中國人正用攝影和世界連接
The Hong Kong-born photographer Liu Heung Shing has long been known for documenting China and pursuing media ventures from a perch in Beijing. For many years, he lived in a restored courtyard home near the Forbidden City and the leadership enclave of Zhongnanhai.
一直以來，香港出生的攝影師劉香成(Liu Heung Shing)最爲人所知的是他對中國的紀錄，以及身居北京多家媒體企業高層的身份。他在一座經過修繕的庭院裏生活了多年，附近就是紫禁城以及中國領導人的駐地中南海。Then last summer, he and his partner, Karen Smith, an art historian and curator, uprooted themselves and moved to Shanghai, where Mr. Liu has since worked on building a photography gallery. He said he wanted to establish China’s equivalent of the International Center of Photography, or I.C.P., a well-known New York institution.
去年夏天，劉香成和他的伴侶、藝術史學家兼策展人凱倫·史密斯(Karen Smith)一起搬到了上海，隨後開始籌建一座攝影畫廊。他說他想將之打造成中國版的“國際攝影中心”(International Center of Photography)——一個位於紐約的著名機構。
On Friday, Mr. Liu is unveiling the first exhibition at his Shanghai Center of Photography. In an interview, he discussed the new gallery and what he calls a growing appreciation for documentary photography among the Chinese. Following are edited excerpts:
週五，劉香成的上海攝影藝術中心將舉辦第一場展覽。在採訪中他談了這個新畫廊，以及中國人對紀錄攝影的關注。在他看來，這種關注正日漸增多。以下是採訪節選：
Q. How did you come up with the idea for starting this photography center?
問：建立這個攝影中心的想法是如何產生的？A. A rare occurrence happened in 2014, when the mayor of Shanghai’s Xuhui District and I had a discussion. He asked me if I would move my studio space to Shanghai. I was speechless when presented with this opportunity. As a photojournalist, I don’t really work from a studio, but I thought of my previous visits to a small museum space in southern France called St. Paul de Vence.
答：2014年的一個機緣巧合，上海徐彙區區長和我有過一次交談，他問我是否願意把自己的工作室搬到上海。面對這個提議，我不知該說什麼好。作爲一名攝影記者，我並不是總在工作室裏工作，但我想起了之前去法國南部的聖保羅參觀過的一個小型博物館空間。The space available in Shanghai was designed by the American architecture firm of Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee for the 2013 West Bund Architecture and Contemporary Art Biennale. Since the building is located in the newly designated Museum Mile along the Huangpu River, I thought it would be an ideal home for an I.C.P.-like space. So I told the mayor that I would do something.
在上海可供我使用的場地，是莎朗·約翰斯頓 (Sharon Johnston)和馬克·李(Mark Lee)的美國建築事務所爲“西岸2013建築與當代藝術雙年展”設計的。由於這棟建築位於在黃浦江邊新規劃的“文化走廊”裏，我覺得是個辦國際攝影中心這類機構的理想場所。所以我告訴區長我會做點什麼。My friend Christopher Phillips of I.C.P. in New York encouraged me. We are now discussing how to curate an exhibition of Cornell Capa, who has photographed China. [Mr. Capa founded I.C.P. in 1974.] In some ways, Shanghai reminds me a lot of New York, where I studied in the 1970s and where I was inspired by I.C.P., which was first located on Fifth Avenue at East 94th Street.
我在紐約國際攝影中心的朋友克里斯托弗·菲利普斯(Christopher Phillips)鼓勵我。我們目前正在討論如何策劃康奈爾·卡帕(Cornell Capa)的展覽，他曾用影像記錄中國（卡帕在1974年創辦了國際攝影中心）。上海的某些地方讓我想起紐約，1970年代在那裏求學，坐落在那裏的國際攝影中心是我靈感的來源，它最初是在東94街和第五大道上。Q. What kinds of exhibitions and activities will the center host?
問：中心會承辦什麼樣的展覽和活動？A. We are planning to have works by people like Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov, who had a solo exhibition at MoMA [Museum of Modern Art in New York] in 2011 and one at the V.&A. [Victoria and Albert Museum] in London. His early works remind me of the Soviet days, since I worked in Moscow for four years and witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union. We are also planning to show William Eggleston’s work, which will be curated by the National Portrait Gallery in London. That exhibition will travel to Shanghai next year. We are curating an exhibition of Chinese photography called “From Grain to Pixel,” a survey of Chinese photography from the early days of the People’s Republic to today’s vibrant works by contemporary Chinese artists.
答：我們正計劃展出的有烏克蘭攝影師鮑里斯·米哈伊洛夫(Boris Mikhailov)的作品。2011年他曾在紐約現代藝術博物館(Museum of Modern Art)辦過個展，在倫敦V&A（維多利亞和阿爾伯特博物館[Victoria and Albert Museum]）也辦過一次。他的早期作品讓我想起在蘇聯的日子，因爲我曾經在莫斯科工作了四年，見證了蘇聯的解體。目前我們還在計劃展出威廉·埃格爾斯頓(William Eggleston)的作品，將會由倫敦國家肖像藝術館(National Portrait Gallery)策展。那個展覽將在明年來到上海。我們正在策劃名叫“從顆粒到像素”(From Grain to Pixel)的中國攝影展，展覽將縱覽從中華民國時期的攝影到當代中國藝術家們的生動創作。Q. Many people associate the arts in China with Beijing. Yet after many years in Beijing, you moved to Shanghai and chose to open your center there. Why Shanghai, and why this particular location in Shanghai?
