Short Curatorial Text | 展览前言

The participants in this exhibition are the 14 student groups recruited in 2023 by the Seeds Project: Education Program for a Sustainable Future to take part in the Xiangshan Seminars and receive creative project support. The Seeds Project: Education Program for a Sustainable Future was jointly launched by The Art Journal (former The Art Newspaper China）and CHANEL. The Art Newspaper and the China Academy of Art School of Intermedia Art jointly launched “Towards the Mountain Seminars” Co-learning and Creative Support Program in 2023. After the learning seminar, the students headed out to engage in field work, thinking, and creation, gradually creating the artworks that are now gathered here.

“Seeing” is the first step in creation. Confronting “ecology,” this complex issue intimately connected to so many of our current crises, these students had their fields of vision opened wide—through the perspectives of ecologists, biologists, anthropologists, and even indigenous peoples, as well as knowledge, techniques, and experiences from these fields, these young creators are attempting to convey a complexity that transcends singular disciplines, singular cultures, and singular regions. Now, this exhibition guides us to “see” the myriad existence seen by these young creators.

In “Nurture,” the first section of the exhibition, Wen Zheying's The House of Moss looks at the biology-transcending existence of moss in Native American culture. Dong Yuhao and Zhao Fan's The Reborn Soil: Continuation looks at the living rights of plants in their shared existence with humans in the urban space through the dual lenses of sociological surveys and Daoist talismanic script. Zhang Tianyi's Interspecies Symbiosis Plan uses a “Plant and Animal Symbiosis Theater” to explore interspecies ecopolitics and dimensions of biodiversity that are easily overlooked by humanity. As Immortal as the Sea is the result of Gu Weiran's collaboration with immunologists, using metaphorical comparisons between different forms of liquid—cell culture medium, blood, and the sea—to establish connections between nature, technology, and humanity.

Zhuge Ruijing’s IMPLANT attempts an “experiment in plant migration,” inviting the public to seek out marginalized plant communities in the city, and to temporarily transplant the cultivable ones into disposable coffee cups and other consumer containers. Creators Wang Kaijun, Wu Haoyue, and Bai Le set their sights on India’s Bihar State. Monsoon along with Mandapa considers the use of “community activity towers + rooftop footpaths” during flooding season to help local residents coexist with seasonal natural disasters.

In the second section, “Grow”, three creators draw our gaize to species that have been heavily impacted by human activity—the Liangzhu paddies of Hangzhou, the pines of Mountain Tiantai in Zhejiang Province, and the eucalyptus trees of Chongzuo, Guangxi Province, and reference the mutual domestication between species and humanity. Paddy Ideal members Chen Yulin, Liu Xinyu, and Lv Jieya return to Hangzhou for Paddy Chronicle/Paddy Wisdom, a research-based art project revolving around paddies and paddy agriculture in connection to threads of shifting human technology. Xu Xinhua's TTS-19 xperiments in the material transformation of a withered branch from the pine forest at Guoqing Temple on Mountain Tiantai in a practice infused with the traditional Chinese concept of unity between all things. Jian Guorong's Memories of Eucalyptus establishes a model of “two forms of memory” between the perspective of the eucalyptus tree and the other, weaving local cultural roots, the condition of local residents, the environment, rural development, and policymaking into a multidimensional polyphonic narrative.

The third section, “Envision” uses the moving image to enhance our understanding of “planetary thinking” through diverse perspectives. The narrative of Zhang Jiazhen and Cui Jiaxuan’s Going Ashore jumps between rivers and forests to recount an existential crisis, drawing us to recall our childhood and imagine union with the gods. Chen Ruicheng’s Land of the Floating–Sinking Sea Ranch captures the state of an ocean ecosystem through the perspective of deep sea oysters, while Li Yuxuan’s Whale Fall embeds us in the sensory experience of a whale to awaken human sympathy for ocean pollution. Back to dry land, Chen Qiheng’s How Orchids Think: Become(ing) Orchids  sets out from a body and gender perspective to show us our connections to orchids. Sheng Chengcheng's ZARAFA discusses the inspirations the human organization of the zoo can provide regarding the continuation of species. In the human-dominated zoo, perhaps it is time to let the animals speak.

