文/ 孫建春

從文化層面上說，“失語”這個(gè)詞有兩種理解方式，一是指不會(huì)說話，二是指不會(huì)用自己的方式說話。在第二個(gè)理解的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)里，中國(guó)現(xiàn)代性的文化基本上都是處于失語狀態(tài)的，當(dāng)代藝術(shù)也不例外。相比較古代藝術(shù)的創(chuàng)作者們，藝術(shù)批評(píng)是失職的，創(chuàng)作者們起碼構(gòu)建了現(xiàn)象，但批評(píng)家并沒有能構(gòu)建出與現(xiàn)象相對(duì)應(yīng)的話語，當(dāng)然，我們不能把原因簡(jiǎn)單地歸咎于文字的創(chuàng)作者們，文化生態(tài)不是一個(gè)完全獨(dú)立的系統(tǒng)，它一方面有賴于系統(tǒng)內(nèi)部的積極調(diào)整，但對(duì)其形成更重要影響的是社會(huì)整體的發(fā)展和變化。

正在趨于一體化的亞洲市場(chǎng)的一體化雖然在正式的經(jīng)濟(jì)、政治制度方面不如歐美完善，但亞洲經(jīng)濟(jì)的貿(mào)易、投資日益緊密，中國(guó)的高速經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)成為其發(fā)展的原動(dòng)力。目前，整個(gè)東亞正處于“制度大轉(zhuǎn)變”的過程中，雖然日本、韓國(guó)和中國(guó)各處于不同的階段，但它們都在各自地進(jìn)行著轉(zhuǎn)變。亞洲的經(jīng)濟(jì)一體化作為對(duì)美國(guó)控制市場(chǎng)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(mào)易差別、國(guó)際財(cái)政不平衡以及由此帶來的不穩(wěn)定等缺陷。歐美資本主義高度發(fā)達(dá)的社會(huì)文明和工業(yè)文明造就了高度規(guī)范化的政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)制度，其一絲不茍和“一絲不可茍”正如一面雙刃劍，高度規(guī)范同時(shí)也高度制約，其發(fā)展出現(xiàn)必然的停滯，顯然需要新的刺激和規(guī)范來調(diào)整經(jīng)濟(jì)結(jié)構(gòu)，另一方面，亞洲經(jīng)濟(jì)的相對(duì)“不規(guī)范”以及在此次金融危機(jī)后的不確定性，使之成為世界經(jīng)濟(jì)最具有活力的因素但也是最大的變數(shù)，無法預(yù)知其走向，同樣急需建立新的規(guī)范來進(jìn)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(jī)為路標(biāo)，尋找亞洲和中國(guó)的方向。

從文化角度說，亞洲國(guó)家的現(xiàn)代化進(jìn)程基本都是以歐美的現(xiàn)代化作為參照的范本來演變的，然而以歐美的價(jià)值體系作為評(píng)判的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)顯然不能滿足東方國(guó)家的文化訴求，他者的話語對(duì)應(yīng)于有差異的文化背景以及社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)批判無異于“隔靴撓癢”，文化 “失語”有兩個(gè)層面的意思，一是指不會(huì)說話，二是指不會(huì)用自己的語言說話，以中國(guó)為例的亞洲國(guó)家在現(xiàn)代性的進(jìn)程里最需要建立的正是“自己的語言”，近30年間里，越來越多的亞洲國(guó)家開始認(rèn)真清理自己的國(guó)家遺產(chǎn)、整合新的社會(huì)結(jié)構(gòu)下的社會(huì)心理，包括藝術(shù)，開始慢慢回歸到真正地關(guān)注自身，關(guān)注亞洲人內(nèi)心的原點(diǎn)上來。新視角重新確認(rèn)多樣的亞洲文明并且進(jìn)行解讀，期望建立新的話語體系以對(duì)應(yīng)有差異的現(xiàn)代性，建立新的亞洲藝術(shù)形象。中國(guó)的當(dāng)代藝術(shù)發(fā)展在此前的30年里同樣受到西方視角的左右，正如毛澤東說的：“……社會(huì)主義不去占領(lǐng)它，資本主義必然去占領(lǐng)”，海外藝術(shù)資本的介入或多或少地左右了當(dāng)代藝術(shù)的格局，以表現(xiàn)中國(guó)社會(huì)政治信息為主導(dǎo)的一批藝術(shù)家因符合西方文化中心主義而備受矚目，與此同時(shí)，藝術(shù)的批評(píng)話語也基本是挪用和照搬了西方現(xiàn)代主義以后的批評(píng)模式和方法論，當(dāng)代藝術(shù)的發(fā)生和發(fā)展始終沒能在中國(guó)現(xiàn)代性的進(jìn)程中“落到實(shí)處”。從2005到2007短短的兩三年里，當(dāng)代藝術(shù)經(jīng)歷了極度市場(chǎng)化的泡沫，2008年經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)的來臨讓藝術(shù)市場(chǎng)受到了巨大的沖擊也是巨大的洗禮，藝術(shù)市場(chǎng)甚至藝術(shù)本身都趨于冷靜和成熟，09年以來，雖然新的藝術(shù)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(shù)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(nèi)在的暗流涌動(dòng)都似乎表明了一個(gè)新的藝術(shù)時(shí)代的來臨。新的資本介入也是個(gè)必然的要求和趨勢(shì)，目前，少許的國(guó)內(nèi)民間資本的進(jìn)入雖然還不能構(gòu)成完善的市場(chǎng)，但畢竟一個(gè)良好的開端初露端倪。

