a little poem

＊此文章发表在《当代艺术与投资》杂志2007年10月刊上

这篇文章是我在做日本当代文化专辑的时候邀请我的教授島本 浣先生（现任日本京都精华大学校长）写的，我做的翻译。现在拿来和大家分享。

美术史学家和书法家

曾经在日本京都精华大学读书的李诗是我的学生。她突然来信，请我写一篇文章关于我和身为书法家的妻子之间的文章。 主旨是介绍一下我作为一个艺术史学家和作为艺术家的妻子－田鹤子是如何在艺术支路上共勉的。对于这个问题，我从来都没有仔细的考虑过，也许很多人都是这样来看待我们夫妇的，那我就写写看。首先，从我自己说起。
　
我强烈的想要钻研艺术史是丛1970年代的后半期开始的，那个时候我正在京都大学读研究生。 那个时候，我在巴黎欣赏到的18世纪的绘画对我触动颇深，随后，我开始进入大学教书，并在30年的从师生涯中学习和研究法国近代和现代绘画史。此外，我也在研究日本传统插画和招贴画及此类印刷图像。与此同时，我也做当代艺术评论工作（曾在近年出版和翻译当代艺术的教学资料）。我的研究领域逐渐拓宽，对于艺术的思考和学习，其实还得追溯到对于法国绘画史的学习开始。其实，绘画史对于我来说，并不是直接对艺术家和作品进行研究，而是对于围绕他们所产生的语言和评论进行分析。换句话说，就是对美术史之上的，之外的，甚至是变化中的美术史(meta-art history, or art history on art history)进行研究。在这些研究的基础上我出版了《美术系谱论－纪录，记忆，评说》（三元社，2005）。我从历史和理论的角度出发系统的分析了艺术展览会和拍卖的信息图录，并对这象研究乐此不疲。我开始对这样的美术史之外的美术史不断研究，并为这样一本谁都不曾涉猎和研究的领域－《美术全集》忙碌的工作着。

　 　
一方面，我的妻子田鹤子成为一位真正的书法家，是丛10年前开始的。在此之前，他就曾师从于多位日本知名的书法家。但由于照顾家庭和育儿等原因，在一段时间里搁置了。但她在经历这一切之后，还是决定要像一个当代艺术家一样举办个展，以艺术家和书法家的双重身份再次活跃起来。在日本传统的书法界，像她这样的创作是艰难的。她之所以可以继续创作是因为她具有一种向传统书法挑战的意志。怎样把中国和日本从古至今的诗词，歌句中的能量释放出来，怎样才能把文字形象化的用自己的方式表现出来，成为了她创作的重心。那不仅仅只把文字用书法的形式写出来，这当中更蕴涵着当代艺术的精神和味道。她的作品被邀请在当代艺术的画廊里展出，这也是他与传统书法家的不同之处。

她的作品在京都的一些现代画廊展出后，在2003年时又被邀请到波兰举办个展。从这时候起，她便慢慢进入海外观众的视野。随后，田鹤子又在去年和今年年初分别在巴黎和纽约举办个展，同时参加一些艺术节等。在海外，书法已经不单单是研究语言的问题（比如说，写的内容是什么），似乎纸和墨，白与黑才是缠绕人们思绪的东西。从田鹤子的书法中，我们可以看到一种新的形和像。很久没在日本开个展的她，即将在今年秋季在京都把作品展示给大家。

对于她的创作和在艺术上的努力，我也说不上到底和我有着怎样的联系。最初，他在海外将作品展出的时候，在语言和海外的事物方面，我积极的帮助和鼓励她， 我也经常谈起对于这一时期她的作品的感受。初此之外，我其实受到她给我的影响和感召力更多一些。

我一直潜心研究西方美术，对于东方美术和日本传统艺术，我似乎接触的很少，也考虑的很少。在这一点上，身边有一个用当代艺术行为来创作书法的人在身边，无形中她帮助我拓宽了自己的视野。在西方语境里，可以说是一种对于难以理解的语言的一种解构（deconstruction), 这使我可以从其他视点出发来看西方艺术，也使我增加了对于当代艺术的兴趣。我对于艺术史之外的艺术史的研究，很有可能也是受到了妻子的影响。

艺术史学家和艺术家（书法）夫妇，在日常生活中也是很平常的夫妇。 在我们的生活中当然少不了谈论艺术这个话题。但是，由于我们所关心和感兴趣的艺术门类不同，很多时候都会引起激烈的讨论。她不会一味的支持我的艺术理论。即使是这样，我想这对与她对艺术作品的审美或创作方向甚至良好的自我批评上，可能都起到了潜移默化的影响。艺术家是一定需要另一双眼睛的。我想他在这一点上，应该在某种程度上感谢我的存在和支持吧！
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Time flies! I left London for two weeks ago already. Ed says the weather is not as nice as last month when we were buried in essays. In Beijing, the sand storm from Inner Mongolia made the city dry and windy. I was stuck at home, writing about a new media artist.

