“Long March Project: Yan’an”, A Reportage Display, Beijing

Since being initiated in 1999, and carried out in 2002, the Long March has finally arrived in Yan’an in May 2006, the final site of the historic Long March. Over 30 artist projects were realized by leading artists, including Cai Guo-Qiang, Sui Jianguo and Yu Hong. The Long March Space in Beijing will feature a retrospective as well as extension of this massive project. Through photography, installation, video, painting, as well as archival materials, the exhibition is a platform for dialogue connecting with art, history, life and contemporary society.

Initiated in 1999, carried out along the route of the historical Long March in 2002, and marching today, the Long March is a multifaceted art and social project that continually revisit different contexts, historical and geographical locations, crossing borders and limitations of cultural forms through visual display. Its purpose is to construct a meaningful relationship in between the local and international, urban and rural, and theory and practice. The Long March, like the journey itself, is continually developing. International and local sites function not just as platforms for exhibition, but as initiators of dialogue. Through the participation of local and international participants, the Long March explores local contexts, examining the relationship between art and society to determine new possibilities and experiences for art.

In May 2006, the Long March arrived in Yan’an, the last site of the 6000 mile historical Long March route. It is a revolutionary site of the Chinese Communist Party, and a laboratory for the construction of an ideal society and utopia. It is also the starting point for the new Long March. The project examined the effects of globalization on Chinese cultural development through a dialogue between history and the present. Through research and discussion of the collective socialist memory, the Long Marchers and artists throughout China will traveled to Yan’an to engage with rural experiences, general social mobilization, visual economy and sustainable society, and the construction of a visual subjectivity.

On the 64th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s “Yan’an Forum on Arts and Literature”, a discussion about the situation of contemporary art education was held at the historic site of the Yan’an Anti-Japanese Resistance University. Initiated by artist Cai Guo-Qiang and organized by the Long March, the forum included the participation of 30 renowned art educators and scholars, including Fan Di’an, Xu Jiang, Luo Zhongli, Liu Xiaodong, and Yang Dongping. After three days of heated discussion and debate, a resolution was put forth promoting art education throughout China. The Yan’an Forum on Art Education was generously supported by, the Asia Cultural Council, the Annie Wong Art Foundation, and the Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation.

The Long March Yan’an Project brought art into the public realm, displaying works at the Yan’an “Kangda” Hotel, 11 cave dwellings at the former site of the Yan’an University, a Catholic Church which served as the historical site of the Lu Xun Art Academy, and other public sites throughout the city of Yan’an. The projects engaged with the historical revolutionary memory, the relationship between individual and collective, and the contexts of the local communities. The exhibition at the Beijing Long March Space will feature works realized onsite, as well as newly commissioned works by artist Hong Hao, Yu Hong, Liang Yue and Miao Xiaochun.