艺术总监

第8届横滨三年展“野草――我们的生活”

2021年底，我们提出以“野草——我们的生活”作为第八届横滨三年展的展览主题。彼时，全世界正逐渐走出新冠大流行的阴影，重新启动、重新连接。第八届横滨三年展是这一全球复苏的一部分，它的愿景是创造新的社会关系。这一雄心勃勃的举措散发着希望之光，从疫情、全球政治的保守转向、俄乌战争、阴谋论的兴起等所引发的全面危机中凸显出来。这促使我们开始寻找一个讲述谦逊的人道主义、勇气、韧性、信念和团结的主题。

过去数年中，新冠疫情大爆发，引发了全球范围的流通滞障，也激化了新自由主义主导下的全球化秩序的僵化。这种僵化推波助澜地将意识形态和地缘政治的冲突置于国际政治的前景。今天发生的一切，彻底地把前人们在20世纪初想象的现代世界，推入了一片昏暗中。资本与国家管治的技术超越了反叛的可能，20世纪初以来一切离经叛道的微光在新自由主义与威权主义的黑洞中逐渐消失。面对疫情与政治，个人被置于危险的、无关紧要的、无力还击和无所依存的境地之中。在这一系列剧烈的时代变迁中，我们在鲁迅的早期作品与生活状态中找到了与今天时代的共情点。

鲁迅在1924年至1926年间写作了《野草》，这是作家生命中最严峻也最重要的时期，他既遭遇个人日常生活、情感世界和思想精神的巨变，也面临时代的危机和晦暗。这是一个对文人来说极具挑战性的历史转变期。曾经投身“五四新文化运动”的知识分子大体都以“启蒙者”自居，认为自己能敏锐地把握时代潮流，承担着推动社会变革与进步的责任。这种自信，在“五四”退潮以后，在1920年代中后期掀起的政治革命中，受到严重的打击。在中国复杂的社会矛盾面前，知识分子未能对社会的未来提出确信和可行的方案，同时面临传统与现代、中国与西方在政治、文化上出现的冲突。从1920年代后期开始的政治革命需要“行动”，推崇行动，斗争上的勇敢、大胆、决断时更被看重的品质；而知识分子的软弱怯懦，长于思考而怯于行动的特质，使他们陷于无法跟上“时代潮流”的尴尬境地。这种境地与他们在“五四时期”的先驱者形象存在着巨大的落差，这也是鲁迅个人的困境。

这些个人生活与社会现状的体验使他的种种愁烦苦闷在此时蕴积到了相当沉重的程度。《野草》是鲁迅在这一时期对自我生命的一次深刻反省和彻底清理。他很快意识到要把绝望而不是希望，作为自己生活、工作和思想的出发点。他完全接受了这样的事实：不会再有希望或野心，只有黑暗，黑暗。同时，他致力于在这种完全的黑暗中寻找出口。这样一种以绝望为起点的思维方式，而不是盲目的乐观主义，对于我们今日面对各种铜墙铁壁时保持突围的信心有极大的启示。

在20世纪的中国，鲁迅是一个特异的不断反抗现存状况的孤独个体，同时又是始终关注世界潮流并在其中思考个人和人类命运的思想家。《野草》包含了鲁迅的宇宙观与人生哲学。它不仅让人联想到一种脆弱的、毫无防备的生命状态，不显眼、孤独、置身荒野之中、无所依。它同时也是一种生命力的象征，这种生命力不受约束，不可抗拒，不服输，随时准备独自应战。也不存在某种可以抵达的最终的存在状态。每一种存在状态本身都是一种调解和过程。不存在胜利或失败，而是一种永久的内部运动状态。因此，每一种存在状态都有可能是彼此的信使，为彼此进行调解。这些哲学命题并不抽象，也不是未经现实生活检验的、盲目的乐观主义。它们生动地存在于经验世界中，而且它们就是经验本身。“野草”标志着一种生命哲学，它将个体生命的不可抗拒的力量提升为一种可敬的存在，它超然地面对了所有的制度、规则、条例以及控制和权力的形式，是一种灵活的主体性表达的模型。在这种意义上，野草是我们的自画像与自我期许。

