Chen Yier is in creation. Photo by Wang Mingrun, a reporter from Guangzhou Daily,
Qingtian Water townscape. Photo by Chen Feng, a reporter from Guangzhou Daily,
"White House" and the "Ronggui Time" small park in front of it. Photo by Wang Mingrun, a full-media reporter of Guangzhou Daily,
text/Guangzhou Daily, a female artist born in the 1980s, Shunde, rebuilt her ancestral home. She attracted attention because of her unique appearance and bright colors and became popular on the Internet. In order to better integrate with the community, the artist launched the "One Square Kilometer Plan", through painting, photography and other performance art , hoping to break the intercourse barriers between people in the city and use artistic power to promote the rebirth of the community. Coincidentally, in Xingtan Qingtian, this small village that was once "unknown" has intervened with artistic power to promote the renewal of the ancient village. The local area has revitalized the old factory into Qingtian Art District and transformed the old silkworm room into an exhibition hall... Artists have enriched the spiritual world of villagers and helped rural revitalization with down-to-earth artistic presentation. There are many different techniques of artistic expression. How should art and life be better integrated? Should we be innovative or follow traditions? Guangzhou Daily All-Media reporters recently conducted an interview. Practice: In a village in the city, a white building rose from the ground. "Some people say that this is like a router, while others say that this is a PS (PlayStation game console)." When talking about the appearance of his "white house", Chen Yier, a post-80s artist, said a little self-deprecating. This brand new building with an off-white exterior paint is her new home, which she and her family aptly called "white house". The Xiaohuangpu Community where the house is located is located in the southeast of Ronggui. It is an urban-rural junction and a habitat for many new citizens to come here to pursue their dreams. In early 2020, Chen Yier and her husband, who had worked in Guangzhou and other places for ten years, decided to rebuild their ancestral home. Since the ancestral home was already dilapidated, they decided to rebuild it on site. It took more than a year from start of construction to check-in. In August 2021, Chen Yier and her family started a new life in their new house. The built house may be attracted by the eyes of people around you because of its dazzling whiteness or its unique shape. Chen Yier, who works in art, often devotes herself to her studio from morning to night and has little contact with her neighbors: on the one hand, since most of the locals have moved out, on the other hand, most of the people living around her are migrant workers, and they go out early and come back late, so they have fewer opportunities to communicate. The attention attracted by the "white house". Chen Yier said that people nearby thought the house was very strange, some people came to visit, some people thought it was an internet celebrity restaurant, an internet celebrity homestay, and some even knocked on the wall at night to study the building materials. In Chen Yier's eyes, she grew up here, and now she has re-entered this familiar land, she feels that she has become a "interventor" and a "most familiar stranger" from her hometown. She began to think about how to break the barriers between people and hoped to create a better environment for her children. Gradually, she began to work on the "One Square Kilometer Plan" of the art project. It is reported that on the one hand, she hopes to use the brush in her hand to draw houses within a square kilometer. After the work is completed, she hopes to persuade the owner of the house to hang it outside the house and turn the community into a "mobile art gallery"; on the other hand, she invites neighbors to enter this "white house", learn about each other through family matters, and record them through video, so that the communication between people is more humane and promotes the rebirth of the community with artistic power. At present, the project is in its initial stage of progress. Village: Repair the old and keep the original appearance of the ancient building. Stroll through the Qingtian of Xingtan, where the original appearance of the ancient building is preserved in its original flavor. The legacy of the school, the evening look at the building... The traces of the eight scenic spots in Qingtian still emit light. As early as March 2016, Xingtan Town Government, Rongshutou Village Conservation Charity Foundation and Guangdong University of Technology Urban and Rural Art Construction Institute jointly signed a strategic cooperation agreement on rural construction , and decided to implement the Qingtian Rural Revitalization Plan, namely "Qingtian Rural Construction".Subsequently, contemporary artist and professor at Guangdong University of Technology led the team to conduct in-depth research, exchanges and exploration, forming a theoretical system and practical basis for "Qingtian Township Construction", and exploring the path of revival of rural civilization. However, when he first arrived in Qingtian, Quyan was "stuck" - he was not accepted by the villagers. "When I first arrived in Qingtian, the villagers didn't understand me and thought I was here to do some commercial development." Qu Yan said that in the eyes of the villagers, they did not want strangers to "destroy" the peace in the village. There is a process of dialogue and understanding between the two sides and even many parties. In fact, Qu Yan, which is well-known in the field of rural construction, does not advocate building Internet celebrity-style villages through large-scale demolition and construction. "What the countryside needs is restoration and recuperation, not surgical treatment for big fights." In Qu Yan's view, art rural construction requires warm strength and perseverance. After many years, Qingtian Township Construction has formed a multi-party linkage model of "government + colleges and universities + social organizations + villagers", fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of all parties to participate and activate the endogenous driving force of rural development. It is gradually becoming a "Shunde model" for rural revitalization, attracting media attention frequently. At the end of 2021, Qingtian Art District was opened. It was renovated and revitalized from two 4-storey old factory buildings. The building area of is about 4,500 square meters. It is a public place for artists to interact with villagers and a cultural base for villagers to receive art influence. It has now become one of the important carriers of "Qingtian Township Construction". As the first batch of artists to enter Qingtian in 2021, professor