Yushan’s curatorial theme is the same as mine, and we both chose the theme of childhood. We have a common appeal that throughout the whole exhibition, visitors can empathize and understand, and this exhibition can resonate with the audience and leave a deeper impression on them.
Most of the works exhibited by Yushan come from the general public. The authors are not necessarily artists or just ordinary people. She collects some impressive objects from everyone’s childhood and stories about these objects for exhibition. In China in 2018, I visited an art exhibition called “Amber” in the process of sketching. It is located in the Bushan Art Museum on the hillside near Shuikousi Primary School in Guiyang, China. The theme of the exhibition is amber, which is used as a metaphor for painting. Just like amber, it seals up some records of feelings, touches, and interesting events when I was a child, and opens it after a few years, and it still carries the same fresh emotions as it did back then. This is very similar to the core of Yushan’s exhibition, which will be a collection of many people’s childhood. Through Yushan’s introduction, she said, “This kind of inspiration comes from the Museum of Broken Relationships, which is a museum that specializes in collecting gifts abandoned by lovers when they break up and tells about The story of these objects.” Indeed, objects have great power and can transport you back to that era in an instant.
The typography of her blog is very interesting and will not look boring. In her blog, I saw the process of openly soliciting artworks, using social media and campus space, open solicitation can not only enrich the curation but also make many friends. There are many places in the blog that we have explored together, so it looks very familiar.
Seeing the movie “Things of Memories, Dialogues of Memories” in her blog gave her inspiration, for the impressive objects in the film, and shot corresponding short films for these objects. My artworks are more story-like but lack authenticity. After watching my artwork, the audience can hook through childhood objects. Reminisce resonates. This is also an answer to the peer question raised by Yushan. Art is inseparable from a specific social environment and the main body of social activities—the public. Art requires the public’s participation, communication, and recognition. Only through the public’s aesthetic interpretation and acceptance as an appreciator, the aesthetic value and meaning of the life of works of art can be realized. In this aesthetic process, the public as appreciators and the artist is in a state of spiritual dialogue. Since the artworks and art stories I curate are limited, they may not cover the childhood of all audiences, and the breadth of the items is different. Everyone has different feelings about the same item, so I choose This form of “collaborative curation” has emerged.
Overall, her blog and exhibition video ideas are very clear, and I am looking forward to her exhibition.