MIGRATING SUBJECTS: THE PROBLEM OF THE “PEASANT” IN CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART by Madeline Eschenburg BA, Augsburg College, 2005 MA, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2008 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2018 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Madeline Eschenburg It was defended on April 4, 2018 and approved by Katheryn M. Linduff, Professor Emerita, History of Art and Architecture Barbara McCloskey, Professor, History of Art and Architecture Jinying Li, Assistant Professor, Film Studies Terry Smith, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Art and Theory, History of Art and Architecture Dissertation Advisor: Minglu Gao, Professor, History of Art and Architecture ii Copyright © by Madeline Eschenburg 2018 iii MIGRATING SUBJECTS: THE PROBLEM OF THE “PEASANT” IN CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART Madeline Eschenburg, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2018 My dissertation, Migrating Subjects: The Problem of the “peasant” in contemporary Chinese Art presents the narrative of contemporary artworks in China made about marginalized communities, as exemplified by migrant workers and rural inhabitants, from the 1990s to the present. These groups, often referred to as nongmin in popular discourse, were upheld as revolutionary heroes throughout much of the 20th century, but lost their cultural valence with the onset of China’s integration with global market mechanisms in the late 1970s. By examining artworks involving nongmin participation from the 1990s to the present, this study explores, for the first time, the ways in which Chinese artists have continued to make art with the goal of helping these communities against the background of contemporary artists’ own cultural marginalization in the early 1990s, their acceptance into the international art arena over the turn of the century, and their provisional embrace by the Chinese central government at the beginning of the 21st century. It considers the new relational possibilities introduced when a time-honored subject (the “peasant”) is approached through the direct participation of nongmin communities in comparison to imagistic renderings in traditional media. Through this historical narrative, I argue that the Chinese “peasant” in contemporary art, as in the early 20th century, continues to be considered a key factor for the indigenous development of a utopian Chinese society under the changing circumstances brought about by globalization. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ........................................................................................................................... IX 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 THE “PEASANT” IN CHINA ........................................................................... 2 1.2 NONGMIN, POLITICS, AND ART UNDER MAO......................................... 5 1.3 NONGMIN, POLITICS, AND CONTEMPOARARY ART SINCE THE 1980S ............................................................................................................................... 9 1.4 THE MARGINALIZED ARTIST.................................................................... 20 1.5 INTERNATIONALIZATION OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART ... 24 1.6 INTERVENTION .............................................................................................. 27 1.7 TEMPORAL FRAMING AND WORKS CHOSEN ...................................... 34 1.8 ORGANIZATION OF DISSERTATION ....................................................... 37 2.0 REDISCOVERING THE OTHER: PERFORMANCE ART WITH MIGRANT WORKERS OVER THE TURN OF THE CENTURY........................................................... 42 2.1 ZHANG HUAN 张洹, TO RAISE THE LEVEL OF A FISHPOND《为鱼塘 增高水位》, 1997 .............................................................................................................. 45 2.2 WANG JIN 王晋, 100% 《百分之百》, 1999 ................................................. 58 2.3 DOCUMENTARY TURN ................................................................................. 66 v 2.4 WANG WEI 王卫, TEMPORARY SPACE 《临时空间》, 2003 ................. 70 2.5 SONG DONG 宋冬, TOGETHER WITH MIGRANT WORKERS《和民工 在一起》, 2003 .................................................................................................................... 76 2.6 XIANCHANG .................................................................................................... 82 2.7 EARLY EXAMPLES OF A NEW METHODOLOGY ................................. 90 2.7.1 Song Dong 宋冬, Yin Xiuzhen 尹秀珍, Wu Wenguang 吴文光, Wen Hui 文慧, Dancing with Farm Workers 《与民工一起舞蹈》, 2001 ............................. 99 2.8 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 104 3.0 TRANSFORMING THE OTHER: NONGMIN ART PROJECTS IN THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY ......................................................................................................... 106 3.1 LU JIE 卢杰 AND QIU ZHIJIE 邱志杰, THE LONG MARCH PROJECT: A WALKING VISUAL DISPLAY 《长征---一个行走中的视觉展示》, 2002 .......... 109 3.2 MODE 1: AMATEUR CREATIONS BY NONMIN COMMUNITIES EXHIBITED AS CONTEMPORARY ART .................................................................. 118 3.2.1 Peasant Paintings in 20th Century China .................................................. 120 3.2.2 The Long March Foundation, The Great Survey of Paper-Cutting in Yanchuan County 《延川县剪纸大普查》, 2004 ................................................. 124 3.2.3 Cai Guo-Qiang 蔡国强, Cai Guo-Qiang: Peasant Da Vincis《蔡国强：农 民达芬 奇》, 2010 ................................................................................................. 132 3.2.4 Sun Yuan 孙原 and Peng Yu 彭禹, Farmer Du Wenda’s Flying Saucer 《 农民杜文达的飞碟》, 2005 .................................................................................... 137 vi 3.2.5 Hu Zhijun 胡志军, Sculpting Contemporary Chinese Art History 《泥塑 中国当代艺术史》, 2015 ........................................................................................ 141 3.3 MODE 2: NONGMIN COMMUNITIES CREATING CONTEMPORARY ART AS A TOOL FOR THEIR OWN SPIRITUAL LIBERATION ......................... 144 3.3.1 Cao Fei 曹斐, Whose Utopia? 《谁的乌托邦？》, 2006 .......................... 144 3.3.2 Alessandro Rolandi, Social Sensibility R&D, 2009-present ..................... 149 3.3.3 Li Mu 李牧, Qiuzhuang Project 《仇庄项目》, 2013-2014 ..................... 158 3.4 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 165 4.0 EMPOWERING THE OTHER: SOCIALLY ENGAGED PROJECTS IN RECENT YEARS ..................................................................................................................... 168 4.1 RURAL RECONSTRUCTION 1930-1937.................................................... 170 4.2 WEN TIEJUN’S THREE COUNTRYSIDE PROBLEMS (三农问题) ...... 177 4.3 XI JINPING’S 2014 SPEECH ON ART AND LITERATURE .................. 179 4.4 MODE 3: CONTEMPORARY ART AS A TOOL FOR CULTURAL ENLIGHTENMENT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES ................................................... 181 4.4.1 Ou Ning 欧宁 and Zuo Jing 左靖, Bishan Project 《璧山计划》, 2011- 2016 ....................................................................................................................... 182 4.4.2 Qu Yan 渠岩, Xucun International Art Commune 《许村国际公社》, 2011-present .............................................................................................................. 193 4.5 MODEL 4: CONTEMPORARY ART AS A TOOL FOR RESEARCH AND MICRO-INTERVENTIONS ........................................................................................... 203 vii 4.5.1 Jin Le 靳勒，Shijiezi Village Museum 《石节子美术馆计划》, 2009- present ....................................................................................................................... 204 4.5.2 Art Praxis Group 实验工作坊, Kunshan—Under Construction 《昆山再造 》, 2010-2012 ........................................................................................................... 209 4.5.3 Institutionally-Sponsored Projects ............................................................. 213 4.6 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 216 5.0 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 218 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................ 232 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 237 viii PREFACE Completing this dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many important people and institutions. I would like to thank my adviser, Gao Minglu, who helped me immensely in refining my dissertation topic, introducing me to artists, and providing many professional development opportunities. His sustained support of my scholarship throughout the entire process has often provided me the confidence I needed to keep working. I am also thankful to him for sharing stories about his childhood and young adult years in China, which provided invaluable context for my topic of study. I am incredibly grateful for the support and wisdom of Terry Smith. Throughout my time as a graduate student, his classes, workshops, and our conversations