<h3>When pretending to be true</h3>
"I'm thinking about using some mirror elements." At the beginning of the meeting of the curatorial group of the "Dream of the Red Chamber" cultural exhibition, after everyone expressed their views on the design of the exhibition form, the designer put forward his own preliminary idea, "Those traditional elements are of course good, but I want to use a more modern design, such as this angle is a sample, through the installation of superimposed is another effect." ”
In the fifth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Wandering Illusion Refers to the Twelve Chaos, Drinking Immortal Mash to Perform the Dream of the Red Chamber", the "Too Illusory Realm" door side of the Book of Dreams is "false when it is true and false, there is nothing to do and there is nothing", true and false, virtual and real, the mirror unexpectedly fits with "Dream of the Red Chamber". Wu Hongxin's book "Things, Paintings, and Shadows: A Global History of the Dressing Mirror" also has a chapter about "Cao Xueqin's Mirror Screen Imagination": "In this way, the dream of Baoyu in the fifty-sixth time can be said to be the personification of this concept: the abstract 'true and false' are here transformed into 'Zhen, Jia' Baoyu, and the dream and mirror image are metaphors for the replacement of 'being and non'. ”
The illusory realm carries the most important up-and-down transition between the real and the illusory realm of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and in the "Dream of the Red Chamber" cultural exhibition of the Guangdong Provincial Museum, there is an exhibit called "Dream of the Red Chamber". This is a recreation instrument of the Qing Dynasty, based on the architectural landscape, characters, and plot of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and the gameplay is similar to the current flying chess game.
Dream of the Red Chamber, Qing Dynasty, National Museum of China (Xia Ye/Photo)
This kind of small game in daily life shows the sense of existence of "Dream of the Red Chamber" among the people in the Qing Dynasty as early as that, and continues to this day, and the solid mass foundation of one of the four famous works is that even if you have not read the original work, you will never know the main characters in the book. The pre-exhibition audience survey confirmed this, more than 2,000 people participated in the questionnaire, nearly half of them have read "Dream of the Red Chamber" in its entirety, if you count the read part, the proportion is far more than 80%. Similarly, less than 10% of the audience whose self-perception does not know anything about "Dream of the Red Chamber" and does not know much about it.
In the face of a well-known literary work, the "Dream of the Red Chamber" Cultural Exhibition (2021.9.29-2022.1.9), co-organized by the National Museum of China and the Guangdong Provincial Museum, how to transform the virtual literary world into a tangible and tangible material form? "Dream of the Red Chamber" is both a fictional symbol and "realism to the extreme" (Bai Xianyong's "Dream of the Red Chamber in Detail"). Around "Dream of the Red Chamber", the exhibition tries two dimensions of cultural popularization, one is "Dream of the Red Chamber" as a literary classic, its creator, its position in literary history and the research carried out thereon; the other is the external era style on which the work relies and describes, and the extension to other fields.
<h3>"Red Studies" is full of forms</h3>
Different editions, translations and other rare books of Dream of the Red Chamber play a very important role in this exhibition. Among them, the National Museum of China has a volume of the Qing Dynasty's self-made version of "Dream of the Red Chamber", which is a transcript of the 24th year of Qianlong (1759). Because there are inscriptions in the book that read "Fat Yan Zhai Fan Has Reviewed Four Times" and "He's Winter Moon Finale", it is named "Fat Yan Zhai Reappraisal of the Stone Record", referred to as "He's Book". At present, the popular Gengchen ben, the inscription is "Fat Yan Zhai Fan four reading review" "Gengchen autumn moon final version". Both the Hexagonal Book and the Gengchen Ben are the manuscript systems commented by Li Yanzhai and others, that is, the "Fat Ben".
Dream of the Red Chamber, Qing Dynasty, National Museum of China Collection (Xia Ye/Photo)
"Qianlong Fifty-seven Years Nonzi (1792) Cuiwen Wumu Movable Type Book "All The New Engravings Are Embroidered Like the Dream of the Red Chamber", referred to as "Cheng Yiben". The paragraph and preface of this line are the same as the Cheng Jia ben printed a year ago, and the more obvious difference is that the Cheng Jia ben has no "introduction", and the content and text of the main text are much changed compared with the Cheng Jia ben. Cheng Jia Ben and Cheng Yi Ben belong to the "Cheng Gao Ben" series, that is, the first one hundred and twenty engravings compiled by Cheng Weiyuan and Gao Hu.
