Unlived by What is Seen不在图像中行动之三

The preparation for Unlived by What is Seen began in 2013. After a year of in-depth communication and exploration, it traces a new direction in Chinese contemporary art emerging since 2008. This new current is characterized by the infiltration of art practices into various social sectors and aspects of life. The goal of these practices is no longer geared toward the production of images or visual objects, but rather developing modes of existence that interrogate life itself. What are being shown in these three exhibition spaces are snapshots and shadows of activities that have taken place elsewhere, in another time, and under a different intensity. Hardly qualifying as works of art in the traditional sense, these events unfold from the specific needs, confusions, and counterstrategies of individuals. Always addressing realities through exceptional means, they manifest attitudes of disengagement from which a poetics of life receives its ethos.
 
The work of the curators is centered on the excavation, identification and presentation of these life practices that have sublimated into objects, documentations, or sometimes nothing at all. Based on their unique status, the curator designed a form of communication in which the artists were asked to narrate or recount actions, experiences and encounters from a first-person standpoint.

The present exhibition neither follows conventional standards nor seeks to draft a rubric for the future.


这个项目于2013年正式启动，经历了一年多的讨论，集中展现了在2008年之后，中国当代艺术所发生的一种艺术方向和方式的转变。它强调个体在社会和生活中的全面实践，艺术家不再以生产视觉化的作品为目的，在自我实践中强调生活本身的特殊状态和活法。在这三个展厅中所呈现的图像只是行动的捕捉和投影，借助这些信息去了解那些在展厅之外的生动：已经过去的发生、经历，意识或生活。这些很难被称之为作品的“事情”，始终围绕个体自身的特殊需求和困惑展开，以一种非常的应对方式回应现实，在回应和发生的过程中，不断的显现对艺术的出离态度和生活的诗学。

策展人的大量工作是对“在社会中的特殊生活实践”的挖掘、甄别与指认，这些“事情”有的衍生了物，有的留下了记录和证据，有的什么也没有留下，他们只是把发生告诉我们。基于这些“作品”的特殊形态，我们在展厅中设计了一个独特的交流线索，以艺术家的第一口吻进行讲述。

这个展览的意图既不在历史的规律之中，也不以进入未来作为目的。
如果艺术已经“终结”，那么我们该考虑如何生活；或者说，如果艺术与生活的边界已经打破，那么需要关心的是：今天的生活会有什么不同。