Liu Yujia

By Wang Shuman Translated by Bridget Noetzel

The exhibition title “Border Hotel” exists in a critical state. It is a representation of Hungarian-British archeologist Aurel Stein’s nomadic exploration of Central Asia, but it is also an abstract reference to the ambiguity of borders in the transition from dynasty-states to nation-states and to the mobility of the people who moved through or settled here. In contrast to the ambiguity suggested by the title, the exhibition’s narrative presents two clear spatiotemporal threads: early twentieth century colonial expeditions and twenty-first century natural resource conversion. Sustained and everchanging human activities have left different marks on the Earth’s surface and features, an expression of manpower in an evolving landscape or border.

The tent, the topographical map of the Kunlun Mountain range, and the digital archives of the International Dunhuang Project in the living room re-create how Stein lived when he was making topographical surveys and organizing archeological expeditions in the Kunlun Mountains. Several Chinese-made mobile phones on stands outside the tent play videos and live streams of Hotan jade sellers on a loop. The old colonial order and the new mode of capitalist production—two structural spaces separated by a century—come together here and prompt us to ask the question: What value does a frontier area like Xinjiang have? Historically, it was a transitional zone between Eastern and Western cultures, a rich reserve of precious metal resources, and a land to which surplus population could be dispatched. In the next work, Liu Yujia further explains how these values and incentives are mediated by things and people, mixing the replacement of colonial patterns and the management of conceptions of sovereignty.

Archaeological Journal - Topographic Exploration is comprised of a two-channel video playing amidst a re-creation of the bedroom of George Macartney, the first British consulgeneral of Kashgar. Liu incorporates two kinds of journals into the piece: Stein’s text on the excavation of ancient Khotan—part of which came from Ancient Khotan: Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan—and her own visual journal of topographic exploration built on archival material and footage she shot. The narrative voice that Liu developed based on a vision of Stein is used to identify five types of topography (the Kunlun Mountains, the Taklamakan Desert, glaciers, riverbeds, and the Red Willow Sand Dunes), showing how the colonial explorers who traversed Central Asia in the early twentieth century relied on topographic descriptions in antique documents to locate ancient ruins. Perhaps intended to create a visual sense of distance with the topography (border), this work reflects the aesthetic influence of Chantal Akerman in the use of long shots; the pan of the lens gives the impression of temporal stagnation. These important cinematic elements have been deeply rooted in Liu’s work since her Taklamakan shoot, and she continues to explore ways of connecting the two temporal dimensions of past and present within that stagnation in her next work Treasure Hunt.

In addition to topographic studies, Stein undertook the political task of human surveys. The archival photographs covering the conference table show part of this work. Human surveys are an exercise in biological categorization, which appeared in the West in the nineteenth century and fed into scientific racism. After the colonial machine started, these surveys were used to identify an ethnicity’s attributes and encourage national self-determination. Pulling aside the curtain in the conference room, the screen behind the glass shows a face being shaved. In that moment, these two spatiotemporal forces are simultaneously brought to bear on the correction of thought.

In addition to these complete spaces and works of art, Liu also cleverly inlays the everyday records of border laborers in the kitchen, bathroom, and hallway, which includes a seamstress in a tailor shop, a stall keeper in a market, and Rayaman Dawut, the Princess Consort of the Kucha Hereditary Hui Prince. In her 2018 work The Pale View of Hills, Liu Yujia presents the life of the last Princess Consort, from pictures with tourists to daily tasks. These trivial, ordinary details were re-developed and reedited, disassembled and distributed into the living spaces that connect to the artworks. For example, a sound clip of the Princess Consort cleaning the toilet plays on a loop in the bathroom. The juxtaposition of many kinds of laborers brings what was previously a deadlock or tension of ethnicity in the living room, bedroom, and conference room into an understanding of our identities as human beings. This is akin to processual archaeology; the exploration of historical relics must be experienced through the human body, and the perceptions, memories, and emotions of those who experienced it become new materials in the construction of historical scenarios. (Artforum Review)

