从鸟巢到伯明翰
伯明翰是继北京之后世界范围内第一个主办这场具有开创意义的当代艺术与建筑的展览--《北京地图游戏》。
此次展览将于2008年10月18日向公众开放，至2009年1月4日止。
自从在2001年赢得了第29届奥林匹克运动会的主办权，北京便成为了世界关注的焦点。北京城市的面目经历了翻天覆地的变化：极富未来感的高楼大厦代替了传统的四合院；胡同街坊为现代化的购物中心¬、多层停车场和崭新的马路让出了它历史的角色。
巨大的变化几乎发生在一夜之间，这个城市正在变成一个迷幻的存在。那些伴随这个城市经历这一切变化的人们，是既感兴奋又疲惫的。24位中国与国外艺术家和建筑师将共同探究这些变化的动力，并在他们对这个城市多层的诠释中铺展开北京的过去、现在和未来。
这是在英国最先的集合了中国和国际其他知名艺术家与建筑师的作品的展出之一。许多为这次展览特别创作的作品探索了“地图”在北京这个飞速扩张中的大都市里的角色。
构成展出内容的这些作品首先是每一位艺术家和建筑师个性与审美的个人声明。Marcella Campa + 都料建筑（李文军、Stefano Avesani）对城市的身份进行了反思；唐晖探索了私人空间与公共空间、自身与建筑语言和其他一系列符号间的干扰。
有些艺术家邀请观众参与到游戏之中，在展示的进程中与他们的作品进行互动（王辉、Hugo Tillman）；有的则在全球网络社区内进行互动（陈劭雄）；有的鼓励观众跳出常规，在试图解码真实性时，去分辨事物无常的一面(Anna Boggon、马清运：他的《从日食到奥运》是一个影像，灵感来源于中国在今年8月1日的日全食和接踵而至的北京奥运)。
有的艺术家预想未来（Najjar的E托邦-比特城市）；有的展现了在市民协作性的参与中进化中的城市计划性的展望（Winy Maas）；有的探索新旧间的矛盾而紧张的相互关系（Gotti,Cotterrell）；有的对将生之于斯的广大农村母体的遗忘的社会良心提出了质疑（吴文光）；其他的艺术家探究与地图的绘制有关的历史的真相与谎言，沙妩若（Varvara Shavrova）的绘画与油画装置追溯了北京城百年来的转变，并借助美国中情局已销密的上世纪70年代到80年代的北京地图作为对这个城市（至今仍依稀可见的）过去的铭记。艾未未-“鸟巢”设计的艺术顾问-他这次的作品是一个影像：《北京.二环立交桥》，用正反方向拍摄两条的方式记录北京二环路上33座立交桥的交通状态。全片记录了城市历史的面貌、现代的发展、它的近一千三百万的人口、巨大的交通能力和这座大都市真实的表情，它们共同定义了如今的北京。
一个有趣的方面在于艺术家对城市空间的敏锐观察，尤其是当一个城市将自己以一个剧场背景的形式呈现，揭示着生存状态中超现实的方面。有时发生在一些非场所，如公路（汪建伟）、自动提款机（Sarah Beddington）、或者通过角色模仿来使人再次关注真与假、人为与真实这些问题（林一林）。一个地板上覆盖着混凝土的荒废的空间，也界定了尹秀珍的《地图》。这个由混凝土营造的空旷的“地图”传达了一种普遍存在的被放逐的孤寂，不仅关于北京，也同样有关于遍布在这个星球上的所有的城市荒原。
环境的问题也是《地图游戏》参与者的一个关注的焦点。马岩松提出了“绿色思想”，并建议在城市中间建一条绿色动脉，从而使生活在都市中的人们远离那些习以为常的污染以及让人疯狂的噪音，同时赋予人们逃离城市里令人窒息的日常生活的权利。在展览的空间里，那些从地图游戏所有参与者（参展的艺术家还有：白双全、关矢、李巨川、Perino&Vele、袁顺）的脑中浮现的关于这个巨大都市的不同碎片，将结合在一起，共同构成一个生动的、富有活力的、发人深省的整体。
《北京地图游戏》由独立策展人冯博一、Monica Piccioni （莫妮卡） 和 Rosario Scarpato （罗萨利欧）--意中艺术工作室的联合创立者与艺术家Varvara Shavrova（沙妩若）联合策展。此次展览已于2008年6月在北京今日美术馆首展，伯明翰的展出之后，将会于2009年2月在意大利的特尔尼当代艺术中心继续展出。
此次展出得到了六个驻华使馆的大力支持：德国大使馆、爱尔兰大使馆、意大利大使馆、俄罗斯大使馆、荷兰大使馆和英国大使馆）。同时也得到了意大利使馆文化处、歌德学院（中国）、英国文化协会和皇家驿站的大力协助。
中国媒体支持：
搜狐Sohu.com 搜狐文化频道cul.sohu.com、雅昌艺术网 中国艺术品门户、
www.artron.net、城市中国、艺术地图、Domus 中国、北京青年周刊、东方艺术•财经、今日美术、当代艺术新闻、新京报、TimeOut 北京
FROM BIRDS NEST TO BIRMINGHAM
Birmingham will be the first city in the world outside Beijing to host the groundbreaking contemporary art and architecture exhibition ‘Beijing Map Games’ that will be open to the public from the 18th October 2008 to the 4th January 2009.
