炎黄艺术馆国际交流展览2019

　　我思, 故我问

　　Yan Huang Art Museum International Exchange Art Exhibition 2019

　　I Think Therefore I ?

　　策展人：Douglas Lewis(加) 李鹏(中国香港)

　　Curators：Douglas Lewis(CAN) Li Peng(CN/HK)

　　艺术家：黄麓苍(中)、朱渔(中)、沈怡(中)、李泽民(中国香港)、盛天泓(中)、李三弦(中)、柯斐励(意)、李山(意)、金泽友那(日)、Torsten Zenas Burns(美)、Monika Czyzyk(波)、Jarek Balinski(波)、Douglas Lewis(加)、Jean Klimack(加)、David Lane(英)、张圆(中)、马腾飞(中、英)

　　Artists：Lucang Huang(CN)、Zhu Yu (CN)、Elsie Yi Shen (CN)、Lei Chak Man(CN/HK)、Sheng Tian Hong (CN)、Li San Xian (CN)、Filipo Cardella(IT)、Alessandro Rolandi(IT)、Kanazawa Yuna(JP)、Torsten Zenas Burns(USA)、Monika Czyzyk(PL)、Jarek Balinski(PL)、Douglas Lewis(CAN)、Jean Klimack(CAN)、David Lane(UK)、Zhang Yuan(CN)、Martin Derbyshire(CN/UK)

　　主办：炎黄艺术馆

　　开幕：2019.4.27(周六)15:00

　　展期：2019.4.27-2019.5.21

　　日常开放时间：9:30-17:00(16:30停止入场)

　　座谈会：2019.4.28 14:30

　　地点：炎黄艺术馆2层展厅(北京市朝阳区亚运村慧忠路9号)

　　门票：免费

　　Organizer: Yan Huang Art Museum

　　Opening ceremony: 2019.4.27(Sat) 15:00

　　Duration: 2019.4.27-2019.5. 21

　　Gallery hour: 9:30-17:00(Stop entering at 16:30)

　　Panel discussion: 2019.4.28 14:30

　　Venue: 2nd Floor, Yanhuang Art Museum, No.9 Huizhong Road, Yayuncun, Chaoyang District, Beijing

　　Ticket: Free

　　炎黄艺术馆国际交流展览2019

　　我思·故我问

　　李鹏 /Douglas Lewis

　　法国哲学家亨利·列斐伏尔曾经说过：“我即我所在”。意思似乎是：我们对自己的认知是由我们所处的地理位置决定的。从地理上讲，在城市中，我们是城市叙事(或故事)成分的一部分，城市定义了我们是谁——因此我们的所处的地理位置在某种程度上塑造了我们的身份。

　　参加《我思故我问》展览的国际艺术家，他们的创作深受所居住的中国城市的影响;而中国艺术家的作品也讲述了他们所居住的地方的故事。每件作品的表达都基于其所在群体与真实的地理位置。展览的题目对应着另一位更具历史地位的法国哲学家笛卡尔。他的著名宣言：我思，故我在。他的论断基于突然意识到的一个事实。他意识到：只要他在呼吸，就不可能不存在。著名的中国诗人哈金写道：“我对自己说：这一定是天堂给你变的另一个戏法，让文字不是来自疼痛的喉咙，而是刺痛的腹部。”这些想法似乎很相近——它定义了我们。

　　展览的题目很容易被误会为一种诗意的表述。然而个体存在感与所处地理位置的关系，在我们的社会中不断被强烈感知却鲜少被清晰地描述过，生活在变化中的人们，在他们人生的某一阶段，生活与生存的状态会让他扪心自问：我是怎么来到这个城市的?这里给了我什么?我快乐吗?假如离开，我将带走什么?……

　　从这个角度去欣赏作品，则我们将看到的，不是组团出游的外国游客对名胜古迹的惊叹与对食物的迷恋，更不是全球与区域一体化的伟大成果，而是一个个与我们同样作为广义的“外乡人”的个体，在这个城市、这个时间对自我人生轨迹的重新确认。

　　在我们了解自己之前，我们必须认识自己所处的地方——参展的艺术家身处中国，与那些即将造访或决定留在中国的艺术家一道，成为这个地方更大叙事的一部分。

　　Yanhuang Art Museum International Exchange ArtExhibition 2019

　　I Think Therefore I ?

　　The title and concept of this exhibition are intended tobe to as humorous as much as it is philosophical. “Cogito Ergo Sum (in Latin)” or, “I think, therefore I am” is a concept asserted by Rene Descartes, the famous 18th Century French philosopher. Descartes ideas rose quickly and he became recognized as one of the fathers of The Age of Enlightenment. His ideas fueled some of the most important developments and revelations in Western thought at that time. The Age of Enlightenment produced ideas that challenged the existence of God and the power of the Church. To bring such lofty ideas into an exhibition seemed a bit intimidating and boring to me, but to try to build an exhibition humorously questioning it was intriguing. I tried to think of a more light-hearted, pop-culture approach, and what I arrived with was the vital “AllSpark” idea used in the Hollywood movie, Transformers. This Hollywood action series seemed to be a best-fit. The moment the mighty “AllSpark” enters a transformer, each metal robot/car from outer space becomes fully animated. They are neither digital or analogue. The moment the “AllSpark” is ripped away from these mighty steel bots, they fall into heaps of recyclable tin. Our exhibition locates an all too human circumstance …when thought begins and when it ends.

　　“We puny humans!” as The Incredible Hulk(The Hulk, circa 1964, Marvel comics) would say, live more-or-less simple lives. Our moments drift into many, one after another in sequences. Their slippage floats by us, and I asked myself what stops a moment? What can slow or speed the elapse of time? Perhaps sipping tea? If we are lucky we can find a breath or stillness, perhaps a wonderous or painful event. The more acute a moment is the more we experience it, that much is clear. Our days, for the most part, become normalized; our moments blend one into the next. In contrast, if a heavy, crushing stone falls on our posed toe, the excruciating pain jolts our awareness and we are confronted by an exact moment.I Think Therefore I ?is an exhibition designed to investigate daily mundanities, peculiarities, complexities, pain, and play. An everyday British expression is to utter “when the penny (coin) drops” …it is used to describe the exact moment an idea or event occurs. The moment between when the coin is dropped and when it hits the floor, a decision (or event) has been made!! Our exhibition tries to engage illusive moments and interstitial space.

　　I Think Therefore I ? questions our social landscapes and the praxis behind them. Li Peng and I designed each space in such a way to try to incitevisual dialogue between the public and selected artworks, which generate visitors’ connectivity between moments and interaction. The famous Chinese poet Ha Jin (724 A.D.) wrote: “I said to myself: This must be another trick Heaven plays on you, to make words come from not a sore throat, but a twingly belly.” The “twingly” or funny sensation he refers to in his poem suggests that the moment we feel a specific sensation we are connected to something greater. In terms of art, photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) called it the “Decisive Moment”. The nature of art captures the time/image by revealing innate processes that either slow or accelerate them.

　　One of the dictionary definitions (English) of geography is “a delineation or systematic arrangement of constituent elements” or arrangements of things within spaces. Cities by definition, are arrangements of things and people in spaces they inhabit. Landscapes too, keep people separated between their vast distances and moments. We become the place we are, at all times and no matter where we are. Theoretically, it could be said that we are nothing but participants in and of space. Selected artworks for I Think Therefore I ?challenge viewers to reconsider the relationships between the space they are in and the moments they are having.

　　Douglas Lewis

　　Curator