戴汉志:5000个名字

“戴汉志:5000个名字”
尤伦斯当代艺术中心,北京,2014年5月24日至8月10日

“戴汉志:5000位艺术家”
魏特德维茨当代艺术中心,鹿特丹,2014年9月4日至2015年1月4日

“Hans van Dijk: 5000 Names”
Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 24 May – 10 August, 2014

“Dai Hanzhi: 5000 Artists”
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, 4 September, 2014 – 4 January, 2015

戴汉志:5000个名字

(For English version, please see below)
2014年4月29日,中国北京

一个囊括了大量文献资料和艺术作品的回顾展,由尤伦斯当代艺术中心(北京)和魏特德维茨当代艺术中心(鹿特丹)联合推出,旨在铭记和检视戴汉志——这位曾影响中国当代艺术史进程的重要角色的生平和工作。

尤伦斯当代艺术中心(UCCA)于2014年5月24日至8月10日推出展览“戴汉志:5000个名字”,旨在致敬和纪念这位曾影响中国当代艺术史进程的重要人士,铭刻他对于中国艺术界和其同时代的中国艺术家而言的特殊意义。戴汉志出生于荷兰,于1986年赴中国南京、后长居于北京,2002年去世,是一位杰出的学者、策展人和艺术经纪人,为奠定中国当代艺术发展的基石做出了大量贡献。他所创立的新阿姆斯特丹艺术咨询公司(NAAC)为中国艺术家、国际艺术收藏家和策展人建立了沟通平台;与人联合创立的中国艺术文件仓库(CAAW)则是国内最早的鼓励实验性艺术项目的空间之一;他在1993年策划的“中国前卫艺术展”更为影响深远,此展览是中国当代艺术在欧洲的第一次展出。

“戴汉志:5000个名字”基于大量的访谈和文献等研究资料,试图完整呈现他的人生遗产,内容包括他曾支持过的重要艺术家和由他们所构成的上世纪90年代的艺术生态。本展遵循时间顺序将戴汉志一生中的各个标志性阶段划分为三个主要部分,整理大量戴汉志的信函、文件、照片、曾编辑的书目、曾策划的展览和关于他的生平的详实资料,在UCCA最大的展厅空间内呈现,同时展出一系列曾与戴汉志密切合作或在其研究范畴内的中国艺术家的作品。将照片作品的合法性引入中国和国际当代艺术界亦是戴汉志的贡献之一,此次,曾在他生前策划的展览中出现过、包括李永斌和“新刻度”小组在内的相关历史性作品亦原景重现。综合来看,这些历史文献和艺术作品为人们提供了一个身临其境地进入这位关键人物的世界的入口,重新开启关于其丰富贡献的探讨,并再次回望上世纪90年代的中国艺术环境和那些被遗忘的片段。

展览标题(也是本展三个主要部分之一)指向一个戴汉志生前未能完成的开创性项目:一部未曾出版的词典,收录有逾5000个——几乎所有出生于1880年至1980年之间的中国现当代艺术家的名字和介绍,这个庞杂的资料库就存在他的个人电脑里,编译了整个二十世纪的中国艺术界的展览和出版史。正如策展人玛丽安娜•布劳沃所言,“长期以来,人们已经意识到戴汉志对中国艺术界的重要性,作为策展人和艺术经纪人,他努力在中国和西方的艺术系统之间建立联系,尤其是上世纪90年代初。而在他电脑中发现的这部令人震撼的词典,则使我们必须重新审视他的遗产,戴汉志生前未能将其设计成册并付梓出版,在本展中,人们可以看到它的数字版本。目前,我们正在筹建一个基金会,旨在维护戴汉志的遗产,初衷之一即在于研究这部词典并列入出版计划。”

在中国艺术体系尚未成型的年代,戴汉志几乎同时扮演了导师、策展人、经纪人和学者的多重角色。他教会艺术家如何在艺术界中经营自己的职业生涯:从策展和参展到包装作品、填写款项合同、再到向本土和国际藏家展示。尤为重要的是,他是最早将这些艺术家置于其大环境中去量度的人之一,以中国艺术史的延续和国际当代艺术实践这两条线索建立坐标轴。戴汉志一直对主流的后殖民主义态度持有异见,鼓励中国艺术家将自己视为全球文化声场中的平等角色和参与者。

