vibrARTion 14: No Air, No Art

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Curatorial Statement

"No Air, No Art" is a call for action.

In Greek philosophy, air is one of the four basic components that makes the world, while for ancient Chinese thinker, air was abstracted as Qi, it is a most fundamental element that forms all heaven and Earth. The whole universe is powered by air (or Qi).

Science and industry is a double-edged sword. While enhancing the quality of our material life, it damages the air and the environment. Starting in 2013, "smog" became a household word. According to the information from Wikipedia, this year in January, smog attacked 30 provinces in four times and the same month in Beijing, there was only 5 days free from smog.  Among the 500 large Chinese cities, only less than one percent fulfills the WHO quality standards. 

When the air is no good for us to live on, what do we do with art?

As the 14th edition of the vibrARTion project, No Air, No Art is an exhibition involving site-specific installations and social interactive projects. A two-month show is split in several units of time and space distributed to different artists. The overall exhibition is linked together by artists through their independent art activities that reveal their concerns and life experience on various living and environmental topics.

Michael Suh /Curator, Executive Director of MoCA Beijing

策展陈述

“无空气，不艺术”是一种战斗姿态、一个行动宣言。

古希腊哲学将空气列为世界万物的基本组成部分之一。中国春秋战国时代的思想家，将气的概念抽象化，成为天地一切事物组成的基本元素。人类及一切生物具备的生命能量或动力，也被称为气。宇宙间的一切事物，均是气的运行与变化的结果。

科技和工业是一把双刃剑，给人类带来方便的同时也给我们生存的环境和空气带来了极大的破坏。 2013年开始，“雾霾”成为一个家喻户晓的名词。来自百度百科的资料显示，这一年的1月，4次雾霾过程笼罩30个省，在北京，仅有5天不是雾霾天。中国最大的500个城市中，只有不到1%的城市达到世界卫生组织推荐的空气质量标准，与此同时，世界上污染最严重的10个城市有7个在中国。

空气不再，艺术何为？

作为共振计划的第十四站，“无空气，不艺术”当代艺术展是一个理想与现实纠缠、否定与期望并存的互动性国际项目。为期两个月的展示时间将根据不同艺术家的具体需要被切分为若干个空间和时间单元，每个单元由执行项目的艺术家自由支配。整个展览将通过这种时间与空间单元的串联方式，展示与链接每位艺术家独立的艺术实践，呈现其关于个体与集群、生活与环境等主题的生命体验， 并以期达到主题阐释的多米诺效应。

粟多壮　/策展人，北京当代艺术馆执行馆长