A Metaphor for Identities in Transition Through Urbanization And

Home , A Bite of China

research articles A Metaphor for Identities in ing of a number of associated terms which Transition through Urbanization and are conventionally regarded as fixed and inherently bonded to a certain field, such as Globalization: Tofu and One Hundred identity, nationality, race, gender, belonging, 1 neighbourhood, etc.3 In the light of migratory Surnames aesthetics, symbolic mobility in contemporary art often focuses on the experiences of Yang Jing transition as well as the transition of experience itself into new modalities, new artwork and new ways of being and variously engages with themes of travel, identity and shifting concepts of home in a world in which domestic and international relocation has become Nowadays, mobility is celebrated as one of audiences. Joaquín Barriendos Rodríguez a commonplace.4 The obvious, fixed and the most significant ideologies of contempo- suggested that in the social context, the term immutable identity is being replaced by ob- rary art. A multitude of notions, such as mi- mobility does not merely mean the changes scure, drifting and unstable ones, dependent gration, displacement, diaspora, nomadism in people’s geographical position; more sig- upon temporal and spatial changes. and deterritorialization have become trendy nificantly, it refers to the social and individual Richard Meyer, by citing Philip Gleason’s topics in contemporary artworks and exhibi- representations of the meaning of displace- analysis of the historical context of identity, tions; mobility in contemporary art engages ment experiences. The symbolic dimension points out that identity actually means some all agents of the art system, including art- of mobility is “that which shapes the cultur- “uncertainty” from the very beginning. When ists, critics, curators, collectors, art dealers al processes and contexts where […] new the term identity came into use in the 1950s, and audiences; it has been articulated on subjectivities are being negotiated.”2 Thus, rather than suggesting a stable sense of different levels, such as the production and the symbolic dimension of mobility is under- selfhood, it was often used to designate “an dissemination of the artworks, the identity of stood as the fluidity of subjectivity, the dis- identity crisis” or “a search for identity”, stem- the artists and the reception of artworks by placement of imaginaries, and the question- ming from the individual’s “alienation in an

5 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization increasingly anonymous society.”5 ,Later the mediums including installation, performance, names, refers to a metaphorical expression social and political movements in the 1960s photography and video, Chen is widely not- of the identity issue in a broader context of bonded the notion of identity with race, reli- ed for her Migration series that includes five urbanization and globalization, and forms a gion, national background, or other cultural video works, accompanied by numerous significant part of the artist’ multi-angle and markers. 6 In artworks, the problem of the photos, taken in her hometown Wanxian be- multi-level presentation of the complexity of 8 identities of both the artist and the intend- tween 2002 and 2012. The Migration (Qian identity. However, as most scholarly studies ed audience, on the individual and broader xi, 迁徙) series reveals her traumatic feel- on Chen were focused on Migration series, cultural level, is not only the theme of art- ing of being uprooted and the sense of un- her Tofu and One Hundred Surnames series work, but also determines how the work is certainty about the future. She interrogates has yet to attract more attention. constructed.7 Cultural identity is a constantly the problem of identity as a consequence In 2016, I conducted interviews with Chen shifting understanding of one’s identity in re- of forced domestic displacement due to the twice, in August and then again in Novem- lation to others, constructed and maintained construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Ac- ber. Each interview lasted about 2.5 hours. through the process of sharing collective cording to Wu Hung, the significance of her I also examined closely her works that are knowledge such as traditions, heritages, work “lies not in documenting the transfor- preserved at the A Thousand Plateaus Art languages, aesthetics, norms and customs. mation of the region, but in her sensitive rep- Space in Chengdu. Since then we have The presentation of the mobility of cultural resentation of the conflicting emotions and maintained regular correspondence by identity is often focused on how artists ac- desires of an artist who identifies herself as phone, e-mail and WeChat. Chen has kind- knowledge and negotiate with the geograph- her subject.”9 Bearing artistic as well as so- ly given permission for her work to be pub- ical distance and cultural strangeness that cial and cultural significance, the Migration lished and discussed here. In what follows, result in the making of artworks, which is series attracted wide attention both within taking her Tofu and One Hundred Surnames seen in the artists’ preferences for and shifts China and abroad and established Chen a series as an example, I attempt to reveal the between various concepts, subject matters, unique and prominent figure in Chinese con- conception, form, medium, material, and ex- formal properties, materials and mediums. temporary art. hibition strategy of this series. My analysis This paper focuses on the work of Chen Since 2004 Chen has created a sequence is built on two issues that somehow overlap Qiulin — a Chinese artist who has been tak- of single and multi-channel videos, photos, with each other. First I will analyze how the ing displacement and the resulting unrest performances and installations dealing ex- artist has transformed tofu and surname into in people’s identity as her persistent theme plicitly with tofu and Chinese surnames. This a metaphorical language for revealing the since the early 1990s. Working in multiple series, titled Tofu and One Hundred Sur- identity conflict stemming from the enormous

6 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization Figure 1: Chen Qiulin, Tofu, Photograph, 2004 © the artist and the A Thousand Pla- teaus Art Space. Courtesy of the artist.

