Ulrich Beck a renowned sociologist who claimed the concept "risk society" published in Germany 1986 alarms the process of western-oriented industrialization and modernization stating modern society as accomplished without reflection of the society's prescription. Li Wei captures the risk society resulting from 30 short years of obsession on rapid development in industrialization and modernization making China concentrate only on material abundance which led the contemporary society in disequilibrium with potential risk elements rising newly. By photographing his performances into an artwork he expresses the process of reflection on negative factors of modernization and development to a way to proceed into a community which can reduce jeopardy. The previous Chinese government strived to tighten the reins of liberalization, but failed to block the flood of western information. The 85 New Wave is one of these intercultural inflows which possess a critical position in Chinese Pop art followed by the 1930's and the 1950's western floods. They contributed an attitude of embracing modernism in systems as in the Artist's Association of year 1985. The exhibition of Robert Rauschenberg held in Beijing and Lhasa worked as a catalyst which boosted the liberal atmosphere. At the same time there was an international book fair which motivated young radical artists with western modern ideology or modern art history starting from Marcel Duchamp. Li Wei was one of them.

리웨이_Green Guy ·Flag(绿人·旗)_170×120cm_1999

Li Wei did not start as a performance artist. Receiving influence from Dongcun he expanded from painting to performing and used filming as a method for recording. He started to try out performing starting from the late 1990's. Reckoning performance a way to fully express his thoughts and reality, that time was a significantly experimental stage for him to find ways of new methods and materials. Like today's modern Chinese artist Li Wei was also one of the beneficiaries to accept the nourishment of creativity from the modern environment. "Green Guy ·Flag; 绿人·旗" a green body painting performance using a red flag as a background later becomes the starting point of the levitation works. The green artist Li Wei holding the red flag express the eve of China's social atmosphere facing the 2000 millennium era at that time. I remember a phrase in Moyan(莫言)'s frog(蛙)' Kedou(蝌蚪) says "I made it 'Wa' which potentially means frog. Of course I could have used 'Wa' as in Nuwa(女娲). Nuwa created mankind, and the 'Wa(蛙)' from the frog equally is the symbol of fertility." This artwork becomes the womb of Li Wei's work announced in the future. There was an international festival in the year 2000. Due to non-permission of the official authorities it was held in the outskirts of Beijing avoiding notion. Many foreign and Chinese artists participated here making the event itself meaningful. Here, Li Wei attached flags from every nation into a 10 meter square form and marched through a riverside with a face popping out from every flag. It was China's first multinational audience participating performance. That year Li Wei showed a series of performances using mirror, he strived to express life and desire through camera lenses letting the artist, viewers and objects mix together to share the experience of the weight of life and desire. The Korean proverb 'Knocking a wall will shake the crossbeam above' has the same meaning. Through this work Li Wei became internationally famous

리웨이_Li wei falls to the Italy(李暐撞入意大利)_150×150cm_2004

The series 「Li wei falls to ~; 李暐撞入~」 is one of Li Wei's most famous works which presents incidents or messages in a rather not straightforward but a metaphorical way. This type of communication is a traditional way of expression in East, all the other works were alike. People connect this work to the 911 terror. Whatever happened first does not matter. Li Wei's later artworks also relate with many incident both in direct and indirect ways, for example 'The baby leaves away from the Earth; 远离地球的孩子, 2003' and 'Hands stretched out to the light, 2003' is related with Wenchuan Earthquake and '20110121-01和谐号(hexiehao)' is connected to a high-speed train accident that occurred in Wenzhou, Zhejiang district in southeastern China which was made just 6 months previously from the accident.