I will be working in Beijing for half a year this time – such a long period after I have been living in overseas for 7 years. The crowds, the traffic, the unpleasant weather and the dramatically changed appearance of the city make me feel a bit lost. I have found it’s difficult to concentrate on things. This is also because I miss Ed so much. We are both staying alone in London and Beijing. But distance will only help our relationship to become firmer. As Ed said, difficulties can be met together and will make us stronger. Thank you Ed, my love!

亲爱的大家，再过一周我就可以回家了。
我会在北京工作6个月。我的工作是做策展人助手。今早刚刚收到‘老板’ email来的五一黄金周工作计划表。 着实另我大跌眼镜， 中午飞抵北京（13小时机程），当天的下午5点， 就要陪同各方策展人出席一家画廊的opening show. 但愿我的铁人精神可以发挥到及至。

我一走，Ed 就可怜了。 昨天早上他注视着我，热泪盈眶。熬过这一个月的论文奋战期，五一当天，我们俩都要‘上乘’ 两万四千字的论文给学校。翌日，我就要飞走，对他来说，实在是有点凄凉。更何况我们刚刚订婚就要小别，唉！Chao和小船安慰我说，小别胜新婚嘛，这会让彼此更加相惜相爱的。英文里也有相似的表达，叫做 ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’. 看来英文汉语还是有异曲同工之处的。

就要见到父母了，心切！

What is Creative Journal? Creative Journal had a negative denotation for me at the early stage. I took Creative Journal as a piece of homework at the beginning because I did not understand why should I keep writing it every week, and who am I writing for. So I treated it as something that I had a duty to do.

Why I am writing? The uncertainty of writing became my motivation towards writing. Now I have a very positive feeling towards it. I realised that I am not writing for anyone but rather for myself. Whenever I read a good article, come back from a fantastic exhibition or have had an exciting discussion with course-mates, they all become very good resources for it. Gradually, the creative journal became one of my hobbies which records my thoughts, builds up my ideas and also keeps my mind busy with controversial issues within contemporary society.

Creative journal helps me to think seriously about what I have perceived, heard and also when I have given my own opinions towards contemporary issues. It differs from essays, one can write freely without restrictions from particular topics.
However, the fact is that I found all the subjects of which I am interested, actually interact with each other. For example I have been interested in whether Chinese contemporary architecture has been influenced by the Western idea of modernity. Meanwhile, I also keen to research whether Chinese contemporary art has its own identity or if it may be seen as a copy of the Western phenomenon. Both topics are relevant to the study of visual culture, and both issues had obvious effects in the City in China today.

Creative Journals help me to review what I have studied in the past, and make connections with similar contexts. It naturally draws a visual mind map for me, which helps me to analyze my mind and thinking.

Nevertheless, I have also met difficulties through writing. It was difficult to talk about things objectively. A piece of creative journal can be from a very personal point of view. However, I think it is good to not repeat what has been said in history, instead, to develop one’s own thought further based on today’s issues in various situations.

Theories are still very crucial for supporting one’s ideas and also to help to reveal contemporary issues. I also enjoyed in studying thinkers with differing viewpoints. Researching on a very specific subject can lead one into depth in this study area. Moreover, through long-term research, one may gain unexpected knowledge and find more interests. For example I wrote a series of discussions about ‘YCA (Young Chinese Artists) is on its way’, which is quite different from my studies of feminism. These require different style of wiring.

Among various subjects, I have been interested in the Chinese contemporary art market, in terms of how it has dramatically developed through the last 30 years. It has many influences from within and also outside of China. When Chinese indigenous culture suddenly becomes a source of creative motivation for Chinese artists, and their artworks become products, and these products are brought to the international market, afterwards, this market becomes hotter and hotter. I really want to know the reasons behind this.