influence of China’s urbanization in recent work was first presented at the Blue Roof Art na although the content and the white colour decades. Second I will illuminate how the Centre in Chengdu on February 14th, 2004. show the difference. This work was docu- artist has integrated her trans-cultural expe- Chen displayed a hundred Chinese sur- mented by digital photography and has since riences with Chinese migrant communities names carved out of Tofu accompanied by a then been displayed at many exhibitions. in Australia with a specific focus on Chinese series of photo and video records of the carv- Chen soon started to include the spoilage immigrants’ surnames and their cooking and ing process. After the opening ceremony a process of tofu into her art. She took part in eating experience with tofu, to reflect the con- hot-pot dinner was served. The guests were the 2014 Art Stage Singapore. She initially tinuity and fluidity of cultural identity against her friends and randomly invited visitors at planned to install 100 surnames carved out the background of global migration. The Tofu the exhibition. Three girls in nurses uniforms of tofu; due to the restriction of display space, and One Hundred Surnames series provides pushed hospital carts around to distribute only about 60 surnames were displayed in a significant example for revealing the ambi- pieces of tofu characters and kept asking the the exhibition hall. Before the opening day guity, ephemerality, instability and fragility in guests: “Would you like to eat some tofu?” of the exhibition, Chen transported these identity in Chinese contemporary art, which Then, the guests cooked the tofu surnames surnames to the site where she also gave a have previously not been fully recognized. in five hot-pots and enjoyed a candlelit din- performance of carving tofu into surnames. ner party. Shortly after displaying this work During the exhibition, the tofu gradually Tofu and One Hundred Surnames in the Blue Roof Art Centre, the artist put the started to weep; its fragrance changed to a The first work of this sequence is titled Tofu tofu surnames on the edge of an express- slightly unpleasant odour, creating a disturb- on February 14th (Er yue shi si hao de dou way near Chengdu. At first glance, the tofu ing feeling, this introduction of the smell into fu, 二月十四号的豆腐), a mixture of instal- characters look like the political slogans that the interaction with the visitors being an inte- lation, video, performance and event. This can be seen in many public spaces in Chi- gral part of the work. Later, when the odour

7 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization Names for Kwong Wah Chong consists of Figure 2: Chen Qiulin, One 25 screens of video. These videos document Hundred Surnames in Tofu, the gradually decaying carved surnames of Video Installation, 100 Screen those early Chinese immigrants. The artist (25×35cm/ Screen), 2’15’’/ interviewed 15 Chinese immigrants who are Screen, dimensions variable, the decedents of the early Chinese immi- 2004-2014 © the artist and grants and recorded the interviews and jux- the A Thousand Plateaus Art taposed them with her previously conducted Space. Courtesy of the artist. interviews with the inhabitants in Chengdu who share family names with those early Chinese immigrants in Sydney. The artist cooked different tofu meals with the participants and asked the participants to de- became more oppressive, Chen demolished for Kwong Wah Chong (Guang he chang scribe their favourite tofu recipe. Focusing the installation and replaced it with a detailed de dou fu bai jia xing, 广和昌的豆腐百家姓), on personal experiences and memories, documentation in images and texts of her cre- a multi-channel video installation for her these conversations connected contem- ative process for this work. Since 2004, she first Australian solo exhibition One Hundred porary Chinese society and the world of has been using video to record the spoilage Names. One Hundred Names for Kwong early Chinese immigrants in Australia and process of the Chinese surnames carved in Wah Chong explores the history of early Chi- allowed audiences to think about migra- Tofu and that resulted in a 100 screen vid- nese immigrants to Australia. The 4A Cen- tion on a broader scale. In 2016, the One eos, titled One Hundred Surnames in Tofu tre for Contemporary Asian Art is located in Hundred Names exhibition journeyed to (Dou fu bai jia xing, 豆腐百家姓). According to Sydney’s Haymarket district, where the city’s the Shepparton Art Museum. In addition the exhibition space, the number of screens first Chinese-owned and operated shopfront to the multi-channel video installation she can be adjusted. In 2015, she took part in business named Kwong Wah Chong was displayed in Sidney, Chen organized a tofu Art Basel Hong Kong where she displayed once located. The title was to commemorate feast through cooperating with a local Chi- about 40 screens of video. this historic district and, in particular, Kwong nese restaurant. The feast attracted many In 2015, commissioned by the 4A Cen- Wah Chong, which was an economic and so- participators to join in the convivial atmo- tre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney, cial cornerstone for the Chinese community sphere and the event was reported in the Chen started to make One Hundred Names in the early twentieth century. One Hundred local media news. The income from the

8 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization Figure 3: Chen Qiulin, Stills from One Hundred Surnames in Tofu © the artist and the A Thousand Plateaus Art Space. Courtesy of the artist.

