Calm, 2009
《平静》，2009年
Stones, waterbed, water, protective plastic
石头，水床，保护塑料
Courtesy of the Madeln company and ShanghArt, Shanghai  
作品由没顶文化有限公司(MadeIn)以及上海香格纳画廊提供

Calm is one of several works of diverse media created for the exhibition Seeing One’s Own Eyes: Contemporary Art from the Middle East, which was curated/created by MadeIn, and which premiered at ShanghArt Gallery in Shanghai in the fall of 2009. Seeing this show inspired the development of the current exhibition, as the paradoxes of cross-cultural perception, which Nether Land attempts to highlight, find strong echoes in MadeIn’s approach. (This is a strategy at the limits of representation shared by several artists in Nether Land, but perhaps especially pertinent to the viewing of the two photographs of the Middle East by Lidwien van de Ven). The minimal and enigmatic sculptural installation Calm heightens this sense of paradox. Contrary to the work’s title, the animated rubble may be understood to evoke the turbulence of a region plagued by war and conflict. Yet we might also perceive a hopeful tone in Calm, especially when considering how the opportunities of cross-cultural perception are emphasized in MadeIn’s curatorial statement for the Seeing One’s Own Eyes exhibition: “This exhibition is an artistic representation of the multi-aspect situation in the Middle East from a Chinese point of view. Creation of the exhibited works was based on respect, objectivity and strictness. […] The selection was done according to both cultures’ differences, as equal as possible, to reduce misunderstanding and enhance comprehension.”
作品《平静》是由不同的媒介组成的几件作品之一，原本是为展览《看见自己的眼睛：中东当代艺术展》创作。那次展览由MadeIn公司策划创立，于2009年秋天在上海的香格纳画廊首次举办。观看那次展览为《何国》的策划发展提供了不少灵感，因为《何国》试图凸显的跨文化认知的矛盾性与MadeIn的考察不无呼应之处（这是《何国》中有些艺术家在表现手法上共同使用的策略，不过也许也和创作者看了Lidwien van de Ven两幅有关中东的照片得到灵感有关）。这件极简形式的、具有神秘色彩的雕塑装置加强了这种矛盾的认知。与作品题目相反的是，我们可以把作品中生动的碎石看做对被战火和矛盾覆盖的地区动荡状况的指涉。但我们也能在作品中发现一种怀有希望的语调，当我们读到和思考Madeln对展览《看见自己的眼睛》进行的策展陈述中提及的有关跨文化认知的可能性如何被强调时，发现这种语调尤为明显。他们写道：“本次展览是以中国人的理解方式对中东多元文化形态的一种艺术呈现。展览作品以尊重、客观以及严谨为基本创作观[…]选用的所有素材都尽可能考虑到各方在文化上的差异，在客观平等的创作中，减少误会增进了解。”

MadeIn (est. 2009) is a company, formed as a platform for artistic production by Xu Zhen (b. 1977) , an artist of international acclaim living and working in Shanghai. Xu’s diverse practice has tested the artist’s capacity to formulate alternate modes of production and to rethink artistic, national and moral boundaries. With MadeIn, additional questions of authorship and origin (including the origin of production) are highlighted. Currently, MadeIn’s work is also exhibited in the survey of the last thirty years of Chinese painting on view at the newly opened Minsheng Art Museum in Shanghai.
艺术家徐震2009年创立了没顶文化有限公司(MadeIn)，旨在为艺术生产提供一个良好的平台。徐震是国际上颇受赞誉的艺术家，在上海生活和工作。他的各种艺术实践考验了艺术家表述艺术生产的交替模式的能力以及针对艺术的、民族的和道德的界限的再思考能力。MadeIn公司同时提出了另一个问题：作者身份和原创性（包括生产的原创性）。目前MadeIn的作品也可以在新开幕的上海民生美术馆举办的“中国当代艺术三十年”展览中的绘画部分看到。