Two Clubs
Curator Zhu Sha
HOW ART MUSEUM
2023
前言
文/朱砂
Exhibition Foreword
Text/Zhu Sha
张鼎很早就表现出对俱乐部的兴趣。他的“控制俱乐部”源自一件他2013年作品的名字，“是由几十个音箱设备搭建成的一个巨大的塔状舞台，也是一个繁复的声音反馈装置，它自身发出的乐音会被再次采集，并以更高的频率播放出来，最终生成一种介于音乐与噪音之间的混合物”。这件巨大的声音装置先是参加了2013年北京尤伦斯当代艺术中心的《ON|OFF》，紧接着又阴魂不散的陆续参加了当年的里昂双年展；2014年上海《香格纳展库》；到了2016年控制俱乐部悍然的变成了一个由艺术家发起的“艺术厂牌”，在他的官方介绍里是这么写的：“聚集各领域艺术家、极客与音乐人，以空间、声音与巨型视觉声音装置的大型聚会”。于是在散落在各处的采访与媒体稿中，艺术家摇身变成了制作人，一个派对的组织者。
与之相比，金氏彻平的“⻘春粉丝俱乐部”是一个略显抒情的表达。据艺术家说是自己早年看演出的时候，只能在后排看到人潮汹涌的观众，而看不到演出者，于是这个私人经验被转换到他最重要的一组拼贴装置系列的创作当中去，并不厌其烦的延续到今天。于是不同于上一个俱乐部那么明火执仗，⻘春粉丝俱乐部是对个体经验的提炼，却同样汇聚了流行文化与当代艺术对社会现实的转译。金氏也在他的创作线索里呼唤表演，一方面是他在“白色释放”里引入同音乐人的合作，另一方面则是频繁的以舞台美术的形式出现在剧场当中。
这套机巧的身份游戏与命名策略在他们前一代的艺术家们身上则被称作为企业家。无论如何，在这个语境下的艺术家们早已不甘于像古代的创作者那样，那种身在暗处的孤胆英雄。在歌颂完上帝，奉承赞助人，娱乐君主和庆祝部族军事功绩后的艺术家们走向一种个人表达的同时，也逐渐从公共事务中剔除，并萎缩成一种个人消遣。所以这不仅仅是个名称转换的文字游戏，当国家使用市场机制来规范人们的观点和见解时，艺术家们就会反向的利用市场来暗度陈仓，身份政治就成了必然。企业家们想拥抱更大的世界，想要脱离私人生活的超验领域，在公共世界中获得更多的回响。制作人和舞美同样拥抱，却要换一身衣服和姿势以做区分。如果说前一代的艺术家们用“公司”之名模糊了作品和产品，模糊了高雅和大众文化之间，以及艺术和日常经验之间的界限；那么“俱乐部”则少了几分对抗和戏谑，却保留了同等可观的煽动性和诱惑。俱乐部观察到了狂欢和娱乐的意义，在人们长久的生活模式之中深深的嵌入，所以俱乐部是习惯和风俗的产物，是思辨的也是实践的。公司，俱乐部还是工作室，这些名称，毋宁说口号和范式在一个制度性探究的脉络中维持着一臂之隔。历代的斗争总是意味深长，概莫能外。
张鼎的新作品“电池”是由一组新能源汽车的电池，按照同等比例尺寸，用硅胶翻制的大型装置。硅胶一定程度上还原了生物的皮肤质感，于是在机械，金属，石料这些古典材料之后，张鼎在其语言线索里添置了新的词汇。与此前相比，这组作品更多了一些微妙的心里温度。在艺术家一贯躲闪和隐晦的描述中，电池又同观众进一步的走进了某个巨大的现实。当然张鼎从不限于旧日的波普，他从不平铺直叙，而是将其埋在一片精工细作里。观众需要透过一层层艺术家对材料的应用，对物质超额的投入，在一系列复杂的现场调度之中察觉到一丝异样。如同德昆⻄和考克托都曾激烈的把文学比做凶杀，到了莱里斯那里就变成了斗牛。他说尽管对艺术家而言并不存在斗牛士所要面对的真正的死亡威胁，但是可以“将一只牛⻆的阴影引入文学”，引入一种正面意义上的危险与张力。那么今天的艺术家就是处在一种矛盾张力之中，一边是无限回荡的敏感性，一边是精准评估这样敏感的能力。
相比之下，金氏对现成品和材料的使用，或者说对那个坚实的现实有着更为积极的回应。他的新作沿用了⻘春粉丝俱乐部的造型以及语言，而这样的选择并不是偶然的。不同的社会环境自然让两位艺术家在策略上有着不同的选择。而在更为宽广的文化意义里，他们又身处同一战线，至少在地域的划分里，他们同样与西方的关系敌我难辨；在一个激荡又迟疑的历史转变期，向着技术应用，向着新型的资本主义，消费和文化产业的世界。今天的人们怀疑普遍进步和解放的观念，怀疑单一体系，宏大叙事，怀疑关于真理，理性，同一性和客观性的经典概念，总之是与启蒙时期的规范相对立。今天的世界是偶然的，没有根据的，易变和不确定的，自然也就少有深入，没有中心，只有一系列分离的文化和释义。这使得艺术家们再也不是某种单一意识形态的拥护者，他们一方面鄙视现实，一方面却身处其中。更不提高雅和流行持续的辩难，性别身份的激烈交锋，市场和权利的双重规训。复杂与矛盾的现实造就了这一混合现象，让艺术家们处在一种无可替代的语调之中。这种当代的文化形式与风格，既狂热又羞怯，既笃信又非信，与市场作用以及其他许多世俗因素交织在一起。艺术家们不再需要动人的辩论，而是缓慢消退，藏身于各种化名之后。