sale of dinner tickets was used to support conversation about a series of challenging everyone was offered a cup of tea. The art- the Shepparton Art Museum. topics, in which the identity issue is either ist’s objective was to facilitate contemplation As one of the most important parts of dai- highlighted or mingled with other issues. on her own role as well as on women’s roles ly life and culture, food can evoke memories In Traditional Rural Oven for Baking Bread generally in the kitchen as well as in society. of time, place and belonging. Everything (1972), Victor Grippo and his partners baked Between 2003 and 2008, the artist Victoria relating to the food, including what we con- bread from a clay oven built in a square in Stanton performed ESSEN in different cities sume, how we obtain and prepare our food, Buenos Aires and distributed bread to thou- around the world. The artist took pairs of par- where we consume it and which rituals are sands of passers-by for free; by doing it the ticipants to a selected restaurant and asked performed as the food is being eaten can be artist reminded the community about their them to sit opposite one another; when food seen as being a “sensory point of entry into a lost tradition of baking and sharing breads. was served, the participants had to feed their web of sentiments, memories and fantasies, Grippo’s recall of the traditional ritual goes partners in pairs. This alternative eating ex- which largely constitute the sense of identi- along with a critical reflection on the contem- perience recalled people’s childhood experi- ty.”10 Many contemporary artists have been porary culture of consumption as well as on ence of being fed and conveyed contradic- applying food as an artistic medium. Owing the increasing poverty in Argentina. In Bobby tory meanings in interpersonal relationships, to food’s inherent abilities to bring people Baker’s edible installation exhibited in 1976, such as helping vs. dominating, self-control together, the ritual of making and sharing a An Edible Family in a Mobile Home, each vs. dependence. Rirkrit Tiravanija is one meal has become a widely adopted tactic member of a family was cast from a different of the most prominent relational art practi- for interpersonal and intercultural exchange, sort of confection. The head of the figure of tioners. Since his first performance at Gal- through which the artists could facilitate a the mother is made as a teapot from which lery 303 in New York in 1992, he has been

9 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization well-known for cooking and serving food to ity and conviviality also implies the human tein in the Chinese diet. The magic process viewers at galleries. He changed the gallery desire that built up the cities and then de- of making tofu is an artistic expression of the space into a temporary kitchen with ingredi- stroyed the relationship between humans material transformation through intensive la- ents and cooking utensils and performed as and the environment and finally destroyed bor. During the process, the soybean, that is a chef cooking Thai curry for everyone who people’s lives.12 hard to digest, changes into the white, soft, attended the exhibition. In all these projects Tofu has a history of over 2,000 years in digestible and easily absorbed bean curd. centring on food, such as the making and China. In 2011, CCTV made a well-known Chinese people cook tofu in various foods. sharing of food and/or the smell and taste documentary series, A Bite of China (She After tofu was invented, it found its way into of food, are associated with multi-sensory jian shang de zhong guo, 舌尖上的中国). In other Asian countries and became a wel- memory, through which, as pointed out by the third episode of Season 1, Inspiration for comed food in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Viet- Robertson and McDaniel, we construct iden- Change (Zhuan hua de ling gan, 舌尖上的中 nam, Malaysia and Singapore. In addition, tity, purpose and meaning.11 国), tofu was described as a great invention following the footprint of Chinese emigrants Among contemporary Chinese artists, of the ancient Chinese.13 It is widely known to Europe, North America, South America Song Dong has developed a series of proj- that China became an agrarian civilization and Oceania in the past centuries, tofu grad- ects in which making edible artworks are the very early; the limited arable land available ually became a worldwide food. basic idea. In his Edible Pen Jing (Bonsai) combined with a large population prohibited In China, the surname carries abundant (Chi pen jing, 吃盆景), he made miniature the development of cattle and sheep hus- cultural connotations and associations, such landscapes, that have been a widely appre- bandry and thus hampered Chinese peo- as the origin and evolution of the surname, ciated Chinese art form since ancient times, ple’s consumption of milk and meat as the the deeds of celebrated holders of the sur- but by using bacon ham, chocolate, salmon main resource for animal protein. Tofu be- name, the historic relics related to the sur- and so on. In his Eating the City (Chi cheng came a smart way to get vegetable protein name, the family tree, the ancestral hall, the shi, 吃盆景) series, the visitors were invited as a cheap replacement for animal protein, name associated with particular generations, to eat the cities built with biscuits and can- and in that way became a typical example of the family precept, and the esteem for the dies. Song Dong’s work not only blurred the Chinese cuisine initially developed from pri- ancestors and affection for the ancestral boundaries between art and daily life, be- vation, showing how human beings adapting land. The surname often serves as a spiri- tween usefulness and uselessness, but also to and maximally exploiting their living envi- tual bond connecting the members who hold conveyed a sharp irony: eating that satisfies ronment. For thousands of years, tofu has the same surname. Chinese people summa- human biological need and presents social- become the most important source of pro- rize the numerous Chinese surnames into “A

