Site 4: Kunming, Yunnan Province

That afternoon, the Long March occupied the Upriver Loft office of owner Ye Yongqing, turning it into a base of operations. A delegation from the Long March Foundation New York arrived, including Shen Meng, Lu Jie’s wife. She brought with her the latest results of the Long March Propaganda Team’s work in Xu Bing’s Brooklyn home-studio: a Long March logo designed by Xu Bing in his New English Calligraphy. The Propaganda Team members who helped with the logo included: Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao, Shen Meng and her children, Cai Guoqiang’s wife Wu Honghong and daughter Cai Wenyou, Chen Zhen’s wife Xu Min, the biologist Yu Congrong, Ma Limei and others. Xu Bing also designed a special badge for the Long March, featuring a hammer, a sickle, and a calligraphy brush. Qiu Zhijie immediately got on his computer and used the new materials to design Long March T-shirts, flags, and stickers. He burnt these onto a CD and sent Ma Han to have them printed. In this way, the Long March gained a propaganda tool other than the original postcards, new materials that could be quickly distributed to passers-by. The working efficiency of the “Central Red Army” was enough to make observers faint in amazement.

Later in the afternoon, “Qu Guangci,” carrying his statue of Qu Guangci, paid visits one by one to the Upriver Loft studios of artists Duan Yuhai, Luan Xiaojie, Liu Jianhua, and Ye Yongqing, as well as the studio of visiting British artist Chris Jones.

Luo Xu is a sculptor in the tradition of the Yi minority, who several years ago borrowed millions of RMB to build a sculpture garden on the outskirts of Kunming. Called a sculpture “nest,” this appellation accurately describes the character of the place; it was pieced together like a bird pieces together a nest. The rumor is that Luo first used white ash to paint a circle on this mountain slope, and then instructed the construction crew to build wherever he placed bamboo poles. Finally, multiple unsuccessful efforts led to an ideal structure, which looks like a loaf of steamed bread from outside, and appears from inside as if height, width, and depth have been set at random, creating the effect of a maze. The larger rooms mostly have domed ceilings, supported by girders in a cathedralesque manner. Light comes through skylights and holes set into the walls. 

This piece of architecture, which has grown like a plant, has become a display hall for Luo Xu’s sculptures, in which works he has created over nearly twenty years in all imaginable sculptural styles are scattered into nearly every corner. The most conspicuous work in the place takes a thigh as its main element, and has an obvious air of life-worship to it, enhanced by and enhancing the arched ceiling, full of mystical power.

In the earlier process of investigating sites for the Long March, Lu Jie and Qiu Zhijie made a preliminary visit to Luo Xu, and were stirred by the combination of his sculptures and their environment, moved by the way in which this man creates like an ant-king. He made them think of the palace of found objects built by that harbinger of surrealism Ferdinand Cheval. This sort of artistic site could not be shipped off and exhibited in an art “center” like Venice, Kassel, Beijing, or Shanghai. To contact this work of art, one must come directly to the scene, must experience it firsthand. On this account, the Long March curators especially chose to hold here the sort of activity that is most dependent on firsthand experience-a sound installation exhibition. The special geographic situation and architectural layout of Luo Xu’s nest made it ideal for this sort of exhibition. The curators hoped to draw on both of these strengths, and to create value for the “site” out of the significance of the local culture and the physical location.

Works by Yu Xiaofeng, Ren Qian, and Ma Jie had already been installed, and interactive works by Li Chuan and Li Yong were still being installed. These five artists from Chongqing were also participants in China’s first true sound art exhibition, held one year ago at the Mustard Seed Garden in Beijing, members of China’s first generation of experimental sound artists. All are incredibly young, though their works grow more mature by the day.

The Dali Ink Painting Studio was opened two years ago by Li Xianting and Ye Yongqing, and was funded by Soo Bin Chua of Singapore with the aim of creating a modern genre of ink painting. Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Chunya, Mao Xuhui, Fang Lijun, Liu Wei, Wang Guangyi, Yue Minjun, and Yang Shaobin are some of the famous oil panters who have participated in the project, converging on Dali for a week of ink painting. These painters, all trained in the Western academic style, ran into the problem that the very materials of Chinese ink and wash painting raised their expectations, and creating in this sort of collective studio atmosphere caused the painters to reflect on their own education. They wondered whether the creation-display model was truly the only paradigm for artistic creation, whether other ways of playing the game existed, perhaps psychological frameworks that would incorporate local culture. Thinking about these questions, people came to appreciate the many works of alternative ink and wash painting on display at the Nordica Center. From beginning to end, the viewers looked to the works for traces of classic ink and wash, ever and again looking to the paintings for a connection with old styles, and feeling astonished at this break with tradition.

This “gathering of scholars” style of exchange made the curators of the Long March quite happy, and so, at 20:30 that evening, there began an ink painting session. Lu Jie, who began as a student of Chinese painting, painted a Red Army flag waving in the grasslands of a snowy mountain. Picking up where he left off, Zhang Xiaogang added the overcast eyes often seen in his paintings, and Yue Minjun, Mao Xuhui, and Cai Simin one by one took turns. This precious sheet of rice paper became invaluable, and after the painters had all added their contributions, Lu Jie’s son Maotou and Zhang Xiaogang’s daughter Huanhuan had a chance to paint.

The original plan for the evening was to move several kilometers to Cuotuo Village and hold a screening of Jiang Zhi’s documentary work Shi Zhi. 

Cuotuo Village became famous in the 1980s after the movie Cuotuo Years, which reflected the situation of young intellectuals in the post-Cultural Revolution period. Today, the village is a sea of Karaoke bars decorated with Roman columns and “peasant” restaurants. Many young intellectuals have become wealthy businessmen, and the town has become a place where they come to remember the spirit of their youth and spend money. Jiang Zhi’s documentary depicts the life of Shi Zhi, a representative of the young intellectual poets. Shi Zhi’s poems were once circulated among young intellectuals around the country, and the poem “Believe the Future” consoled countless hurt and hopeless youth during the Cuotuo years. Shi Zhi became hopeful owing to his poems, though his body was destroyed by his ideology, and to this day he remains in a mental institution in Beijing, writing his life story. The curators were thrilled to be bringing a documentary about Shi Zhi straight to Cuotuo Village.

After a few phone calls, the curators learned that because of heavy rains and road repairs, the road to Cuotuo Village was no longer passable. After much deliberation, Lu Jie and Qiu Zhijie decided to change their plan, return to Kunming, and show the documentary there in a young intellectuals’ restaurant. There was a massive Mao statue in the restaurant, and the documentary was projected just below it.