In terms of Chinese contemporary art history, it is fascinating to see who is making it and how it has been constructed.

With my language advantage, I am also able to compare and contrast different ideas and philosophies towards contemporary art from the West and China. I have found that language plays an important role in terms of exchanging ideas. From many articles in Chinese publications, I have discovered how the Chinese perceive contemporary art. As Chinese contemporary art gradually becomes popular in the West today, many Western critics have had their attention drawn to it. One can easily come across art reviews or critical essays in many famous English-language art and theory magazines today, such as Art Forum, Art in America, Radical Philosophy and so on.

I feel fortunate that I am studying art theory and am able to associate with various viewpoints from both the Chinese and the Western sides towards contemporary art. Since then, I have not been satisfied with just being an observer. I have tried to apply my knowledge to them by using what I have learned through this course. For example, in ‘A Fake Conversation’, I joined the conversation among art critics (in this case Richard Vine and Christopher Phillips) and presented my own opinions. Another example will be ‘ “Aftershock” shocked me’ – a series of criticisms on the YBA British Contemporary Art show which is held in China this year. I focused on the fact that Tracy Emin’s ‘my bed’ was ‘castrated’ when the Chinese version of it appeared, and I reviewed in English in how the Chinese media presented this show. With the aim of encouraging Young Chinese Artists to be more creative and groundbreaking, one may sense the new cultural imperialism is coming in by the back door with the show.

Feminism studies is also one of my favourite subjects. It was quite shocking after studying feminism in art in the West. Women were not included in the Art circle for a long term throughout art history. In my journal, I took the opportunity to compare two compelling thinkers to show the ‘sexual difference’ between Luce Irigaray and Judith Butler. This helped me to obtain knowledge about Western cultural background as well as to look at contemporary art through this perspective.

I believe that creative journal needs a creative mind. A creative mind is not about thinking randomly, it will be developed little by little by continually writing it and being passionate, active and critical about one’s interests.

公历二千零七年 四月十一日 星期三
英国 伦敦
诗 和 爱德华
婚约

当你不再犹豫 不再踌躇
我猜，你的身体里倾注了爱人的力量

当爱人们相拥在街头
这一瞬间的影像 被记录在了陌生人们的眼眸
你们已经得到了数不清的祝福

当相濡以沫的伴侣在这个惹人的初春里尽情淋漓着日光
那是大自然赋予他们的奖赏
无疑
相爱的人
无须顾及
以爱为由，以天地为证
就此订下婚约

诗和爱德华

The following two quotes are taken from the March 2007 edition of Art in America, to which I have responded.

Richard Vine: Before the market explosion, critics like Li Xianting and independent curators like Fei Dawei, Feng Boyi and Gu Zhenqing played vital roles in identifying – or inventing – significant movements and highlighting the work of selected artists. What has become of those functions today? Does intellectual validation still matter, or has criticism become primarily work done for hire?

Christopher Phillips: As is the case in many places where contemporary art institutions are in their infancy, art-community members in China inevitably wear many hats. Someone who is an artist may also be writing critics, organizing museum exhibitions, running a commercial gallery, advising foreign collectors on a commission basis and teaching in an art academy. There is only a grudging awareness that these overlapping roles might involve conflicts of interests. All this will probably change as the Chinese art world becomes more professionalized in the coming decades. Nevertheless, at the moment enormous temptations are presented by the flood of money that’s rushing around in the Chinese art scene, and I think that very few curators now refrain from privately buying and selling works.

Shi Li: I don’t see why an Artist cannot also be critic, curator, collector, dealer or whatever they want to be at the same time. Especially, among today’s international art practice, it does not surprise me if one plays different roles in his or her life. In terms of becoming a ‘professionalised’, it seems to me one will be more likely to restrict oneself from accessing other interacted fields. ‘Conflicts of interests’ may occur, such as a scholar may be distracted from teaching by putting too much effort of curating exhibitions – however, theory and practise are good to be preformed at the same time. This is similar to why a good course in a university should be combined with a lab. Another example could be more serious than arranging one’s schedule, which is about the evaluation of a piece of art. This concerns one’s morality towards art, as one may argue that a curator may select artworks by their prices, or artists may produce their art by the whims of the art market. However, Chinese contemporary art environment may have its own function and system depending on its own situation. Perhaps, what the Chinese contemporary art needs is not a judgement but encouragement and advice.