Back to the exhibition “Seeing Wanwu” and the “Seeds Project: Education Programs for a Sustainable Future”, as the mentor of the “Towards the Mountain Seminars”, artist Zheng Bo said, “I believe that there is no way out of the crisis of anthropocentrism. The changes we are making and discussing are not just shifting trends. In ten years, they will become the most fundamental dimensions.”

本次展览的参展者均来自“永续之籽”教育计划（Seeds Project: Education Program for a Sustainable Future）2023年所招募、并参与了“向山学园”交流共学与创作支持的14组学员。“永续之籽”教育计划由《艺术新闻》和CHANEL联合发起，并于 2023年由《艺术新闻》与中国美术学院跨媒体艺术学院联合开启了“向山学园”交流共学与创作支持项目。在学习结束后，学员们奔赴田野进行调研、思考与创作，作品逐渐打磨成形，并汇聚于此。

“看见”是创作的第一步，面对“生态”这一更为复杂并且与当下的各种危机紧密相连的问题时，学员们的视域被打开——借由生态学家、生物学家、人类学家，乃至原住民的视角，以及来自这些领域的知识、技术和体验，年轻的创作者们试图传达超越单一学科、单一文化、单一地域的复杂性。由此，展览带领我们去“看见”年轻的创作者们所看见的万物生灵。

在展览第一部分“孕育”中，翁喆颖的《苔屋》关注印第安人的文化中，苔藓所具有的超越生物学的存在。董宇昊与赵凡的《再生之壤：续存》则使用社会调研与道教符箓的双重视角，思考与人类共同存在于城市空间之中的植物所具有的生命权。张天怡的《跨物种共生计划》通过“动植物间生态共生剧场”探讨物种间的生态政治、以及生物多样性中容易被人类忽视的维度。《微室之聚亦可不朽如海》来自谷蔚然与免疫学家的合作，通过不同形式的液态——人工细胞培养液、血液和海洋的隐喻类比，勾连起自然、技术与人之间的联系。

诸葛瑞静的《植入计划》试图进行一次“植物移民试验”，邀请公众一同寻找城市中的边缘性植物群落，将其中适合栽培的部分移植到一次性咖啡杯等消耗性容器中暂存。创作者王楷竣、吴浩岳、柏乐则将目光投向了印度比哈尔邦，《曼达帕季风》思考了如何在洪水泛滥的季节，通过“社区活动塔+屋顶步道”的形式来让当地居民与季节性的自然灾害共处。

而到了第二部分“生发”，三位创作者将我们的视线带入到深受人类活动影响的物种之中——杭州良渚的水稻、浙江天台山的松树、广西崇左的桉树，并指涉物种与人类文明的互相驯化。稻小组的《水稻志·水稻智》回归杭州本地，这个研究型艺术项目围绕水稻及稻作农业所建立的内容谱系，串联人类技术变革的线索。徐鑫桦的《天台山2019》对天台山国清寺松林里的一根枯枝进行了物质性转化的尝试，将中国传统万物合一的自然观融入其中。简国荣的《桉树的记忆》通过构建按树自身视角和他者视角的“两种记忆”模式，勾连在地文脉、当地人的生活处境、生态环境、乡村发展、政策制定等多个维度的复调叙事。

在第三部分“灵思”以影像的多元视角补充了我们对于“行星思维”的理解。张家振与崔佳璇的《夜航船-奇迹》的叙事在河流与森林之间跳跃，铺陈了一段生存危机，让我们回忆起童年，并想象与神灵的融合。同样关注水域，陈锐城的《浮游之地-下沉的海洋牧场》以深水域中的牡蛎视角，捕捉了当下海洋生态的部分现状；而李雨轩的《鲸落》则置身于鲸鱼的感官体验中，以唤起人类对于海洋污染的感同身受。回到陆地上，陈啟恒的《兰花如何思考：成为兰》从身体和性别的视角出发，来看待我们与兰花的关联。盛成成的《扎法拉》则讨论了动物园这一人所设立的机构对物种延续的启示，在由人所主导的动物园中，也许应当让动物本身来说话。

回到此次展览“看见万物”和“永续之籽”教育计划项目本身，正如“向山学园”共学导师、艺术家郑波所说，“我相信人类中心主义的危机必然没有出路，我们正在进行和讨论的改变不仅仅是潮流的转变，再过十年它会成为一个最基本的维度”。（撰文：魏颖）

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