文章开始，我想有必要先阐明有关本文里论述的“少数族裔”(ethnic minority)的基本概念：它通常用来泛指在肤色、种族，亦或国别、宗教和文化根源上不同于他们所居住的国家或地区中占据主导的那一群体。在西方社会的语境下，与“少数”相对的“多数”(majority)往往是由语言、宗教、文化、政治占主导地位的白人群体组成。需要指出的是，我们在此讨论的“少数族裔”，不同于中国社会语境下的“少数民族”，更是全球语境下在文化政治层面与历史上主导型（dominant）的“西方”世界（the West）形成对比的，包括现生活在“西方”的地区原住民、侨民或移民在内的群体。
Shanghai experienced a sudden upheaval in the past April, with the unexpected citywide lockdown seemingly becoming the new normal. The entire city found itself reluctantly trapped in uncertainty.
Four members of the Collecting Committee at the Longlati Foundation, Chen Jiaying, Chen Xi’an, Li Suchao, and Yuan Jiawei, initiated this sharing session to discuss their respective work interfaces and lifestyles during the closed-loop management process. They aimed to rethink their relationship with the space they occupy and explore the extension of self within it.
This sharing session also invited representatives from galleries collaborating with the Longlati Foundation in Shanghai, including Cai Junjun, Francois Ho, Wang Ruolin, Zhou Bingxin, and Zhang Zheyuan, to join in the dialogue.
在印度籍学者Gayatri Spivak 1985年发表的著名论文《底层人能发声吗？》（Can the subaltern speak?）中， Spivak继续葛兰西在她之前揭露的西方资本主义对“底层阶级”在心智和理论上施展的文化霸权主义，呼吁在西方中心主义外围的南亚学者展开对西方殖民主义母体的批判。这个去殖民主义的进程，近年来通过在西方社会的“底层阶级”——包括女性、少数族裔、性少数族裔等社会弱势阶层——发起的社会运动，诸如，“MeToo运动”、“黑命也是命Black Lives Matter Movement运动”，在世界各地各行各业发酵传播。
重思主客关系的课题，对于艺术而言已经不是什么新鲜事。这与材料（物、对象）的逐渐显现不无关系。尤其在雕塑实践中，材料前所未有地以具体的实态反抗着制作者，似乎在为长期的隐没作出报复。我们曾经关心雕塑的形象、语境或观念，却几乎不曾关心其材料。无论古典雕塑家选择的是金属、木材、象牙、石头还是陶土，都不会过于影响我们对作品的理解。材料在这些创作中，是毫无内涵的质料、尚待雕琢的半成品，永远等候着一个主体为其赋予意义与形式。
拟像、仿真显现出的隐喻及象征，和丈量尺度（距离）的探讨在沃恩·斯班（Vaughn Spann）和夸尔斯（Christina Quarles）的作品中都能对号入座。他们没有走向单纯的屏幕视觉，因此绘画中作为人类情感传递和捕捉图像达意之间的灰色间离地带，是今天有必要作文探讨的根本所在。屏幕化图像在转译到架上的同时，如何放大其中的量场和精神维度是这一代艺术家共同面对的问题。
艺术家德里克·亚当斯（Derrick Adams）曾说：“我比以往任何时候都感觉到，艺术家们必须制作赞美黑人文化的作品。作为一个黑人，我意识到我的脆弱性和每天都容易受到创伤和压迫……有些图像对我们来说不如快乐的图像重要。”许多年以来，亚当斯在各类艺术媒介领域中工作，它们涵盖了绘画、摄影、雕塑、录像、表演和声音装置，大多都根植或围绕于一种黑人经验的主题。这些创作强调了非裔美国人的经历与流行文化身份的交织关系，并着重刻画着我称之为“黑色休闲”（Black Leisure）的主题。在不同阶段，不同系列的作品当中，亚当斯在游泳、电视娱乐、驾车、乃至美发行业当中探索着一种作为激进形式的休闲行动。
近几年的艺术界已经很少继续使用“后网络”这一词语，想来也不过是五六年的时间。大概在2014以及2015年 “后网络”这个词似乎迎来了它逐渐销声匿迹的最后的巅峰时刻。究其原因，大概因为“后网络”一词本身所定义的内涵就十分模糊，它的“后”并没有和其前身“网络艺术”有着清晰的界限，所以不是关于如何“后”的，更像是关乎互联网本身的；另一个原因则是，2000年代中叶的时间节点去观察互联网有新鲜感，而一种新兴的媒介总有成为艺术媒介的可能，但2010年代中叶之后，互联网已经深入/伸入到了每个人的最平庸的日常，甚至从第二身份过渡成了第一身份，因此，再继续沿用“后网络”及其定义、风格等，则完全成为了一种不必要的赘述。
进入“墙后（Behind the Wall）”展览的展厅，首先映入眼帘的是墙体刷成明黄色的六菱形亭阁，探身而入，视线便与拱形门廊框定的黑人肖像四目相对。这是一位有着如同埃贡·席勒（Egon Schiele）画作般模糊面孔的男子，身着花衣，侧身但正面注视着对位的来者。
In September 2021, during the process of visiting new exhibitions at galleries and institutions, four members of the Longlati Writers’ Acquisition Committee (Shanghai) noticed two female artists born in the 1990s: Zhang Yibei (born in Daqing, Heilongjiang, in 1992) and Liao Wen (born in Chengdu, Sichuan, in 1994). Focusing on sculpture creation and the development of its language, they each employ conceptual or material-driven visual methodologies in their practices. However, they also incorporate elements of corporeality that exist between performance and action within the expanded field of sculpture, thereby forming an open strategy of media interchange. Based on the selection and resolution by the Longlati Writers’ Collection Committee (Shanghai), the Longlati Foundation gladly announces the acquisition of Zhang Yibei’s work “At the pinnacle of despair” (2021) and Liao Wen’s work “The Garden of Adonis” (2021).
Sydney Shen (born in 1989 in New Jersey, currently based in New York) is a Chinese-American female artist who has garnered attention from the members of the Longlati Foundation’s Writers’ Acquisition Committee (Shanghai), including Chen Jiaying, Chen Xi’an, Li Suchao, and Yuan Jiawei, in their respective research practices. In her debut exhibition in Shanghai titled “Misery Whip,” presented at Gallery Vacancy in early 2021, Shen combines sculpture, installations, and immersive environments that blend human corporeal history, medical history, archaeological found objects, contemporary symbols, and science fiction narratives. These works create a mirrored reality of the real world, reflecting the tension and intricate texture of constructive practices. In her subsequent solo project titled “Cupio Dissolvi” at Liste Art Fair Basel, the artist further explores one of her signature visual languages. By magnifying and scaling ordinary everyday objects to the point of alienation and weaponization, Shen reflects on internal conflicts, divisions, and renewal within oneself.