리웨이_29 levels of freedom(29层自由度)_120×175cm_2003

「29 levels of freedom; 29层自由度」 is a work made in the year 2003 when changes occurring inside China resulting from the progress of rapid economy development was remarkable. Out-of-towners who lived in Beijing could feel the progress immediately. The habitation improved as people moved from one place to another, then another, and the residential area expanded to the suburbs. Through the process of urbanization, elite classes lived in important and pleasant areas and many types and levels of people lined up as the city expanded to the suburbs. This type of urbanization accelerated the social hierarchy. The measurement unit for land in the farmland was 丈 (zhang) and in the city it was 1 square meter. The 29 floors in his artwork had no space for out-of-towners to enjoy material and spiritual freedom. In this distorted and restricted area it is natural to think about flying to an outer space. Whether in one's own decision or by others, does not matter. The artist demands reflection about the reality of this present by expressing the situation we are undergoing with has positive and negative effects of westernization and industrialization. Li Wei does not persist only on social problems. That year he also started a series about love. At that time the artist created the artwork with various imaginations and reality with curiosity towards the opposite sex. The interesting fact he portrays is the diverse experiences one can have during a relationship or marriage, this series spread out through the internet becoming well known and in QQ or Weibo it became a symbol for a lover's betrayal or an affair.

리웨이_A pause for humanity 1(人类止步1)_176×283cm_2005

「A pause for humanity; 人类止步」 is a series that was made starting from 2005 the artwork stops time which normally runs so fast due to the drastic growth of China and the universe. It lets people who strive so hard for rapid growth to pause for a moment and look back at the achievements we have made. 'A pause for humanity 1; 人类止步 1' made in 2005, talks about real estate problems, in other words living conditions. A mother cuddling a child with a father strangled next to her shows the situation in a paradoxical way. Afterwards as our economical difficulty first occurs from real estate, crisis starts from the Chinese symbol of development, the skyscrapers in his works. 'I in; 我在' 2011 is a work that candidly expresses the reality of today where a person is hanged upside down on a sleeping bag barely large for one person due to the Chinese domestic real estate crisis.

리웨이_Ahead 1 (在前方1)_176×173cm×3_2006

「Ahead 1; 在前方1」 is a work made in 2006 which symbolizes harmful consequences of foreign capital influx. Modern society is classified by money. This is relevant to everyone from a person to a nation. Unconsciously we are divided by politics·economics·authorities into rich and poor. The general public becomes frustrated whether one shall follow the political, economic flow or should find one's own path. It is true that numeral global economic organizations are thoroughly chasing their own profits by their own concerns. We are in 'an era of governing' by these pressure groups ruling and controlling with their economic and political power and not caring for the general public but rather for their own profitable gain. Therefore, the artist is throwing a question about 'Is this the development that we want?' or 'Is this the development that they want?'! In the artwork we cannot know what kind of face the masked people (what they are thinking of while working) are making. The person who throws does not know what he wants, thinks, or represents while he does as he is told. Using Hong Kong commercial center, a typical place where financial business groups gather, provokes many thoughts while the artist who represents us flings himself out.

리웨이_Bright apex(光明之巅)_176×262cm_2007

「Bright apex; 光明之巅」 is a work from 2007 and the streetlamp in the artwork means hope. This bright light contains a representation of the bright future. However on the contrary, the brighter the light is the higher the danger it carries. The glowing streetlamp named hope soaring higher to the sky signifies the relevance of having greater desire will conclude to greater disappointment. Leaving behind 2007 when the economic rise has soared up through the ceiling, the sudden drop down of 2008 due to the Lehman Brothers questions us whether we are a correspondence to the fireflies who craved for the brightness of the lamp.

리웨이_Free dais (自由的讲台)_176×388cm_2008

「Free dais; 自由的讲台」 is a work made in Finland in 2008! Practically this speech was done in improvisation without regarding politics·ethnicity·relgions. Standing upside down not correctly shows how the 21st century civilization of humankind is not being accomplished in an equitable and a righteous way. During the 10 minutes of speech we were able to realize that we were not living in a fair society. Nowadays boai(博爱) which means great love is not mentioned anymore. It once was an important intellection. In the present egoism(利己主義) is overflowing everywhere.