卡尔维诺认为一直以来都存在两种对立的倾向，一种致力于把语言变得像云雾一般，像纤细的尘埃蔓布在空气当中；另一种则是给予语言以沉重与密度。我不敢全然在这里引用轻与重的比喻，如同我不想说这是一个“双个展”，更不想提“中期回顾”，即便这些说法在客观上切中了一些问题。所以“两个俱乐部”可以是一组并列关系，这里与那里，公与私，世俗与神圣，他们时而平行交汇，却有着各自不同的命运。我们还能在其中看到某些熟悉的文化批判主题，看到一些作为救赎性力量的构想。当把剧场和俱乐部作为范式，把⻘年与狂欢作为语言，就是今天依稀可辨的弥赛亚。
Zhang Ding has long held interest in clubs. His CON TROL CLUB first appeared in a 2013 piece—"It was a massive pagoda-shaped theater made from dozens of speakers that doubled as a complex audio-feedback device that samples the music it plays to be replayed at a higher pitch, eventually resulting in a mixture that sits squarely between music and noise." This massive audio installation was first shown at UCCA's ON/OFF in 2013, and then persisted at the Biennale de Lyon of that year, as well as the ShangART Taopu 2014 in Shanghai. In 2016, the CON TROL CLUB suddenly became an "artist label" of Zhang, who wrote in the official statement that "by integrating artists in various fields, geeks and musicians, CON TROL CLUB presents gatherings and parties in specific spaces with sound, immersive A/V installations, etc., to explore the dialectics of control/anti-control." Since then, Zhang the artist has fashioned himself into a producer and a party organizer, which were further propagated through interviews and press releases found here and there.
In contrast, Teppei Keneuji's Teenage Fan Club is a more lyrical expression. The artist states that in his earlier days of viewing performances, when he was usually relegated to the back, he could only watch the massive crowd standing between him and the performers. This personal experience was redirected into one of his most important collage installation series continuing to this day. Therefore, unlike the flamboyant one discussed earlier, the Teenage Fan Club is not only the extraction of an individual's personal experience, but also an assemblage of the societal observations interpreted by contemporary art and pop culture. Kaneuji also advocates the act of performing as a clue of his art. For example, he collaborates with musicians in his White Discharge and frequently appears in theaters as a scenographer.
