If "art" is only in the hands of a few people on major lists, does this society still need art?
Text | Li Junyue Shi Jiaxiang
Edit | Hu Wenwen
At seven o'clock in the evening, Shen Yunqi stepped into the Guangzhou Title Art Museum with harmonica, guitar and sound equipment, walked to the stage, and began to play by himself.
At this time, several meat and vegetable stalls less than 100 meters away from the art museum have been closed one after another, and more than a dozen stall owners have walked towards the Art Museum with their own fried flour, sugar water (Cantonese dessert soup) and "cauliflower".
Brother Rabbit playing at the award ceremony (Photo: Li Junyue)
This small public welfare private art museum located in Dongshankou, Guangzhou, will hold a variety of public and social art projects on a daily basis, and in 2022, when the Spring Festival alternates between the old and the new, they will give awards to the annual art festival.
When the harmonica and guitar ensemble sounded, Chen Lifeng, who had just delivered the courier, rushed to the scene and was immediately stuffed with a bowl of sugar water. Music and food have a healing power, everyone eats and drinks, some talk and laugh, in a trance, the audience seems to have an illusion: where is this like coming to the art museum, is it back to their own home?
Fewer than 20 spectators were recruited at the awards ceremony. The award did not invite recommenders, not even the selection criteria, South China University of Technology School of Architecture teacher, director of the Title Art Museum He Zhisen and colleagues together "identified" three (group) artists of the year who had cooperated with the Title Art Museum: wandering singer Shen Yunqi, courier brother Chen Lifeng, and 44 stall owners of the Agriculture and Forestry Vegetable Market.
Group photo of "Artist of the Year" (Photo: Li Junyue)
At the end of last year, watching the major institutions and media take stock of the "annual exhibition", "annual curator" and "artist of the year", He Zhisen could not help but think: If "art" is only in the hands of those few people on the major lists, does this society still need art? Who does art belong to? What does those who don't have power have to do with art?
Based on these questions, the Artist of the Year selection of the Title Art Museum came into being.
Trophies, certificates, flowers (cauliflowers), acceptance speeches... The sense of ritual is no less, mixed with relaxed and casual. He Zhisen, an architect by training, said that he didn't understand art, so he would do a lot of things different from normal artists, "They need a kind of recognition, but we shouldn't turn it into a serious award ceremony, just eat here and listen to their stories." 」 ”
Warm to every passerby
He is a wandering singer and a street artist. Without Chengguan, any piece of public space in the city could be turned into an art gallery he created freely. One of his bold "intrusions" into the Museum of Title allowed us to re-examine the boundaries between urban public space and museum space. And this boundary, because of his intrusion, became more and more ambiguous, more and more blurred. (Award Speech)
In the narrow time tunnel of Dongshankou subway station, in front of the poster background of the American Overseas Chinese Memorial Hall, Shen Yunqi's music will always attract many people to stop. He would pick up a red guitar, put a harmonica on his chest, and his body would sway to the beat, one song after another.
The music starts at 8 o'clock every morning and ends with the last train at 11 o'clock in the evening, and the city manager rests in the middle.
Shen Yunqi belongs to the rabbit, known as "brother rabbit", the image is very recognizable: a black printed T-shirt, a pair of sunglasses, a bear hat or a colorful explosive head, "this looks cool and cute, but also can cover up the vicissitudes of the face." Brother Rabbit laughed.
In college, Brother Rabbit looked exactly like Huang Jiaju, and the music road also began with Huang Jiaju. He studied Chinese painting in college, and because he liked Huang Jiaju, he taught himself music and served as the lead singer of the school's band. After graduation, he first helped people draw sketches on the streets of Chengdu, 10 yuan a piece, and later learned that the nearby wandering singers earned more than himself, so he spent more than 100 yuan to buy a guitar, and since then joined the ranks of wandering singers.
