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In Strange Terrains, Muchuan stimulates questions and conversations revolving around nature, power, boundaries, and production. She studied decorative paintings depicting natural landscapes. Beneath the surface of the apparently serene and peaceful Chinese Shanshui (literally mountain and water, or landscape) painting, there is an undercurrent of conflict between different elements. Historically, the inhabitants of the Zomia region were largely unsupervised by the imperial system and were not socially or culturally disciplined. It was not until the founding of the People's Republic of China that demographics and the promotion of Mandarin Chinese became widespread. However, in this process, Shanshui paintings, with their distinctive style and visual aesthetic, were often seen as commodities. They were incorporated into the construction of local family housing space with the penetration of ideology and the exploitation of natural resources. The Jianghu (literally 'rivers and lakes', but metaphorically refers to a society of heroes beyond the reach of the government) and Shanlin (literally 'mountain and forest'), which symbolize seclusion and escape from the world, are interpreted as the gathering of wealth. The purpose is to develop Ban Gioc-Detian Falls into a rosewood market to buy and sell rosewood furniture which represents wealth and status. This rosewood product and the landscape painting based on the geographic origin of rosewood are in the same domestic space. She have perceived the hypocrisy and absurdity caused by the imposition of the traditional Chinese concept of 'Unity of Man and Nature' on the greedy for profit and wealth in reality.
untitled (folding screen) from the series Strange Terrains
2022
Pine wood, chiffon. 200*150*5 cm.
untitled (rosewood armchair) from the series Strange Terrains
2022
Elm wood, wood stains, wood grain tape, EVA foam mats. 55*55*85 cm.
Shore of the Labyrinth, the Sky at Dawn
2024
Found objects, 3D printed figures, UV printing on 6mm MDF, laser cutting 3.2mm MDF. Dimensions variable.
佐米亚居民曾被视为逃亡者、躲避者或被放逐者。他们频繁迁徙的历史，正是其乌托邦式的家园，被超市、酒店、机场等超现代性所不断入侵的写照。高速公路的修建，使大量的小资涌入旅游景区，娱乐业随之发展，景观社会也正式形成。由从前的自然王国，到如今的被这些马克·奥热所谓的“非地方”所入侵的世界，理想的山水逐渐沦为风景画中的原型，变作意识抢先的影像，构成游客参观前脑海中所浮现的无限遐想，即是一种新型的“非地方”。过去藏匿于山水间的隐士，当面对政权与生产时，早已变得无处可逃。沿着人造的边界可以发现壮丽的风景，这与间或发生在边界上的交易、开发、监视和控制形成鲜明对比。我从过去佐米亚的政治空白中，思考个体所保持的匿名和孤独，了解人们透过风景所寻求的“松绑”策略；从而追踪当代风景画背后所隐藏的，政府渗透主权认同与倒灌意识形态的同质化现象。
Muchuan explored how non-place exists in the form of landscape painting, thereby homogenizing identities. Residents of Zomia were once considered runaways, fugitives or maroons. The history of their frequent migration reflects the constant invasion of their utopian homeland by representatives of supermodernity, such as supermarkets, hotels, and airports. The construction of the highway has brought a large number of the petty bourgeoisie into tourist attractions, the entertainment industry has developed accordingly, and the society of the spectacle has formally taken shape. The former realm of nature has now become a world invaded by what Marc Augé calls non-place. The ideal Shanshui (literally mountain and water, or landscape) is gradually reduced to the archetype in a landscape painting, becoming an anticipated image that constitutes the infinite imagination of tourists before visiting, which is a new type of non-place. Hermits who used to hide in Shanshui have nowhere to escape when faced with political power and production. There are magnificent sceneries along the artificial borders. They form stark contrasts to the trading, exploitation, surveillance, and control that occasionally happen in the same area. She reflected on the anonymity and exemption from government regulation that individuals maintained in the political blankness of the past Zomia and explore how contemporary people are inspired to seek strategies to untie themselves through the landscape. Muchuan traced the homogenization phenomenon underlying today's landscape painting, namely, the government infiltration of national sovereignty and ideological indoctrination. For example, the landscape is trapped in the circuit of capital, the "nameless and faceless" indigenous people use the official language uniformly, etc. In addition, she analyzed how the landscape calls people to face the 'restrictions' of the world through escape.
Bibliography
[1] Auge, M. (2009). Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity. New York: Verso.
[2] Scott, J. C. (1999). The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press.
The Magic of Staying: A Summoning Spell of Wealth
Video Installation, 2024
山水脱离了高雅的历史而在当下中国互联网语境中沦为通俗的意象。山水与土味、怀旧以及低像素的结合早已在直播平台上有迹可循，在一些中老年表情包和抖音特效中不乏经过早期网络修图技术所处理的山水元素。这些后期“用力过猛”的图像因高饱和度而具有超现实感，形成一种搞怪而娱乐的刻奇效果。因此，围绕这些图像的言论几乎全是调侃与嘲讽。我探讨了90年代乡村影楼的风格与2000年前后的修图技术，它们是如何以挪用山水意象来制造充满恶趣味与过时的图像的，并从假冒产品和山寨文化入手，推敲山水在潜移默化中从高雅沦为通俗的原因。
Muchuan discussed how the Shanshui (literally mountain and water, or landscape) became detached from its historical elegance and reduced to commonplace imagery in the current Chinese Internet context. The combination of Shanshui with Tuwei (literally 'taste of the soil', earthiness or vulgarity), nostalgia and low resolution has long been evident on live streaming platforms. In the memes and Douyin special effects for the middle-aged and elderly, many Shanshui elements have been processed by early retouching technology. These over-retouched images are highly saturated and surreal, creating a kitsch effect that is wacky and entertaining. As a result, the dictions surrounding these images are almost entirely jeering and mocking. She explored the style of rural photographic studios in the 1990s, the retouching techniques around 2000, and how they appropriated elements of Shanshui to create out-of-date images full of poor taste. Moreover, she also examined why Shanshui has been subconsciously reduced from elegance to vulgarity by starting from counterfeit products and shanzhai (a Chinese neologism that means knockoff) culture.