文/ 孫建春

從文化層面上説，“失語”這個詞有兩種理解方式，一是指不會説話，二是指不會用自己的方式説話。在第二個理解的標準裏，中國現代性的文化基本上都是處於失語狀態的，當代藝術也不例外。相比較古代藝術的創作者們，藝術批評是失職的，創作者們起碼構建了現象，但批評家並沒有能構建出與現象相對應的話語，當然，我們不能把原因簡單地歸咎於文字的創作者們，文化生態不是一個完全獨立的系統，它一方面有賴於系統內部的積極調整，但對其形成更重要影響的是社會整體的發展和變化。

正在趨於一體化的亞洲市場的一體化雖然在正式的經濟、政治制度方面不如歐美完善，但亞洲經濟的貿易、投資日益緊密，中國的高速經濟增長成為其發展的原動力。目前，整個東亞正處於“制度大轉變”的過程中，雖然日本、南韓和中國各處於不同的階段，但它們都在各自地進行著轉變。亞洲的經濟一體化作為對美國控制市場的一種抗衡力量，具有非常重要的意義，這有待能糾正諸如南北貿易差別、國際財政不平衡以及由此帶來的不穩定等缺陷。歐美資本主義高度發達的社會文明和工業文明造就了高度規範化的政治和經濟制度，其一絲不茍和“一絲不可茍”正如一面雙刃劍，高度規範同時也高度制約，其發展出現必然的停滯，顯然需要新的刺激和規範來調整經濟結構，另一方面，亞洲經濟的相對“不規範”以及在此次金融危機後的不確定性，使之成為世界經濟最具有活力的因素但也是最大的變數，無法預知其走向，同樣急需建立新的規範來進入全球新格局下新秩序。全球化語境下判斷和決定，可以幫助改變世界和我們自身。我們甚至可以以金融危機為路標，尋找亞洲和中國的方向。

從文化角度説，亞洲國家的現代化進程基本都是以歐美的現代化作為參照的範本來演變的，然而以歐美的價值體系作為評判的標準顯然不能滿足東方國家的文化訴求，他者的話語對應于有差異的文化背景以及社會現實批判無異於“隔靴撓癢”，文化 “失語”有兩個層面的意思，一是指不會説話，二是指不會用自己的語言説話，以中國為例的亞洲國家在現代性的進程裏最需要建立的正是“自己的語言”，近30年間裏，越來越多的亞洲國家開始認真清理自己的國家遺産、整合新的社會結構下的社會心理，包括藝術，開始慢慢回歸到真正地關注自身，關注亞洲人內心的原點上來。新視角重新確認多樣的亞洲文明並且進行解讀，期望建立新的話語體系以對應有差異的現代性，建立新的亞洲藝術形象。中國的當代藝術發展在此前的30年裏同樣受到西方視角的左右，正如毛澤東説的：“……社會主義不去佔領它，資本主義必然去佔領”，海外藝術資本的介入或多或少地左右了當代藝術的格局，以表現中國社會政治資訊為主導的一批藝術家因符合西方文化中心主義而備受矚目，與此同時，藝術的批評話語也基本是挪用和照搬了西方現代主義以後的批評模式和方法論，當代藝術的發生和發展始終沒能在中國現代性的進程中“落到實處”。從2005到2007短短的兩三年裏，當代藝術經歷了極度市場化的泡沫，2008年經濟危機的來臨讓藝術市場受到了巨大的衝擊也是巨大的洗禮，藝術市場甚至藝術本身都趨於冷靜和成熟，09年以來，雖然新的藝術尚且沒有完全形成自身的語言的自覺性，但諸多的展覽和藝術作品還是顯露出了越來越明確的努力。這一年的表面蕭條和內在的暗流涌動都似乎表明瞭一個新的藝術時代的來臨。新的資本介入也是個必然的要求和趨勢，目前，少許的國內民間資本的進入雖然還不能構成完善的市場，但畢竟一個良好的開端初露端倪。

