Track II: Edith Dekyndt, Liang Yuanwei, Charlotte Moth, Ciprian Muresan, Clarissa Tossin, and Emilija Škarnulyte
The third installment of the year-long screening collaboration between DRC No.12 and KADIST will feature works by Edith Dekyndt, Charlotte Moth, Ciprian Muresan, Clarissa Tossin, and Emilija Škarnulyte, in dialogue with Liang Yuanwei’s new site-specific project at DRC No.12.
Liang Yuanwei is known for exploring the structural relationships between painting and its surroundings—physical, historical, or cultural—with particular interest in traditionally painted murals. Her latest project brings this experimentation to DRC No.12, a 1970s apartment building in China’s first residential compound open to international residents. Over the course of a month, Liang transformed the ceiling and walls using only carbon copy paper, combs, and circular-shaped cutouts. This performative gesture resonates with the painterly studies of light and movement in Edith Dekyndt’s Dead Sea Drawing (2010) and parallels Charlotte Moth’s sculptural approach to image in The Absent Forms (2010), where architecture, citation, and décor oscillate between dematerialization and materialization. Expanding this theme, Ciprian Muresan’s Untitled (Monks) (2011) features protagonists donning monks’ robes and copying artworks and texts from exhibition catalogs, offering a meditative reflection on the repetitive nature of the artistic process.
Titled Wu Se Tu [Five-Colored Earth] (2024), Liang’s project draws inspiration from the Altar of Earth and Harvests in Beijing’s Zhongshan Park. Traditionally associated with dominion over land and people, the term Wu Se Tu also holds personal significance for the artist, appearing in a literary supplement of the Beijing Evening News, a publication she recalls from her childhood. Liang’s strategies for recontextualizing the convergence of personal and collective memory resonate with other featured works. In Aldona (2017), Emilija Škarnulyte follows her grandmother through Lithuania’s Grutas Park, a controversial sculpture park that houses Soviet-era statues salvaged after the USSR’s collapse. Meanwhile, Clarissa Tossin’s Ch’u Mayaa (2017) reimagines Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House as a Mayan temple, integrating ancient Mayan postures with modern architecture to critique cultural appropriation and celebrate cultural revival.
Taking place at sundown, this meditative screening event explores the psychological power of our environment, staged amidst the traces of Liang Yuanwei’s drawing chamber, which reveals the invisible relationships between the physical world and our social imaginary.
The year-long screening collaboration initiative integrates video works from the KADIST collection with the ongoing curatorial endeavors of DRC No.12. The latter is dedicated to presenting new site-specific projects by individual Chinese artists, illuminating both their artistic contributions and their subjective positioning within the intricate tapestry of recent Chinese histories and contemporary global geopolitical contexts. Using moving image as a strategic tool to address geo-political issues through alternative narratives, Track II draws video works from the KADIST collection as a critical basis for transcultural conversations. The program title refers to Track II Diplomacy, in which influential citizens are involved in conflict resolution instead of just official representatives, alluding to the role of artists in shaping the landscape of cultural exchange. Comprising multiple screening installments, Track II takes place from December 2023 to the end of 2024. The programs are part of KADIST’s ongoing international program Double Takes, which activates film and video works through physical and online presentations at partner institutions and on KADIST.tv.
DRC No.12, located in The Diplomatic Residence Compound, was constructed in 1971 as China’s first international office and residence compound for overseas staff of embassies, international organizations, and news agencies. The compound’s international status in the 1970s and 80s made it a hub for early Chinese contemporary art exchange activities.