10 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization Hundred Surnames”, even though the actual culture formed in the long sweep of history. and cultures built around traditional rural number is beyond that.14 15 The history of Chi- Therefore, as a cultural symbol that displays society and agricultural production activities nese surnames can date back at least 3,000 one’s kinship and ancestry, the surname is have been the basis of Chinese identity for years. The earliest Chinese surnames were situated at the centre of identities, forming generations. The rapid urban expansion and created by two tribal alliance leaders Huang a series of concentric circles: the individual, population growth in Chinese cities started Di and Yan Di, so the descendants of Yan and the clan, the communal, the ethnic and the in the 1980s and greatly accelerated after Huang have become a synonym for the Chi- national. On the one hand, it implies the con- 2001, so it has been going on for more than nese people. As the history of the surname stancy of cultural identity; on the other, it is three decades and is still developing apace. represents the origin of Chinese culture, and the ever-changing nature of cultural identity. According to a study by sinologist Robin political, social, economic, cultural and cus- Visser, a central-government policy is stimu- tom development and change at different Tofu and Surnames: Revealing the lating the building of four hundred new cities historical stages, it does not merely define Identity Crisis Caused by Urbanization with populations of nearly one million or more one’s kinship and ancestry, but also forms How did tofu and the surname first enter by the year 2020, at the rate of about twenty the very identity of the Chinese nation. Fur- Chen’s view? In an interview, the artist re- cities per year.17 A 2017 study concludes that ther, surnames are also associated with an called that when she noticed a lot of young between 2015 and 2030, China’s population individual’s ethnic background. Many exist- lovers in Chengdu feverishly talking about will reach 1.445 billion and 70.12% of the to- ing Chinese surnames, though not all, have the approaching Valentine’s Day and hear- tal population will live in cities.18 historical connections to Muslim, Korean and ing some people joking “Eat tofu” (Chi Dou Hou Hanru and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, the Manchurian ancestries because many Mus- Fu), a sexually-suggestive slang in Chi- two curators of an influential exhibition in lims and Manchurian people adopted Chi- nese language, she decided to make a work 1997, Cities on the move: Contemporary nese surnames. However, the bond between based on tofu and Valentine’s Day. Tofu is a Asian Art on the turn of the 21st century, surnames and ancestry is not so accurate traditional Chinese food while the Valentine’s pointed that in many Asian countries, the due to the thousands of years of ethnic in- Day is a Western festival for romantic love. process of modernization “has ironically tegration and exchange with other countries. For Chen, “Eat Tofu” alludes to the tempta- been accompanied by a general deconstruc- The evolution of Chinese surnames tells the tion of the westernized way of living for the tion and disintegration of established values complex history of migration and cultural ac- urban young Chinese.16 and cultural modes.”19 As art scholar Meiqin culturation, amalgamation and assimilation Traditional Chinese society was an agricul- Wang articulated, urbanism, as China’s new and implies the hybrid nature of Chinese tural society. A whole set of ethics, religions, national character, has deeply affected “the

11 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization way Chinese people see and express them- which unavoidable led to the “disintegration her complex and conflicting emotions in the 22 selves or are represented.”20 She points out and liquefaction of the self”. The sense of urban life were expressed through more ab- that as mass urbanization has broken the as- loss, anxiety and uncertainty, intertwined stract and implicit artistic language. sociation with the “countryside, tradition and with hope and dream, was expressed in a Chen has more interest in engaging with nature” that defined traditional Chinese cul- more narrative way in her Migration series. things that undergo change with the passage ture and art, contemporary artists must take For example, in Rhapsody on Farewell (Bie of time. For example, she has made lots of their living environment in the cities as the fu, 别赋, 2002), the ancient farewell scene experiments with waste paper since 2008. foundation for concept and expression: and the modern demolition scene were inte- She collected the textbooks used by those grated in a whole, showing the same hope- students who had been victims of the earth- Either troubled by the often chaotic and frag- lessness and sadness but under the different quake on 12th May 2008, mixed them with mented urban living situation or excited by the opportunities available there, they have turned historical backgrounds. In The Garden (Hua her own old textbooks and remade them into their attention to the city and its problems. yuan, 花园, 2007), the migrating peasants pulp. She then made a number of pulp sculp- Hence urbanism has become the primary con- dition of art making in contemporary China.21 holding beautiful artificial peonies and huge tures within which a group of seven busts of porcelain vases and walking aimlessly along herself entitled “My Thirty Years” displays Born in the mid 1970s, Chen witnessed alleys and streets reflect Chen’s “self” and her different stages of growth in her life. The the colossal power of mass urbanization her dream. She recollected in an interview: contradiction between the lightness of paper and globalization — the two in China were “They were another me and I was one of and the weight of life becomes an unbear- obviously synchronised — that changed them. After graduation, I tried to settle down able lightness of being. Pulp alludes to the ordinary people’s lives. Chen and her con- in a big city and begin the new life; this work history of paper, and old textbooks relate to temporaries, though embracing the pros- reminded me of all confusion, anxiety and those young victims’ life experiences which perity and convenience brought about by hope I had in those days.”23 Chen appeared suddenly stopped in the earthquake as well urbanization, have experienced all kinds of in her seven-screen video, The Empty City as to her own past. The earthquake victims, negative consequences of urban develop- (Kong de cheng, 空的城, 2012), as a face- the viewers and the artist’s past and pres- ment. For example, the rampant expansion less alien silently witnessing the people liv- ent become intertwined, conveying complex of cities, accompanied by demolition and ing in the new city. She knew that she will meanings, and making her work an “an- relocation, weakened the neighbourhood either leave or make a compromise with this ti-monument” series. Her sensitivity to ma- and communities and destroyed the bonds new city that had nothing to do with her past teriality, specifically to the temporality and with the environment and with heritage, life. In Tofu and One Hundred Surnames, fluidity of materials, guided her to try out new

