Tomorrow

Fang Min'er

Tomorrow was a project implemented during the 2006 Liverpool Biennale. The artists produced four life-like sculptures of elderly Caucasian males in business suits. They were then thrown into the water of Albert Dock. _is lake was the "holy place" where British pioneer rock n' roll band, the Beatles, first became famous On the other bank is the Beatles Museum. These four sculptures, like four cadavers, had their faces floated downward on the water surface. They created a lot of attention, resulted in a bit of a misunderstandings between the chairman of the biennale and the police chief. Who on earth were "they?" Were "they" the Beatles? These questions became the subject of much discussion. Although all the relevant departments had approved the plan and the work was installed in the afternoon of the opening day, three hours later, the presentation work was terminated without reason. The artists lost their exhibition place. On the second day, a truck took the four sculptures on the streets of Liverpool. Peng Yu remarked that they were "still looking for a place." The series of interferences during the exhibition made the seemingly unclear objective become clear, namely that the artists had engaged in a tentative "battle" with the national system of the UK, a famous capitalist country, in a haughty and defiant manner. Although the work appeared for only three hours rather than the duration of the biennale as planned, the "battle" realized its objective of mutual intervention. From the artists' point-of-view, the basis for co-existence must be mutual interference; mutual cooperation can only result in a lessening of vital force.

 

 

明天

方敏儿

明天 是在英国利物浦双年展期间实施的一项计划。两位来自中国的艺术家, 制作了四个高度仿真的西方男性老年人的雕塑,“他们”身穿西装,一同 被扔入阿尔伯特港口的水中,而这个湖面正是当年英国的文化旗手“披头士” 乐队一举成名的演出圣地,岸边的另一侧则是披头士博物馆。这四个雕塑 犹如四个死尸一般脸朝下漂浮在湖面上,不仅引来百分百的注目,也引起了 双年展主席和警察局长的意见分歧,“他们”到底是谁?他们到底是不是 “披头式”?这样的问题成为讨论的核心,尽管计划事前己获各方面认可, 尽管作品在开展的下午已经安装完毕,但是在三个小时后,作品被无理由的 终止了,无论“他们”是不是那个“披头式”。于是,这个展览中,艺术家 失去了他们的展览场地,第二天,作品改以一辆卡车拉着这四个雕塑,在 利物浦的大街上游走,彭禹说“是在找场地”。 作品展出期间遭受干预的系列事件恰恰使得这个作品仿佛模糊的隐喻开始 得以清晰地呈现,两位艺术家以不逊和挑衅的姿态和英国这个老牌资本主义 国家体制做了一次尝试的交锋,虽然作品只按照原计划出现了三个小时, 没有得以在双年展期间完整地呈现,但是这个交锋的深入程度起到了相互 干预的作用,在艺术家看来,相互共生的基础一定是相互干预,而仅仅是 相互合作带来的结果将是生命力的减退。