15INVITATI ONS15YEARS MARYSIA LE WANDOWSKA APR MAY 15 MARYSIA LEWANDOWSKA PROPERTY PROTEST COMMO NS WORKING LEXICON Artist Marysia Lewandowska, 2014/15 AAA resident contributed Property, Protest, Commons, and the Alternative Economies of Art, a series of public workshops co-organised with curator Esther Lu, and co-presented with Taipei Contemporary Art Center (TCAC). Leading towards Made in Public, a collectively generated project and publication, participants interrogated the relationship between art, property, protest, and the commons in the context of recent cultural and political events in Asia. A third workshop took place at TCAC 18–20 September 2015. Marysia Lewandowska Property, Protest, Commons and the Alternative Economies of Art April–May 2015 PROPERTY PROTEST COMMONS Working Lexicon The Property Protest Commons dossier Addressing recent histories and aims at composing a speculative proposing alternative readings of lexicon, acting as a provisional tool the archive are important steps in useful for rethinking the economies taking possession of intellectual of sharing in the context of current terrain from which many artists have cultural and political events in Asia. been excluded. Institutions often While exposing connections between impose exclusive access and restrict the three distinct terms and tracing knowledge of the analogue past; their less rehearsed trajectories, a we ought to intensify our efforts distributed set of images and texts in supporting distributed networks points to the role translation plays by way of integrating physical and in the exchange. The considerations digital assemblies. All archives of placement and shared use of the threaten to reveal what we are unable folder, together with the design of to anticipate—the sediment of the the pages, introduce ruptures and missing, the hostile shadow of the slippages into experience. unconscious. Continued overleaf As artists are turning to the future, While voicing frustrations connected towards the destinations of art to town planning, museum structure, rather than its origins, it is through as well as freedom of speech, their inventive exploration of local they demonstrate how the careful conditions, where new vocabularies choice of conceptual and practical and common interests emerge. In this tools has been helping with their honesty and self-belief, rather than separate struggles. The examples self-promotion, we can detect their of collaborative efforts, which they bigger project. By gaining public trust narrate, indicate self-empowerment we mobilise our cultural agency. and strong objections to being Critical social movements implicated in the reductive logic emerging in Asia challenge existing of capitalism. From questions of hierarchies at vulnerable sites. ownership related to land as property These, in themselves, are perhaps to forms of participation in debates seen as minor events consolidating around housing, entitlement, access around relatively small communities. to culture, and critique of institutions, But as they accumulate, the power- their singular experiences reverberate reproducing habits get disrupted. We larger cultural shifts. are all jointly responsible for upholding The Umbrella Movement introduced the current system of values, as well an unprecedented sense of civic as for accepting and serving their responsibility. Through solidarity, closed circuits. Art practices, through and by prioritising the importance of exercising their authority present a cultural values, affect, and community chance of decolonising the minds in a context dominated by aspirations and actions inside a multivalent set of of consumption and commerce, it tasks that we collectively perform as instigated a paradigm change. What part of the social imaginary. remains for those who continue to The three recorded conversations access past events through an archive that follow took place in Hong Kong, of images and artefacts, is to test the Guangzhou, and Bangkok. They ability to remember and activate those disclose how the specific moral, legal, traces as part of any current debate. and generational awareness shaped Publishing lies at the root of both the outcomes and conduct of property rights disputes. It has also those involved. Expressed through been a place of contestation and the activism, curatorial practice, or commons. This came at the time when education, what my interlocutors have printed matter became equated with in common is not only an interest in emancipatory practices, and when planning cities, museums, or libraries access to free thought was under- but also a deeper commitment stood as the foundation of freedom. to building a civil society without reproducing existing divisions. 