蒋志：在诗学与社会学的交汇处
蒋志：在诗学与社会学的交汇处
/鲍栋
蒋志是中国九十年代实验艺术的背景下成长起来的艺术家。在上世纪九十年代初，在一系列的社会背景变动下，包括政治风气的转变、市场经济的转轨，以及随之而来的文化氛围的整体转型，刚刚有所发展的中国当代艺术（在八十年代叫做八五新潮美术）不得不去面对两个问题，一、这种新的文化语境带来的问题是什么。二，用什么样的方式把这些问题呈现出来。
虽然这两个问题是内在关联的，但是艺术家们总是有所侧重。一部分艺术家以寻求历史变化下的社会题材为重心，从九十年代初的“政治波普”到九十年代末的“艳俗艺术”即是如此，总体而言，他们并不太关心艺术方式自身的问题，如“新生代”与“玩世现实主义”的艺术家基本采取的都是被美术学院塑造出来的具象写实的语言，而“政治波普”与“艳俗艺术”也都是在不断地重复着“挪用”、“拼贴”这一些基本语法，只是换成了不同的题材而已。实际上，现在来看，这一维度的艺术实践只是曾经在中国占据绝对统治地位的现实主义艺术，及其背后的社会反映论与历史决定论的衍生物，带有典型的文化转型期的不适——用老的框架去处理新的问题，以至于无法真正触及到新问题的实质。
另一部分艺术家则更关心当代艺术自身的方式问题，如新的类型和媒介的可能，当代艺术文化制度的可能，以及更深层次的当代艺术思考——在中国，当代艺术究竟与传统艺术、官方艺术、学院艺术有哪些根本上的差异，而不仅仅是政治姿态及美学趣味的不同。这一维度的思考带来了广泛但又稀少的艺术实验活动，艺术家以个体或小组的方式，在一种自觉边缘化的状态下，涉及各类当代社会与文化的议题以及各种艺术类型与媒介的创作。蒋志的当代艺术实践就发生在这样的“实验艺术”的背景下，也构成了九十年代“实验艺术”的一个部分。
他成长于作为八五新潮美术重镇的浙江美术学院，最初写实验小说，后来又参与了录像艺术运动，这一层面的经验给他带来了一种语言的自觉性需求，一种来自于语言快感的驱动力，以及一种对语言本体性的要求。这带来了蒋志作品的诗学气质，这也影响了蒋志对“作品化”的强调与偏爱。而在另一方面，从1995年到2005年这十年的时间里，蒋志一直有一个记者职业，这使他站到了社会变动的最前线上，使自己不得不去处理他不断遭遇到的未经处理的新经验。
在这个层面上，“实验艺术”就不可能是一种沙龙性的、书斋性的艺术活动，“实验”是被迫的，因为人们无法用既定的方式把握得住新的问题，而只有通过“实验”——严格地说“实验”在这里只是一个比喻——来创造出不同的艺术方式，并且是不可重复的方式，也即是一种诗性的言说。就蒋志而言，他的作品包括了身体、性别、大众消费文化等各种话题，也经常涉及一些社会性事件，但其价值却建立在他呈现问题的方式上。如他的作品《M+1,M-1》，身体与性别的讨论在一种直接的对比中——为了变性而隆乳的 “男人”与因癌症而切除了乳房的女人——被直观而微妙的呈现了出来，现实及经验的复杂性因此而被揭示。而在另一件关于“重庆钉子户”事件的作品中，蒋志把一束强光照射到孤零零的建筑上，那束光线给那场已经充分戏剧化的社会事件带来舞台效果，用“剧场”隐喻了这场关于权利与法制的事件，在一种视觉修辞中“照亮”或建构了这场社会事件的某层含义。
蒋志总是自觉地处在诗学与社会学这两个维度的交汇处上，他所着力的是如何使那些我们熟悉的日常、社会经验转换进作品文本中，并保持日常经验与文本经验两个维度上的张力。因此，他一直避免了那种空泛的个人情感与政治姿态，也始终回避着那种单薄的表达与批判，在这个意义上，蒋志的作品是开放的、可写性的，具有一种诗歌的活力。甚至在他的纪录片中，影像语言的自觉性也始终得到彰显，并内在地支撑了主题的呈现。
Jiang Zhi: At the Intersection of Poetics and Sociology
By Bao Dong
Jiang Zhi is an artist who developed amidst a backdrop of 1990s experimental art in China, during which the country underwent a series social transformations. This includes changes in the political atmosphere and switch in economical tendencies, and the consequent utter reform of the cultural landscape. All this is happening at a time when contemporary art in China (referred to in the 1980s as the ‘85 New Wave Art Movement’) has just begun to develop. As a result, Chinese contemporary art is confronted with two questions: first, what are the problems that have arise out of this new cultural language; and secondly, how do we present them?