Cheng Yiben's Dream of the Red Chamber, Qing Dynasty, Collection of the National Museum of China (Xia Ye/Photo)
In 1927, the Shanghai Yadong Library accepted Hu Shi's suggestion and the Cheng Yiben provided, using Cheng Yiben as a base, using modern punctuation and typography. The publication of this Yadong rearrangement broke the situation that Cheng Jia ben dominated the world in the past, and it was circulated in the world for a long time. In the 1980s, the Dream of the Red Chamber published by the People's Literature Publishing House was mainly based on the Gengchen Ben, which made the momentum of the Gengchen Ben become increasingly popular.
There are many opinions about "Dream of the Red Chamber", and gradually form a kind of explicit science - "red science" research. In the preliminary audience survey, it was found that no matter what age group, more than 60% of the audience could not avoid two names when asked about the "red science" research scholars they knew: Hu Shi and Zhou Ruchang. The exhibit happens to have manuscripts by two scholars, especially the one published by Hu Shi when the Shanghai Yadong ben "Dream of the Red Chamber" was republished in May 1922:
I have said that in this article, I want to set aside all preconceived preconceptions; everywhere there is a purpose of searching for evidence; everywhere I respect the evidence, let the evidence guide, and lead me to a considerable conclusion.
Manuscript of Hu Shiba's Dream of the Red Chamber (Partial), Private Collection (Xia Ye/Photo)
In 1921, Hu Shi published "Examination of the Dream of the Red Chamber", which conducted a more systematic examination of the author, family lineage, and version of the "Dream of the Red Chamber", put forward new materials and new viewpoints, and sorted out a clue to study the "Dream of the Red Chamber". The scholars represented by him use the modern academic paradigm to study "Dream of the Red Chamber", making red science a serious science, known as "new red science".
Faced with a voluminous collection of classics and manuscripts, the curatorial team had to consider how to let the audience have a comfortable viewing perspective. In the end, the designer customized a special bracket according to the different sizes of the ancient books, and then tilted the book at a 45-degree angle after unfolding, which was almost the best angle for reading a book every day.
Ancient Books (Xia Ye/Photo)
<h3>From hermaphrodites to Cao's kites</h3>
Most of the exhibits are displayed in the form of display, and the designer designs in advance according to the appearance, material and specifications mastered by the previous data. Others will be constantly adjusted in the process of seeing the physical object and formally setting up the exhibition until they show the effect recognized by the curatorial team.
"One into the sheath, one in the outside." The ornamentation on the sword is amazing. Previously, the curators handed over exhibits in Beijing, during which they communicated with the designers who stayed in Guangzhou in real time. The pair of Qing Dynasty "dot gold and silver silk Mandarin Duck Swords" in the exhibits, the sword body has the Qianlong Year of the Great Qing Dynasty, the male and female swords are combined with a sword sheath, the handle is made of ivory, and the front and back are engraved with the image of Nezha and the lady and other patterns. "Dream of the Red Chamber" Sixty-sixth time "Love Little Sister Shame Returns to the Mansion Leng Erlang Cold into the Empty Door", You Sanjie killed herself with a female sword, Liu Xianglian used a male sword to break her hair, and it was the Mandarin Duck Sword that witnessed the love between the two:
Xiang Lian said, "Even so, the brother has nothing else, there is still a 'Mandarin Duck Sword' in his pocket, which is a treasure passed down from his brother's family, and the brother does not dare to use it, but he just collects it with him, so the second brother will please take it for certainty." The younger brother is the nature of the flow of water and flowers, and he does not give up this sword. ”...... When the third sister looked, the dragon swallowed the protection on the top, the jewel crystal screen, and the target was locked, but inside it was a combination of two. One is stamped with the word "duck" on it, and the other is stamped with the word "duck", cold and fluttering, bright and bright, like two traces of autumn water.
When the exhibition was officially set up, the designer changed his original intention and decided to show both male and female swords to the audience, so that people could appreciate more details.