리웨이_Live at the high place8 (生活在高处8)_126×262cm_2009

「Live at the high place8; 生活在高处8」is a work of a human pyramid made in Sanlitun, one of the most thriving places of Beijing. The artist paradoxically presents the most stable structure human made by turning it upside down. He expresses a forever growing economy suddenly collapsing into a bottomless pit, which has a meaning of 'warming a snake in one's bosom'.

리웨이_Bullet 4 (子弹4)_155×232.5cm_2010

'Bullet; 子弹' series show how war differs from the past. Before the way of war was conducted by soldiers marching into battle, however nowadays it is performed through screens aiming and pressing buttons as if in playing computer games. Caused by this result now in this world there is no place safe and anyone can suddenly confront immediate death. This means a single person's power or right has become so immense that it can control the rights of the majority. It symbolically sends the message that now there is nowhere safe in this world. ● One of the mostly often appearing themes in Li Wei's work is motivated by religion. The first time he displayed religion was at Spain in the work of 2010 'Conflict is up in the air 1; 悬空的冲突1'. It was not intended pre-hand but was done when a sudden thought occurred when he saw a group of nuns passing by a palace. Our society contains numerous conflictions. There are various conflictions starting from minor problems to big problems as paradigms. He uses religion as a simple way to express the truth of collision happening from cultural differences. 'We in; 我们在' a work in 2011 shows religious people hanging in the air. This shows the inseparable intimacy in human life, and also satirizes how we tug religion when redemption is needed and let go when not in everyday life. ● As we can see in the artist's work, his performances that disregards the function of physics and gravity proportionally shows how social problems are becoming more dangerous and unstable as China accelerates the rapid economy development. Danger is a dilemma the successful modernization gave us, risk elements increases as the economy develops, and occurs not in the underdevelopment country as a social pathology phenomenon but in the advanced country where scientific technology and industry has progressed, and mostly it being a daily peril not an exceptional danger contains the magnitude of the problem. Therefore we must point out the incident·accident·phenomenon Ulrich Beck mentioned following with economic affluence of the successful development of modernization, overcome the limits of the modernization we have progressed so far and accept the offer to step into 'the new modernization' or 'the second modernization'. It will be important to reduce the risk science and industrialization gave us and ultimately restructure social danger to move forwards to a 'reflective modernization'. We must consider with the artist about what the priority assignment is, we ourselves caused this risk society, and should be aware that we alone must solve it! There is a phrase 'One who has tied a knot must untie it'. It is time this proverb is desperately needed ■ LeeJanguk