at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts Chen Dong has carried out the practice of art and rural symbiosis in Qingtian and has planned a series of exhibitions for Qingtian Art District. This year, "Qingtian Minyiwei" is held regularly in Qingtian Art District. Each issue invites representative folk craftsmen and folk art innovation promoters to participate. Through down-to-earth art activities, rural life is enriched, the spiritual world of villagers is enriched, and the spirit of the villagers is dedicated to becoming a bright cultural business card in the local area. In Chen Tong's view, artistic rural construction or cultural rural construction does not mean that artists or designers stay in the countryside, or use the vast world of the countryside to engage in art or design projects, but mobilize the village's own cultural resources and strive to enhance the villagers' inner creativity - this is also the inspiration for his stay in Qingtian to carry out activities. "In recent years, Qingtian has undergone great changes, which are not only reflected in the rural hardware conditions, but also greatly improved the villagers' sense of ownership, thanks to the help of art." Liu Ruiqing, a village wise man who witnessed the "butterfly transformation" of his hometown Qingtian, said with emotion. Focus: How does art show humanistic care? Focus 1: Is art integrated into life, is it innovative or follows tradition? After Chen Yier's "white house" built by Chen Yier attracted more attention after "coming out of the circle" online. Some people appreciate her local feelings, while others think that she "destroyed" the local style... Faced with these views, Chen Yier and her family were as low-key as ever. She said that from morning to night, except for cooking and cooking housework, she spent most of her time "sucking" in the studio and immersed in her art world. Regarding the controversy, she smiled slightly and said, "It doesn't matter. When the hot spots pass, we will return to a plain life." In Chen Yier's view, to a certain extent, art and life have the need to integrate and coexist, and the "One Square Mile Plan" is an exploration and attempt that she and her family hope to integrate into the community and make it more humane around them. After more than seven years of development, Qingtian rural construction has become a well-known paradigm of rural revitalization and development. The old factory building was revitalized into Qingtian Art District, the old silkworm house was revitalized into Qingtian Exhibition Hall, and the appearance of ancient buildings such as Qingli Book House was basically maintained in its original appearance, and new cultural connotations were injected into the interior of the building... In the process of rural development, Qingtian still maintained its original rural style, but the villagers' awareness of home has been greatly improved, and the creation and implantation of art are fully combined with the villagers' daily reality, which has been recognized by them. Whether art is integrated into life is innovative or following tradition, its essence is the handling of the relationship between "new" and "old".Chen Yier, who returned home after working hard outside for ten years and the "white house" that she suddenly appeared, is a new thing for the neighbors around her, but she still remembers the strong neighborhood feelings in the past, so she hopes to regain the beauty of the past and reshape the neighborhood feelings through the "One Square Kilometer Plan". The Qingtian ancient building group, which focuses on conservation, focuses on "new wine in old bottles", and injects new artistic connotations on the basis of retaining the original style of the building. The architecture itself is "cold", but artists and designers can give it a "warm" meaning after recreation and reinterpretation. Artists’ artistic expressions can be different, but their focus should be on taking care of reality and reflecting humanistic care, which is also the deeper charm of art. Focus 2: How to highlight humanistic care when art lights up life? The reporter found that the difference between the "One Square Kilometer Plan" and Qingtian Township Construction is that the former is trying to use artistic power to enhance the humanity between neighbors in the artist's own home, while the latter is to intervene in rural revitalization through artistic power. The common point between the two is that they hope to build the limited space into an open platform to demonstrate the humanistic care of art. The "white house" in the urban village has a certain meaning of "leading ahead of the crowd", but Chen Yier did not regard it as an enclosed space, but used it as a starting point, hoping to cover it with neighbors within a square kilometer range, so that the strong human touch can reappear in the community. The "One Square Kilometer Plan" takes this "white house" as the origin and uses art as a means of expression to strengthen the connection with people within a square kilometer. Either it is a painting, or inviting neighbors to enter the "white house", chat with homes and have a light meal, art makes the neighbors more humane, and lets neighbors have more opportunities to know each other in addition to saying hello. Chen Yier told reporters that at present, the "One Square Kilometer Plan" is in its initial implementation stage. Taking the painting part as an example, since it uses new artistic expression techniques such as watercolor, pottery, , Chen Yier said that she is learning and promoting project execution. The "Ronggui Time" small park in front of the "White House" was built by the community and streets. It has now become a public sports venue for residents and is especially loved by children. "Art comes from life, but is higher than life." Over the past seven years, "Qingtian Township Construction" has gone from being initially not understood by villagers, to waiting and watching, to cooperation and support. Today, Qingtian has been frequently focused on the media's spotlight under the promotion of artistic power. On the basis of following traditional architectural styles, artists promote better integration of art and the countryside and activate the endogenous driving force for rural development. Taking Qingtian Art District as an example, in addition to inviting artists to hold personal exhibitions, the "Qingtian Minyiwei" is also regularly held, inviting local craftsmen from Shunde to show their unique skills: bamboo weaving skills, fishnet weaving, Guangxi embroidery and colorful, fish lamp shining... Local villagers have changed from enjoyers of culture and art to participants and even creators. The implantation of artistic power has gradually opened up the once closed space and promoted its transition to public cultural space.
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