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M+ Sigg Fellowship for Chinese Art Research 2020 Public Talk 「希克中國藝術研究資助計劃 2020」公眾講座

Diffused Religion and the Origins of Chinese Avant-Garde Art

Sacrificial practices in Chinese folk religion have changed over thousands of years. However, core concepts, objects, and rituals have, for the most part, remained the same. Since the second half of the twentieth century, gods have been absent from the official government position, but folk religious practices and art have continued, filling a social role. Artists in the 1980s and 1990s adopted elements from folk religion, and in doing so they unintentionally defined a collective method that contributed to the growth of the avant-garde. Behind the well-known narrative that these artists responded to their reality with radical work, there is a long, fraught history of folk art in relation to systems of authority. This talk examines sacrifice in folk religion as a point of origin for Chinese avant-garde art, identifying it as a shared resource for artists as they constructed their visual and conceptual languages.

Date & time: 2 March (Tue), 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Language: Mandarin, with English simultaneous interpretation
Event platform: Zoom

彌散性宗教與中國前衛藝術的起源

中國民間宗教所注重的祭祀活動內容廣泛，幾千年來賡續流變，但祭祀的觀念、物件、儀式等核心要素的形態仍大致固定。在1980至1990年代，這些要素在藝術家的自由採借之下，成為推動中國前衛藝術發展的一種無意識的集體手法：當神靈在官方的敘述系統中缺席時，藝術就勢必承擔相應的社會職能來填補空缺。因此，在藝術以激進性應對現實這一表層的敘述邏輯背後，實質隱藏了民間與權力系統相互角力的悠久歷史。本次講座希冀藉着對前衛藝術與民間祭祀的對比考察，從內在意圖和視覺表徵入手，分析前衛藝術在主觀創作意識之外所汲取的資源。

日期及時間：3月2日（星期二）下午7時至8時半
語言：普通話，設有英語同傳
活動平台：Zoom

Mar 2, 2021 07:00 PM in Hong Kong SAR