501 Artists in Residence, Chongqing. November 2010

Goodbyes
I have nearly a week left in China, but today is Nina’s last day so we spent it saying good bye and thanking the people we have met along the way. Nina completed her activity at the river bank by taking bags of fruit to the people who live by the river and who have helped her over the last few weeks. We then had a tea party in the gallery for all the students who have helped us during the exhibiton process.

Finally we took 17 people out for hot pot. Hot pot is what Chongqing in famous for in China, it is a very social practice which involves people sitting round a bubbling pan of spicy broth. What makes Chongqing hot pot special is the huge amounts of chilli and Sichuan pepper which is added to the soup. The experience of eating Sichuan Pepper, a friend of mine described as being like having a disco going on, on your tongue. It makes your whole mouth pulsate and then leaves it almost completely numb.

Lots of ingredients are brought to the table to be added to the hotpot. Today this included pig’s brains, cubes of congealed blood, chicken intestines, headless fish still wriggling on the plate and slices of tripe that look like a carved up leather bag. It is perfectly possible to be a vegetarian in China, but you need to prepare yourself for what, alongside your tofu and vegetables, may also be occupying the table. I had prepared myself very well, but I’m quite relieved I won’t have to go through this too many more times.

Jessica Longmore
Tuesday 7^th December

The day of the exhibition
The work I am exhibiting is constructed from the artefacts of my endeavour – the bottles of water and bags of sand I have gathered during the residency. I have three pieces of work. The first is water taken from two sources, the Jialing River and the Yangtze River, contained in drinking water bottles. I don’t feel entirely satisfied with this work, it is not a risk or a challenge; it’s the straightforward presentation of artifacts as work, perhaps a document of the activity that took place over a short period of time. I returned to the Jialing today with empty bottles to be filled, I found the the area fenced off undergoing re-development work.

The second work is a construction I made to collect rainwater. Previously it stood outside waiting for rain, now it stands redundant inside the gallery. The third work has a different sort of energy, the artefacts have become the building blocks for a sculpture. It feels like the most complete work I have made during the residency. My endeavour continues, tomorrow I will collect more water, bring it to the gallery and add it to the exhibition.

Suddenly the time seems all too short, in less than 2 days I will be leaving for the UK.

These are my immediate thoughts following the exhibition opening.

6th December
Nina Chua

Our exhibition opens tomorrow. Over the last few days I have been trying to come to a decision about what to show. Three weeks really isn’t enough time to make and show work, especially when you’re in an environment where arrangements keep changing and new experiences bombard you at every turn. The Himalaya Bookstore has 4 small gallery spaces. Nina has chosen the 2 adjoing spaces and I will have the two white cube galleries, one with a window to the street and one on the top floor.

To formally present work in this way after 3 week feels wrong – however the process of exhibiting forces you to make decisions. Decisions which may have taken months to reach – or may never have been made at all. For me this pressure has resulted in me exhibiting in a medium I am very uneasy about.

For Objects for a Studio (my ongoing project where I work in other artists’ studios) I have no qualms about showing photographs. The photograph itself is integral to the framework of the project: one day, one studio, one photograph. However Objects for a Studio has only formed a tiny fraction of my residency in Chongqing, I have therefore decided to show additional work. The work I have chosen is also photographs; a decision I have struggled greatly with. This is not because of any prejudice against the medium, but rather that it doesn’t quite feel like my work. Deciding to show images has forced me to see them as work. Whether this decision was the right one remains to be seen, but it is important to make mistakes sometimes.

Jessica Longmore
Sunday 5^th December

Now in the final days of our residency we have met a German artist who is mid way through a 3 month residency in Chongqing, he is sharing a studio with a French artist who is coming to the end of a 2 month residency. The first European artists we’ve met since we’ve been here.

They have been sourcing materials from houses marked for demolition. On their numerous trips they have stumbled across people sleeping and people stripping copper from electrical cables. Their studio is now home to a large framed wedding photograph claimed from one of the houses.

We have been there too, at the start of our residency during a exploration of the city centre we stumbled across the same houses. We took some photographs from outside standing on the pavement, we wrote (briefly) about it in a previous post and uploaded 2 of the images. From outside we could see the contents of peoples’ lives exposed, upturned and left to mould, we had no desire to go any further, it just felt too intrusive to do so.

Nina Chua
December 4th

Looking Again

On several occasions I have set out to find Nina’s work. On Wednesday I got up early, armed with my camera to seek out 2 structures that I had seen Nina making in the studio. I knew she had left them outside, close to our apartment, to collect rainwater. I spent a considerable amount of time wandering through the grounds of the apartment blocks in our area – but to no avail. I found lots of other things though: chickens, playgrounds, gardens, houses, bamboo, palm trees; all just metres from where I live, unknown to me until now.

Yesterday, while accompanying Nina on Xiao Q’s 4^th walk of the day, we again visited the area surrounding our apartment. We discussed how the presence of a dog somehow legitimises loitering in an area or visiting it time and time again. Alerted by a little sideways nod from Nina, I could just make out the allusive structures in the darkness. I returned to the spot today in daylight, and not only found the items that Nina had made but also an interesting scene. Near where Nina’s work was positioned were the foundations of a house, with the kitchen and living areas clearly defined; traces of tiles and interior decoration still present. These foundations gave way suddenly to a huge drop and another never seen before view far across the city.

In the afternoon I set out for another encounter with Nina’s work. This involved revisiting the banks of the Yangtze for the first time since our first week in Chongqing. I knew Nina was going to be spending the afternoon at the site collecting sand. For once I arrived at the perfect time to see her hauling 14 bags of sand up the very steep banks of the river to the road. This activity was not so much performance (she acknowledged my presence and chatted to people who lived nearby) but more a committed gesture. She has decided to collect this much sand and bring it back to the studio and so she does. It is this practical decision that drives the activity, rather than a process of endurance or exercise in provoking a reaction from passers by. Having said that, it is still a focused and consistent series of actions, distinct from mearly collecting materials; the means by which she transports the materials is imperative.

Nina’s work occurs, whether people are there to witness it or not. I just happened to be aware something was happening and fortunate to have arrived in time to view it; I was not an invited audience member. I did feel clumsy crouched in the undergrowth with a camera, but didn’t feel like I was interrupting or hindering the process. From what Nina has told me, each time she has visited this site, something has happened. Whether it be an offer of help, a word of advice, witnessing the vegetable patches rapidly advancing down the river bank or seeing local people gather to shout at the coal lorries thundering past their homes. Her action is set amongst the everyday life surrounding it, not directly communicating with it, but existing alongside and within.

For me, returning to the site was very different from last time. The scene was less abject; partly because of its familiarity and also more bearable now my lungs have adjusted to the local air. My experience was less about the overall guttural impact of the place, although the dust and smog are still very present, and more now about the details site. The crops, the things people have hanging outside their homes, the fish pools on the roofs of houses, the sound of the train, the old man walking along the train track… This site still has great impact, but your reading of the scene alters with each visit.

Jessica Longmore
Friday 3rd December