索卡艺术中心 - 微生活第二回展

赵力 

        生活是人类为生存发展而进行的各种活动及其经验，其狭义的概念是指人类为了维生和繁衍所必需从事的不可或缺的生计活动，其广义的概念则是指人类的各种活动及其经验，包括职业生活、个人生活、家庭生活和社会生活。对于生活而言针对于它的任何概念都是毫无意义的，因为生活从来就是个人的、具体的、细微的，也正是这些个人的、具体的、细微的才形成了如此庞大、丰富、多样的生活本身。

        有人说生活的意义在于深刻的体验，从生活的细微处出发，在有质感、有品味的日常生活中进行体会；有人说生活的价值在于不断的创造，立足于对生活的深刻经验，追求乐观和有意义的生活方式。即便是众说纷纷，莫衷一是，但是一切的艺术创作当然与生活有着紧密的关联，甚至艺术家的生活本身即是作品的构成部分。

        艺术和生活的关系，缠绕而纠结，历史的、美学的、文化的各种评说本身即构成了形形色色的叙事和叙事背后的叙事。然而艺术家的责任从来就不是对这些所谓的叙事或者叙事的叙事的复述，艺术创作的目的即是打破这样的盘根错节或者欲盖弥彰，意图建立起创作与生活的崭新关系和别样叙述。

        面对当代生活的剧变和巨变，相信没有人能够驾轻就熟并应付裕如。其难度在于，一方面生活的这种变化具有相当大的规模，出乎任何人的想象；一方面生活的这种变化又深化为相当小的微层，令人防不胜防；而变化所带来的不确定性，更让人们无从洞察未来的趋势而显得手足无措。事实上生活的乐趣也在于此，因为人类的生活从来就没有什么“预定的图式”，而艺术的创作亦以追寻变化作为自己的原则。

        面对当代生活的剧变和巨变，宏大叙事对于艺术家而言绝非是一种好的方法论，细微的切片或许是解构迷像并了解真相的有效孔径。微生活，是因当代社会的变迁而生成的新文化概念，指的是基于开放的社会环境下，以网络等交集平台而展开的一种全新的生活方式，强调的是自我经验的认识和自我价值的分享。微生活对于艺术创作的意义，既反映于艺术对当代文化生活新趋向的积极参与，同时又将艺术家的日常经验有效放大而为群体性的积极分享。而这也是本次展览以“微生活”为题并加以策划的构思所在。

        针对于“微生活”的展览主题和索卡艺术中心的特定展示空间，这几位元艺术家的参展作品都立足于从自我的观点而反映出个人创作的最新结论，进而讨论艺术和生活之间多层面的关联及其意义，积极回应“微生活”的立场语境和提供新的构成方法。

        展览没有预设性的结论，也不强求统一性的表达，亦如当代生活所给予我们的启示。同样，展览的开放性，也体现在参展艺术家对于作品媒介选择上的自由度，以及对参观者积极参与的某种期待。

 
By Zhao Li

        Life includes all activities and experiences needed for people’s survival and development. In a narrow sense, it refers to all necessary means of livelihood by which human keeps life and family. In a general sense, it means human’s activities and experiences including career life, personal life, family life and social life. But as for life itself, any concept is meaningless, since life is always individual, specific and detailed, which makes life itself complex and varied.

        Someone says that the significance of life lies on profound experience accumulated from details of life and quality of routine life. Others say that the value of life is realized by continuous creation and pursuit for optimistic and meaningful life style based on deep experience. No matter how different people think about it, the truth is that all art makings are closely related with life, and even artist’s life is involved in the art.
 
        Art is combined and intertwined with life itself. The comments from historic, aesthetic and cultural views have become colorful narratives and the narratives of narrative. However, what artists want to do is never the repeat of these narratives or the narratives of narrative. The goal of art is to break through such complicated relations and concealed intention for creating a new relation between art-making and life in a special narrative way.  
 
        Facing gigantic changes in modern life, it is believed that no one can handle with ease. The hard thing, on the one side, is the astonishing changes of life beyond imagination; and on the other side, the unexpected details of deepened changes. What’s more, the uncertainty of changes makes people lost in the future prediction. This is what makes life fun, because people’s life has never a “planned schema”. Pursuit of change is just the principle of art-making. 
 
        As for the great changes of modern life, grand narrative can’t be a good approach for artist. The tiny slice could probably unveil the mystery for a clear fact. Micro-life, a new cultural concept born with changes of modern life, is an innovative life style on the platform of web constructed in the open social environment. It focuses on awareness of self-experience and share of self-value. Micro-life has a significant effect on art-making, resulting in active involvement in new trend of modern cultural life as well as sharing with the public about artist’s daily experience. This is the original idea to make this exhibition titled “Micro-life”. 
 
        With the exhibition theme of “Micro-life” and special exhibition space of Soka Art, their works concentrate on display of personal view and latest art works concerning the relationship and meaning of art and life, as well as the response to the context of “Micro-life” with new constructive approaches. 
 
        The exhibition has neither predetermined result, nor unified expressive pattern just like the inspiration of modern life. Meanwhile, the openness of exhibition is witnessed on the free choice of media of art works and the expectation to visitor’s active participation.