interrupted after 1989, andhad a short appearance again in the mid 90s. It was then interrupted againafter the year 2000 due to an institutionalization of the art scene and itsmarket driven existence which are till today its strongest forces.
Alternatives to Ritual attempts to find a way to resist the current rituals of the productionand the dominant ways of looking at the art system through proposingalternatives in the form of the individual practices and the new ways of the engagement.
Project is curated by Biljana Ciric
Opening reception of Li Ran’s Solo Project: December 7th19:00 2012 at Goethe Open Space
Upcoming project: Song Ta’s Solo Project opening January 18th2013