可以说,戴汉志在帮助诸多艺术家开启其职业生涯、促进国际视野对中国当代艺术的兴趣等方面均起到了重要作用。他于1986年抵达南京并开始学习普通话,期间在中国江浙一带游访展览和结识艺术家,1989年回到荷兰后开始在欧洲大陆推广中国当代艺术,最终在柏林世界文化宫举办了具有里程碑意义的展览“中国前卫艺术展”。1993年,戴汉志回到中国,投身于北京艺术圈,并在1994年创立了NAAC,作为展览、写作和艺术经纪等工作的依托。

作为一位学者,戴汉志在上世纪90年代通过大量的策展和商业项目获得了某种意义上的成功。他在欧洲、尤其是德国组织了多个关于中国艺术的展览,并于1996年接管中央美术学院画廊——虽然只任职了6个月;期间,他以惊人的效率一连推出了6个堪称其职业生涯中最精彩的展览。1998年,戴汉志与艾未未和比利时收藏家傅郎克共同创立了CAAW,存档文献囊括了逾450位曾参与他在中国和国外策划的展览的艺术家的详细信息。

当然,戴汉志在实现这些成就的过程中也备受挫折。他并非一个精明的商人,相对于作品销售而言,更关注艺术的先锋性。例如,1997年戴汉志在北京策划、由西门子主办的中德艺术家联展“面对面”因遭到官方抗议而作罢;而在90年代末,和他私交最密的几个艺术家朋友纷纷离他而去,与更具有商业意识的艺术经纪人合作;同时,大量国外策展人的涌入也削弱了他在北京艺术圈曾有的分量。尽管如此,直到他2002年去世,戴汉志仍然是被一代中国艺术家所尊崇的导师和学者。王广义曾指出,“如果戴汉志仍然活着,我相信他会是中国当代艺术领域最重要的人物——并非作为一名经纪人,而是作为一个学者。他拥有能够影响整个艺术行业的话语权。”

展览由玛丽安娜•布劳沃策划,与UCCA馆长田霏宇和策展人刘秀仪、魏特德维茨当代艺术中心馆长德芙内•阿亚斯和策展人塞缪尔•萨勒梅克斯合作呈现,施岸迪和张离(黎)提供策展支持。分为UCCA(北京,2014年5月24日至8月10日)和魏特德维茨当代艺术中心(鹿特丹,2014年9月4日至2015年1月4日)两个现场。

UCCA展览“戴汉志:5000个名字”由迪奥和荷兰王国驻华大使馆赞助。策展人玛丽安娜•布劳沃的研究经费由蒙德瑞安基金(Mondriaan Fund)提供。

参展艺术家

作品参展“戴汉志:5000个名字”的艺术家和小组包括艾未未、大尾象、苍鑫、陈劭雄、丁乙、段建宇、托马斯·福瑟、顾德新、海波、韩磊、洪浩、洪磊、李永斌、林一林、刘安平、刘鼎、罗永进、麦志雄、孟煌、新刻度、邱志杰、施勇、孙凯、戴汉志、王世龙、王兴伟、王音、吴山专、徐宏民、徐坦、徐志伟、颜磊、余友涵、张恩利、张海儿、张培力、赵半狄、赵少若、郑国谷、周铁海、朱发东和庄辉。

关于策展人

玛丽安娜•布劳娃(1942年出生于荷兰)是一位艺术史学者、策展人和作家,研究方向是当代艺术;她是巴黎索邦大学的艺术史硕士,曾长居于日本和法国,现定居荷兰。自1970年代开始从事艺术评论及记者工作,1980年代至1990年代期间任荷兰库勒慕勒美术馆(Kroller Müller Museum)雕塑园策展人;在知名媒体、艺术机构长期发表大量评论文章并举办讲座,受邀担任众多国际性展览的评审委员、并在各大艺术学院授课。1994年,玛丽安娜在库勒慕勒美术馆策划了以文化流亡为主题的展览“黑暗的心”,展出了陈箴、谷文达、黄永砯、蔡国强等旅居海外的中国艺术家的一系列装置作品;1997年在戴汉志的帮助下于布瑞德(荷兰)客座策划了群展“又一次长征———中国当代艺术1997”,此展是90年代中国的观念、装置和录像艺术在国际上的第一次综合性展览。2004年,玛丽安娜荣获国际艺术评论家协会(AICA)荷兰分会颁发的最佳展览奖,她所著的《丹•格雷厄姆 1965-2000年间作品》一书获颁最佳图书奖。

尤伦斯当代艺术中心

尤伦斯当代艺术中心(UCCA)是一座服务于公众,独立的公益性艺术机构,位于北京798艺术区核心地带,由比利时收藏家尤伦斯夫妇创建,于2007年11月正式开馆。UCCA与中国本土及国际范围内的知名和新锐艺术家广泛合作,举办学术性的展览及丰富的公共项目,致力于持续性地推动中国当代艺术的发展、促进国际交流,为每年到访的近百万参观者呈现最前瞻的艺术和文化。
www.ucca.org.cn