12 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization materials and mediums. Tofu is not merely contemporary artists have included Chinese suitable medium for recording the vanishing one of the oldest and most commonly used characters in their work; among them Xu process and for recalling fading memories culinary ingredients in Chinese cooking; its Bing and Gu Wenda have been widely not- through which she could counterbalance the inherent relation to material transformation ed. Both of them invented “fake characters” fragmentation and disintegration of identi- through human labour becomes a metaphor using components of characters as a way to ty. Meanwhile, as suggested by Hou and for fluidity and change. divorce “form” from “content”.24 In both Xu Obrist, the cultural (re-)construction of and The Chinese language attaches special Bing and Gu Wenda’s works with Chinese in the city in the process of mass modern- importance to eating. In China people used characters, the absurdity and incomprehen- ization and urbanization values highly mo- to greet each other by asking “Have you had sibility contract starkly with the feeling of so- tion, displacement, and transformation. The your repast?” as an alternative to “How are lemnity created by their monumental style. evanescence and instability in her mediums you?” However, eating in Chinese culture is Different from Xu Bing and Gu Wenda’s work provoke the new cultural identities that are also understood as “eradicate” or “eliminate”. in which Chinese characters were displayed “open, unstable, ever-changing, hybrid, and Similar to Song Dong’s Eating the City, peo- as a grand static monumental object, in Tofu transgressive of established boundaries.” 26 ple gathering together and eating surnames and One Hundred Surnames, Chinese char- carved out of tofu thus turns into a ritual that acters are presented in a temporal and quo- Fluidity of Cultural Identity under carries multifold contradictory meanings — a tidian style and with a humble appearance, Global Migration nostalgic recollection of the vanishing home- making her work distinctive among Chinese Since 2014, Tofu and One Hundred Sur- town and the decline of traditional culture artists who worked with traditional cultural names journeyed to Singapore, Hong Kong and life style, mixed with an aspiration for symbols. and Australia. In the following paragraphs, the opportunities in urban life, and a sense As noted by Wang, Chinese artists who I will take Chen’s creation and exhibition of of uncertainty about the future. focus on urban themes often freely migrate this series in Australia as an example that re- Carving surnames by using tofu, Chen has among various mediums and art forms, such veals the artist’s perception of the complexity installed herself among a number of contem- as painting, sculpture, photography, instal- of cultural identity against the background of porary artists who play with Chinese charac- lation, video, performance and multi-media, global migration. ters. Because Chinese characters constitute often employing multiple ones simultane- Having been commissioned by Sydney’s the oldest continuously used writing sys- ously.25 Ins Chen’ case, a quotidian culinary 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, she tem in the world, they could be considered material combined with video, ephemeral in- decided to make a new piece which on one to be a very significant cultural sign. Many stallation and performance became the most hand shows the continuity with this series,

13 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization and on the other hand relates to the Chinese that there were 31 Chinese surnames relat- in the exploration and description of another community in Australia. In Chen’s conver- ed to the early Chinese immigrants in Syd- culture.”30 Chen found that after several gen- sation with Mikala Tai, the director of the 4A ney. 28 Then she noticed that 16 surnames erations, even these Chinese immigrants in Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Syd- had never appeared in her previously made Australia can’t speak Chinese anymore, they ney, she recalled her short encounter with One Hundred Surnames in Tofu video. The still share similar cooking customs with peo- two Chinese immigrants. One was a mid- artist had a great deal of communication with ple in Chengdu. Memory of taste and culi- dle-aged female owner of a Chinese restau- the Chinese community in Sydney in order to nary practices is a significant part of their life rant in Brisbane whose family had moved enrol the descendants of the 16 surnames to story and family history; as a collective mem- from south China 20 years ago, the other a participate in this project and finally 15 peo- ory, it passed from generation to generation. new migrant, a well-educated Chinese wom- ple representing 15 surnames were enrolled. Like a thread, memory of taste and culinary an who provided a lot of help to Chen when She interviewed the 15 people and record- practices has connected people in China and she first arrived in Brisbane. She met them ed their interviews. She also found and in- the overseas Chinese, and bridged the his- by chance in a foreign land, and then they terviewed people in Chengdu who have the tory and the present. What Chen discovered walked out of her life. Her memory is filled same 15 surnames. The artist cooked differ- is consistent with studies on the role of food with moments of faint melancholy. That was ent tofu meals with interviewees, exchanged and culinary practices in migrant communi- her initial experience with Chinese immi- ideas about their favourite food, ancestry ties. Food as a signifier of origin and identity grants in Australia and it triggered her inter- land and family traditions. It took Chen and play as a shared experience in the aesthet- est in exploring their world.27 her team a whole year to complete all the ics of everyday life in migrant communities; Despite her initial personal experience with preparatory work. food and culinary memories that recall his- Chinese immigrants, her knowledge mostly As a number of studies suggest, food tory and identity also goes to their offspring came from her study of historical documents plays a significant role for migrant commu- who did not have personal pre-migration and researches into Chinese immigrants. Be- nities in the construction of migrants’ cultur- experience with the life and food in original hind the conception and making of One Hun- al experiences both as a tool of adapting to homeland.31 Chen also noticed that although dred Names for Kwong Wah Chong was a their new environment and as a means to the chefs at the Chinese restaurant are the vast cooperative work with the Chinese com- maintain cultural continuity with their home- descendants of early Chinese immigrants, munity in Sydney. Chinese students studying land.29 Moris notes that “food plays an im- resulting from adjusting the cooking method in Sydney helped Chen to gather information portant role in the creation and experience of to suit the taste of people in Australia, the about early Chinese immigrants. She found identity of people on their own soil, as well as food they cooked was totally different from

