“想像荷兰”（NL Imagined）
2022.12.16-2023.4.9
参展艺术家 Artists
马万·巴西奥尼（Marwan Bassiouni），约翰内斯·博斯格拉（Johannes Bosgra），汉斯·艾克尔布姆（Hans Eijkelboom），马维尔·哈里斯（Marvel Harris），埃瑞克·卡瑟斯（Erik Kessels），黛娜·利申博格（Dana Lixenberg），科琳娜·诺登博斯（Corinne Noordenbos），欧文·奥拉夫（Erwin Olaf），波林·奥斯登（Paulien Oltheten），薇薇安·萨森（Viviane Sassen），吉勒姆·特拉彭伯格（Gilleam Trapenberg）
策展人 Curator
何伊宁（Yining He）、鲁小本（Ruben Lundgren）
场馆 Venue
北京三影堂摄影艺术中心Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing)
Curated by He Yining (China) and Ruben Lundgren (the Netherlands), “NL Imagined” is a unique cultural project initiated by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2022. After two years of preparation, the exhibition was first presented at the Shanghai Center of Photography in August. It will be on tour from 16 December 2022 at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing). Three Shadows cordially invites you to come to Caochangdi to experience these photographers’ diverse perspectives in different contexts and to join us in a visual dialogue with the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Notably, the exhibition responds to “China Imagined” at the 2020 BredaPhoto Festival in the Netherlands and demonstrates the ongoing dialogue and communication between the photographic arts of China and the Netherlands.
“NL Imagined” is a survey of contemporary Dutch photography curated by Yining He and Ruben Lundgren. The exhibition includes 11 established and emerging artists living and working in the Netherlands (NL). The exhibition showcases the artists’ responses to contemporary topics concerning the Netherlands’ history, society and culture. In the collected works of these photographers, we find challenges to established paradigms of the language and techniques inherent in the Dutch photographic tradition. The approaches taken reflect the artists’ efforts to reshape contemporary Dutch photographic arts with greater relevance to the rapidly evolving present times.
“NL Imagined” features works from Marwan Bassiouni, Johannes Bosgra, Hans Eijkelboom, Marvel Harris, Erik Kessels, Dana Lixenberg, Corinne Noordenbos, Erwin Olaf, Paulien Oltheten, Viviane Sassen and Gilleam Trapenberg. Through a wide array of creative approaches, the participating artists capture the architecture of sacred spaces and look at nature, community and everyday life, together with topics of colonization, personal identity, and kinship, as topics for reflection. These combine a new dialogue between history and the present, between today’s reality and what local audiences might imagine about the Netherlands.
Promoting deeper communication between China and the Netherlands is one of the primary motivations for this exhibition project. This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands. “NL Imagined” is an essential cultural component of a broader program conceived to celebrate this anniversary. The Netherlands is a global centre for art publishing, with a long history of design excellence, including photo books. “NL Imagined” includes examples of award-winning books published by six leading Dutch publishers and other institutions on loan from the cultural section of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China. A range of online and offline sharing and discussion on practices in Dutch photography will also accompany the exhibition.
“NL Imagined “Education and Public Program Series
[公共教育项目]
“NL Imagined” is a survey exhibition of contemporary Dutch photography featuring the works of eleven artists. In addition to critically examining the artists’ responses to historical, social, and cultural issues in the Netherlands, the exhibition challenges the inherent traditional paradigms, visual languages, techniques, and methods, reflecting the artists’ efforts in reimagining and reshaping the contemporary scene of photography.
As an essential part of this cultural project, four sections comprise the education and public program series: Dutch Photography Observed, Higher Arts Education in NL, Practice Space for Dutch Artists, and Dutch Institutional Photography Theories. Both online and offline lectures and seminars will discuss topics including education, publication, and institutional practices in the Netherlands.
“想像荷兰”是一场围绕荷兰当代摄影艺术的调查展，共呈现11位艺术家的摄影作品。展览不仅批判 性地考察了艺术家们对荷兰历史、社会、文化等议题的回应，同时挑战了荷兰摄影传统中固有的范 式、语言和技术，反映出艺术家们重塑荷兰当代摄影的努力。
作为该文化项目中的重要组成部分，“想像荷兰”系列公共教育将分为四个板块——“荷兰摄影观察 站”“荷兰高等艺术教育行”“荷兰艺术家实践场”与“荷兰摄影机构论”，围绕荷兰摄影的教育、出版和 机构实践等议题展开线上、线下的分享与讨论。
V： Dutch Photography Observed / Perceiving Others through Photography: The Dilemma of Canonical Method in Culture Translation
V：荷兰摄影观察站 / 在摄影中认知他者：反思正典（Canon）与文化转译的困境
Date 28/12/2022 7:00 p.m
Mediator： He Yining 主持人： 何伊宁
Co-ordinator：Li Xinyang 公教统筹：李欣阳
Guest Speakers: Cai Xinyuan 嘉宾: 蔡昕媛
The first lecture during the exhibition NL Imagined at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre focuses on two themed collections of Dutch and Chinese photography in the last three years, inviting Cai Xinyuan, a scholar in Global and Comparative Philosophy, as well as Art history at Leiden University to examine the insights brought by these two exhibitions from a critical perspective.
