The unbridled exploitation of resources by mankind has irrevocably altered the planet we live on. Ecosystems have been tragically destroyed, and the climate crisis has become a great threat to all of humanity. Artists, curators and art institutions feel the urgency to protect their homes, and there are many examples of exhibitions that respond to this issue of the times. Critical reflections are not uncommon, but they often stop short of revealing the superficial causes of the disaster. Before the Storm," a group exhibition organized by the Bourse de Commerce art museum in Paris, opens. The title suggests a premonition, giving the viewer room for reverie. The curators see the sudden climate change as a "symptom", and the exhibition focuses on using the blade of art to cut through the ailing social organism and analyze the deep-seated symptoms of thought.
Inspired by classical aesthetics, the circular building of the Paris Mercantile Exchange is a masterpiece of the Enlightenment, with its splendid and grand metal-framed translucent dome erected in 1812, and its current name was established in 1889 when the building was remodeled for the Exposition. The most recent spatial renovation was led by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The clean, elegant concrete cylindrical walls connect all the exhibition spaces, separating the large central gallery under the vaulted ceiling. Upon completion of the renovation, more than half a century of François Pinault's contemporary art collection was assembled here.
In this exhibition, Vietnamese artist Danh Vo's installation stands in the "eye of the storm" in the middle of the building. The remains of trees destroyed by the meteorological disaster are supported by geometric wooden frames, as if they were not dead. Cultural symbolism is interspersed with graphic representations of individual desires and collective memories. The ghost of history wanders. Natural materials and man-made objects are treated as samples or archives in Fu Dan's hands, and the artist assembles them like relics, but at the same time gives life to the whole scene. The branches of the trees extend upward, and the background jumps from the gray walls to the original white structure of the building and the painted vaulted frescoes. 360-degree panoramas of the world's continents and products are arranged on the walls in a sequence of seasons, forming a cycle. Ironically, this large gallery is now like a greenhouse, escaping the changing seasons, like the reality of an increasingly unstable earth ecosystem. Beneath the romantic surface of the paintings abounds the desire of commercial pioneers for exoticism and global connectivity, demonstrating a world order under colonial expansion. Predatory trade is one of the culprits of environmental problems.
Thu-Van Tran, another artist of Vietnamese descent in the exhibition, focuses on the colonial history of rubber extraction by imperial powers in the Amazon and Indochina since the late 19th century. Today, resistance and division under the banner of "decolonization" are shaping the new identity of the formerly colonized. Chen Fanqiu takes "revenge" on the colonizers' spotless "white cube" by spraying colored rubber paint on the museum's white walls. This creative act of "pollution" draws the public's attention to the unresolved conflicts and wounds caused by the storm of man's colonization of man, and the intensification of man's scouring of nature.
> Jonathas de Andrade's film "O Peixe" (The Fish)
Jonathas de Andrade's film "O Peixe" (The Fish) is about the breakdown of the relationship between man and nature. The plot takes place in a seaside village, a place of apparent silence and harmony, where strong fishermen ritualistically and affectionately embrace the fish they have just caught, until they die. Violence masquerades as kindness, and the gentle embrace is fatal to the fish. The camera sketches the image of the primitive predator and exposes the hypocrisy of man. Using survival as an excuse, selfish humans exploit, consume and even kill without restraint. Humans think they are the rulers and dominators of all things. However, the pioneer artists in "Before the Storm" are envisioning a future world that exists apart from man, subverting the hierarchical concept of man's supremacy over other things.
> Anicka Yi, Biologizing the Machine
> Pierre Huyghe's a Way in Untilled, 2012-2013
Korean-American artist Anicka Yi creates luminous cocoon pupae that give birth to robotic insects. She borrows from the reproductive model of organic life to create biological robots with senses. Seemingly incompatible materials are hybridized through Anicka's "alchemy" to produce hybrid, symbiotic entities. This is by no means a simple practice of animism; she abolishes the boundaries between humans, animals, plants and machines, blurring the distinction between natural and artificial properties. In Pierre Huyghe's mini-ecosystem, humans are simply relegated to a marginal position. Only the traces of human life and civilization are preserved in a form similar to ruins. Monkeys wear masks with human faces, human faces are obscured or replaced, dogs are named "human", and other partially replaced subjects roam the landscape created by Yuge, while traditional humans are mere spectators or recorders. Rather than inventing a new reality, Yu Zhe only dismantles our old perceptions with the beauty of nothingness, leading the viewer to look directly at the real external world, which is beyond human control. The real protagonist in Yuje's art is the interwoven evolution of life. Even though the madness of industrial society has damaged and degraded the environment, tiny life forms can still sprout in unexpected places and in imperceptible ways. Fragile yet resilient, they persist for generations after humans.
> Lucas Arruda, Deserto-Modelo
"Before the Storm" is intended to liberate the view of nature, which has long been constrained and abducted by modernity, by opening up new paths of thought and by providing a field of contemplation and visual markers. Lucas Arruda, from Brazil, borrows the term "Deserto- Modelo" from his country's modern poets to name his ethereal paintings. Beyond the literal meaning, "Modelo" implies a schema, a vision, a state, while "Deserto" is a metaphor for a place where emotions and sensations cannot be described in words, where they live forever. Arruda's works have the appearance of landscapes with simple compositions, hazy horizontal lines at sea level, and improvised, delicate brushstrokes that caress subtle light and shadow. These landscapes exist only in the silent view and memory of nature; they are never mapped to a specific location. Arruda gazes at the "inner landscapes" of the human psyche, translating the infinite fluctuations of the microcosm into the macrocosm through "desert-models", evoking a romantic and sublime sense of beauty. Arruda captures the atmosphere before the arrival of a storm, where great variables lurk in the silence.
>Tacita Deans, "Foreign Policy"
Another pointillist piece is Tacita Dean's giant clouds drawn in pastel on a black background. Dean began collecting images of California clouds after moving to Los Angeles in 2014. The clouds are ever-changing, signaling the coming thunderstorm and symbolizing the volatile political situation and strife between countries and nations around the world. Dean named this work, completed during the Brexit referendum, "Foreign Policy. It is in the British Foreign Office's collection and screen-printed copies are sent to British offices around the world. At this moment, humanity is in the midst of multiple environmental and political crises, and the fickleness of the clouds is a reminder of the illusions of this world, as the Latin phrase "Memento mori" implies: "Do not forget that you will die". Catastrophe is a warning to mankind, a reminder to be aware of its limits. In the face of all things, the role of humanity should change from that of a greedy ruler to that of a good guardian, working together to care for our common home. The exhibition "Before the Storm" takes this vision of change beyond slogans or rhetoric, and presents a number of imaginative individual action plans that point the way to redemption and reconciliation.
Article Source:艺术与设计
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