Since winning the 2001 bid for hosting the 29th Olympic Games, Beijing has been the focus of continuous international attention. The face of the city has been changing dramatically, with futuristic high-rises replacing old courtyard houses (siheyuan) and traditional ‘hutong’ neighbourhoods giving way to high-tech shopping centres, multi-storey car parks and new roads.
With dramatic changes happening almost overnight, the city becomes an impossible and illusive entity, both exciting and exhausting for those who experience it. 24 Chinese and international artists and architects explore the dynamics of these changes, and in their multi-layered interpretations of the city map out Beijing’s past, present and future.
The show is one of the first in the UK to combine works by both Chinese and international artists and architects. Many of the works have been specially commissioned for the exhibition, which explores the role of the map within the rapidly expanding urban metropolis that is Beijing.
The works that shape the content of the show are above all individual statements of every artist and architect’s personality and aesthetics. Marcella Campa + Duliao Studio rethink the identity of the city; Tang Hui investigates the interference between private and public space, self and architectural language and its icons.
Some artists invite the viewer to participate in the game and interact with their work in progress, (Wang Hui, Hugo Tillman) or involve the global web community in the map game (Chen Shaoxiong). Others urge the audiences to see beyond the norm, to distinguish the alternative side of things whilst trying to decode the authentic (Anna Boggon, Ma Qingyun of Mada Spam: his ‘From Eclipse to Olympics’ is a looped video projection that is inspired by the total solar eclipse that China experienced on 1st August this year and the following Beijing Olympic Games).
Some artists envision the future (Najjar’s E-topian city of bits) and disclose evolutionary urban planning perspectives that involve synergic participation of citizens (Winy Maas), investigate the critical interplay of old and new (Gotti, Cotterrell) and question the patterns of social awareness related to rural areas (Wu Wenguang). Other artists explore historic truths and untruths related to mapping. Varvara Shavrova’s drawing and painting installation traces the transformation of Beijing city over the centuries, and employs CIA declassified maps from 1970’s and 1980’s as a fossilised imprint of the city’s past that is still visible in the present. Ai Weiwei’s work - the artistic consultant for the design of the ‘Birds Nest’ Olympic Stadium, - is a video called ‘Beijing: The Second Ring’ which documents the two opposite views of traffic flow on 33 bridges along Beijing’s Second Ring. The film documents the historic aspects of the city, modern development, its nearly 13 million people, mass transport, and the urban reality that defines Beijing.
An interesting aspect is the acute observation of the city space when it stages itself as a theatrical setting and reveals the surreal aspects of existence. Sometimes this happens in non-places such as a highway (Wang Jianwei), a money-cashier machine (Sarah Beddington) or through a role-playing that brings again to the attention the issue of true and false, artificial and real (Lin Yilin). A deserted space with a floor covered with concrete also defines Yin Xiuzhen’s “Map”. This ‘map’ made of void and cement conveys a universal feeling of desolation associated not only with Beijing but also with all other urban wastelands scattered over the planet.
The environmental question is also an important thematic focus for other participants in Map Games. Ma Yansong advocates “green thinking” and proposes the installation of a green arterial line in the middle of Beijing city, thus freeing urban dwellers from alienating pollution and madding noise, and providing an escape from the city’s stifling every-day life. In the museum space all different fragments of the vast metropolis that have emerged out of the minds of all the map games players (the other invited artists are: Bai Shuangquan, Guan Shi, Li Juchuan, Perino&Vele, Yuan Shun) will come together into one lively, dynamic, thought provoking whole.
‘Beijing Map Games’ a curatorial and creative collaboration between independent curator Feng Boyi, Monica Piccioni and Rosario Scarpato (offiCina art project space co-founders) and artist Varvara Shavrova. The exhibition was first premiered at China Today Art Museum in Beijing in June 2008. Following the show in Birmingham, the exhibition will tour to the Terni Centre for Contemporary Art opificio Siri (CAoS, Italy) in February 2009.
The exhibition received support from six embassies in China (Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom). It received additional support from the following: the Italian Embassy Cultural Office, the Goethe Institute (China), the British Council and The Emperor Hotel.
Media Support in China:
Sohu.com, cul.sohu.com, Artron.net, Urban China, Art Map, Domus China,
Beijing Youth Weekly, Oriental Art ∙ Finance, art_today, Chinese Contemporary Art News, New Beijing Daily, TimeOut Beijing
Ends
Media contact: Jason Lewis - 0121 303 4266
jason_lewis@birmingham.gov.uk
Note to the Editor
• Due to space restrictions it is not possible to accommodate large groups and children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
• The ‘Big Picture’ is a DCMS funded project administered by Arts Council England via Audiences Central. It is sponsored by Jessops and Travel West Midlands.