刘雨佳|ARTFORUM展评

文 | 王姝曼 翻译 | 那瑞洁

展览标题 “边疆宾馆”处于一种临界状态,它既是对匈裔英国考古学家奥莱尔·斯坦因(Marc Aurel Stein)在中亚游牧式探险方式的具象形喻,也是对从“王朝国家”到“民族国家”转变下边疆语义的模糊性,以及来往居于此地人口的流动性的一种抽象指涉。与展览标题的所暗含的暧昧语义不同,展览叙事呈现出两条清晰的时空线索——20世纪初的殖民探险和21世纪的自然资源变现。在这里,持续且变动的人类活动在地表地物上留下了异质性的记录,成为景观(边疆)演变的一种人工表达。

客厅中的帐篷、昆仑山脉地形图和国际敦煌项目的数位化档案还原了斯坦因在昆仑山一带进行地形测绘和考古探险时的生活场景;几只竖在帐篷外支架上的国产手机屏则在循环播放着短视频直播和田卖玉的盛况。旧殖民秩序与新资本生产,相隔一个世纪的两种结构空间交汇于此,并将问题引向:处于边陲的新疆存在何种价值?遗存东西文明的过渡区块、蕴藏量丰富的贵金属资源、调度过剩人口的土地承载……刘雨佳在接下来的作品中进一步阐述了这些价值诱因如何以物和人为介质,搅动殖民格局更替及主权意识管理。

在仿照英国驻喀什噶尔首位总领事马继业的私人官邸陈设的卧室中播放的双屏影像《考古日志—地形探索》包含着两种形态的日记——斯坦因关于古代和田考古发掘的日记文本(部分文本收录于《古代和田:中国新疆考古发掘的详细报告》一书中,其原书名为Ancient Khotan: Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan)和刘雨佳以档案和实拍影像建立的“地形探索”视觉日记。艺术家基于对斯卡因的人物想象而虚构的叙述声音展开了对五种地形(昆仑山脉、塔克拉玛干沙漠、冰川、河床、红柳沙包)的识别,引出20世纪初来往中亚的殖民探险者如何依靠古籍文献中的地形描述定位古代遗址的方位。或许是为了在视觉上留出对地形(边疆)认知的距离感,这段影像仍旧保留了香特尔·阿克曼(Chantal Akerman)对艺术家在长镜头使用上的美学影响,镜头的巡视带来一种时间上的凝滯感。这种影像特征也是继在克拉玛依的拍摄以来深植于刘雨佳创作中的重要元素,而如何在凝滯中勾连历史和现实的两层时间维度,这将成为她在接下来的“寻宝计划”中有待探寻的方向。

除了擅长地形学,斯坦因还肩负着人形勘绘的政治任务。摊满会议室桌面的档案照片局部呈现出这部分的工作。人形勘绘作为一种生物分类学方式,自19世纪起兴起于西方并推衍出一套科学种族主义,在殖民机制启动后,被持续地借用于民族属性认同的讲演和民族自决的鼓动。拉开会议室的窗帘,玻璃后的屏幕上出现正在剃须的人脸。此时,两种时空下权力对意识的校正同步生效。

在这些整块空间和完整作品外,艺术家还在厨房、卫生间和走廊巧妙地嵌入了边疆劳动者的日常记录,这其中包括裁缝铺的女工、市场上的商贩以及原库车世袭回部亲王的王妃热亚南木·达吾提。在2018年的作品《远山淡景》中,刘雨佳展示了这位末代王妃从与游客合影到日常劳动的生活状态。这些琐碎的日常细节被重新展开和再次剪辑,拆解并分布在与画面场景相关联的寓所空间中,比如,其中一间卫生间循环播放着王妃冲洗马桶的声音片段。多重劳动者形象的并置将此前在客厅、卧室和会议室中胶着的有关民族认同的张力落回对“人”的自我身份辨识上。这让人想到过程主义考古学的观点,即,对历史遗存的探索需要通过人的身体来体现,而经历者与阅读者的感知、记忆和情感将成为历史情境建构过程中的新材料。

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