14 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization the original Chinese taste.32 The transforma- observe how these artists develop dialogues change which suggests a more complex un- tion of their taste in the framework of food between their native and adopted countries, derstanding of migration experiences instead memories after their migration shows that we should consider different geographical of the dual diasporic experiences based on a taste and culinary practices are also subject and cultural environments as the main sourc- static identity of Chineseness.37 to change that suggests the migrants’ adop- es of their artistic experiences and perspec- Looking into overseas Chinese artists’ tion to their new host community. tives and “the key to understanding these depictions of diasporic experiences, a huge During the past decades, instead of eras- artists is to discover how they negotiate part of their works embody the hybrid, ing cultural identities and creating a global such experiences and perspectives through messy and unstable forms which, accord- uniformity, globalization has facilitated two specific works created at specific times and ing to Chen Zhen, reveals the vitality of art competing tendencies in contemporary art. places.” 35 amidst and inspired by “contacts, exchang- On the one hand, artists all over the world, Melissa Chiu borrowed the concept of es, misunderstandings’. His installation especially those from non-western countries, transexperience that was coined by the late Field of Waste is perhaps his best embod- have become more aware of their cultural Chinese artist Chen Zhen as an explanatory iment of his concept. Its dark, messy and tradition and identity and more inclined to model to explain how Chinese artists artic- ruined appearance with mixed materials re- connect their work to their respective indig- ulated their diasporic experiences, that is, veal the scars left by history, calling back a enous/national histories and cultural origins. how they engaged in the construction of dif- traumatic memory of Chinese immigrants to On the other hand, art is no longer “a local ferent and divergent ideas of being Chinese. America in the late 19th century and all the activity that represents a nation state”, nor is According to Chen Zhen, this experiential hardships that immigrants had experienced the making, dissemination and influence of concept articulates “the complex life experi- over the past century. Liu Hung, a Chinese art confined within national and geographic ences of leaving one’s native place and go- artist based in the USA, displayed a series boundaries.33 Given geographic and cultur- ing from one place to another in one’s life.” of works addressing the history of Chinese al distance, overseas Chinese artists have He described Transexperience as “a mode of immigration to California in her exhibition often introduced their own diasporic expe- thinking and method of artistic creation” that Resident Alien in 1988. The depiction of her rience and their study of overseas Chinese connects the past and present experiences, own “resident alien” status was juxtaposed communities into their agenda, while each adapts itself to changing circumstances and with the prostitutes in old Chinatown, the has dealt with displacement differently.34 In blends and identifies oneself with others.36 Chinese labourers who built the railroads Wu Hung’s discussion about overseas Chi- According to Chiu, the essential principle of that crisscrossed the American continent, nese artists, he mentioned that, in order to transexperience is the idea of evolutionary the abacus and the hand-written list of a

15 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization hundred Chinese surnames on the wall in a not laden with any heavy and scarred feel- offers an inspiring perspective from which to monumental style. ing. She tends to look at global migration observe how global travel across geopoliti- Looking into the creation and exhibition of and cultural differences in a more relaxed cal borders has greatly influenced the young Tofu and One Hundred Surnames in Austra- way. She relies more on the intuitive im- generation of Chinese artists’ perceptions lia, in addition to the theme of Chinese iden- pressions she obtained from a short-term of their dynamic cross-cultural experiences, tity in the diaspora, the hybrid and change- stay. Chen’s work as a travelling artist is and how they have integrated these expe- able forms and the mixture and juxtaposition quite consistent with what Rita Vargas re- riences into their own cultural heritage and of different elements derived from the past vealed in her survey of the everyday lives concerns. and present experiences imply an inherent of artists-in-residence. Describing mobility Chen has displayed an awareness of the intercommunity with what Chiu revealed as “part of a social and cultural nomadic cross-cultural perception and communica- how overseas Chinese artists explore the practice, in which artists participate as cul- tive potential of her art. She believes that past and the present.38 , However Chen’s tural actors”, Vargas defines artists-in-resi- visitors bearing different life experiences perception and expression of migration is dence as new nomads who physically and will have different perceptions of her art still different from earlier expatriate artists. psychologically move from one artistic res- and the differences in their understanding She belongs to the group of active domes- idency to another, and work in unsettled of her work can generate more possibilities. tic artists who emerged in the 1990s. Chen and temporary conditions.39 They culturally In 2014, she had her solo exhibition “The never migrated to another country. In the engage in a local community based on “vol- Empty City” at Honolulu Museum of Art. She past decade, based in Chengdu and Bei- untary displacement” which makes their recalled how her work had evoked emotions jing, she spent a considerable amount of motivation differ from that of other migrants in audiences from different cultural back- time abroad each year, travelling from one who aim at settlement and are often vul- grounds: exhibition to the next and staying in different nerable and subordinate in society.40 She artists-in-residence programmes. Residing depicts travelling artists’ encounters with There were nearly no Chinese in that museum - almost all visitors were non-Chinese. The in China yet given the mobility that the previ- distant cultures and otherness as “open, visitors wrote their stories on pieces of notes which soon covered all the space on a wall out- ous generations of Chinese artists never had curious, and motivated to transform his or side the exhibition hall. There were too many to frequently switch between China and the her displacement into something creative, stories, such as memories about homeland, par- ents, some people, some events, and memories West, without facing the same cultural con- or to make it visible.”41 Although there is about China when they visited there and etc. So flicts and survival predicament those earlier to date no systematic study of the global I thought I was just doing work to trigger all these to happen. In this way I thought that the expatriate artists encountered, her work is mobility of Chinese artists, Vargas’ study artist’s role is as a catalyst, a poser of questions, rather than as the provider of clear answers.42