The ingenious game of identity and naming strategy, which were also used by the previous generation of artists, were considered entrepreneurial. Unlike their predecessors in ancient times, artists of today are no longer resigned to being considered as solitary horoes in the dark. After praising God, pleasing patrons, entertaining the court, and celebrating tribal military accomplishments for generations upon generations, artists started out towards personal expression, extricating themselves from public affairs and reducing their craft to a form of personal entertainment. It is not simply a word game: when the state attempts to discipline people's views and opinions through free market mechanisms, artists will counter with the market to realize their own goals under cover, thus making identity politics unavoidable. Entrepreneurs wish to embrace a greater world beyond the transcendental private life and to generate more echoes in the public domain. So do our producer and scenographer, only in another outfit and posture to look different. If the last generation of artists have blurred the boundaries between artworks and products, high art and popular culture, art and day-to-day experience by using the name of "company", "club" performs a similar task with equal inflammatory and seductive powers, less confrontational and banteringly. The Clubs have observed how people's long-lasting ways of living have been inlayed deeply with revelry and entertainment, therefore they are a product of the custom, at once critical and practical. Be it a company, a club, or a studio, these names, or even slogans and paradigms, keep an arm away from each other in the iteration of systems, leaving significant influences during the inevitable struggles of every single replacement.
Zhang Ding's latest piece Battery is a large-scale silicon installation that replicates a set of new energy vehicle batteries at 1:1 scale. Silicon, a new entry in Zhang's vocabulary after machinery, metal and building stone, creates to some degree a skin texture of the work. Compared to his previous works, this latest installation carries a subtle psychological warmth. Hidden behind the artist's characteristic evasive and obscure narrative style, Battery leads the viewer into an enormous alternative reality.
Zhang Ding's latest piece Battery is a large-scale silicon installation that replicates a set of new energy vehicle batteries at 1:1 scale. Silicon, a new entry in Zhang's vocabulary after machinery, metal and building stone, creates to some degree a skin texture of the work. Compared to his previous works, this latest installation carries a subtle psychological warmth. Hidden behind the artist's characteristic evasive and obscure narrative style, Battery leads the viewer into an enormous alternative reality. Indeed, Zhang has never been confined to his earlier approach of pop art, nor has he opted for the plain and ungarnished style. Instead, he plots with a slew of exquisite craftsmanship. The audience will only sense the slightest eeriness after seeing through the artist's layered application of materials and excessive use of matter, as well as his complicated onsite maneuvers. Thomas de Quincey and Jean Cocteau both compared literature to murder. Seeing it as bullfighting, Michel Leiris believes that while the artist does not face the risk of death as a real bullfighter, he or she can still "introduce a bull's horn into a work of literature if only as a cast shadow," or a danger or tension in a positive sense. On that account, the artists today are situated in the middle of a push-and-pull tension between the ever-reverberating sensitivity and the ability to accurately assess the said sensitivity.
Comparatively, Kaneuji's has a more active response towards the use of ready-mades and materials, or the unshakable reality so to speak. His latest work is built upon the form and language of the Teenage Fan Club, ant that is not by happenstance. The two artists' different social environments have led to their different strategies. Under a broader sense of culture, they fight in the same trench; if nothing else, they both stand ambiguously against the West in a geographical sense, and both react to the application of technology, to Neo-capitalism, and to the world of consumerism and cultural industry in this time of raging yet hesitant historical transformation. People approach progressive and liberal views with caution and apprehension, doubting unitary systems and grandiose narratives, questioning classical notions of truth, rationality, identity, and objectivity, and in general stand against standards of enlightenment. The world as it is today is accidental, groundless, fickle, and uncertain, and therefore lacking depth or a center, devolving into a series of disparate cultures and interpretations. Artists, as a result, are also no longer acolytes of a single ideology. On the one hand, they despise the reality; on the other, they are part of it, not to mention the prolonged debate between good taste and popularity, the harsh struggle of gender identity, and the dual discipline of the market and rights. The complex and conflicting reality has led to this amalgamated state, placing artists in an irreplicable milieu. Such contemporary cultural form and style are at once fevered and intimidated, seemingly faithful yet dubious, interwoven with the market impacts and plenty other secular considerations. Artists no longer seek soul-searching debates; instead, they slowly fade away and find shelter behind various aliases.