“想像荷兰”于北京三影堂摄影艺术中心展览期间的第一场讲座聚焦近三年来荷兰与中国摄影艺术的两场主题展览，邀请莱顿大学全球与比较哲学专业及艺术、媒介与社会专业学者蔡昕媛，从批判性的视角，考察两场展览所带来的回响。
The two exhibitions——China Imagined, which took place at Breda Photo in the Netherlands in 2020, and NL Imagined, the exhibition we discussed today——are structured symmetrically, as if two people are looking at each other through frosted glass without knowing each other well. This set of “comparative experiments” naturally leads to the double layers of the challenge of cross-cultural curatorial practice: how to construct an exhibition narrative in the name of a nation-state without falling into the trap of essentialism and the possibilities and difficulties of cross-cultural translation.
Cai Xinyuan | Perceiving Others through Photography: The Dilemma of Canonical Method in Culture Translation
“Canon” is widely used to construct an authoritative, representative and continuous historical narrative about a topic. In the case of the Netherlands and Dutch photography, for example, ‘The Dutch Canon’ (https://www.canonvannederland.nl/) is a central clue for Dutch historical education, the practice of national cultural institutions, and an important tool for the construction of Dutch national identity. And the Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography, a permanent exhibition at the Dutch Museum of Photography, is a prime example of Dutch photography. However, by whom and by what criteria are the works, authors and objects that make up the canon determined? A cognitive model based on the canon is inherently contradictory, as categorising one part as ‘right’ and ‘good’ inevitably leads to the trivialisation and forgetting of the rest. It is also part of a long-standing essentialist versus non-essentialist debate: are there any necessary attributes to constitute a certain identity? And if so, how is it decided which ones are necessary? And if there are no necessary essences, what makes an identity or concept exist?
In addition to the canon debate, the question is made more difficult by joining perspectives from the Other. The viewer, standing outside the cultural discourse, needs more embodied experience to understand the complexities inherent in the culture of the Other. Whether the photographic reproduction presented to the Other brings further insight or reinforces false stereotypes is a tightrope walk for the curatorial practitioner. The difficulty with ‘cultural translation’ is that if the categorisation and aesthetic standards of different cultural contexts are different, and if we subscribe to a relativist position that requires description and judgement in the language and standards of the respective cultures, then cross-cultural communication becomes almost impossible. This is the theoretical conclusion, but in practice, the motivations and needs of intercultural practice are clearly visible: how to deal with and balance the specific problems of practice becomes the final point.
This sharing will be divided into two parts: in the first part, the speaker will unpack the inner logic and theoretical structure of the debate mentioned above, including the notions and definitions of specific concepts; in the second part, the speaker will discuss with the curator He Yining as well as the audience on the concrete forms and responses to the challenges in the actual exhibition preparation process, with a hope to providing some insights for future intercultural practitioners.
蔡昕媛 | 在摄影中认知他者：反思正典（Canon）与文化转译的困境
2020年发生在荷兰布雷达摄影节（Breda Photo）的“想像中国”（China Imagined）与2022年发生在中国的”想像荷兰”(NL Imagined)，两场展览从结构上形成了一组工整的“对仗”，仿佛两个彼此耳闻却未曾见过的人隔着磨砂玻璃看向对方。这组“对比实验”自然的引出了跨文化策展实践的双重挑战：如何构建以民族-国家为名的展览叙事而不落入本质主义的窠臼，以及跨文化翻译的可能性问题与困难之处。
