大家庭：是兄弟，不是同志
林一林藝術計劃，蔡青、蔡偉和方璐作品共同展出
2009年6月15日-2009年8月9日
《大家庭：是兄弟，不是同志》，是一個從看似無關緊要的立場出發來講述所謂重大事件，進而探討集體與個人經歷之間動態變化的項目。林一林一改“歷史”作為重大事件、地點和個體編年史的標準敘事手法，《大家庭：是兄弟，不是同志》這件新作呈現了與平凡、隨意和個人密切相關的紀錄。作品試圖將附帶事件置於核心舞臺，進而削弱書面歷史的主導方針，把玩我們用以將重要事件從不相干事件中區分出來的方式。
由於採用了宏大的歷史年表的風格特徵，《大家庭：是兄弟，不是同志》運用錄影、攝影和文本，來標記海外華人藝術家這一特定群體中的活動和事件——可以説，這是一個分佈在不同國家和大陸的家庭—他們通過1990年代走出國門這一共同經歷而聯繫起來。其中一些藝術家非常有名，另一些名不見經傳；有人橫貫歐洲，而有些則前往美國。一些人功成名就、時來運轉，而另一些則貧病交加、鬱鬱而終。然而，從某些方面來講，他們的生活不經意間同有意或無意地離開中國後的邊緣生活所導致的事件和經歷相聯繫。描繪這些偶然經歷如何發生，如何彼此重合，如何同毛主席、卡爾·馬克思以及弗裏德里希·恩格斯這些著名政治人物相重疊，重點強調了這些個別經歷和軌跡的隨機性和不重要的特徵。就像之前在箭廠空間的其他藝術項目一樣，《大家庭：是兄弟，不是同志》也考慮到其周邊環境和背景語境，在這種情況下，微渺的個體當中所發生的一系列瑣碎事件被有意呈現在一個邊緣空間中，喚起我們對於為不同遭遇和經歷賦予不同的“重要”程度時我們自身偏見和判斷的關注。年表一直延續至今，箭廠空間和藝術家為此將在六月十四日週日下午四時至六時舉辦一次特別的非正式活動，在紀念《大家庭：是兄弟，不是同志》的同時也將這些歷史經歷在北京一條不起眼的衚同中進行延續。
“箭廠空間”是一個由獨立策展人和藝術家組織策劃的藝術櫥窗項目。空間位於北京市中心的衚同裏，原本是個小商鋪，經過改造後擁有10平方米的展出面積。“箭廠空間”首先希望通過櫥窗這種特殊的展示方式，為藝術家的創作方法提供一種新的可能，空間內定期更新的藝術作品將會在這裡每天面對不同的社會群體和文化情境。其次項目自身也試圖探討藝術與日常生活之間的美學關係，嘗試藝術創作與公共空間的有機對話，促進當代藝術的試驗，交流與研究。“箭廠空間”將會積極地邀請國內和國外的藝術家提供現場裝置和項目。
Big Family: Brothers, Not Comrades
A project by Lin Yilin, with works by Cai Qing, Cai Wei and Fang Lu
June 15 – August 9, 2009
Please join us for a special event on Sunday, June 14, 4-6pm
Big Family: Brothers, Not Comrades, is a project that explores the dynamic between collective and personal histories through the telling of so-called important events from the perspective of the seemingly insignificant. Inverting the standard narration of 'History' as a chronicle of major events, places and individuals, Lin Yilin's new work, Big Family: Brothers, Not Comrades, presents a record that relates to the mundane, arbitrary and personal. The work attempts to undermine dominant strategies of writing history by putting sidelined events into center stage, playing with the ways we distinguish the important from the irrelevant.
Adopting the stylistic hallmarks of a grand historical timeline, Big Family: Brothers, Not Comrades uses video, photographs and text to chart the events and episodes amongst a specific group of overseas Chinese artists—a family so to speak, spread across different countries and continents—that are united by their joint experiences in migrating from China during the 1990s. Some of the artists mentioned are famous, some are lesser known; some traversed Europe and some went to America, some encountered fame and fortune while others fell ill and died. Yet their lives are all in some way linked by chance episodes and experiences that result from a life in the margins after voluntary or involuntary exile from China. Tracing how these random histories coincide and overlap with one another and with preeminent political figures such as Chairman Mao, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, underscores the random and nonessential roles of these individual histories and locations. As in previous Arrow Factory projects, Big Family: Brothers, Not Comrades is ever mindful of its surrounding environment and context. In this case a set of trivial events occurring amongst minor individuals are purposely presented in a marginal space, calling attention to our own bias and judgment in attaching scales of ‘importance’ to various encounters and experiences. Continuing the timeline up to the present, Arrow Factory and the artist will hold a special informal event on Sunday, June 14 from 4-6pm to commemorate Big Family: Brothers, Not Comrades and to realize the ability for these histories to leave their mark on such far-flung places as an inconsequential hutong alley in Beijing.
Arrow Factory is an independently run alternative storefront space that seeks to advance artistic collaboration, exploration and experimentation across different cultural contexts and viewing publics. Located in a small hutong in Beijing’s city center, Arrow Factory reclaims existing commercial space to present artworks that stimulate dialogue between art and contemporary urban space. Aimed at reaching a diverse public made up of local residents, as well as local and international art audiences, our modestly sized space (approx 10 square meters or 100 square feet) is intended to create new avenues for artistic production in China and further aesthetic relationships between contemporary art and everyday life. Arrow Factory will invite artists living inside and outside of China to create site-specific installations and projects that will be available for view in its storefront location 7 days a week.
箭廠空間
箭廠衚同38號 (國子監街內)
北京 100007 中國
Arrow Factory
38 Jianchang Hutong (off Guozijian Jie)
Beijing, 100007 China
www.arrowfactory.org.cn
arrowfactory@gmail.com