"风险社会"这一概念是著名社会学家乌尔利希•贝克(Ulrich Beck) 1986年在德国出版的《风险社会》中提出的，书中对以西方为主导的工业化和现代化的社会进程模式敲响警钟，将现代社会诠释为没有"社会处方"的风险社会，也即是现代社会的人类一味追求现代化进程，却不反思在这一进程中隐藏的种种威胁人类生存的风险因素。李暐也关注了这一点, 他认为中国社会在短短的30年里，一味追求工业化和现代化带来的物质财富，而对这种现象引起潜在风险因素的不断上升，进而导致当代社会的失衡问题置若罔闻。他看到在社会的各个角落都存在风险因素，因此他将那些不安要素都融入到自己的作品中去进行创作。所以贯通他的作品的主要观念，就是"风险社会"这一概念。李暐的行为艺术表演、及他拍摄其行为做记录的方式都是内省现代化发展模式的过程，也是反省它带来的负面影响，摸索克服风险社会的过程。 ● 上世纪八十年代，中国政府在西方文化潮水般涌进的形势下，试图利用反精神污染运动来勒紧自由化的缰绳。无奈的是，无论政府如何努力都阻止不了这一西方文化潮流及"85新潮"运动的兴起。"85新潮"是继二十世纪三十年代和五十年代西方文化思潮泛滥后，推动中国重要艺术现象——波普艺术产生的跨文化思潮之一。在中国当代艺术领域占有很重要的位置的"85新潮"之所以能在中国兴起，主要受以下两个因素的影响：一是渴望新思想的艺术家们受到异文化的洗礼；二是当时的艺术家协会等官方机构对在体制内是否接受现代主义这一问题持宽容态度。 ● 1985年分别在北京和拉萨举办的《罗伯特·劳申伯格(Robert Rauschenberg)个展》作为催化剂推动了自由氛围的产生。与此同时，国际图书展的举办把以马塞尔·杜尚 (Marcel Duchamp)为起点的西方现代思想及现代艺术史在中国社会推广开来，并以此作为引爆剂将自由思想和气氛推向高潮，这一活动同时也刺激了那些既年轻又激进的青年艺术家们，李暐就是其中一个。 ● 李暐并不是一开始就从事行为艺术的创作。最初他从事绘画创作，后来受到"东村" 艺术现象的影响，他把创作范围延伸到行为艺术领域，并通过拍摄记录的方式进行创作。九十年代末期，因意识到通过行为艺术能够非常充分的表达自己的思想和社会现实，他开始集中于行为艺术的创作。那段时期，他不断寻找新的方法和材料来表达他的艺术观念，对于他来说是一个非常重要的实验阶段。像今天许多中国现当代艺术家一样，他们从自己所处的时代环境中吸取养料和创造力，李暐也是受益者之一。1999年，李暐发表了题为《绿人，旗》的作品，在《绿人，旗》中，体绘成绿色的李暐红旗作为背景，背靠着旗杆末梢站在空中，以此为开端开始进行忽略重力的空中悬浮作品创作，因此《绿人，旗》不仅是他空中悬浮的创作方式的起点，也是以后李暐作品的母胎。他的作品中猎猎飘动的红旗象征着即将迎接千禧年的中国社会的氛围。艺术家的形象也让我联想起文学家莫言《蛙》 中对蝌蚪的一段文字。在小说中莫言这样说过，"我可以将'Wa'，认为是青蛙的"蛙"，当然也可以改成娃娃的"娃"，当然还可以改成女娲的"娲"。女娲造人，蛙是多子的象征。" ● 2000年，国际行为艺术日在怀柔举办，这是因为该活动未能得到北京政府的许可，所以改在了怀柔。但该活动吸引了众多海外艺术家及中国的艺术家们的广泛参与，可谓意义深远。在此，李暐中国首次表演多国籍人员参与的行为艺术，就是将每面国旗里打了洞，30多个人的脸装在那个洞，把各国国旗联系起来做成四方10米的大正方形，那30多个人沿着江边一起行进。同年，李暐也进行了另一个行为艺术表演——《镜子》系列。李暐把被镜子和镜头照出来的自己的生活和欲望，与观众以及周围的事物交融起来，使观众感受到分担艺术家的生活和欲望的分量。像俗语"打柱子，应板壁"说的那样，成为回响，打动和感染观众。