《野草》同时还是一部出色的文学作品，它不仅体现了鲁迅自我的生命观，也展现了他的文学观。它蕴藏甚深，多用象征主义方法，借鉴和吸收了尼采、厨川白村等的激烈搏战精神和深层表现方式。2019年底以来，我们的生命、身心和生活饱受挑战和考验，在疫情逐渐淡去的背景下，种种困难和困境愈加凸显。作为创作者，我们觉得有必要通过一种艺术的方式来表达今天的体会。我们希望借本届横滨三年展来谱写出一部今天的《野草》。

2019年开始的新冠疫情在全球快速蔓延，使我们不得不思考全球化进程中不可调和的矛盾。这种流行病的危机不是单一的公共卫生危机。它暴露、触发或加速了其他现有的危机，引发了新的危机。地缘政治、经济和社会危机，在流行病中相互纠缠。这些连锁危机凸显了旧的语言和新的历史条件之间的矛盾，其根源在于20世纪所产生的政治与社会的构建与发明。当代世界的秩序在社会主义体制势微与冷战结束后，形成了新自由主义经济和保守政治一统天下的局面。新自由主义体制生产的不是公民，而是消费者；不是社区，而是购物商场。它造就了一个个体相互游离、自感道德沦丧、社交软弱无力的原子化的社会。由于不合理的分配制度和寡头集团的经济垄断所带来的社会阶层的不断分化和固化，个体生命无法在政治层面找到相应的表达。

无论我们身处何方或何种政治制度之中，作为个体，我们都面临着巨大的不确定性、冲突和意识形态的分歧，但这种时刻在人类历史上并非没有先例。在过去三年的新冠大流行中，我们经历了恐惧、愤怒、困惑、沮丧、失落、孤立、混乱、禁锢感和无力感。我们渴望摆脱目前的困境，但发现自己被现有的事物运作的逻辑和结构性问题所困。新冠疫情所揭示的，不仅仅是人类生存的脆弱状态，而且不断地暴露出20世纪所设计出的政治制度和社会组织模式的各种局限。

政治霸权、不断升级的意识形态竞争和文明的冲突混合在一起，对当代世界的福祉产生持续的腐蚀和破坏。个人存在的空间已被严重损害和淹没。争取平等和民主的斗争仍然是有意义的，甚至在今天更为迫切。因此，在历史深处，相对于成功者和强者的历史，以及在当代社会中，重申个体的意义是一个道德的问题。围绕普通人及其生活的研究可以提供一个稳定和强大的结构，以面对不断变化的复杂情况和挑战。但“个体”也不应是抽象概念，天然获得豁免，在面对公共事件中，也要强调“个体”的道德责任。我们建议一个适度的想象，在那里，我们都是生活在夹缝中的局外人，经常暗中拆除那些正在杀害我们的系统。只有这样，我们才开始真正掌握我们的生活。

在第八届横滨三年展中，我们通过艺术家的创作回溯20世纪初以来的一些历史时刻、事件、人物和思想潮流，例如1930 年代初，日本与中国左翼木刻运动的共振，战后东亚文化自建时期的主体化想象，1960年代末全球激进运动后对现代性的反思，以及后现代主义在1980年代全面展现的批判和解放的能量等。我们将它们与直面当下的作品并置，模糊时间的分界，让历史和今天肖像彼此。我们也从过去二十年间涌动在东亚的民间自主实践的暗流中汲取灵感，展现个体与既定规则和制度对话的探索。它们缓解了人们在压制性的社会结构中所备受的焦虑，解放日常生活，在社会结构内部打开想象“后革命世界”的可能。

在世界重启相互连接之际，我们提出对于如何直面当下重重危机的构想。我们深信，以个人国际主义精神来进行联合，个体与个体组成社群，搁置意识形态的制约和国家民族的隔阂，以艺术的名义构筑全球的友谊，是可能而且迫切的。我们通过多个层面谱写“野草——我们的生活”这部当代的交响曲，强调艺术与现实的连接，艺术与思想的关系。“野草”讲述了我们所感受到的世界，细沙与风暴，溪流与磐石，夜空与远方。我们在历史和当下洞见黑暗和荆棘，也看到花瓣与星光。愿你我都如野草般坚韧、生生不息。

艺术总监
文：刘鼎、卢迎华

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Exhibition highlight

Since the end of 2019, our lives, minds, bodies, and livelihoods have been subject to challenges and tests. Predicaments have become more and more pronounced against the backdrop of the fading epidemic. As creative practitioners, we feel the need to express today’s experience through an artistic approach. We hope to compose a Wild Grass for today in this edition of Yokohama Triennial. To do so, we invite artists, thinkers, scholars, and social activists to join us and participate in the development of the exhibition. When it comes to collaborating with artists, we basically combine our knowledge of Chinese and Japanese art history with our insights into the global contemporary art world. We choose to work with artists who have deep-rooted engagements with their specific local realities and histories, which give dynamism to their art practice. We select existing works by artists and collaborate on new commissions with artists who have the potential to resonate with this topic while having the ability to express their views through their artworks. We hope this exhibition can impersonate the complex reality of the current moment through artistic creations.