In my previous journals, I have discussed how the foreign art collectors have become eagerly interested in collecting Chinese contemporary art. By doing so, this worldwide trend is actually creating a new ideology, which is affecting the valorisation of Chinese contemporary art. Or perhaps, we could put this another way around, there has not been a indigenous system of evaluating Chinese contemporary art, nevertheless, it will be formed by the Art Markets, to be more specific, it will be formed by Art collectors and dealers. Perhaps, one could say that this happens everywhere in the world. Why is China so special to be singled out?

There are two issues raised here for the Chinese to consider. Firstly, if an art market has no rules and no standard of evaluations, it more likely to have a shakeout whenever the rules are established; another danger is that the concept of the best Chinese contemporary art is being judged by a small group of people who are mainly from the West, and will be evaluated by the only norm available – money. The idea of the ‘artist’ may be tarnished with a bad reputation for being wishing to become rich.

I wasn’t feeling very well today.
In order to distract me from the illness and make me feel relaxed, Ed read me a section from a classic French novel- Remembrance of Things Past written by Marcel Proust. The novel was one of Ed’s favorite reads from almost 10 years ago. There is a section in which the author introduces his grandmother; I found that it was such a beautiful expression, which reminded me of my grandmother. I would like to quote it here to share with everyone.

My poor grandmother would come in and beg her husband not to taste the brandy; and he would get angry and gulp it down all the same, and she will go out again sad and discouraged, but still smiling, for she was so humble of heart and so gentle and her tenderness for others and her disregard for herself and her own troubles blended in a smile which, unlike those seen as majority of human faces, bore no trace of irony save for herself, while for all of us kisses seemed to spring from her eyes, which could not look upon those she loved with out seeming to bestow upon them passionate caresses…

Thank you my love Ed. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

论文中的一段，回应宝贝老师的文章‘大国崛起’－关于文化殖民
…
Culture colonization the relationship between the colonizer and the colony

Having been very much inspired by Edward Said, Gandhi pointed out that ‘Postcoloniality, we might say, is just another name for the globalization of cultures and histories.’(Gandhi, 1998, p.126) As nineteenth-century colonization has faded from our memory of history, post-colonialists are well aware of a new kind of cross-cultural ‘postcoloniality’, which without hostilities, pillage and occupation but rather cultural, educational and spiritual influence implanted in contemporary society, which can be regarded as an invisible form of cultural imperialism. Regarding cultural imperialism, Ella Shohat and Robert Stam argue that,

… the third world always seems to lag behind, not only economically but culturally, condemned to a perpetual game of catch-up, in which it can only repeat on another register the history of the ‘advanced’ world. This system ignores the ‘systems theory’ that sees all the ‘worlds’ as coeval, interlinked, living the same historical moment (but under diverse modalities of subordination or domination). (Shohat and Stam, 2002, p.38)

They elaborate this point further, ‘ like the sociology of “modernisation” and the economics of “development,” the aesthetics of modernism (and postmodernism) often covertly assume a telos toward which “Third world” cultural practices are presumed to be evolving.’ (ibid.)

From Shohat and Stam’s point of view, the so-called ‘first world’ Modernisation system and its effects on other cultures should be questioned. It cannot be seen as an advanced goal, which the rest of the world (non-western countries) has to follow. The debate here will be centred on the concept that a Modernized ideal is not necessarily the same as a modern ideal. There is still a relationship of cultural colonization between the colonizer and colony.

The identity of Chinese contemporary art
I will now turn to Chinese contemporary art to show how colonization has affected its identity.

In China, there has been a dramatic increase in interest in contemporary art in the last 30 years. There is a question whether contemporary Chinese art is a replication of the western contemporary art or whether it has its own Chinese identity.

In relation to Chinese contemporary art practice, there seem to be three aspects of contemporary postcolonial thought which appear to have influenced it.

Establishing an international image and reputation
First, a growing body of Chinese contemporary art attempts to follow similar western patterns of establishing an international image and reputation. Accompanying the rapidly developed economy in the last thirty-years, there has been a realization of the influence of cultural colonization upon major cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou The thriving contemporary Chinese art scene has reflected some kinds of western art world ideologies, and many contemporary institutions such as Shanghai Art Museum have followed similar institutional traditions as Europe since the end of the 20th century. For instance, the Venice Biennale has successfully been held in Europe for more than 100-years. In recent years, the major cities in China such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongqing have all held art biennials, which the Chinese government has encouraged in order to attract attention from all over the world.