Italo Calvino believes that there long exist two opposing tendencies: one turns language into a cloudy form like fine dust floating in the air, while the other gives language a certain weight and density. I dare not fully quote the metaphor of weightlessness and weightiness, just as I do not wish to refer to this exhibition as a "duo solo," and I would never use "mid-career retrospect" either, even if these terms, objectively speaking, are appropriate in certain ways. So the Two Clubs can be seen as a juxtaposition of here and there, the public and the private, the secular and the divine—whether parallel or intersecting, they do not share the same destiny. There are also some culturally critical subjects that we are familiar with, or certain visions that are used as salvation. When theaters or clubs are taken as a paradigm, when youth and revelry become the language, the Messiah of today is revealed.
艺术家
Artists
张鼎（1980年生，生活工作于上海）是在当代艺术界最为活跃的中国艺术家之一。他常使用雕塑、 装置及影像等媒介进行创作，也常举办大规模的、积极邀请其他艺术家及观众参与的视觉-音乐现场 项目。这些作品作为一个整体呈现，具有强烈的表演性、音乐性和戏剧性，探索与人类观念、集体 意识、意志冲突、权力以及心理和身体操纵有关的概念。张鼎的展览和项目反映了社会和政治背景 下发生的异化现象，并将具有对抗性和混乱性的场景搬上舞台。
2016年，张鼎创立了 CON TROL CLUB，这是一个与不同艺术家、音乐人和时装设计师合作举办 另类派对和聚会的厂牌，以多媒体装置、亚文化音乐和视觉表演为特色。
部分个展包括 "张鼎: 控制俱乐部"，复星艺术中心，上海（2020）；"高速形式"，OCAT上海（2019）；"安全屋"，掩体空间、怀俄明计划和KWM艺术中心，北京（2018）; "漩涡"，香格纳画廊，上海（2017）；"⻛卷残云"，RAM，上海（2016）；"龙争虎斗3"，吉尔曼军营，新加坡（2016）；"龙争虎斗2"，Chi K11美术馆，上海（2016）；"龙争虎斗"，ICA伦敦，英国（2015）；"黄金白银"，奥地利维也纳克林辛格画廊（2013）。
他的作品在国际机构和双年展上展出，如第七届广州三年展（2023，广州）；阿斯特鲁普-费恩利现代艺术博物馆（2017和2007，挪威奥斯陆）；里昂双年展（2013，法国里昂）；休斯顿当代艺术博物馆（2012，美国）等。
Born in 1980, based in Shanghai, Zhang Ding is one of the most active and influential Chinese artists. His practice often consists in large scale projects including installations, sculptures, videos, paintings, frequently animated with live performances. These works presented as a whole, with a strong performative, musical, dramatical nature, explore notions related to human perceptions, collective consciousness, conflict of wills, power as well as psychological and physical manipulations. Zhang Ding's exhibitions and projects reflect on alienations taking place in a social and political context, and stage scenes with confrontational and chaotic natures.
In 2016, Zhang Ding founded CON TROL CLUB, a label hosting alternative parties and gatherings featuring multimedia installations, subculture music and visual performances in collaborations with various artists, musicians and fashion designers.
Selected solo exhibitions include: “Zhang Ding: CON TROL CLUB”, Fosun Foundation, Shanghai (2020); “High-Speed Forms”, OCAT Shanghai (2019); “Safe House”, the Bunker, Wyoming Project and the KWM art center, Beijing(2018); “VORTEX”, ShanghART, Shanghai (2017); “Devouring Time”, RAM, Shanghai (2016); “Enter
the Dragon III”, Gillman Barracks, Singapore (2016); “Enter the Dragon II”, Chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai (2016); “Enter the Dragon”, ICA London, U.K. (2015); “Gold & Silver”, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria (2013).