現代社會的經濟和文化一樣都不是孤立存在的，財富的積累和支配從來都是一個重要的社會問題，英國古典政治經濟學的主要代表亞當·斯密的《國富論》早在18世紀就創建了西方政治經濟學的科學體系。中國經濟現代性的進程和文化一樣，都到了一個需要進行結構調整的階段，和歐美社會不一樣，中國的社會個體和企業的財富積累時間和態勢都相對要短、也迅猛的多，並沒有與財富相對應的倫理制約，沒有和財富支出相對應的慈善事業和文化投資等等，在中國傳統的社會形態中，大戶和鄉紳們都遵守著修橋鋪路、辦學放賑等約定俗成的義務，現代西方社會的財富支配製度更為完善，除了各種各樣相對應的慈善事業，文化投資也是各個大的財富集團重要的社會公益支出，戴姆勒-賓士、BMW每年都有鉅額的藝術品收藏；古根海姆、洛克菲勒這些大財團甚至擁有自己旗下非常有影響力的美術館……中國的新貴們在迅速擁有財富的同時卻並沒有被規定的責任和義務，加之這一代的財富擁有者幾乎無一例外地經歷了社會主義早期物質極其匱乏的年代，所以在財富的支配上甚至會有報復性的不健康心態——這一代人早年發過最多的誓言基本都是以“等老子有了錢……”開頭的，中國的企業在這一點上和個體並沒有大的差異，絕大多數的企業也正是從個人産業發展擴大而成，個體財富倫理欠缺的基因一樣被遺傳到企業的結構當中，類似前不久中石化大樓“天價吊燈”之類的傳聞和暴發戶的高消費行為如出一轍。同時，企業的管理者們在利益和情感的矛盾中無法平衡，這無形中就把企業工人和企業的收益變成一組有對立的關係，沒有社會公益的平衡支配，企業很難自上而下地建構出一個人性化和科學化兼備的企業文化。由於歷史文化和現實情境的差異，中國的企業很顯然無法完全複製西方的企業精神，一方面，我們要學習發達資本主義國家的企業的人性化管理和人性化企業精神，另一方面，我們又要冷靜面對由高度規範導致的人性制約，對應于中國的社會現實建立既符合本土精神又符合國際化規範的企業文化，這讓新的企業文化本身成為了一門藝術。

儘管亞洲的文化和經濟是一個龐大到幾乎無法被闡釋的主題，但我們解讀亞洲首先回到本土，解讀本土首先回到自身的經驗，解讀自身的經驗就需要有足夠的時間和資料的累積、資訊的比對。從各方面看，我們都需要一個由經濟和文化共同建構的良好生態，民營資本和本土的當代藝術之間需要一個橋梁來相互促進，本土的民營資本的參與可以幫助文化建立自身良好的市場生態和藝術話語的自我生産力；而文化可以幫助企業完成企業形象和企業文化的轉型，建立起相對人性的管理模式和企業精神。

正是基於這樣的願望和目的，由伊比利亞當代藝術中心和北京錫恩企業管理顧問諮詢有限公司共同參與組織了“豐田藝術計劃”，這是由文化研究機構和企業管理的研究機構一起進行的一次全新的嘗試，是對中國當代藝術未來生態和企業文化建設的一種共同努力，這個展覽中的20位不同年齡的藝術家，以豐田汽車公司的生産模式為範本展開文化和大工業之間的社會反思，我們不妨把此次的計劃當成一個 “亡羊補牢”的內在需求，畢竟，一切都在和我們昭示一個事實：亞洲、中國急需建立和完善新的制度和規範以對應世界格局，我們需要有自己的新的時間表和新的路標。

2009年11月17日

Asian Landmark — Toyota Art Project of Iberia and CN

Text / Sun Jianchun

In cultural context, the word “aphasia” can be defined in two ways: the inability to use language, or the incapacity to speak in a way one wishes. The present culture of modernity in China is generally diagnosed as the latter kind of aphasia; contemporary art is no exception. Comparing to artists, art critics have been delinquent in constructing a narrative in keeping with art trends formed by artistic creators. Certainly it’s unfair to simply impute the failure to art writers as cultural ecology is far from an independent system, which is not only subject to the impact of positive self-modification, but also, more importantly, to that of evolution and transmutation of the society on the whole.

Although the structure of economic and political systems in the gradually integrated Asian area is far from complete, the high-speed economic growth in China has been fueling the increasingly active trade and investment in Asia economy. Despite of the different stages Japan, South Korea and China are going through, their respective changes have put the entire East Asia into a common “critical structural transformation”. The integration of Asia economy is playing a decisive role by exerting a counterforce against the controlling power of the occident over the world market, which is expected to have a potential to revise defects in world economy, such as the imbalance of international finance, the North-South trade relation as well as the instability they’ve caused so far. The highly developed social and industrial civilization based on capitalism in the occident has built a set of extremely standardized politico-economic systems, and their pursuit of absolute precision and the “prohibition of any infringement of rules” just like a double-blade sword, while specifying everything, also constrain possible transformation and growth. That inevitably results in economic stagnation and then new incentive and regulation is needed for a modified economic structure. From another perspective, the relatively “irregular” nature of Asia economy and the instability following the late financial crisis has made the future condition of this region most promising but at the same time most unpredictable in world economy. The unpredictable future gives rise to an urgent need to set up new standards and rules in order to keep up with new orders in world patterns. The judgment and decision made in the context of globalization could help the world and man take a change for better. Or even we could take the financial crisis itself as a landmark searching for a new direction for Asia and China.