Who is more familiar with Chinese contemporary art
Secondly, it seems that the westerners are more familiar with Chinese contemporary art than the Chinese by looking at certain phenomena.
After searching and observing many Chinese art institutions and artists’ websites, one phenomenon is that their websites are generally translated into English. By looking at their biography in these websites, the exhibitions are held equally overseas and in China, or often they hold more international exhibitions than ones in their own country, places such as America, Japan and many countries in Europe.

Furthermore, there are foreign collectors, museums and galleries, many from the ‘first world’ especially America and Europe, who have been collecting numerous outstanding Chinese contemporary artworks in recent years. And this tendency is increasing every year, as there are more people from the art circle or even outside paying attention to Chinese contemporary art. For instance, many contemporary Chinese artworks can be found in the well-known Christies and Sotheby’s auctions today. Both of these companies established overseas offices in major cities of China. This might be because on the one hand, the Chinese art market is becoming increasingly popular; on the other hand, it has become another major resource for them. For example Sotheby’s in New York put Chinese contemporary art on the block as an individual sales category for the first time just one year ago (Richard Vine in Vine, 2007, p.50).

However, there are positives and negatives if Chinese contemporary art practice remains the same. The fact is that there are less Chinese people collecting contemporary art than westerners. The reason could be either people cannot afford these artworks (perhaps because these works are brought to the international market where western buyers are willing to pay a higher price than Chinese collectors) or even those who are wealthy have no intention of collecting contemporary art, owing to the fact they are not aware of its significance and value.

Another reason could be the absence of an aesthetical education of what is contemporary Chinese art by which I mean having a culture of aesthetic appreciation of contemporary art in general. This may be because of the lack of world-class museums in China and the major movement of Chinese artefacts to the west in the 19th century.

The well-known Chinese artist Chen Danqing reminds us that among what is preceived to be the best ten museums, such as the Berlin Museum in Germany, the Maya Museum in Mexico or the British Museum in the UK, there are none of in Asia which has the largest population in the world. (Chen, 2005, p.19) Without more local facilities, the next generation will have the same ‘destiny’ as the Chinese now.

They will also have to fly almost half the globe to visit places such as the British Museum to look at the art from their ancestors. So instead of permanently working individually, Chinese contemporary artists should encourage and help the government construct an aesthetical education system to collect contemporary art works in order to provide an artistic environment and also educate young generations. It will help change the sense of art of the nation. Chen Danqing says, art is visual culture, if we cannot perceive it originally, is just like deaf men talking about music. (Chen, 2005, p.18)
…

Today, I was invited to attend an informal gathering at the study centre where I used to study English language and contemporary culture last year at Goldsmith College. It was nice to meet all the new faces and also my previous tutor and some of the course mates.

The purpose of today’s gathering was to share everyone’s experiences with language studies and academic life at the College. I gave a talk about my personal experience on my current course (postgraduate diploma on contemporary art history) and how I have been developing my English through these studies. I have been thinking maybe it is a good idea to analyze what I have shared with all the new students today, and post it in here as a piece of my personal archive.

Firstly, I talked about how useful summaries are in terms of engaging with new articles and texts. The best way of doing revision is to begin with a summary of all the key concepts that are introduced throughout the academic term. The aim of this is to help one revisit and refresh one’s memory with previous lectures or text materials. I proposed that a good starting point for revision would be to go over the readings again and to summarize them at the end. They help demonstrate theories in a more personalised way, giving one a better understanding of how these theories work in real life. In order to do better revision, one should also consider a broader overview of the academic framework in order to explain contemporary issues in a more interesting way. I suggested that one should not only memorize the context of books, but to also take the ideas from these books and apply them to reality (contemporary situations), in which I think the best way to do so, is to adept theories into a presentation. This is because, presentation is a way of retelling what one has been studying and to analyze one’s thinking at the same time. In doing so, I suggested that one should try to participate more in class and sharing opinions with each other.

I advised the new students to identify their own problems from which they can construct a personal study plan, which suits them best. In order to create an effective study environment, one should also have an ultimate aim to encourage oneself and also to deal with one’s own difficulties and issues. Finally, the most important thing is to be patient and relaxed about the processing of learning.