His works were presented internationally in institutions and biennales such as: the 7th Guangzhou Triennial (Guangzhou, 2023); Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art (Oslo, Norway, in 2017 and 2007); the Biennale of Lyon (Lyon, France, 2013); The Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, (U.S.A., 2012), among others.
金氏彻平探究日本当代文化中的大众消费议题，从日常生活中获取材料，运用现成品和漫画形象创作出既妙趣横生又惊人耸动的雕塑作品。他成长在过分刺激且图像泛滥的文化中，将过度消费所产生的废物相互嫁接，创作出糖果色的雕塑和以漫画线条为元素的版画。自2002年开始，金氏彻平创作了标志性的系列“白色释放”，将活动人偶、塑料仿真食品和其他小物件组成类似于建筑的结构，并在上面覆盖粘稠的白色树脂。这些拼贴物在形式上既静且动，具有不可思议的吸引力，指向着它们所体现的那些毫无关联的事物。无论在物理层面还是心理层面，它们的特质都是多重层次的、被合理化的，通过复杂的组合关系，它们被赋予了新的生命。
金氏彻平1978年生于日本，现生活工作于日本京都。他于2003年获得京都市立艺术大学雕塑硕士学位。他的作品曾在千叶原湖畔美术馆、纽约日本协会、东京上野之森美术馆、香川猪熊弦一郎现代美术馆、京都艺术中心、新加坡泰勒印刷学院、北京UCCA当代艺术中心、神户兵库县立美术馆、神奈川横滨美术馆、广岛市现代美术馆、东京都现代美术馆、布达佩斯当代艺术博物馆、东京森美术馆、大阪国立国际美术馆、首尔国立大学美术馆等多地展出。他曾获 Sovereign亚洲杰出艺术奖（2016）、京都市新人奖和盛开野花奖。他的作品被多家日本机构收藏，包括横滨美术馆、东京森美术馆、广岛市现代美术馆、香川高松市立美术馆、东京都现代美术馆、大阪国立国际美术馆、丰田市美术馆、金泽21世纪美术馆。同时还被一些国际机构收藏，包括昆士兰美术馆、布里斯班现代艺术馆、北京UCCA当代艺术中心及KADIST收藏。
Teppei Kaneuji investigates the mass consumption of contemporary Japanese culture, sourcing materials from everyday life, found objects and manga characters to create sculpture that is at once playful and menacing. Kaneuji grafts together the detritus of overconsumption, creating candy-colored sculptures and prints with Manga-influenced lines that are the product of the overly stimulating, image-saturated culture in which he was raised. His signature series, White Discharge, (2002 onwards), consists of architectonic constructions assembling action figures, plastic food, and other small objects, covered with goopy white resin. Static yet dynamic in form, the unlikely allure of these bricolage entities lies in their embodiment of estranged elements; be they physical or psychological, attributes are layered, rationalized and given a new life through complex arrangements.
Teppei Kaneuji (b. 1978, Japan) lives and works in Kyoto, Japan. Kaneuji earned an MFA in sculpture at Kyoto City University of the Arts in 2003. His work has been exhibited at Ichihara Lakeside Museum, Chiba, Japan; The Japan Society, New York, NY; Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Marugame Geniciro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, Japan; Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto, Japan; Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore; Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China;
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, Japan; Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; and The Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, among many others. Kaneuji was awarded the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Hong Kong (2016); Best Young Artist Award, City of Kyoto, Japan; and the Sakuya-Konohana Award. Works by Kaneuji are included in the public collections of several Japanese institutions, such as the Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa; Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; The National Museum of Art, Osaka; Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota; 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; as well as several international collections, such as the Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland and the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, in Australia; the Ullens Foundation Collection, Beijing, China; and KADIST, Paris, France.