The male and female swords of the Mandarin Duck Sword are both sheathed and displayed. (Xia Ye/Photo)
The writing of "Dream of the Red Chamber" does not set the era, but the era in which the writer lives will inevitably be revealed in the book, and these era elements constitute another part of the exhibition.
The details about the bell ringing in Jia Fu are largely distilled from Cao Xueqin's personal experience of life, especially the wonderful description of the many banquets and gatherings in the Grand View Garden has become a classic section, which is enjoyed by people. There happens to be a group of daily utensils in the exhibits - white jade goblets, gold-plated agate plum petal bowls, enamel tiliang wine pots, rhinoceros through-carved dragon cups, copper tire filigree enamel passion lotus high foot plates, eight auspicious pattern painting enamel hot pot, etc., the curator decided to create a feast scene. So at the end of the exhibition hall, there was a scene simulating the banquet of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and the background picture was selected from the Eighty-Year-old Daqing of Jia Mu in Sun Wen's "The Whole Picture of the Dream of the Red Chamber".
The banquet scene created by the exhibition. (Photo courtesy of Guangdong Provincial Museum)
The banquet was a popular elegant game in the Qing Dynasty, and it also had several heavy strokes in the fortieth chapter of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in the "Shi Taijun Two Feasts grand view garden Golden Mandarin Duck Three Xuanya Card Order", the sixty-third time "Shouyi Hongqunfang Open Night Feast Dead Jin Dan Du Yan Li Funeral" and other chapters. The poetry and wine order on display this time also happens to be ivory material, and the gameplay has been recorded in the Qing Dynasty Zhou Changsen's "Order of the Wine Order": "The above envoys are ordered to sit down, and they are the leaders of the alliance, listen to their constraints, there are moves that must be done, there are prohibitions that must be stopped, there is no guest and the host worship, there is no punishment for rare drinking, and there is no punishment for the lord, which is also called the order." However, the wine is also ordered, and the wine is also ordered. And the one who makes him good is also good, and he who chooses to do good is also righteous. ”
Ivory Poetry Wine Order, Qing Dynasty, Collection of the National Museum of China (Xia Ye/Photo)
In contrast to the impermanence of jia fu's transformation from prosperity to decline and fall into the mud, Cao Xueqin left a foreshadowing all the way in the book, such as "Dream of the Red Chamber" The seventieth time "Lin Daiyu Rebuilds the Peach Blossom Society Shi Xiangyun Even Fills in the Willow Words":
Bao Yu and everyone looked up at the kites in the sky. When the wind was tight, all the beards put their hands on the silk pads. Dai Yu saw that the wind was tight, and in the past, she loosened the basket, only to hear the sound of the "horn", and the time line was exhausted, and the kite went with the wind. Dai Yuyin asked everyone to release. Everyone said, "The root of Aunt Lin's illness has been released, and we have all let it go." So the servants took a pair of scissors, and the hinge broke the line, and the kite fluttered and fluttered with the wind.
Cao Xueqin writes kites, a metaphor for the ending of the women in the Grand View Garden, and what is less known is that Cao Xueqin herself may be good at making kites. In the preface to the "Waste Art Collection", he mentions that he "helps people to use art", so that friends can tide over difficulties and "support themselves with art", of which the second volume of "Southern Harrier and Northern Iris Examination Work" systematically records the principle of kite lifting and placing and the "four arts" of tie, paste, painting and putting. Mr. Kong Xiangze, former vice president of the China Kite Association, copied the kite atlas contained in the "Waste Art Collection" into a physical object and named it "Cao's Kite". The Beijing Cao Xueqin Society lent a group of six "Cao's Kites" for the exhibition, including Fat Swallow, Thin Swallow, BiYi Swallow, and folk favorite mythological figures Zhong Kui and Sun Wukong.
A reproduction of "Cao's Kite", Beijing Cao Xueqin Society Collection (Photo/Photo courtesy of Guangdong Provincial Museum)
<h3>"Flat ground up"</h3>
"Step by step" is a gift to the exhibition, but unfortunately, almost without exception, every exhibition has to face "flat land storm".
