上海當代藝術館 如何脫離政治的陰影

SHANGHAI — Few knew what to expect of the Power Station of Art when it blew onto the contemporary art scene here in 2012. Just one year earlier, the Power Station — the first state-owned contemporary art museum in China — had been but a half-baked idea in the minds of local government officials intent on transforming Shanghai into an international cultural capital.

上海——2012年，上海當代藝術館突然出現在當代藝術的視野之中，當時幾乎沒有人知道它的前景如何。上海當代藝術館是中國第一家國有當代藝術館， 僅在開張一年前，它還只是當地那些想把上海打造成國際文化大都市的當地官員們腦子裏一個不周全的計劃。

By the time the Power Station was set to make its debut by playing host to the ninth Shanghai Biennale, construction workers and artists alike were hurrying until the final hours to prepare the space, a colossal decommissioned electrical power plant, for the show. Despite last-minute efforts, the hastily assembled biennale — with its roughly installed artwork, missing or misprinted wall labels and poorly trained staff — made for a lackluster start, leaving many with questions about the museum’s sustainability.

上海當代藝術館的首次亮相是主辦第九屆上海雙年展，這裏原本是一個廢棄的巨大發電廠，建築工人和藝術家們爲展覽空間忙碌到開展前的最後一刻。儘管到最後時刻還在努力，這個倉促拼湊的雙年展——粗劣的裝置藝術、缺失或錯印的牆上標誌、未經培訓的員工——爲藝術館開了個黯淡無光的頭，讓很多人懷疑該館是否能持續發展。

Now, two years later, those doubts appear to be diminishing as the Power Station, one of the few public institutions in China dedicated to contemporary art, finds its footing in the flourishing contemporary art scene here.

如今，兩年時間已經過去，這些懷疑的聲音似乎消失了。如今的當代藝術館已經是中國爲數不多的專門展出當代藝術的公立機構，在當地繁榮的當代藝術界找到了立足之地。

At the opening of the 10th Shanghai Biennale last month, crowds streamed through the seven-story Power Station to take in works by more than 80 artists from 20 countries, centering on the theme “Social Factory.” Organized by the writer and curator Anselm Franke of Berlin, the show, which runs through March 31, displayed few of the technical and production issues that dogged the preceding edition.

在上月舉行的第十屆上海雙年展開幕式上，觀衆們涌入七層的當代藝術館，觀賞來自20個國家的80多名藝術家的作品，這屆雙年展的主題是“社會工廠”，由柏林作家兼策展人安塞姆·弗蘭克擔任總策展人，將持續到3月31日。上屆展覽中出現的各種技術與製作問題幾乎不復存在。

“This biennale is really a landmark event for China,” said Chris Dercon, director of the Tate Modern.

“這屆雙年展的確是中國的標誌性事件，”泰特現代美術館的館長克里斯·德孔(Chris Dercon)說。

It is the first time in the biennale’s 18-year history that the chief curator had been given free rein to choose the theme. The decision to allow Mr. Franke that latitude was made by the museum’s academic committee, which was recently reorganized and includes prominent international figures like Mr. Dercon and Homi K. Bhabha, a humanities professor at Harvard.

在上海雙年展的18年曆史上，總策展人可以隨意選擇主題還是第一次。這個決定給了弗蘭克很大自由，它是由藝術館新成立的的學術委員會做出的，其成員包括德孔和哈佛大學的人文科學教授霍米·K·巴巴(Homi K. Bhabha)。

“We want the Shanghai Biennale to be more international,” said Li Xu, deputy director of the Power Station. “This is a new kind of cultural confidence.”

“我們希望上海雙年展更加國際化，”當代藝術館副館長李旭說，“這是新的文化自信。”

The current biennale, which has been well received by critics and those in the museum world, is the latest milestone for the Power Station after a string of successful exhibitions. Highlights have included a large-scale exhibition on Surrealism shipped in from the Pompidou Center in Paris, a major solo exhibition by the Chinese contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang sponsored by Infiniti, and a 30-year retrospective of portraits in Chinese contemporary art organized by Mr. Li. The Power Station has embraced its role as one of the few public institutions in China dedicated to contemporary art, developing educational outreach and training emerging curators.

這一屆雙年展已經受到評論界和藝術館界的好評，是當代藝術館繼一系列成功展覽之後最新的里程碑。該館前段時間的亮點包括大型超現實主義藝術展，展品是從巴黎蓬皮杜藝術中心運來；還有中國當代藝術家蔡國強的個展，由英菲尼迪贊助；還有李旭擔任策展的中國當代藝術30年回顧展。當代藝術館把自己的角色定位爲中國爲數不多的致力於當代藝術的公立機構，發展教育服務功能，同時培訓不斷涌現的策展人。

“The museum is really changing,” said Larys Frogier, director of the Rockbund Art Museum, one of the many private museums that have emerged in Shanghai in the last few years. “The next challenge for the Power Station as a public museum is to build not only a collection but a strong vision about Chinese contemporary art.”

“當代藝術館確實在變，”上海外灘美術館的館長拉瑞斯·弗洛喬(Larys Frogier)說，上海外灘美術館是上海近年來崛起的衆多私營藝術館之一，“作爲一個公立藝術館，它所面臨的下一個挑戰不僅是建立自己的館藏，而且也要爲中國當代藝術建立起一個鮮明的形象。”

Whether museum officials can convince the public that a government-mediated vision of Chinese contemporary art is credible remains to be seen.