(Brother Rabbit in college, source: Shen Yunqi)
He came to Guangzhou in 2000 and initially performed in various places, and finally chose to be stationed in Dongshankou, where chengguan is relatively more inclusive. There were 20 singers lined up there at the time, and each could only sing for 30 minutes. Brother Rabbit has counted that from 2004 to January 2022, he blew a total of 2015 harmonicas, sometimes because he was too passionate, he could blow 5 in 10 hours. Based on an average of 200 yuan a calculation, a total investment of 400,000 yuan.
For 22 years, Brother Rabbit and his music have accompanied many Dongshankou people to grow up. From the children passing by with school bags, to inviting the rabbits to the wedding when they grow up, there are countless stories in between.
Most of the singer friends I met in Dongshan pass later went to Lijiang, and only Brother Rabbit stayed here, "I like the people here, and the underground tunnel in Dongshan Pass is the stage I rely on the most." ”
Warm, sincere and pure, this is everyone's evaluation of Brother Rabbit's music. In the morning, he would play a brisk song "Dear Traveler"; in the evening rush hour, he would use "Ordinary Road" to relieve the fatigue of office workers; when the weather turned cold, he would sing a song "About Winter"; it rained outside, and the melody immediately switched to "The Outside World"...
The local girl Azan was in love for a while and was very depressed, but when she passed through the Higashiyama Pass and heard Brother Rabbit playing the theme song of "Kikujiro's Summer", she suddenly felt that the entire subway channel exuded romance and suddenly regained her vitality.
Once, when Brother Rabbit was playing, he saw someone standing next to him silently weeping, asking him why he was crying, and the other party said that his father was seriously ill and wanted to record a video to go back to his father to see, Brother Rabbit immediately sang a song "When You Are Old", and wished the father a speedy recovery.
Chen Xueying, the curator of the Title Art Museum, first met Brother Rabbit in December 2019, when she had just been working for four months. She clearly remembers that when a child walked in front of Brother Rabbit, he began to sing "One Flash and One Shining Crystal", and the song brought courage and hope to Chen Xueying, who had just entered the society.
(Market stall owners began to get involved in the art of the museum.) Source: Ho Chi Sen mapping workshop)
Two years later, Chen Xueying launched the "Go to Your Art Museum" project at the Title Art Museum, calling on ordinary people working on the street to come to the art museum to do creations, and Brother Rabbit was also invited. Although she did not receive a definitive answer, she was pleasantly surprised that a few days later, near midnight, Brother Rabbit "broke into" the Museum of Fame without informing anyone in advance. In the evening of the subsequent cross-Chinese New Year's Eve, at nearly 11 o'clock, he also joined the New Year's Eve interaction of the art museum, and when he left, he said to Chen Xueying: "This is a good memorial." ”
On the night of the award, Brother Rabbit sent a circle of friends for the first time, saying that he was still the beginner who loved music.
The "back garden" in the van box
He is not just an ordinary city courier brother, he is also a messenger who brings smiles and happiness to thousands of households. His never-ending shuttle and movement builds the most kind connection and mutual care between people. Through pieces of goods, he connects not just people and communities, he connects the whole world. (Award Speech)
Chen Lifeng said at the award ceremony that he had never won an award since he was a child, and this was the first time he had won a trophy.
There is a courier station on the corner of the street less than 1 km from the Title Art Museum, where Chen Lifeng, a Chaoshan man, is "trapped" more than half of his day.
After coming to Guangzhou in 2013, out of the idea of "not wanting to work and wanting to be free", he contracted a courier station. At that time, the express station was not as everywhere as it is today, and there was no fixed fee, "rely on yourself to negotiate, you ask the price I shouted, the right one to sign." ”
The development of the e-commerce industry is getting faster and faster, but the express delivery industry is becoming more and more inward-bound, enterprises are making rapid progress, and couriers are stepping in place, "Couriers here need to send three or four hundred pieces of express delivery every day." ”
Although personnel have been hired to help, many e-commerce customers have to send thousands of goods at a time, and dare not casually hand over the goods to others, only Chen Lifeng can collect them alone. At nine o'clock every night, he would turn off the station, drive a 4.2-meter-long truck to collect the goods, and then send it to the Baiyun District, 20 kilometers away, and toss it until one o'clock in the morning to go home.