問：許多人會把中國藝術和北京聯繫在一起。但是在北京待了很多年之後，你搬去了上海，並且選擇在那裏開辦你的中心。爲什麼是上海，爲什麼選上海的這個位置？A. I began my work in Beijing in 1976, when Mao died, and have lived in Beijing on and off for nearly 20 years. I have traveled to Shanghai a lot in the last 35 years. In the last couple of years, the human software, the strengths in commercial execution and the urban sophistication have distinguished Shanghai. It is suddenly the place that everyone is talking about.
答：我是1976年開始在北京的工作的，就是毛去世那年，此後斷斷續續在北京住了將近20年。過去35年間我去過上海很多次。最近幾年裏，人力資源、商業執行力和都市的繁華讓上海變得與衆不同。它突然變成了每個人都在談論的地方。Last year, Photo Shanghai sold 25,000 tickets in three days, and this fall it will hold its second fair. Beijing certainly will retain its importance since lots of fine arts educators and artists are in the capital. But at the same time, it is also a city that is home to literally thousands of bureaucratic ministers. By contrast, along the Museum Mile, the West Bund has its own bonded customs warehouse, which has one-stop service for importing artworks and taking care of shipping and insurance.
去年，上海藝術影像展(Photo Shanghai)在三天內賣出了25000張門票，然後這個秋天會舉行第二次展會。北京當然會保有它的重要性，因爲很多優秀的藝術教育者和藝術家彙集在京城。但與此同時，它也是成千上萬名官僚所在的城市。相較之下，在上海的文化走廊，西岸有自己的海關保稅倉庫，可以提供藝術品進口、運輸和保險一站式服務。Q. For your first exhibition, you chose to show photography of subjects from around the world rather than photography of China. Why?
問：在你的第一次展出中，你選擇展現來自世界各地的主題，而不是關於中國的攝影。爲什麼？A. The first exhibition, called “Photography From the 20th Century,” is a good way to introduce to Chinese visitors the breadth and depth of world photography and the rich genres of different styles of photography. I would like to impress on our visitors first the breadth and depth of photography that was invented in the West. Photography had a head start of nearly 200 years there.
答：第一場展覽“20世紀攝影展”是向來觀展的中國人介紹世界攝影的理想方式，讓人們瞭解攝影的廣度和深度，以及諸多風格迥異的流派。我想要先以在西方發明的攝影的廣度和深度來給人們留下深刻印象。那裏的攝影發展比我們要早將近200年。us about the private collection from which these photographs are taken.
問：跟我們講講這些攝影作品所屬的私人收藏吧。A. It was curated from a total collection of 1,600 works that represent a who’s who of photography. Charles Jin Hongwei, the collector, went to the United States from Shanghai as a student and became a successful businessman. Now he has become a very serious collector of photography. With the rapid development of Chinese collectors of contemporary arts, I believe the time has come where many Chinese are viewing the collecting of photography as relatively more affordable. The power of photography as a world language will enrich the lives of the Chinese middle class, which increasingly looks to foreign travel and museum visits as more viable options than conspicuous consumption.
答：展品是從一個包含1600件作品的攝影收藏中挑選出來的，都是名家的代表作。收藏者靳宏偉是曾到美國留學的上海人，後來成了一名成功的商人。現在他已經是一個很專業的攝影收藏家了。隨着中國當代藝術藏家的不斷髮展，我相信將會有許多中國人開始把攝影當作一種成本相對低廉的收藏。作爲一種世界語言，攝影的力量將會充實中國中產階級的生活，他們漸漸覺得，出國旅遊和參觀博物館是比炫耀性消費更可取的選擇。Q. What is the state of documentary photography now in China? How widespread is the appreciation of it?
問：紀實攝影目前在中國是一種什麼狀態，感興趣的人多嗎？A. When I participate in juries of international photography awards, I see an increasing number of fascinating works coming from Chinese photographers. Last month, I was a jury member of a photography contest, which had the participation of more than 2,000 professional photographers. There were more than 24,000 entries. Chinese photographers are gaining more recognition at the annual World Press Photo contest. The younger generation is moving away from the state-sponsored photographers’ associations that cast a long “former Soviet” shadow. More than 700 million Chinese consumers are turning to the Internet for information, and if we look at what people are looking at, most of it is actually photographs.
答：擔任國際攝影獎項評委的時候，我看到越來越多來自中國攝影師的精彩作品。上個月，我是新浪網()一個攝影比賽的評委，有超過2000名專業攝影師參與。入圍的作品超過24000件。中國攝影師正在一年一度的世界新聞攝影比賽(World Press Photo)上獲得更多的認可。新一代正在從官辦攝影家協會投下的“前蘇聯”陰影中走出來。超過7億中國消費者正在互聯網上尋找信息，看看人們在找什麼，大部分其實是照片。The good news is a growing number of younger Chinese are viewing original works at museums and galleries. The photography scene today in Shanghai is lively. A Chinese beer company hosted a photography contest for amateurs and received 2.5 million images. Chinese have now turned to photography to connect with the world and to draw on ideas. There is a hunger out there after decades of self-imposed isolation under the Mao era. It is a hunger that I have personally photographed.
令人欣喜的是，越來越多的年輕中國人正來到博物館和畫廊欣賞原作。攝影在今天的上海是非常活躍的。一家中國啤酒公司舉辦了一場業餘攝影競賽，收到了250萬張照片。中國人正選擇用攝影來和世界連接，吸收各種理念。經過毛時代持續數十年的自我隔離之後，人們有一種渴望。那是一種我親手去拍攝過的渴望。