藝術館的官員們能否說服公衆，政府促成的中國當代藝術形象是可靠的，這一點目前尚不分明。

While negotiating with censors has long been accepted by most art institutions, the Power Station, as a public institution, is often subject to greater scrutiny and censorship. Several artists were banned from exhibiting in the latest edition of the Shanghai Biennale. Pak Sheung Chuen of Hong Kong, for example, was cut from the show just a few days after a so-called blacklist of artists — which included him — appeared on social media, according to Cosmin Costinas, a biennale co-curator. The artists are said to have been banned from working on the mainland because of participation in recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

大多數藝術機構早已經接受了同審查者進行談判，而作爲公立藝術機構的當代藝術館經常要接受更爲廣泛的審視與審查。這屆上海雙年展上，有些藝術家的作品被禁止展出。上海雙年展的一位聯合策展人科斯明·科斯蒂納斯(Cosmin Costinas)說，在社交媒體上曾經爆出過一份所謂的“藝術家黑名單”，上面有香港藝術家白雙全的名字，沒過幾天，他的名字就從上海雙年展上消失了。這位藝術家據說因爲參加了香港最近的支持民主抗議，因此被禁止繼續在中國大陸工作。

Another Chinese artist, Song Ta, was also prevented from participating by culture bureau officials even though a show of his works, which often address Communist Party corruption, ran unimpeded in a Beijing gallery.

另一位中國藝術家宋拓也被文化局禁止參加雙年展，儘管他的作品仍然在北京某畫廊展出。他的作品通常是反映共產黨的腐敗現象。

“Censorship is part of being a public institution in China,” said Uli Sigg, one of the world’s leading collectors of contemporary Chinese art. This year works by Ai Weiwei were removed from an exhibition that Mr. Sigg helped organize for the Power Station about the history of a prize the collector created for Chinese contemporary art.

“審查制度是中國公立機構的一部分，”烏里·希克(Uli Sigg)說，他是世界上最大的中國當代藝術收藏者之一。今年（2014年——譯註）在當代藝術館，希克參與策展的一個關於他爲中國當代藝術設立的一個獎項的歷史回顧展中，艾未未的作品被撤下。

“The paradigm for contemporary art is to show things as they are, to document and to criticize,” Mr. Sigg said. “It doesn’t represent China in the way the government wants it to be represented to their people and to the outside world.”

“當代藝術的範式是呈現事物的本來面目，去記錄和批評，”希克說，“而並不是按政府希望呈現給人民和外界的樣子去呈現中國。”

Museum officials agree that escaping the shadow of politics is among the foremost challenges facing the Power Station.

藝術館官員們同意，如何脫離政治的陰影也是當代藝術館所面臨的重要挑戰之一。

“When people first look at us they see politics before they see art,” said Gong Yan, the museum director and former editor in chief of the Chinese-language magazine Art World. “We want to shift this attention so that when people come to see the exhibits they can see the individual value of the Chinese artists and not just the entire societal context.”

“當人們第一眼看我們的時候，他們首先看到政治，其次纔是藝術，”藝術館館長及華語雜誌《藝術世界》的前主編龔彥說。“我們希望改變這種關注點，讓來看展覽的人先看到中國藝術家的個體價值，而不僅僅是整體社會語境。”

Another issue for the Power Station is funding. Although the government paid for the $64 million needed to convert the 450,000-square-foot space into a museum, the institution — like many other public museums today — still struggles to find enough money for operations. And with prices for contemporary art skyrocketing, a lack of financing has also hampered the museum’s ability to build a substantive collection.

資金也是當代藝術館的一個問題。儘管政府撥款6400萬美元，把45萬平方英尺的空間改建爲博物館，但它同如今的許多公立博物館一樣，還要努力籌集足夠的運營資金。隨着當代藝術的價格飛速攀升，缺乏資金阻礙了藝術館進一步收集大量館藏。

“The biggest problem is that the government is great at taking care of the hardware but not the software,” Mr. Li said. While officials have demonstrated an increasing willingness to invest in contemporary art, he said, the “speed of change has not been as fast as you might guess.”

“最大的問題是，政府善於建造硬件，而不擅長經營軟件，”李說。雖然政府官員們表現出強大的投資當代藝術的意願，他說，但是，“變革的速度不像你以爲的那樣快。”

A foundation to solicit private donations is being established. In the meantime, money problems have also hurt the museum’s ability to attract professional staff members, officials say.

一個旨在徵集私人捐款的基金已經建立。與此同時，博物館管理者們說，資金問題也在影響博物館吸引職業工作人員加盟。

“When the government talks about culture in China they are always talking about construction,” said Qiu Zhijie, who as chief curator of the ninth Shanghai Biennale experienced the museum’s growing pains firsthand. “No one thinks that culture is like planting a tree, where you have to continue watering it.”

“當政府說起中國文化時，他們通常說的是建設，”第九屆上海雙年展的主策展人邱志傑說，對於當代藝術館在成長中經歷的困境，他有最直接的體驗。“他們沒有人會覺得搞文化就像種樹，你得持續不斷地給它澆水。”