Basically from a cultural point of view, the course of modernization in Asian countries displays a similarity to that of the occident. Nevertheless, the value system based on the occidental criticism of modernity obviously cannot meet the cultural needs of oriental countries undergoing a radical change at the moment. To a different cultural background and social criticism, the discourse of “the other” would be nothing but attempting an ineffective solution. Cultural “aphasia” has two layers of meaning, the inability to use language, or the failure to speak in the way one wishes. For the Asian countries, taking China for example, the urgent task is to find “her own language”. In recent 30 years more and more Asian countries begin to reposition their national legacy in a new context and embrace new social psychological climate in a search for the origin of the Asian spirit, of the humanity, and of the art. The new perspective allows us to reaffirm and interpret diversified Asian civilization and the expectation of building an independent discourse system in line with a different modernity manifest in the efforts to build a new image for the Asian art. The western angle has dominated the growth of Chinese contemporary art in the last 30 years, just like what Mao Zedong said, if socialism doesn't occupy the battlefront, capitalism surely will. The participation of overseas funds more or less has influenced the formation of contemporary art market. Artists working with social and political subject matters have received considerable attention as their works cater to western-oriented cultural value. Similarly, most critical writings are appropriating and copying post-modern critical modes and methods. The emergence and development of contemporary art has never been implemented in practice during the process of modernization in China. In the past two or three years from 2005 to 2007, contemporary art has created a market bubble and after being attacked and baptized by the 2008 financial storm the art market and even the artistic production have cooled down and started to grow mature. Even though the consciousness of an original art language has not been fully awakened yet, apparent signs of such efforts are shown in more and more exhibitions and artworks. The recession on the surface and the undercurrent below seem to forecast the advent of a new art era, when the inflows of new funds will become an apparent demand and trend. Presently the investment from domestic enterprises is not big enough to constitute a sound market chain, but it indicates a good start.

In modern society economy just like culture is tied to many other factors and the accumulation and distribution of wealth remains to be a major issue. Since the 18th century the prestigious British classical political economist Adam Smith has created a scientific system of western political economics in his book The Wealth of Nations. The formation of economic and cultural modernity in China has entered a stage of restructuring and reform. Comparing with the occidental countries, the time-span for individuals and corporations in China to accumulate wealth is relatively shorter and it happens in a more drastic way. Consequently there has been no time to build ethical boundaries in keeping with the expansion of wealth and a huge gap appears between the large sum of financial expenses and investment in cultural undertakings and support to charities. In Chinese traditional social structure, wealthy families and country gentlemen had agreed to undertake obligations such as building roads and bridges, running schools and providing charity relief, etc. In contrast, western modern society has a more advanced wealth distribution system. Apart from various philanthropic initiatives, cultural investment has become an important part of their contribution to the public good. German carmakers Daimler-Benz and BMW have annual budgets for collecting artworks; Tycoons such as Guggenheim and Rockefeller even have their own prominent museums…Despite of the rapid expansion of individual wealth, the new Chinese rich have failed to be engaged with social responsibilities and cultural obligations. Moreover most wealthy people of this generation have experienced the situation of scarcity in the early stages of socialist construction, which leads to an unhealthy, punitive mentality among them. The vow they very often took in their youth would start like this: “Oh damn, if I get rich one day…” As most enterprises in China are developed from individual business, the absence of wealth ethic is genetically inherent in the structure. Recent rumor about the Sinopec “buying a chandelier at a sky-high price” shows that this behavior is no different from the public display of wealth of those parvenus. On the other hand, unable to find a balance point between industrial profit and moral values, owners of private enterprises stuck in the fact that the company’s interest is antagonistic to worker’s benefit. The loss of balance caused by the lack of contribution to public welfare has made the formation of a corporate culture that is humane and scientific, more difficult. Due to innate differences in history, culture and social reality, a corporate philosophy borrowed directly from the west obviously would be inapplicable to Chinese enterprises. While learning from the humanized managerial models and entrepreneurship of the developed capitalist countries, we also should be aware of limits caused by high standardization so as to create a corporate culture that is tailored to the local spirits and realistic needs of China, but also conforms to global standards. The work aiming to build such a new entrepreneurship is truly an art.

Given the fact that Asian culture and economy is an inexhaustible subject, we are advised to come back home and examine local experience accumulated in the past, seeking to reach a conclusion based on comparative information. The above viewpoint leads to a consensus that what we need is the balance between the growth of economy and the development of culture and a connection bringing together both the constructive force of private capital and the redemptive power of contemporary art so as to build a healthy market ecology for culture and complete the construction of a self-contented art institution. In return, culture provides coordinate efforts for the renewal of corporate concept and image in favor of a more humanitarian management model and spirit.

It is also the purpose of the current initiative “Toyota Art project”, presented by Iberia Center for Contemporary Art in collaboration with Beijing CN Management Consulting Company. This is a brave new initiative between a cultural research institute and an enterprise management consulting body, a joint effort for the construction of the future ecology of Chinese contemporary art and corporate culture. The twenty artists of different ages ignited a reflexive social debate on the relation of culture to the industrial world based on the productive model of Toyota Motor Corporation. This program is deemed to be a necessary act of mending the sheepfold after loosing sheep. In short, the fact is becoming more and more obvious that the changing world pattern is urging Asia and China to develop a new system and standard. To achieve the goal, we definitely will need an updated agenda and new landmarks.

17-Nov.-2009