中欧社会论坛 - China Europa ForumArt and the city
Beijing seminar
Authors: Lorenzo Marsili, Niccolo Milanese
Date: 1 octobre 2009
Extract from ” THE MYTH OF EUROPA“
URL: www.euroalter.com/
The seminar organised by European Alternatives together with Abitare China and the China- Europa Forum last summer in Beijing is a further testament to our belief that the most pressing political and artistic questions of our time can only be tackled through the formulation of trans-cultural answers and the creation of transnational networks of activism and knowledge-production. The themes discussed were many; on the first day we looked at different strategies and examples of “engagement” in the European and Chinese artistic spheres, we then moved on to analyse the differt relations to the nation and the “national” in the two contexts, and finally discussed the perception of “globalisation” and the meaning of “global artists”; the second day was devoted to the city, with discussions on differ- ent forms of artistic interventions in public space, the different conceptions of the “city” as a shared space of sociability in Chinese and European history, and finally a glance at the figure of the flaneur, attempting to overcome its untranslatability in Chinese and identify a common way of living the city beyond productivist concerns. All the themes shared a common objective, and namely the attempt to go beyond mere comparative analyses, to surpass the simple exchange of perspectives behind entrenched national barriers, aiming instead to isolate a core set of themes equally crucial in both Europe and China, initiating a process leading to shared alternative positions and suggestions. This process has only just begun, and we invite you to take part. On this page are short reflections from some of those taking part in the worhops. The full list of participants includes Mi You, Baskar ukhopadhyay, Stephen Wright, Huang Rui, Shu Yang, Sonya Dyer, Lu Jie, Wuwei Chen, Fei Qing, Gideon Boie, Liang Jingyu, Bert de Muynck, Miao Yu, Zhuma Yujiang, Ran Ping, and Shuyu Che