2024年12月22日及26日，外交公寓12号将携手卡蒂斯特基金会举行“Track II”合作计划的第三期放映。此次展映挑选了来自艺术家伊迪丝·德克因特（Edith Dekeyndt），夏洛特•莫斯（Charlotte Moth），西普里安·穆里森（Cipirin Muresan），克拉丽莎·托辛（Clarissa Tossin）以及艾米利娅·斯卡努利特（Emilija Škarnulytė）的5部影像，与外交公寓12号正在展出的梁远苇个人项目“五色土”进行对话。
梁远苇一直关注绘画与所在环境的结构性关系——无论是物理、历史或是文化上的——尤其对壁画有着浓厚的兴趣。这一次，她将自己的探索带到了外交公寓12号，这个独立艺术空间所在的建筑建成于1970年代，是中国第一批接待外国居民的社区。梁远苇在一个月的时间里，仅利用五个基本颜色的复印纸，梳子以及一些圆形纸片，逐渐画满了公寓客厅的所有墙面以及天花板。这个创作过程以及由此构成的空间呼应，与伊迪丝·德克因特的《死海绘画》（2010），以及夏洛特•莫斯的《形式缺乏》（2010）有着从建筑、装饰以及背景上关于去物质化与物质化的摇摆呼应。延续着这个线索，西普里安·穆里森的《无题（修道士）》（2011）展现了穿着修道士服装的表演者描摹展览画册中的图片与文字的场景，探讨了关于创作过程中重复性的议题。
“五色土”的项目名称，灵感源自北京中山公园的社稷坛，意寓着江山社稷的统治的，与此同时，这也是艺术家孩童时期经常阅读的《北京晚报》文艺副刊的名称。因此对梁远苇来说，这是一个关于集体记忆与个人经历，并且从中不断进行转换与重塑的创作探索。这一创作手法与此次放映的艾米利娅·斯卡努利特的影片《阿尔东娜》（2017）相呼应，这位立陶宛艺术家在片中跟随自己的祖母穿越格如沓丝公园，这座公园保存着苏联解体之后的纪念人物雕塑。此外，克拉丽莎·托辛的《玛雅蓝》（2017）将蜀葵之家——弗兰克·劳埃德·赖特的著名建筑作品——重新想象成一座玛雅神庙，通过将玛雅人的传统姿态与现代建筑的结合，以此批判当下的文化挪用与文化复兴潮流。
此次放映将特意选在日落时分进行，地点位于此次梁远苇项目的中心展厅，邀请观众一同感受周围环境的心理能量，以及物理世界和我们社会想象之间的隐秘关系。
此次全年合作放映项目，旨在将卡蒂斯特收藏中的影像作品与外交公寓12号长久以来的在地性展览实践进行对话。外交公寓12号空间致力于呈现艺术家的特定场域项目，深入阐释个体在错综复杂的中国近期历史和当代全球地缘政治背景中的主观定位，进而体现他/她们对本地艺术生态的贡献。“Track II”放映计划从卡蒂斯特收藏中选取影像，利用移动影像的替代性叙事能力应对地缘政治问题，为跨文化的对话提供批判性基础。项目起名“Track II”，意在指涉艺术家在塑造文化交流格局中所扮演的角色。作为卡蒂斯特正在进行的国际计划 Double Takes的一部分，“Track II”的多期放映于2023年12月开启，持续至2024年底。该国际计划通过在合作机构和KADIST.TV上进行实体和在线展示，激活卡蒂斯特的电影和影像收藏 。
关于外交公寓12号空间
位于北京朝阳区建国门外的外交公寓始建于1971年，是新中国第一片独享外交待遇，为各国驻华使馆、国际组织代表机构、各新闻机构及其人员提供办公、住宅用房的国际化社区。在二十世纪七八十年代，基于这里独有的国际资讯传播，外交公寓成为了中国早期当代文化艺术交流活动的发祥地。外交公寓12号于2015年在这块历史性的非常地域内成立。作为一个独立的艺术空间，它致力于展示个体艺术家的特定场域项目，特别是那些基于对历史、社会文化状态、地缘政治境遇的批判性审视以及观念性和实验性探索为中心的艺术实践。其项目通常旨在超越常规的策展规范，挑战展览生产的制度范式，往往与外交公寓的历史和社会背景互为文本。外交公寓12号以其独特的方式与立场，试图拷问当代艺术的意义和方法，并致力于创造艺术的社会空间。