現(xiàn)代社會(huì)的經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化一樣都不是孤立存在的，財(cái)富的積累和支配從來都是一個(gè)重要的社會(huì)問題，英國(guó)古典政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的主要代表亞當(dāng)·斯密的《國(guó)富論》早在18世紀(jì)就創(chuàng)建了西方政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的科學(xué)體系。中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)現(xiàn)代性的進(jìn)程和文化一樣，都到了一個(gè)需要進(jìn)行結(jié)構(gòu)調(diào)整的階段，和歐美社會(huì)不一樣，中國(guó)的社會(huì)個(gè)體和企業(yè)的財(cái)富積累時(shí)間和態(tài)勢(shì)都相對(duì)要短、也迅猛的多，并沒有與財(cái)富相對(duì)應(yīng)的倫理制約，沒有和財(cái)富支出相對(duì)應(yīng)的慈善事業(yè)和文化投資等等，在中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)的社會(huì)形態(tài)中，大戶和鄉(xiāng)紳們都遵守著修橋鋪路、辦學(xué)放賑等約定俗成的義務(wù)，現(xiàn)代西方社會(huì)的財(cái)富支配制度更為完善，除了各種各樣相對(duì)應(yīng)的慈善事業(yè)，文化投資也是各個(gè)大的財(cái)富集團(tuán)重要的社會(huì)公益支出，戴姆勒-奔馳、BMW每年都有巨額的藝術(shù)品收藏；古根海姆、洛克菲勒這些大財(cái)團(tuán)甚至擁有自己旗下非常有影響力的美術(shù)館……中國(guó)的新貴們?cè)谘杆贀碛胸?cái)富的同時(shí)卻并沒有被規(guī)定的責(zé)任和義務(wù)，加之這一代的財(cái)富擁有者幾乎無一例外地經(jīng)歷了社會(huì)主義早期物質(zhì)極其匱乏的年代，所以在財(cái)富的支配上甚至?xí)袌?bào)復(fù)性的不健康心態(tài)——這一代人早年發(fā)過最多的誓言基本都是以“等老子有了錢……”開頭的，中國(guó)的企業(yè)在這一點(diǎn)上和個(gè)體并沒有大的差異，絕大多數(shù)的企業(yè)也正是從個(gè)人產(chǎn)業(yè)發(fā)展擴(kuò)大而成，個(gè)體財(cái)富倫理欠缺的基因一樣被遺傳到企業(yè)的結(jié)構(gòu)當(dāng)中，類似前不久中石化大樓“天價(jià)吊燈”之類的傳聞和暴發(fā)戶的高消費(fèi)行為如出一轍。同時(shí)，企業(yè)的管理者們?cè)诶婧颓楦械拿苤袩o法平衡，這無形中就把企業(yè)工人和企業(yè)的收益變成一組有對(duì)立的關(guān)系，沒有社會(huì)公益的平衡支配，企業(yè)很難自上而下地建構(gòu)出一個(gè)人性化和科學(xué)化兼?zhèn)涞钠髽I(yè)文化。由于歷史文化和現(xiàn)實(shí)情境的差異，中國(guó)的企業(yè)很顯然無法完全復(fù)制西方的企業(yè)精神，一方面，我們要學(xué)習(xí)發(fā)達(dá)資本主義國(guó)家的企業(yè)的人性化管理和人性化企業(yè)精神，另一方面，我們又要冷靜面對(duì)由高度規(guī)范導(dǎo)致的人性制約，對(duì)應(yīng)于中國(guó)的社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)建立既符合本土精神又符合國(guó)際化規(guī)范的企業(yè)文化，這讓新的企業(yè)文化本身成為了一門藝術(shù)。

盡管亞洲的文化和經(jīng)濟(jì)是一個(gè)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(jīng)驗(yàn)，解讀自身的經(jīng)驗(yàn)就需要有足夠的時(shí)間和資料的累積、信息的比對(duì)。從各方面看，我們都需要一個(gè)由經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化共同建構(gòu)的良好生態(tài)，民營(yíng)資本和本土的當(dāng)代藝術(shù)之間需要一個(gè)橋梁來相互促進(jìn)，本土的民營(yíng)資本的參與可以幫助文化建立自身良好的市場(chǎng)生態(tài)和藝術(shù)話語的自我生產(chǎn)力；而文化可以幫助企業(yè)完成企業(yè)形象和企業(yè)文化的轉(zhuǎn)型，建立起相對(duì)人性的管理模式和企業(yè)精神。

正是基于這樣的愿望和目的，由伊比利亞當(dāng)代藝術(shù)中心和北京錫恩企業(yè)管理顧問咨詢有限公司共同參與組織了“豐田藝術(shù)計(jì)劃”，這是由文化研究機(jī)構(gòu)和企業(yè)管理的研究機(jī)構(gòu)一起進(jìn)行的一次全新的嘗試，是對(duì)中國(guó)當(dāng)代藝術(shù)未來生態(tài)和企業(yè)文化建設(shè)的一種共同努力，這個(gè)展覽中的20位不同年齡的藝術(shù)家，以豐田汽車公司的生產(chǎn)模式為范本展開文化和大工業(yè)之間的社會(huì)反思，我們不妨把此次的計(jì)劃當(dāng)成一個(gè) “亡羊補(bǔ)牢”的內(nèi)在需求，畢竟，一切都在和我們昭示一個(gè)事實(shí)：亞洲、中國(guó)急需建立和完善新的制度和規(guī)范以對(duì)應(yīng)世界格局，我們需要有自己的新的時(shí)間表和新的路標(biāo)。

2009年11月17日

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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.

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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