16 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization Therefore her very personal experience on which the audience could share and The evolution of concept and form of Tofu of displacement, transition, loss, and re- exchange their memories, through which and One Hundred Surnames reveals how imaging became a universal human ex- individuals can acquire new ways of think- the artist’s cross-cultural experience, her en- perience crossing the boundary of nation ing about themselves and their connective counter with specific time, space and people, and culture. Her work built up a platform identities. built up internal relationships between her work and the locale, and more significantly, led to a new understanding that cultural identity is constantly being renegotiated and challenged through intercultural communication. The surnames carved with Tofu here evolve into a fragile but unbroken linkage between Chinese immigrants and their cultural roots. The combination of multiple mediums including multi-screen video, performance, interview, cuisine and banquet made the work a hotchpotch of stories of different individuals and families and a metaphor for different identities and mixtures of identities from which migrants can construct new hybrid identities.

Conclusion The contemporaneity of art counterbalanc- es concepts of fixed and immutable identity. Instead it regards identity as drifting and Figure 4: Chen Qiulin, One Hundred Names for Kwong Wah Chong, 2016, multi-channel unstable, being constantly subjected to chal- video installation, dimensions variable, One Hundred Names exhibition at the Sheppar- lenge and change. Tofu and One Hundred ton Art Museum, Australia, 2016. © the artist and SAM. Courtesy of the artist. Surnames is still an on-going project. Quite

17 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization possibly it will soon travel to other corners of the world and engage with audiences from other cultural backgrounds. A review of its subject matter, materials, formal properties and modes of display has revealed how the artist has transformed tofu and Chinese surnames into a metaphor and in doing so has questioned the complexity and instability of identity altered by urbanization and global migration. Wu once mentioned the “intensity of creative energy” in contemporary Chinese art, which means that this art doesn’t merely present China’s amazing transformation, but more significantly, reveals the artists’ “inter- nalization of the sweeping changes around them” which provokes a feeling of speed, anxiety and theatricality. 43 In the past decade, a number of the younger generation of domestic Chinese artists — Chen as one of them — have attracted considerable at- Figure 5: The Tofu Banquet at the Yiche Modern Asian Cuisine, Mooroopna. The Tofu Ban- tention from international curators, critics, quet is part of the opening celebration of Chen’s exhibition One Hundred Names at the art dealers and collectors. These artists and Shepparton Art Museum, Australia, 2016. Cooperation with the Goulburn Valley Chinese their work deserve more attention in future Association and the Yiche Modern Asian Cuisine. © the artist and SAM. Courtesy of the studies. Their personalized concepts and ap- artist. Photographer: Diana Spriggs. proaches for interrogating the identity issue in the urban and global age bear significance in the study of socio-political perspectives of Chinese contemporary art.