柳思雅 Marysia Lewandowska 產權 PROPERTY 擁有權 OWNERSHIP 約翰 洛克 JOHN LOCKE 熱忱 PASSION 房地產 REAL ESTATE 資產 ASSET 用途 USE 用戶 USERSHIP 價值 VALUE 知識 KNOWLEDGE 饋贈 GIFT 感動 AFFECT 填海 RECLAMATION PROPERTY COMMONS the concept of a ‘museum’. I need to do something as quickly as possible. I cannot plan anything for longer than five years. I cannot promise anything, in China long-term is impossible. ML 產權 PROPERTY Even though this is a private enterprise, its operation is still regulated by a five-year plan? NYC Because I am not involved in the market, I can tell how much has changed since I started working Conversation with 蔡影茜 Nikita here. In 2010 there were not many Yingqian Cai, Curator. Times Museum, museums. Now in 2016, all of these Guangzhou, China. Recorded Jan 2016 newly built private museums are competing with each other. We are all competing for the same kind of 柳思雅 Marysia Lewandowska funding. There are not many sources One of the questions related to we can access. And the so-called property is how what is privately patrons, whatever boards they might owned can be publicly shared? be part of, we are all trying to reach Does private ownership allow the same group of people. Five years more freedom to act than a state ago, there were only a few museums managed institution? How does in every city, like in Shanghai or your programme benefit from its Guangzhou. But now, there are so relationship with the public? How do many and a lot more are on their way. you create the public around what you think is culturally relevant? ML All of these are built and owned 蔡影茜 Nikita Yingqian Cai by private developers. What about I want to create a counter space working with foundations? Maybe they within a private space through the could offer a more sustainable model programme we are developing. I for the future? What are the structures cannot be sure it will be successful that could ensure stability for cultural but I want to try my best for as long institutions in China? as I can mobilise the resources. The space, budget, team, and artists are all NYC resources that we have. So I want to Because most people are seeking work with temporality that’s counter to fast revenue and profits, they expect 4 COMMONS PROTEST to see a return in a short period of directly challenge their expectations time. That’s how I can describe the for an immediate return. What you mentality of contemporary China. are doing is committed to raising This is especially noticeable consciousness, building appreciation amongst the young generation of and critical reflection within the art art professionals. I am very used to community and beyond. Those kind working with people who are outside of intangible values are very difficult of art and curating. Some of them to convert into the values associated are smart, well educated, and with with finance. So, how do you defend international experience. But to be your programme? What are your honest, a lot of them don’t know main arguments? anything about contemporary art. I really cannot say what art means to NYC them but they are investing a lot of The institution I am working for money in it. has protected my programme. Because I know that the funding structure is going to change very soon, we are under pressure to organise a fundraising gala. I cannot 約翰 洛克 think of another way of securing additional funds and to respond to JOHN LOCKE our director’s wishes. I imagine we will gather sufficient support from the art community to achieve this. We have to work closely with the private collectors and sponsors and ML they don’t necessarily share many Does the fact that they don’t know of our values. I also fear they would much about art make them feel like to have more say. Right now, the insecure or uncomfortable? It Times Property doesn’t really control seems that despite this, they are our programme that much, but if we open enough to trust you and your adopt a more complicated funding programme. They see you have structure, that will be the first thing attracted both local and international we might notice. When the third of attention, so you must be doing the budget will be generated from something right. other commercial sources, a lot may But if their main concern is to change. Right now the institution and increase profit, then how does your what we have created together protect programme fit into their business me. And of course we continue, but model? we don’t have sufficient resources I think it’s quite remarkable that you and a corresponding organisational are managing to propose ideas that structure to remain independent. 5 PROPERTY COMMONS ML ML I would like to hear what you think The Times Museum is located at the about the increasing number of edge of the city rather than right in private museums gaining prominence the centre. Perhaps that gives you an as part of the art ecology, especially advantage to promote and experiment in Shanghai. What can we expect from with different kinds of ideas, practices, them in the long term? and more ephemeral processes. NYC NYC We, the Times Museum, cannot Because our activities are not situated compete with the huge social impact in the centre, our space can be they have already created and will seen as hostile to spectacle.