This Ain’t China: A Photonovel, 1974
《这不是中国：一部照片小说》，1974年
Silver gelatin prints and c-prints on paper, booklets in English and Chinese
银明胶照片，照片，中英文手册
Courtesy of the artist and Christopher Grimes Gallery, Los Angeles
作品由艺术家本人以及洛杉矶Christopher Grimes画廊提供

 Eyes Closed Assembly Line, 2010
《闭眼流水线》，2010年
Plexi-mounted transparency in lightbox
有机幻灯片，灯箱
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Michel Rein, Paris
艺术家以及巴黎Michel Rein画廊的支持

Two works, from two different moments in one artist’s career, testify to an ongoing interest in the changing role of China in the global imaginary. The earlier work, This Ain’t China: A Photonovel was produced in 1974, shortly after Allan Sekula graduated from art school, while he worked in a fast-food restaurant in San Diego. Crucially, the word “China” takes on at least two meanings in the course of the narrative (which accompanies the photographs): China (uppercase C) is the faraway country of the Cultural Revolution that the workers of the piece evoke in contemplating their aspirations; but china (lowercase c) also means fine dinnerware, an example of elegance and high quality craft to which their boss aspires (hence the English term “fine china”). Yet another notion of China may be seen to emerge in the backlit transparency Eyes Closed Assembly Line, an image (seen at the entrance to the Dutch Cultural Center) that Sekula captured very recently, while filming in a kitchenware factory near Guangzhou: the assembly line evokes the new perception of China as a modern, industrialized global producer of just about everything – a world “Made in China.” Within this bustling factory, Sekula isolates a moment of one woman’s concentrated listening; she is closing her eyes so as to better hear any loose parts in the appliance she is assembling. Thus, we may be invited to draw new connections between two seemingly faraway realms: aesthetic production and working life.
这两个作品完成于艺术家艺术生涯中两个不同的时刻，展露并证明了一种对中国在全球想象中不断变换的角色的持续兴趣。第一个作品《这不是中国：一部照片小说》制作于1974年，那时Allan Sekula刚刚从艺术院校毕业不久，在圣地亚哥一家快餐店打工。关键在于，“中国”(China)一词在作品的叙述中（叙述和照片是搭配出现的）至少具有两层含义：中国是一个遥远的国度，那里发生过文化大革命——而作品中工人们在计划打算未来的抱负时曾提起文革；以小写字母开头的“china”一词又是那些精美的餐具的代称，代表了优雅和高超的工艺，这却是作品中工人的老板所追求的（英文中因此有“美瓷”(fine china)这种说法）。另一种有关中国的观念出现在作品《闭眼流水线》背光幻灯片打出来的一幅照片上，这幅照片是Sekula最近在广州一家厨具厂拍摄电影时抓拍到的。流水线烘托出的是中国作为现代的、工业化的全球生产者的观念，这个中国生产的产品包罗万象，制造出一个“中国制造”的世界。在那家喧扰的工厂里，Sekula的照片抓住了一个女工专心聆听的瞬间：她闭上双眼，为了听得更清楚自己组装的器具是否完全精确牢固。从这个角度看，我们可以把两个看起来不相干的领域——美学生产和劳动生活——联系起来。

Allan Sekula (b. 1951) is an American artist based in Los Angeles, whose photographic and writing practice has sustained an insightful critique of economic, social and cultural globalization. He has exhibited extensively, including at documentas 11 and 12 (2002, 2007). Currently a selection of works spanning the artist's career, including early works and a new series, have been brought together in Polonia and Other Fables, which has toured to The Renaissance Society in Chicago; Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw; and continues to the Museum Ludwig in Budapest and Belfast Exposed. Sekula teaches at CalArts in Los Angeles and lectures internationally. Allan
美国艺术家Sekula（1951年生）生活和工作于洛杉矶，他的照片作品和写作实践对经济的、社会的以及文化的全球化保持了敏锐的批判。他广泛参与了世界各地的展览，包括第十一届和第十二届卡塞尔文献展（2002年、2007年）。目前，展览《波洛尼亚以及其他神化传说》将艺术家一组贯穿其艺术生涯的作品——包括早期作品以及新作——策划在一起展示，已经在芝加哥文艺复兴协会(The Renaissance Society)、华沙萨切塔国家美术馆进行了巡展，并将前往布达佩斯的路德维希博物馆和北爱尔兰Belfast Exposed画廊展出。Sekula目前在洛杉矶CalArts学院教书，在国际上举办过很多讲演。