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艾未未：纽约1983-1993
地点：三影堂摄影艺术中心 中国北京草场地155号A
开幕：2009年1月2日下午3点
展览时间：2009年1月2日——4月18日，10:00-18:00（法定假日及每周一休息）
2009年1月，三影堂摄影艺术中心将举办“艾未未：纽约1983-1993”摄影展，展出艾未未于20多年前拍摄的、之前从未发表过的作品。从一万多张照片中精心挑选出的这些作品，以艾未未对社会和艺术的独特视角，折射出整个80年代的历史、文化和氛围。
这些作品展现了艾未未眼中1980年代的纽约，形形色色的社会生活、艺术活动、他身边的人和事，不仅记录了一个时代的变化，而且揭示了透过艾未未的眼睛所看到的世界，追踪他观念艺术实践的起点。
作为一位重要的中国当代艺术家，艾未未以其雕塑、装置和建筑而闻名，但摄影在他的艺术创作实践当中也发挥着重要的作用。他对摄影有着独到的见解，也曾经用摄影来创作艺术作品。
这些照片是对他自己的生活和工作所作的纪录，带着那个时代特有的烙印。它们并不是艾未未整个生活的编年史纪录，而是纪录了他周围的场景，揭示了他当时的思考和态度。无论对他个人而言，还是就当代艺术来说，这些照片是一部珍贵的视觉历史。
作者的话：
这些照片，是我在纽约1983年至回到北京的1994年拍摄的，前后十年的时间。那时我没有什么事情可做，总是闲着，随手拍了一些遇见的事，去过的地方，熟悉的人，我的周围的住地、街道和城市，打发每天的闲散时间。
一晃20年过去，纽约已经不是当年的纽约，下东城的东村的面貌全变，照片中的很多人已经不在世，当年常在一起的人，也早已面貌全非，不再亲近往来，不再是朋友，各奔东西。这里所涉及的人,大多并不知道有这些照片存在。今天，平淡的面对过去，它们都不再真实。既确定而又不真实，毕竟任何的现实都是变化中的事实，是漫长的时间中不确定的片刻，现在总是覆盖着过去，未来也不将理会今天。
我陆续整理出一些照片，不是为了记忆，它不重要，那段走过来的路，不必是那一条，也可能走向另外一方。那些曾认识的人，也大可不必认识，人性本身孤独，一起时或许快乐温暖，之后想起来难免可疑。我整理它们，是因为这些图像本身始终是一个真实的物质存在，那些游离在相纸上的化学物质固定一处，不再游离，在黑暗中形成了秩序。它们在我这里，它所涉及的人和事件，包括我的过去，早已不重要了。
生活在过去的50年中，很像是一片落叶，没有目的没有方向，但最终还是会落在某个角落。图片出现的方式和秩序也会是如此，杂乱无章的，有些思路好像只有混乱时才可以清晰。
今天我依然手不离相机，习惯性的按下快门。应该说明的是，我既无兴趣于摄影，也不太在意所拍之物，它始终是与我的存在并行的另一个现实，每当再看到这些照片，总是发现陌生感大于熟悉感。
整理和保存这些作品，对于三影堂呈现中国摄影历史这一使命而言是至关重要的。早在三影堂摄影艺术中心成立之先，创办人荣荣和映里即已开始与艾未未探讨这批照片的展览与出版。
“艾未未：纽约1983-1993”展览将持续到2009年4月。
三影堂摄影艺术中心
北京朝阳区草场地155号A
电话：+86 10 6432 2663 / 6431 9063 / 6431 9693
网站：www.threeshadows.cn
Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993
Location: Three Shadows Photography Art Centre No. 155A Caochangdi, Beijing, China
Opening: January 2nd, 2009 3pm
Exhibition Dates: anuary 2nd to April 18th, 2009, 10am to 6pm (closed on Mondays and national holidays)
This January, the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre will open ‘Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993,’ an exhibition of the artist’s unpublished photographs. The pieces in this exhibition were chosen from a collection of over 10,000 photographs that capture the history, culture, and atmosphere of 1980s New York from Ai Weiwei’s unique perspective on art and society.
There are photographs of East Village poetry readings, riots in Tompkins Square Park, drag queens from Wigstock, and visits by well-known artists and writers from China. The photographs not only document the changes of an era, but also reveal the world as seen through Ai Weiwei’s eyes and trace the beginnings of his conceptual art practice.
An important Chinese contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei is well known for his sculptures, installations, and architecture. Yet photography also plays an important role in his art practice. He has a distinct understanding of photography and has created some of his most iconic artworks with photographs.
The New York photographs are records of his life and work, which carry the stamp of that time. They are not a perfect chronicle of Ai Weiwei’s life, but rather scenes taken from his surroundings that reveal his thoughts and attitudes at the moment. The photographs are a valuable piece of visual history for both him personally and contemporary art.
Ai Weiwei on the New York photographs:
These photos were taken between 1983 and 1994 during the decade I spent living in New York before returning to Beijing. At that time, I didn’t really have anything to do. I was just hanging out, whiling away my time everyday by taking pictures of the people I met, places I went, my friends, my neighborhood, the street and the city.
In a flash twenty years have past, and the New York I knew no longer exists. The appearance of the East Village has totally changed, and many of the people in my photographs are no longer in this world. I took these photos casually, and most of my subjects probably don't even realize that they are in them. Today, looking back on the past, I can see that these photographs are not true anymore. After all, any reality is just a fact of change – an unconfirmed moment in the slow march of time. The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today.
What drives me to organize and publish these photographs is not nostalgia, for I believe that past occurrences do not matter much. We are not destined to meet those whom we’ve met, and humans are by nature lonely. Rather, the photos themselves are concrete objects that form a kind of orderly arrangement despite their free-floating nature as disassociated images on photo paper. The specific people and things involved, including my own past, are not important anymore.
Life in the past fifty years has been much like a falling leaf with no goal or direction. In the end, however, the leaf will land in some corner. The images’ appearance and order are much like this. They are disorganized, but paths of thought appear that seem most clear when the photos are all mixed up.
Today, I still always have a camera in my hand, accustomed as I am to the click of the shutter. What I should explain though, is that I am not that interested in photography, and don’t really care about the subjects of my photos. In the end, they are part of a different reality than that of my own existence. Every time I look at these photographs, I always discover that there is more strangeness in them than familiarity.
Archiving and preserving this collection is central to Three Shadows’ mission of presenting the history of Chinese photography. Long before Three Shadows opened, founders RongRong and inri began collaborating with Ai Weiwei on the exhibition and publication of these photographs. Three Shadows has organized and digitized the entire archive of Ai Weiwei’s early photographs.
‘Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993’ will be on view through April 2009.
Three Shadows Photography Art Centre
No. 155A Caochangdi, Chaoyang District, Beijing
+86 10 6432 2663 / 6431 9063 / 6431 9693
www.threeshadows.cn
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