The 8th Yokohama Triennial will take place in three exhibition venues, as well as a number of outdoor public spaces. The main exhibition venue is the Yokohama Museum of Art. Here, the exhibition will begin with the first section, “Our Lives, ” which will take the form of an expanded camp site. As a visual prelude to the exhibition, it will present to the viewer various states of exception, which we don’t usually notice all the time, but are deeply embedded in our reality – refuge, exile, wandering, protest, wartime, post-disaster, happy reunion. These are social landscapes that are completely parallel to our life experiences, in which thousands of people are living. Each one of us may be subject to the same conditions at any time. Here, the states of emergency and precarious existences are considered as the everyday norm, as opposed to exceptions. In a way, it is a philosophical hypothesis. Yet in the meantime, we must realize that it is nothing short of our common reality. This section also sets the tone of the entire exhibition, confronting our crisisridden reality while emphasizing the resilience and agency of the individual in the face of despair. It will be a landscape where multiple challenges are intertwined with a disorganized yet irrepressible force of life.

In this chapter, at the heart of the Grand Gallery, we will install a reading table and present a “Directory of Life.” It is a selection of essays by artists, thinkers, and social activists who have been reflecting on our time, history, and life in their own specific situations since 2000. Their writings outline the political, intellectual, and cultural energies that lurk in everyday life. These practices and ideas allow us to imagine a utopia in our own historical situation. They call on us to discover and create from the smallest details of our own lives the relationships and non-relationships, the possibilities and impossibilities of communication that can change the whole situation. We hope that these texts will plant the seeds of action and hope in the hearts of every audience.

Having opened with Our Lives, giving a picture of our real states of living, Wild Grass moves on to My Liberation and All the Rivers, two chapters, which look at subjective agencies, attempts, imaginaries and actions to create horizons of possibilities for individuals within confining systems. Three remaining chapters, Streams and Rocks, Dialogue with the Mirror, and Fires in the Woods align with these promising horizons by highlighting symbolic power of youth, awakened self and cracks in flows of life. Symbol of Angst echoes Our Lives through a profound critique of modernity. Throughout the exhibition, we keep pointing out the correlation between art and the reality and the importance of ongoing and critical engagements with life and the society for artistic practitioners. In a way, this is a critical response to the fact that the capitalization of art and the logic of art industry have overtaken the art world everywhere, which seriously jeopardize the intellectual capacity and critical agency of art.

To conclude, we imagine the making of the entire Triennale as composing a symphony from several aspects. On the one hand, we revisit several instances of individuals exploring possible ways of spiritual and cognitive self-constructions during the modern history in East Asia. As such, we hope to ignite people’s desires and efforts to discover and recognize their own agency in our contemporary lives. On the other hand, we promote a sense of urgency in encountering our times and reconstructing the relevance of the individual in driving changes in this world. We do so by presenting works involving engagements from personal perspectives of the present with today’s cultural and political landscapes. At the same time, we will portray some of the theoretical references and practical approaches of activist movements in East Asia since 2000, which have helped alleviate the plight of the subjects under the statute of modernity. We lay out these aspects as ways of selfemancipations while facing up to the status quo of the individual who is constantly being regulated, weakened, and inhibited in the contemporary order of life. We hope to inspire people to actively discover ways of living beyond what is prescribed to us by the current system, to think and explore worlds outside of existing boundaries, limits and orders of things

In the exhibition, we will present both historical case studies and contemporary practices. Through them, we hope to think with our audience about how to activate the agency and power of the individual in our current lives, to form international friendships on a personal level that transcend ideological boundaries and national borders, to form a world centered on living people. The stress on individual agency is not about denying the relevance of collectivity, but about a kind of multitude consisting of active individual subjects coming together.