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Arthouse Revival
Xucun, China
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Establishing residencies for contemporary artists in isolated areas has become a common regeneration tool, attracting new life and even generating some profit. However when artist outsiders land UFO-like to partake in the picturesque rural life, the economic benefits don’t always trickle down to locals. So the artist Qu Yan decided to try to establish a more truly “commune”-style residency model in Xucun in eastern China.
Deep in the Taihang Mountain range, this 2,000-year-old traditional farming village is relatively cut off from all types of infrastructure, and its population of around 1,600 has been diminishing as young people leave for distant mining towns and urban areas. In turn, its unique architecture – some of which dates back to the Ming and Qing dynasties – is disappearing due as much to lack of resources as lack of pride.Previous page and this page: once abandoned depots now house the commune's office and conference room. (All photos: Xucun International Art Commune)
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Supported by the Heshun County Secretary of the Communist Party, Fan Naiwen, Qu Yan resolved to devise a programme that could help invigorate the community through the arts. Thus the Xucan Artist Commune was born, a biennial artist residency accompanied by an arts festival, which in its first two cycles has seen around 50 artists (half Chinese and half international) arriving in Xucun to live with locals in their homes.
Each artist is provided with an interpreter to bridge the language gap, and their projects have included collaborating with artisans to learn calligraphy, traditional paper cutting and teaching kids to draw. Meanwhile several buildings have been restored, including one used as an exhibition space.
Despite Qu’s hopes of reviving the community in the long term, in this case it’s actually the residency’s iterative, impermanent structure that allows it to stay independent. As assistant curator Jo-Yu Lin explains: “it would be very difficult for a [permanent] private cultural institution to survive without the support of the government and CPC”. Unlike certain historical commune-ism-s aimed at solidarity through uniformity, the goal of Xucun is to create community through difference. “We believe in a communal living style that is created and led by art”, adds Jo-Yu, “Art will serve as the catalyst for face-to-face interaction that helps people to go beyond the barriers of languages and culture.”
(Elvia Wilk)Artists respond the landscape and inhabitants of Xucan in a variety of ways.
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»Architectural interpretations accepted without reflection could obscure the search for signs of a true nature and a higher order.«
Louis Isadore Kahn
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