The Port and the Image III： Echoes of the Port
2022.7.29——10.19
China Port Museum
Participant Artists (Alphabetically)
CHEN Ronghui， CHENG Xinhao， LIU Yujia， SONG Tianqi， SUN Haiting， WANG Hanlin， Yoshikatsu Fujii
Curator
HE Yining
Curatorial Statement
The third edition of “The Port and the Image” is based on the theme “Echos of the Port”. Starting from commissioned practices of the artists, with exhibition and publication planning, this session reflects upon the changes in the concept of “port”, its transportation, geographical space, and cultural production during the hundred years of China’s modern history. This project invites six young artists who are active in the field of image creation – Chen Ronghui, Wang Hanlin, Sun Haiting, Song Tianqi, Cheng Xinhao and Liu Yujia – to make visual explorations respectively around different issues of Hainan Free Trade Port, Shandong Port, Dandong, Harbin, Kunming and Kunlun Mountain/Bianjiang Hotel.
The logic of this exhibition and publication revolves around the dialogue between the port city (region) in history and at the present, and unfolds in two frameworks of space and time separated by a hundred years: firstly, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, confronting the colonial expansion of the imperialist powers represented by the British Empire, the trading ports, as a product of the modern Chinese treaty system, became the nodes of the infrastructural network of China’s modern transportation, and were connected with the wider semi-colonial and semi-feudal social structure, the expansion of shipping and railway systems, as well as nationalism; secondly, at the beginning of the 21st century, under the formulation of geopolitical policies such as the “Belt and Road Initiative” and the “Free Trade port” initiative, port cities (regions), as the core of a new round of transportation infrastructure, connect areas, countries and global trade together by renovating economy and regional culture.
In addition, considering the impact of the continuous pandemic on transportation and travelling between China and the world, this project also hopes to use the artists’ “depiction” of the current ports to reflect on the general impact of the pandemic and its policies on the regional economy, trade, cultural communication, and people’s daily lives. Affected by the pandemic, “The Port and the Image III” has been postponed to the second half of 2022. The works of the six commissioned artists and the project completed by Japanese photography artist Yoshikatsu Fujii in 2019 will be exhibited over the summer.
Project
“The Port and the Image” project was co-initiated by visual art researcher and curator He Yining and the China Port Museum in 2016. Its original intention was to explore the natural environment of China’s port area development under the background of global economic integration, as well as different issues derived from the spatial relationship of port cities, by commissioning artists to carry out photography and related media practices. As of 2022, “The Port and the Image” project has commissioned 21 artists to create works on 20 port cities and ports (regions) in China and Japan. In addition to the biennial exhibition and publication plan of the China Port Museum, the project, in the past six years, with the help of a wide range of responses and discussions from the media and related research institutions, we have continued to focus on the cultural and creative practices related to the port on the one hand, while keep reflecting and expanding the direction and logic of the commission on the other.
China Port Museum
The China Port Museum was approved and named by the State Council of China. It was established in 2014 and is located in Chunxiao Binhai New Town, Beilun District of Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province. It is a national first-level museum and a national AAAA-level tourist attraction. With the theme of port culture, the China Port Museum integrates the functions of education, exhibition, collection, scientific research, tourism, and international exchange. It is global, professional, and interactive and is considered the most extensive and highest-level port museum in our country. The China Port Museum is an essential base for studying port history, inheriting port culture and maritime civilization, and a crucial cultural fulcrum of the Maritime Silk Road in the new century.
港口与影像 III：口岸的回响
2022.7.29——10.19
中国港口博物馆
参展艺术家：陈荣辉 、程新皓 、刘雨佳 、宋天琪、孙海霆 、王翰林、藤井良雄
策展人：何伊宁
展览介绍
“港口与影像”第三期项目以“口岸的回响”为主题，从艺术家委任实践出发，借助展览与出版的策划，思考“口岸”作为地理、交通和文化生产的空间，在中国近现代百年历史中的变迁。本期项目邀请了6位活跃在影像创作领域的艺术家——陈荣辉、王翰林、孙海霆、宋天琪、程新皓和刘雨佳——分别围绕海南自由贸易港、山东港口、丹东、哈尔滨、昆明和昆仑山/边疆宾馆的不同议题展开视觉化的探索。
本期展览和出版的逻辑围绕口岸城市（区域）在历史和当下的对话，以相隔百年的两个时间和空间框架所展开：一是19世纪末20世纪初，在中国面对以英国为代表的帝国主义列强的殖民扩张之时，通商口岸作为近代中国条约体系塑形之下的产物，成为中国近代交通基础设施网络的节点，并与更广泛半殖民地半封建社会结构、航运和铁路系统扩张和民族主义产生联系；二是21世纪初的当下，在“一带一路”倡议，“自贸港”协议等开放措施的制定下，口岸城市（区域）作为新一轮交通基础设施的核心，通过更新经济和地域文化，将地区、国家和全球贸易连接在一起。
此外，考虑到持续不断的疫情对于中国与国际之间交通运输、旅行带来的影响，本期项目亦希望借助艺术家们对当下口岸的“描摹”，关注疫情及其政策对地区经济贸易、文化交流和人们日常生活的普遍影响。本期展览还将展出藤井良雄在2019年创作的横滨港项目。
关于“港口与影像”计划
“港口与影像”计划由视觉艺术研究者、策展人何伊宁与中国港口博物馆于2016年共同发起，其初衷是通过委任艺术家展开摄影和相关媒介的实践，来探索全球经济一体化背景下中国港口地区发展的现实环境，以及港城空间关系下衍生出的不同议题。截至2022年，“港口与影像”计划共先后委任21位艺术家就中国和日本共20个港城和口岸（区域）进行创作，在中国港口博物馆每两年的展览和出版计划之外，该计划在过去6年内借助广泛的媒体人和相关研究机构的回应和讨论，一方面持续关注与港口相关的文化和创作实践，另一方面不断反思和拓展委任的方向和逻辑。
中国港口博物馆
中国港口博物馆由国务院批准命名，位于浙江省宁波市北仑区春晓滨海新城，建成于2014年，是国家一级博物馆和国家 4A 级景区。中国港口博物馆以港口文化为主题，集教育、展示、收藏、科研、旅游、国际交流等功能于一体，具有国际性、专业性和互动性，是我国规模最大、等级最高的港口专题博物馆。中国港口博物馆是研究港口历史，传承港口文化、传播海洋文明的重要基地，是新世纪海上丝绸之路的重要文化支点。
Photo credit: Fan Yu
图片惠允：范玉
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