Art and Visual Culture in Contemporary Beijing (1978-2012)
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Infrastructures of Critique: Art and Visual Culture in Contemporary Beijing (1978-2012) by Elizabeth Chamberlin Parke A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Elizabeth Chamberlin Parke 2016 Infrastructures of Critique: Art and Visual Culture in Contemporary Beijing (1978-2012) Elizabeth Chamberlin Parke Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This dissertation is a story about relationships between artists, their work, and the physical infrastructure of Beijing. I argue that infrastructure’s utilitarianism has relegated it to a category of nothing to see, and that this tautology effectively shrouds other possible interpretations. My findings establish counter-narratives and critiques of Beijing, a city at once an immerging global capital city, and an urban space fraught with competing ways of seeing, those crafted by the state and those of artists. Statecraft in this dissertation is conceptualized as both the art of managing building projects that function to control Beijing’s public spaces, harnessing the thing-power of infrastructure, and the enforcement of everyday rituals that surround Beijinger’s interactions with the city’s infrastructure. From the spectacular architecture built to signify China’s neoliberal approaches to globalized urban spaces, to micro-modifications in how citizens sort their recycling depicted on neighborhood bulletin boards, the visuals of Chinese statecraft saturate the urban landscape of Beijing. I advocate for heterogeneous ways of seeing of infrastructure that releases its from being solely a function of statecraft, to a constitutive part of the artistic practices of: Song Dong (宋冬 b. 1966), Cao Fei (曹斐 b. 1978), Lu Hao (卢昊 b. 1969) and Ning Ying (宁瀛 b. 1959) where it is reconfigured as a space of critique. Structured around four typologies, I begin with roads and Ning’s films where the outdated roads refuse to keep pace with the rise in private car ownership. From traffic, I move to Song’s trash based works that make visible the contemporary buying habits of Beijingers in contrast to earlier state policies of frugality and recycling. Then, I consider the migrant workers whose labour is building the city, whose multitudes the state strives to conceal, and whose bodies artists exploit ii as a medium. Lastly, from embodied practices and spaces, I excavate the buried fiber optic networks that produce the immateriality of the Internet to discuss how Cao’s online practice parodies China’s rapacious urbanization predicated on the real estate market. Iconic buildings of contemporary China colonize her works, but instead of being aesthetically pleasing monuments to the global contemporary, they are a critical commentary on state policies that monetize collectively owned land. iii Acknowledgments The constellation of debts I have accumulated over the course of this project is vast, and it is with pleasure that I can now offer thanks. The first words of thanks must go to my committee: Meng Yue, Evie Gu, and Barbara Fisher who were rigorous, supportive, and insightful. Their thinking, high standards of scholarship, and commitment to this project shaped and improved it in ways I could not have foreseen. Linda Rui Feng and Wang Ban were the external readers that graduate students dream of. They upended my assumptions, helped to reformulate central questions in the dissertation, and as a result, made it stronger. Yomi Braester introduced me to thinking of Beijing as a place, space, and assemblage of cultural productions. His scholarship and guidance over the years continues to fuel my ideas about art and the city. Thanks also go to the many artists and curators in Beijing and Hong Kong answered questions, gave interviews, and allowed me to reproduce images of their works. At The University of Toronto, I have experienced what good librarians can do for a project of this scale. Lu Gan and John Shoesmith were patient with my random inquiries and helped to uncover resources I would never have found without them as guides. I have also had the pleasure of a network faculty mentors, Alison Syme, John Paul Ricco, and Kajri Jain all contributed to framing of initial questions, refining of conceptual issues, a grappling with theoretical concerns. The meetings of the Critical China Reading Group clarified my arguments. Joan Judge, Tong Lam, Josh Fogel, and Yiching Wu asked the questions that needed to be asked, and showed through their work and generosity how to be engaged and thoughtful academics and mentors. I have also benefited from the stellar administrative staff Norma Escobar and Natasja VanderBerg in the Department of East Asian Studies. This past year at the Jackman Humanities Institute provided the balance of intellectual stimulation and time to translate this stimulation into words on the page. Orchestrated by Bob Gibbs, Kim Yates, Monica Toffoli, and Cheryl Pasternak, the JHI is a thing that matters and the dissertation improved infinitely because of impromptu discussions, wandering conversations, and rigorous thinking with my fellow fellows. Also of particular pleasure in Toronto are the members of my extended graduate cohort: Sarah iv Richardson (who was there from the beginning and cheered me across the finish line), Li Yanfei, Chen Xi, Gary Wang, Shasha Liu, Doris Sung, Akshaya Tanka, Marlo Burks, Catherine Schwartz, and Alyson Brickey. Being part of such an intellectually stimulating community was humbling and a pleasure. When I needed it they listened to inchoate ideas and other times they simply shared a meal with me. On the subject of food, what began as an impromtu trial of the Hart House 5 Buck lunch became a standing Wednesday lunch date. Hannah Moland, Angela Glover, and Chris Beck listened to fledgling ideas, taught me about portable alters, misericords, and suggested science fiction novels, all of which incalculably improved my thinking and writing. The most important words of thanks go to my families in Vermont and Toronto. The Parkes and the Kwans urged me forward, sustained me with love and good food, and have never questioned “why Beijing”? I offer particular thanks to my parents, Lauck and Libby, who charted the path as teachers and scholars. Without their abiding support, calm and measured guidance, and love this dissertation wouldn’t have begun, and it certainly wouldn’t have been finished. Julia accompanied me to conferences, removed many unnecessary commas, and brought her money card to Asia. Her humor and kindness was vital. Although he came late to the process, Barnstable upended our world and rearranged it for the better. Will saw the potential before I could, urged me to keep working, and always knew which book to lend me from his library. I promise I put them back in their proper places, although there are likely crumbs between the pages. v Table of Contents Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................................ vi List of Figures .................................................................................................................................................... viii 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 Statecraft ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Center of history, government, and culture: Beijing ................................................................................................... 7 Frameworks of looking: theoretical concerns of the dissertation ..................................................................... 10 The structure of the dissertation ...................................................................................................................................... 14 0.1 A video interlude: Beijing 2015 ............................................................................................................................. 18 2 Bumps in the Road: Ning Ying’s Beijing Trilogy .................................................................................. 20 Cinematic Irony ........................................................................................................................................................................ 22 Linking up with the world ................................................................................................................................................... 23 Pace of movement: walk, bike, drive ............................................................................................................................... 29 Obsolescence .............................................................................................................................................................................. 40 Widening roads ........................................................................................................................................................................ 50 0.2 A Hoarding Interlude: Static screens in Beijing ..............................................................................