《镜子》系列作品使李暐在国际上一举成名。 ● 《李暐撞入》系列 是李暐的代表作之一。该作品选择用隐喻的方式传递出艺术家想表达的思想和想揭发的现实。这一形式是传统的手法，既不限于他一个人也不限于他的这一作品。不少人说起，《李暐撞入》这一作品令人想起911恐怖袭击事件，还怀疑说他是否是利用恐怖事件去创作。李暐其他作品也往往使人联想到几个悲剧的事件，譬如：《远离地球的孩子》（2003作）、《20110121-01和谐号》皆是如此。它们常常给观赏者们留下很深刻的印象，不少人无意识的把某系列作品与特定的事件联系起来，经常被提到的事件有汶川大地震、温州高铁事故。但实际上，这两个作品在事件发生之前就已创作好了。然则我们从中能发现什么呢？这意味着现在我们生活的世界、社会处处都隐藏着隐形的风险。只不过是我们不知道它将在何时，以何种方式威胁我们的生命，攻击人类而已。但李暐用艺术家的灵敏的嗅觉发现那种潜伏的悲剧，他将其展示给我们并给予我们警告。重要的是，我们能够倾听他传达的信息，可以暂时止步回头看一眼并反思周围正在发生着什么，我们还有时间来调整。 ● 《29层自由度》是李暐2003年的作品，它蕴含中国社会在经济腾飞的过程中经历过的变化和影子。居住于北京的外地人都能切身感受到中国的发展。他们开始在一个地方安家，过一阵子再搬家。他们在反复这一过程中发现城市的环境越来越好，然而，都市的环境越好，他们能留在北京的可能性就越少了，逐渐被排挤到城乡结合部的区域生存。如此，城市化进程诞生了新的都市秩序，较重要或较舒适的空间都被少数的精英群体占有，都市外环的空间被新出现的不断流动的庞大群体包围了。这样的城市化进程进一步加快了中国社会阶层结构。这一点从面积的公制单位上也可以体现出来，农村的公制单位仍然是丈 ，但都市的公制单位则是平方米。他的作品里，29层象征着被排挤出去的外地人为生存而迫切希望的空间，他们想要拥有的精神物质上的自由空间，若身在受到那种制约和歪曲的空间里，无论是谁都极度希望有双翅膀能自由自在的飞翔。无论是自愿的还是被逼的，都不太重要。李暐捕捉那一情景升华为行为艺术，向我们要求看到内部的现实问题，也反省当下的现状。不过李暐的创作不仅仅局限于严重的社会问题。当年，他也创作过关于爱情的系列作品。他动员丰富多彩的想象力，将在异性之间会发生的事情折射到作品中。他创作的恋爱、婚姻系列作品在网上盛传，而且还被QQ，微博等的社交网站拿来用作象征配偶的背叛、外遇等的图像。 ● 2005年以后，他亮相《人类止步》系列。他在作品里假设将时间停止，劝说一直向目标全力奔跑的人们，停下来退一步放松，回头看我们走过的路。2005年作《人类止步1》含蓄地表达了疯狂上涨的房价如何影响我们的生活。在他的作品里，妈妈在大厦屋顶的栏杆怀里抱着孩子，爸爸脖子被勒住。这样的悖论却将当代社会问题和其风险准确无疑地表达出来。一般来说，一个社会发生经济危机的源头是房地产，明白这一道理的李暐从摩天大楼－中国发展的一个象征进行创作。《我在》是2011年作，作品里的李暐把身体挤在睡袋里悬吊在半空中，只能容纳一个人的睡袋被倒悬在半空中的模样令人昏眩，也令人真切地目睹了房地产暴涨把人类推到哪里。 ● 《在前方1》是2006年作，作品主要围绕国际资本涌入的弊害进行的创作。当代社会已按金钱排辈，我们都不知不觉地被金钱赋予了身份。无论是个人还是国家，都在不知不觉中，被政治、经济当局贴上了"富""穷"的标签，我们老百姓在这样的社会感到无力，失去了方向，有种站在十字路口不知往哪走的迷茫感。而与此相反，许多全球化利益集团、跨国公司无形的支配着社会资产，老百姓在政治上和经济上被国际利益集团挥舞的权力支配和控制。我们站在的这时代只是为他们服务，而不是为我们服务。