“Canon”(正典)这一概念被广泛的应用于构建有关某一对象的，权威、有代表性且连续的历史叙事。以荷兰与荷兰摄影为例，“The Dutch Canon”（https://www.canonvannederland.nl/）是荷兰历史教育、国家文化机构实践的核心纲领，也是构建民族身份认同的重要工具。荷兰摄影博物馆的常设展览“荷兰摄影的荣耀走廊”（The Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography）则是关于荷兰摄影的典型案例。然而，组成正典的作品、作者、物件是由谁、以什么标准决定的？基于正典的认知模式本身就充满矛盾性，因为将一部分划归为“正”与“好”，必然导致对其余部分的轻视与遗忘。同时，它也属于长久以来都难以解决的本质主义—非本质主义之辨：真的存在一些必要的特征来构成某种身份吗？如果存在如何决定哪些是必要的？如果不存在必要的本质，又是什么造成了某个身份认同或者概念的存在呢？
在本身就充满矛盾性的正典之辩上，他者的观看视角让问题变得更加困难。站在文化场域之外的观看者，本身即缺少足够的具身经验来理解他者文化内在的复杂性。呈现在他者面前的摄影再现究竟能带来进一步的洞察还是加深可能错误的刻板印象，让策展实践者的抉择仿佛走钢丝一般。“文化翻译”的困难性在于，如果不同文化语境的分类与美学标准不一样，而如果我们认同一个相对主义的立场，即需要用各自文化相对应的语言与标准来描述与判断，那么跨文化的沟通就变得几乎是不可能了。这是理论上的结论，而在实践中，跨文化实践的动机与需求清晰可见：如何处理与平衡实践过程中一个个具体的问题成为了最终的落点。
这次的分享将会分为两个部分：第一部分中，分享人会以自身的角度去拆解这双重挑战的内在逻辑与理论结构，涉及具体的概念定义；在第二部分，分享人则会与策展人和观众们共同讨论基于这些概念之上，实际的展览筹备过程中挑战的具体体现形式与应对方法，以期为未来的跨文化实践者们提供些微启示。
VI: NL Photographic Institutions / On Visual Storytelling in Photographic Projects and Exhibitions
Mediator： He Yining 主持人： 何伊宁
Co-ordinator：Li Xinyang 公教统筹：李欣阳
Guest Speakers: Iris Sikking 嘉宾: 艾瑞丝·希金
“想像荷兰”于北京三影堂摄影艺术中心展览期间的第二期讲座将围绕荷兰摄影策展人艾瑞丝·希金（Iris Sikking）过往的策展实践，以及她加入海牙摄影博物馆后的工作内容展开。艾瑞丝将在讲座中重点探讨当代纪实摄影的发展趋势，尤其是艺术、新闻与行动主义相结合的摄影实践。
Iris Sikking | On Visual Storytelling in Photographic Projects and Exhibitions
艾瑞丝·希金 | 摄影项目和展览中的视觉故事
如果这一代的纪实摄影师要去讲述这个时代的故事，他们需要怎样的条件和工具呢？工作方法上，富有想象力地，以独特视角体察事件的能力和探寻事实、进行深度研究，对于他们来说同样的重要。艾瑞丝·希金将会在讲座里提到的几个案例中，艺术创作的核心在于主动介入社会以及影响公众讨论。在这个充满了图像的世界，拥有表达和叙事能力的纪实摄影师们，使用着不同的方式和与之相关的媒介，通过展览和摄影书，提出重要的社会议题，并在公众范围内引起关注。无数的选择——印刷、图像编辑、文字、历史及原始材料、影像及声音，组成了丰富多样的叙述。在策展工作中，艾瑞丝也会以作品之间的关系串联起叙事，组建摄影群展。与此同时，观众可以找到属于自己的进入展览叙事的路径。
VII: 荷兰艺术教育行 / “合作”与“跨学科”实践的多重轨迹
The third lecture during the exhibition NL Imagined at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre focuses on the research aspect of higher art education in the Netherlands and revolves around the personal experiences and recent practices of two art practitioners who have obtained master’s degrees in the Netherlands. Hu Wei will present the connections between his experiences studying at the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) and his current practices. Huang Yuting will share her “interdisciplinary” approach while pursuing the Research Master’s degree at Leiden University.
“想像荷兰”于北京三影堂摄影艺术中心展览期间的第三期讲座关注荷兰高等艺术教育中的研究性，围绕两位艺术从业者在荷兰攻读硕士学位的个人经验和近期实践展开。胡伟将陈述他在荷兰艺术学院的学习经验与当下实践之间的关联，黄羽婷将分享她在荷兰莱顿大学攻读研究型硕士的“跨学科”方法。
Hu Wei | Starting from Wandering
In this presentation, I will share my own experiences studying at the Dutch Art Institute (DAI), the institution’s non-studio-oriented curriculum, and the ways in which the “collaborations” with different groups of people have influenced my approaches to art as well as thinkings about independent space practices.
胡伟 ｜ 从“漫游”开始
在本次分享中，我会从自己在Dutch Art Institute （DAI）的学习经历展开，聊一聊它的非工作室导向的课程设置以及在其间与不同群体的“合作”经历如何影响到自己近几年对个人创作和独立空间实践的一些思考。
Huang Yuting | Community and Imagination: Experience in Pursuing the Research Master’s Degree in NL
Taking my personal experience pursuing the Research Master’s Degree at Leiden University as the starting point, I will focus on sharing about several National Research Schools in which I have had experiences, including The Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA), digital humanities summer school and Research schools for Media Studies (RMeS). In addition to the regular courses, this different set of education and research curriculum has allowed me to have a more vivid imagination around the concept of “interdisciplinary” and made the possibility of communal participation and contribution tangible.
黄羽婷 ｜共同体与想象力：荷兰研究型硕士经验
此次分享将从我在荷兰莱顿大学的个人学习经验出发，重点分享我就读研究型硕士（Research Master）期间参与的几个国家研究所（National Research School）经历，包括文化分析课程（NICA）、数字人文暑校与多个媒介研究工作坊（RMeS）。在日常的课程之余，这个不同的教育和研究模式在某种程度上让我对“跨学科”这个概念究竟为何的有了更为生动的想象，让参与和贡献共同体成为一种切近的可能。
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