魏特德维茨当代艺术中心

魏特德维茨当代艺术中心(Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art)是位于荷兰鹿特丹的一座国际性的公共机构,创建于1990年,致力于推动当代艺术在世界范围内的发展。自中心开幕以来,通过一系列展览、讲座与论坛、现场活动和教育项目,积极介入社会和政治议题。
www.wdw.nl

Hans van Dijk: 5000 Names
Released on April 29, 2014

A historical exhibition in two parts, co-commissioned by Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing) and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art (Rotterdam), comprising documentary materials and artworks that examine the life and work of a defining figure in contemporary Chinese art.

Dutch-born, Beijing-based curator, scholar, and dealer Hans van Dijk (1946 – 2002) was a foundational influence on contemporary art in China. His myriad contributions include the seminal 1993 exhibition “China Avant-garde,” the first show of Chinese contemporary art in Europe; the New Amsterdam Art Consultancy (NAAC), which connected Chinese artists with collectors and curators abroad; and the China Art Archives and Warehouse (CAAW), an experimental gallery and exhibition space.

Based on extensive interviews and archival research, “Hans van Dijk: 5000 Names” considers his legacy as it looks at the major artists he championed and the scene they inhabited during the 1990s. The exhibition comprises three main elements grouped chronologically within significant periods in the scholar’s life. A collection of documentary material from Holland, Germany, and the NAAC/CAAW archive, Beijing, includes catalogues, personal correspondence, and photographs, recording in depth van Dijk’s life and work within an emergent art scene. Complementing these documents are works by Chinese artists with whom van Dijk worked closely. Van Dijk’s contribution to the introduction of photography as contemporary art into the Chinese and international art world will be looked at closely, and several historical works by figures including Li Yongbin and the New Analysts (Xin Kedu), originally included in van Dijk’s exhibitions, will be recreated. Together, these documents and works offer an immersive look into the world of a critical figure whose legacy has only just begun to be unpacked, reopening not only the conversation surrounding van Dijk and his manifold contributions to Chinese contemporary art, but the history of the 1990s in Chinese art and culture more broadly.

The final element of the exhibition is van Dijk’s life’s work: a meticulously organized, staggeringly comprehensive lexicon of over 5,000 Chinese artists born between 1880 and 1980, documenting the history of the country’s modern and contemporary art. The lexicon, discovered on van Dijk’s computer, is a groundbreaking document compiled over decades that details the exhibition and publication history of virtually every important Chinese artist of the twentieth century. As exhibition curator Marianne Brouwer notes, “There has been a longstanding awareness of Hans’ importance to the art scene in China—as a curator and a dealer, creating relations between art in China and the Western art system, particularly in the early nineties. Finding the lexicon has decisively changed the way in which we must consider his legacy. In this exhibition, we are showing a digital version that Hans created, though he also designed a book he meant to publish in print form. We are now well on our way to setting up a foundation to care for his legacy, and one of our first concerns will be to research the meaning of the lexicon and the possibilities of having it published.”

Hans van Dijk acted as a teacher, curator, dealer, and scholar in a time when art infrastructure in China was virtually nonexistent. He taught artists how to manage themselves and the minutiae of the art world: how to curate and have their shows curated, pack artworks, fill out loan forms, and show to local and international collectors. Critically, he was one of the first to view these artists within their larger context, both as a continuation of Chinese art history and as a part of international contemporary art practice. Van Dijk worked against predominant post-colonial attitudes, encouraging Chinese artists to see themselves as equal contributors to a global cultural dialogue.

Hans van Dijk was instrumental in launching the careers of many important artists and in generating early international interest in Chinese contemporary art. After studying Mandarin in Nanjing starting in 1986, during which time he traveled around China’s Jiangnan region visiting exhibitions and meeting artists, van Dijk returned to Holland in 1989. While there, he began promoting Chinese artists to a continental audience, culminating in the seminal “China Avant-garde” exhibition at Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Van Dijk returned to China in 1993 to immerse himself in the Beijing art scene, and in 1994 he founded the New Amsterdam Art Consultancy as an umbrella for his exhibitions, writing, and dealership.