More than half a month before the "Dream of the Red Chamber" cultural exhibition was launched, individual costumes had to be cancelled due to the problem of preserving the status quo and not suitable for exhibition in other places. Suddenly, the curator had no choice but to find another way out with the team, because he did not want to see the richness of the exhibition weakened. Finally, in Yue Bo's own collection, three Pieces of Qing Dynasty Women's Costumes were also not inferior.
The rich costumes of the Qing Dynasty are a reflection of the era in which "Dream of the Red Chamber" was created. (Photo courtesy of Guangdong Provincial Museum)
In the exhibition, there are more than 200 pieces/sets of collections from the National Museum of China, about 100 pieces from other institutions such as the Cao Xueqin Society in Beijing, and nearly 50 new Pieces of Cantonese Bo Collection, which makes the "Dream of the Red Chamber" cultural exhibition unique compared with the previous exhibition at the National Expo.
In addition to the costumes, the curators selected the Ming Xuande cupola three-legged copper stove, the gold lacquer hollow bamboo wire eight square holding box of the Qianlong period, the black paint dark eight immortals and eight petals of the box, the Shiwan kiln Jinling Twelve Chao character pottery statues, and the Foshan lining paper-cut "Dream of the Red Chamber" and other special collections. In particular, the nineteenth-century "Stone Record" story square shawl brocade box, painted in the middle of the Qingwen tearing fan image, not only in line with the theme of the exhibition, but also shows the characteristics of the developed export trade in Guangdong at that time.
"Stone Record" Story Square Shawl Brocade Box, Qing, Guangdong Provincial Museum Collection (Xia Ye/Photo)
Curating and setting up exhibitions is the process of overcoming one problem after another and finding the best solution. Sometimes I give myself a question for myself in order to keep improving.
"Dream of the Red Chamber" begins with Nüwa refining stones to supplement the heavens, and the remaining spirit stone of the heavens follows a monk through the red dust and enters the gentle and rich township, transforming into Jia Baoyu's "psychic treasure jade":
The monk then chanted a spell and performed a great illusion, turning a large stone into a bright and beautiful jade, and shrinking it into the size of a fan pendant.
In the exhibit, a jade warm and delicate White Jade Lotus Fish Pattern Fan Pendant of the Qing Dynasty echoes the "precious jade" in the book. Therefore, the designer is racking his brains on how to show it.
"Consider hanging in the air with a fish wire."
"There may be shaking in the air on all sides."
"The force and stability of the fish wire thread is enough." In the designer's view, an overly conventional approach is not enough to highlight its "title" status. It was nearly midnight, and the designers, curators, and exhibitors repeatedly discussed and tried, and finally finalized the plan: the jade fan pendant was connected to the top of the display cabinet with fish wire thread above, and the bottom was also tied to the support bracket with fish wire perforation. Under the background of the light, the fish silk thread looms, and the jade fan pendant faces the crowd with a stable posture of upright front.
The white jade lotus fish pattern fan pendant echoes the "psychic treasure jade" in "Dream of the Red Chamber". (Photo courtesy of Guangdong Provincial Museum)
And just like the designer's original vision of the mirror, it was finally fully presented at the end of the exhibition.
The exhibition hall is about to turn into the corridor of the "Dream Once Knowledgeable Spirit Wind and Dust Heart Show" section, and the three-sided space is covered with mirrors and lighting belts. "Here it simulates the tunnel of time and space, and it also means the mirror flower and water moon." The designer and curator's ideas complement each other, "The outer periphery of this side of the aisle is the Grand View Garden painted by Sun Wen, and when you enter the passage, you enter the Grand View Garden." The 'Meiyan Resident Painting Female Axis', 'Gu Zhaoshi Female Group Fan' and several statues of Qingyu Female Figures facing in front of them also symbolize the women in the Grand View Garden. ”
The mirrored corridor creates a real dream. (Photo courtesy of Guangdong Provincial Museum)
There are two mirror designs in the exhibition, and one is the place where the exhibition begins. A whole mirror engraved with the name of the exhibition stands at the entrance of the exhibition prologue hall, and the truth and the image overlap and intertwine, illuminating themselves, seeing others passing by, and seeing the world as if it were real.
The scales above the mirror can be displayed on top of each other. (Xia Ye/Photo)
Xia Ye