李暐好像想把支配这一词语作为话题投到我们，提出一个最根本的问题："这是我们想要的发展吗，还是他们想要的发展？"在他的作品里，有一个带着面罩，代表着普通大众的人在环球金融商业集团聚集的香港商业中心被抛出去，蒙面人或许并不知道自己真正想要的是什么，就在完全懵懂的状态下被告知，被支配。李暐用这样的创作方式引发人们的思考。 ● 《光明之巅》创作于2007年，出现在这部作品的路灯意味着光明。这发亮的灯光象征着未来，但灯光越亮，影子却越暗越深。火焰越强，风险越大。名为希望的亮晶晶的路灯越高，看着那灯的我们欲望越强烈，而欲望越强烈，绝望就会越刺激越疼。2007年，经济发展达到了高峰，我们曾品尝过由此带来的喜悦。2008年雷曼公司破产引发世界经济危机，当时在其危机的风暴里晃悠的不会是我们吗？不是像灯蛾一样，往最辉煌的火焰里疯狂扑上去的我们吗？ ● 《自由的讲台》创作于2008年，在芬兰表演。表演现场，他还对政治、民族、宗教等的问题做了即兴演讲，但是他不是正立的姿势，而是倒立着进行演讲。这是对21世纪的人类文明的强烈讽刺，他通过行为艺术传达人类的文明并不是那么公平，也不是那么正义。不过目前中国也不例外。"博爱"这一概念过去在中国是很重要的概念，但当今"博爱"已几乎消失了，对人们来说，更重要的是利己主义。用倒置的方式谈论宏观的正义和道理是李暐式的忠告。 ● 《生活在高处8》是2009年作，李暐在北京最繁华的街头三里屯创作了金字塔艺术。金字塔是人类创造的建筑物中最稳定的结构物，李暐将金字塔做成逆金字塔，表达看似永远发展的经济一落千丈，提醒我们警惕背信弃义。 ● 《子弹系列》中李暐指出当今的战争和过去的战争性质不同。过去当进行战争时军人直接参加战场作战，然而在当今社会，作战的方式变成玩游戏似的模式，不需要传统意义上的战士，只需有个人看着屏幕对焦摁住按钮就结束了。因此，这世界没有一个角落能确保安全，我们在日常生活中不知哪天就要面临非正常死亡 。这也说明有一个人拥有着过大的权力或影响力，并左右着大多数人。所以它想说的一句话是世界失去了安全地带。 ● 李暐的作品之中也有很多以宗教为题材创作的。他的首个以宗教为主题的作品名叫《悬空的冲突1》，是2011年在西班牙创作的。它不是提前准备好的，而是有一天看到修女们路过王宫偶然得到灵感而去创作的。我们的社会总是有无数的纠纷，从微小之事到宏观的问题，但李暐指出冲突的来源是文化差异，他借宗教的题材将其展示给我们。在2001年创作的作品《我们在》中，教徒们都悬浮在空中，而且脚被捆绑。这不仅是表达宗教与世人密不可分，而且也讽刺了一个世态－人们在现实当中需要的时候去找他们求救，而不需要就被搁置在一旁。 ● 李暐在作品中经常使用忽略重力、物理规则的创作方式，试图揭示经济发展程度和风险度的相关关系，就是说社会越快马加鞭推动经济发展，其社会就会变得越危险越不安。这就是目前的现代化发展让我们置身于两难的境地，现代化的成功而导致的影子并不是在经济落后的国家出现的社会病理现象，而是在经济和科技发达的国家才有的问题，更重要的是他关注的风险并不是例外的风险，而是在日常生活里潜伏的风险。因此，我们应该倾听乌尔利希•贝克所指出的观点，要知道虽然成功地实现现代化可以收获很多物质财富，但其背后隐藏着大型灾难和事件等的风险，走向"新现代"或"第二现代"的路线发展，克服现代化的局限。与此同时，减少科技和产业的负面因素，为了走进"反思的现代化"，重组社会结构，调整风险，分配结构。当下，生活在风险社会的我们与艺术家李暐一起思考，我们需要面对的风险社会最优先的课题是什么。我们该明白导致风险社会的是我们，能解决问题的也是我们。或许成语"解铃还须系铃人"更能确切的表达这一理念。 ■ 李章旭

Vol.20121026j | 리웨이展 / LIWEI / 李暐 / performance