When he first started working, he often quarreled with customers because he did not want to deliver to his door, resulting in complaints and fines. His van has no dedicated place to park during the day, squeezing the walking space of residents. The neighborhood aunt said that this little brother had a bad temper and had never seen him smile.
In July 2018, seven ho chi sen students became intruders of the station. When they were sheltering from the rain under the eaves of the inn, Chen Lifeng invited them in. At that time, he encountered some unpleasant things at work, and his mood was actually very low. Just then, a student brought a guitar, and a group of people began to play the guitar and sing. Chen Lifeng looked at it, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.
(The rear compartment of Chen Lifeng's van was converted into a garden.) Source: Ho Chi Sen mapping workshop)
After the rain stopped, the students bought beer and barbecue, ate in his shop, and invited passers-by to come in and sing along. The sudden party lasted for more than two hours, and Chen Lifeng and the students ate and drank and talked about their life experiences.
Later, students began to think: people can pass on goods, and of course they can also transmit emotions. If happiness can be transmitted, why can't Chen Lifeng, as a courier worker, pass happiness to every corner?
The day after the party, they arranged Chen Lifeng's van trunk as a garden, and put a photo of him smiling on the back of the truck, hoping that this happiness could infect more people. Because it cannot affect the normal work of Chen Lifeng, the truck garden can only exist for 6 hours. At the end of the performance art, Chen Lifeng said to the students: "I am very happy to have you! ”
(Chen's poster was mounted behind the truck door.) Source: Ho Chi Sen mapping workshop)
In January 2021, He Zhisen invited Chen Lifeng to receive the award. Due to the requirements of the epidemic prevention policy, Chen Lifeng could not participate in the gathering activities, and could only come in for a short time, and then go back to continue delivery after receiving it in a hurry. But he still gladly went, "I never understood art, and now I am, my feeling is to play, be happy, be happy." ”
Breaking the "wall"
In the unstoppable wave of urban development, they are like 44 insignificant waves, splashed without a trace at the moment when the agricultural and forestry market collapses, and are forgotten along with their names. No matter what kind of list, it cannot change the hardships and helplessness they suffer from living on the streets at this moment. But we still hope that through such an award, we can give them a dignity and honor that they should have but never received. (Award Speech)
At the award ceremony, each winner received a special bouquet of "fresh cauliflower", which was made by the owner of the wet market stall. They took some vegetables from different stalls, bandaged them into three bunches, and in addition to giving them to the other winners, another bunch was given to themselves.
(On He Zhisen's birthday in 2019, he also received "cauliflowers" from stall owners.) Source: Ho Chi Sen mapping workshop)
"We sell vegetables and buy goods every day, in fact, it has nothing to do with art, but Teacher He's intervention has given us confidence and dignity." Stall owner Qi Hongyan recalled.
The Agriculture and Forestry Market was once located in Zhusigang Community, Dongshankou, Guangzhou, just a wall away from the Museum of Fame. At the beginning of 2018, He Zhisen led the students of the School of Architecture of South China University of Technology into the Agriculture and Forestry Vegetable Market, completed a series of research and space renovation projects, and lived and worked with the stall owners for a month.
(Student Ma Zengfeng clapped his hands for stall owner Huang Yuexiang.) Source: Ho Chi Sen mapping workshop)
Initially, the teachers and students were ostracized by almost all the stall owners, and even insulted and expelled. The stall owners didn't understand why these architects harassed them every day instead of building houses and interviewing white-collar workers. "At that time, every stall owner felt that in addition to doing business, we and these cultural people would never be integrated together, and everything was not discussed." Qi Hongyan said.