The 1990s saw the scholar undertake many curatorial and business projects to mixed success. He organized several exhibitions of Chinese art in Europe, especially in Germany. Hans van Dijk helmed the Central Academy of Fine Arts Gallery for a mere six months in 1996, managing to put on six of the greatest shows of his career at a breakneck pace. In 1998 he co-founded the profitable China Art Archive and Warehouse, van Dijk’s first commercial venture, with Ai Weiwei and Belgian collector Frank Uytterhaegen. The Archive contains detailed information on more than 450 Chinese contemporary artists and thousands of documents on the history of van Dijk’s exhibitions both in China and abroad.

Yet these career triumphs were marred by frustration. Van Dijk was a mediocre businessman, more focused on what was vanguard than what was sellable. Official protest sank his landmark 1997 project “Face to Face,” a three-part collaboration with Siemens that would exhibit Chinese and German artists together. During the late 1990s, several of van Dijk’s closest artist friends left his stewardship for more commercially successful dealers, while an influx of foreign curators diminished his role in Beijing. Yet despite this, Hans remained a beloved mentor and leading academic for a generation of Chinese artists up until his death in 2002. As Wang Guangyi posited, “If Hans were alive today, his space still running, I think he would be the most important figure in contemporary Chinese art. Not as a dealer, no, but as a scholar, able to influence the entire discourse of art.”

This exhibition in two parts is curated by Marianne Brouwer and developed with Philip Tinari (Director, UCCA) and Defne Ayas (Director, Witte de With), together with Venus Lau (Curator, UCCA), Samuel Saelemakers (Associate Curator, Witte de With), and Ian Yang (Curatorial Fellow, Witte de With). Curatorial assistance was provided by Andreas Schmid and Zhang Li. The exhibition is co-commissioned by the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (24 May – 10 August, 2014) and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (4 September, 2014 – 4 January, 2015)

The UCCA presentation of “Hans van Dijk: 5000 Names” is sponsored by Dior and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beijing. Research support for Marianne Brouwer was provided by the Mondriaan Fund.

Participating Artists

“Hans van Dijk: 5000 Names” includes artworks by Ai Weiwei, Big Tail Elephant, Cang Xin, Chen Shaoxiong, Ding Yi, Duan Jianyu, Thomas Fuesser, Geng Jianyi, Gu Dexin, Hai Bo, Han Lei, Hong Hao, Hong Lei, Li Yongbin, Lin Yilin, Liu Anping, Liu Ding, Luo Yongjin, Mai Zhixiong, Meng Huang, New Analysts, Qiu Zhijie, Shi Yong, Sun Kai, Hans van Dijk, Wang Shilong, Wang Xingwei, Wang Yin, Wu Shanzhuan, Xu Hongmin, Xu Tan, Xu Zhiwei, Yan Lei, Yu Youhan, Zhang Enli, Zhang Hai’er, Zhang Peili, Zhao Bandi, Zhao Shaoruo, Zheng Guogu, Zhou Tiehai, Zhu Fadong, and Zhuang Hui.”

About the Curator

Marianne Brouwer (b. 1942) is an art historian, curator, and writer, with a speciality in contemporary art. She was born in the Netherlands and has lived in Japan and France, where she obtained her MA in art history at the Sorbonne University, Paris. In the seventies she worked as an art critic and journalist. During the eighties and nineties she was the curator of sculpture at the Kröller-Müller Museum. She has published and lectured widely, participated in international juries, and taught at various art institutions.

In 1994 she curated the exhibition “Heart of Darkness,” dedicated to issues of exile and the Other with site-specific installations by Huang Yong Ping, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Gu Wenda (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands). In 1997 she was the guest curator of the exhibition “Another Long March: Chinese Conceptual and Installation Art in the Nineties,” the first comprehensive exhibition of Chinese conceptual and video art outside China (Breda, Netherlands, 1997). In 2004 she received the Netherlands’ AICA (Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art) award for best exhibition and best book for “Dan Graham: Works 1965-2000.”

About the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art

The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) is an independent, not-for-profit art center serving a global Beijing public. Located at the heart of Beijing’s 798 Art District, it was founded by the Belgian collectors Guy and Myriam Ullens and opened in November 2007. Through a diverse array of exhibitions with artists Chinese and international, established and emerging, as well as a wide range of public programs, UCCA aims to promote the continued development of the Chinese art scene, foster international exchange, and showcase the latest in art and culture to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
http://ucca.org.cn/en/

About Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art

Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art is an international public institution with Rotterdam as its home base. Established in 1990, Witte de With explores developments in contemporary art worldwide. Witte de With has been commenting on the social and political predicament since its inception through the presentation of curated exhibitions, symposia, live events, educational programs, and a bold publishing arm.
www.wdw.nl