Although these two questions are essentially connected, artists have always had their own emphasis. For some, the core concern has been in examining the social issues that arise out of historical transitions. From Political Pop in the early nineties to Gaudy Art in the late 1990s, they are generally not concerned with the issues of art forms. Take for instance the ‘New Generation’ artists and Cynical Realism, which basically adopted the realist language created by Fine Art academies; while Political Pop and Gaudy Art repeatedly uses ‘appropriation’ and ‘collage’, the only difference being the context. In fact, from current observation, this aspect of artistic practice is merely a once-dominant realism in Chinese art. Together with its derivative social critique and historical determinism, it possesses the classic ills common in periods of cultural transition—using old frameworks to deal with new problematics, such that the true essence of the problems remains oblivion.
Another group of artists are more concerned with issues of contemporary art making, such as the possibilities new mediums and systems of contemporary art can offer, as well as engaging with more in-depth examination of contemporary art—such as investigating, in the context of China, the fundamental differences between contemporary art and traditional art forms, official art, and academy art, not just their difference in political attitude and aesthetic interests. This trajectory has brought about widespread yet scarce experimental art activities. Artists, either on their own or in groups, consciously marginalise themselves by engaging with issues of contemporary society and culture, and experimenting with different expressions and mediums. It is under such atmosphere of ‘experimental art’ that Jiang Zhi’s artistic practice developed and which also became part of this movement.
Jiang’s development began at Zhejiang Fine Arts Academy, the centre of the ’85 New Wave Art Movement. From the initial experimental novels to subsequently involvement in the video art movement, Jiang’s experiences brought for him a conscious demand for language, a kind of motivation inspired by the pleasure that language brings, and a certain expectation for language structures. As a result, his works are poetic, leading to his preference for and emphasis in ‘making work’. On the other hand, Jiang’s journalism career from 1995 to 2005 caused him to be at the frontline of social transformations and compelled him to confront and deal with the constant assault of unprocessed new experiences.
On this level, ‘experimental art’ can no longer be a salon or academic art movement. Experimentation is forced because one cannot grasp the new problems that arise. Only through experimentation—strictly speaking, ‘experiment’ is used here only as an analogy—can new and different art forms be created such that they cannot be replicated, as with certain poetic language. In the case of Jiang, his works engage with issues of the body, gender, mass consumerism, etc., and often involves recent social events whose value is established in the way he presents the problem. Take for instance his work M+1, W-1. Here, body and gender is in direct juxtaposition—a man who implants breasts in an attempt to become a woman versus a woman who loses her breasts to cancer—thus revealing, in visual subtlety, the complexity of reality and experience. In another work about the infamous dingzihu in Chongqing (the family who stubbornly refused to move despite immense pressure from the authorities), Jiang shines a strong ray of light at the lone residence, adding theatricality to the already dramatised social event. ‘Theatrics’ becomes the metaphor for an event so infused with issues of power and legitimacy, ‘illuminating’ or constructing another layer of meaning through visual rhetoric.
Jiang Zhi has consciously positioned himself at the intersection between poetics and sociology, fervently weaving familiar mundane social experiences into his works, at the same time maintaining the tensity between daily experience and our experience of the text. Hence, he has consistently avoided unspecific personal emotions and political statements, and also shies away from feeble expressions and critiques. In this aspect, Jiang’s works are open-ended, supple, and possess a kind of poetic vigour. Even in his documentaries, a conscious filmic language permeates, holding up the theme from within.