18 -Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalizati Garden (Hua yuan, 花园, 2007) and The Empty City Cambridge: The MIT Press 2011, 142. Notes 20 Wang, Meiqin 2016. Urbanization and Contempo- 1 For the titles of Chinese artworks mentioned in (Kong de cheng, 空的城, 2012). rary Chinese Art. New York: Routledge, 29. this paper, I have adopted an English translation of 9 Wu, Hung 2008. Internalizing Displacement: The the titles, followed by marking the artworks’ original Three Gorges Dam and Contemporary Chinese 21 Wang 2016, 43. Chinese titles in Pinyin and in Chinese characters at Art. In Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam and 22 Hou & Obrist 1997, 142. their first appearance in the text. I have followed the Contemporary Chinese Art. Ed. Wu Hung. Chicago: 23 Chen Qiulin, interview with the author, Chengdu, most widely adopted English titles of these Chi- Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, 18. Also November 2016. nese artworks as translated by previous critics and see: Wu, Hung 2009: The Three Gorges Dam and 24 Wu, Hung 2014. Contemporary Chinese Art: A researchers, though some titles differ from those used Contemporary Chinese Art. Orientations 40:1, 67–73. History (1970s-2000s). London: Thames Hudson, 99. by some earlier researchers. For Chinese names, I 10 Goddard, Victoria A. 1996. Gender, Family and 25 Wang 2016, 57. have followed the local convention of listing the sur- Work in Naples. London: Berg, 213. name first. This paper contains some cited passages 11 Robertson & McDaniel 2013, 157. 26 Hou & Obrist 1997, 146. translated from Chinese; unless otherwise stated, all 12 Song Dong – Eating the City – Kunsthal Aar- 27 Chen Qiulin’s Conversation with Mikala Tai, 2016. cited in-text passages are from my own translation. hus 2017. https://vimeo.com/232884086 (retrieved The original Chinese text and English translation was 2 Rodriguez, Joaquin Barriendos 2011. “Global Art 1.2.2018). See also Wong, Mimi 2017. A Bite of provided by A Thousand Plateaus Art Space. and the Politics of Mobility: (Trans) Cultural Shifts in Everywhere: Song Dong’s Eating the City. Art Asia 28 The 31 surnames of early Chinese migration to the International Contemporary Art-System”. In Art Pacific. http://artasiapacific.com/Blog/ABiteOfEvery- Sydney include Chong (昌), Chang (张), Chou (周), and Visibility in Migratory Culture: Conflict, Resistance whereSongDongEatingTheCity (Retrieved 1.2.2018). Lee (李), Sun (孙), Mei (梅), Yu (余), Lei (雷), Kuo and Agency. Eds. Mieke Bal & Miguel Á Hernán- 13 CCTV–Documentary, A bite of China (Season (郭), Wang (王), Fan (潘), Weng (翁), Mai (麦), Chen dez-Navarro. Amsterdam: Brill, 316. 1, Episode 3): Inspiration for Change, mp4, 49:10, (陈), Yu (尤), Fang (方), Shen (沈), Su (苏), Cheng (郑), December 4, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/ Liang (梁), Liu (刘), Kuang (邝), Huang (黄), Pang 3 Rodriguez 2011, 316. watch?v=S7DKVOAw6-E&index=3&list=PLwXM- (庞), Lo (罗), Yang (杨) , Ho (何), Sung (宋), Chung (钟), 4 Durrant, Sam & Lord, Catherine M. 2007. “Introduc- my5fUrVyGt6mtGEGf5_hv3gB1aSJG (retrieved Hsu (徐) and Chai (蔡). tion: Essays in Migratory Aesthetics: Cultural 15.9.2017). 29 To see for example Imilan, Walter A. 2015: Per- Practices between Migration and Art-making”. In 14 Dai, Liqun 2006: Chinese personal names. The forming national identity through Peruvian food migra- Essays in Migratory Aesthetics: Cultural Indexer 25:2, 1C–2C(2). tion in Santiago de Chile. Fennia 193:2, 227–241; Öz- Practices between Migration and Art-making. Eds. 15 Dai, Liqun 2006: The hundred surnames: a Pinyin demir Saliha. 2016: Sharing Turkish tastes in Ghent: Sam Durrant & Catherine M. Lord. Amsterdam: Rodo- index. The Indexer 25:2, 3C–8C(2). Aesthetic narratives of food, migration and memory. pi, 11. 16 Chen Qiulin, 2004. A short explanation of Tofu on Omertaa, Journal of applied anthropology, 628–643; 5 Meyer, Richard 2003. “Identity”. In Critical Terms February 14th. Original Chinese text provided by A and Janowski, Monica 2012: Introduction: Consuming for Art History (2nd edition). Eds. Robert S Nelson Thousand Plateau Art Space. Memories of Home in Constructing the Present and & Richard Shiff. Chicago: The University of Chicago 17 Visser, Robin 2010. Cities surround the Coun- Imagining the Future. Food and Foodways 20(3–4), Press, 345. tryside: Urban Aesthetics in Postsocialist China. 175–186. 6 Meyer 2003, 345. Durham: Duke University Press, 33. 30 Moris, Marjan 2008: Tourism, Culture and Food: 7 Robertson, Jean & McDaniel, Craig 2013. Themes 18 Sun, Dongqi et al. 2017: New-type urbanization in Pastizzerias as a Site for Cultural Brokerage. Omer- of contemporary art: Visual art after 1980 (3rd edi- China: Predicted trends and investment demand for taa, Journal of Applied Anthropology, 219–227. tion). New York: Oxford University Press, 44. 2015–2030. Journal of Geographical Sciences 27:8, 31 Janowski 2012, Özdemir 2016. 8 The five video works are Rhapsody on Farewell 943–966. 32 Chen Qiulin, interview with the author, Chengdu, (Bie fu, 别赋, 2002), River River (Jiang he shui, 江 19 Hou, Hanru & Obrist, Hans-Ulrich 1997. Cities August 2016. 33 Balaguer, Menene Gras. 3: the New Silk Road. 河水, 2005), Colour Line (Cai tiao, 彩条, 2006), The on the Move. In Contemporary Art in Asia: A critical Reader. Eds. Melissa Chiu & Benjamin Genocchio. From Third Text: Critical Perspectives on

19 Tahiti 1/2019 | Artikkeli | Yang Jing: A Metaphor for Identities in Transition through Urbanization and Globalization Contemporary Art and Culture, http://www. thirdtext.org/new-silk-roads (Retrieved 10.2.2018). Jing Yang, PhD, is an art researcher 34 Wu 2014, 278. from China. She is currently under- 35 Wu 2014, 279. 36 Chen, Zhen 1998. Transexperiences: A Conver- taking a post-doctoral research at the sation between Chen Zhen and Xian Zhu. In Transex- periences: Chen Zhen. Kyoto: CCA Kitakyushu and Department of Music, Art and Culture Korinsha Press, n.p. Studies of the University of Jyväsky- 37 Chiu, Melissa 2007. Theories of Being Outside: Diaspora and Chinese Artists. In Contemporary Art in lä, focusing on ecological awareness Asia: A critical Reader. Eds. Melissa Chiu & Benjamin in Chinese contemporary art. Yang’s Genocchio. Cambridge: The MIT Press 2011, 330. 38 Chiu 2007, 332–337. research is granted by the Finnish 39 Vargas de Freitas Matias, Rita, 2016. International Cultural Foundation. Artists-in-Residence 1990–2010: Mobility, Technology and Identity in Everyday Art Practices. Doctoral The- sis. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä , 142. 40 Vargas 2016, 143. 41 Vargas 2016, 148. 42 Chen Qiulin, interview with the author, Chengdu, November 2016. 43 Wu Hung 2008. A case of being Cotemporary: Conditions, Spheres, and narratives of Contemporary Chinese Art. In Contemporary Art in Asia: A critical Reader. Eds. Melissa Chiu & Benjamin Genocchio. Cambridge: The MIT Press 2011, 409–410.

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