A particularly heavy rainstorm turned the story around.
At that time, the agricultural and forestry market was flooded with water. When many students could not go out due to heavy rain, student Ma Zengfeng came to help the stall owners carry goods, and gained their trust and touch. Since then, the "wall" between the two sides has begun to be broken.
Later, He Zhisen found that the stories of the stall owners were all related to their hands: hands that were soaked in water and broke their skins, hands that were carved with scars, hands that grew "egg cocoons" after touching eggs for twenty years... The students took more than 40 photographs of their hands and held a one-day exhibition at the Title Art Museum.
(The stall owner's hand.) Source: Title Art Museum)
After the exhibition, the photographs of the hands were retrieved by the stall owners and hung above their stalls. Because of this, many stall owners have stepped into the Art Museum, which they have never entered in 11 years. The various works of art inside attracted their attention, "Such a beautiful thing is right next to me, I don't have time to look at it, and I suddenly feel sorry." Since then, Qi Hongyan and other stall owners will go to the Art Museum when they have time. The barrier between the wet market and the art museum suddenly disappeared.
After hanging up the photo, the vegetable market customers sometimes ask Qi Hongyan: "Your hands are so beautiful, who helped you take them?" Qi Hongyan was very happy and shared her story with the art museum. There is also more and more communication with customers.
(The stall owners pose for a photo of themselves with their hands.) Source: Ho Chi Sen mapping workshop)
At the end of 2018, the Art Museum organized a community banquet, and 44 stall owners took the initiative to contribute ingredients and sat down with community residents and guests from different backgrounds to share Marlboro porridge. In the past, there was almost no interaction between stall owners because of the competition in the wet market, but since then, every one or two weeks, stall owners have taken the initiative to visit the door for dinner.
In September 2019, the community planting research survey exhibition "The Road of Agriculture and Forestry, bamboo and silk" opened at the Title Art Museum, and because of his unique method of making sugar water, stall owner Cen Qiuyan was invited to become an participating artist. "I didn't even know I could be an artist by being sugar water." At the opening ceremony, she said sheepishly.
As the ties between the stall owners grew stronger, the fate of the wet market took a turn. On October 20, 2020, the agricultural and forestry market that has been operating for 39 years was ordered to be demolished due to illegal construction and environmental reasons, and a community garden will be replaced, and the stalls that have been in this place for many years will be dissolved, some stall owners will return to their hometowns, and some will continue to set up stalls on the streets to make a living.
In July 2021, the exhibition "X Kinds of Space Schemes in Downward Life" held by Chongqing Yuelai Art Museum restored the demolished agricultural and forestry vegetable market, which He Zhisen completed through crowdfunding to pay tribute to those who quietly and exhaustively lived in the agricultural and forestry vegetable market.
Stall owners Qi Hongyan and Huang Yuexiang were invited to the exhibition site in Chongqing, and when they saw the "Welcome to the Agriculture and Forestry Market" signboard and heard the noise of the pre-recorded vegetable market playing on the radio, Qi Hongyan's tears could not be stopped at once.
"I think it's also a work of art."
At the end of December 2021, He Zhisen was named "Artist of the Year" by New Weekly as China's annual emerging list. But what he experienced more than joy was reflection.
After the award ceremony at the Museum of Title Art, he pointed to the cakes scattered on the scene and said, "I think this is also a work of art." ”
(Prepare the cake for the awards ceremony site.) Photograph: Shi Jiaxiang)
In his view, art cannot be judged, and every creative person can be an artist. Art galleries should not be a paradise for a few people, and even every place can become an art museum, but nowadays many exhibitions turn public space into private space, which is a terrible thing in itself.
That's why they want to hold such an annual award, so that every ordinary person can be seen and recognized, breaking the boundaries between people and art, people and space. After the end of the event that night, He Zhisen sent a video of the activity in the circle of friends, with the text "Speaking for the voiceless, making the powerless powerful, and giving a name to the nameless.".
END