刘辛夷：艺术碎片问卷
2020年2月6日
近期新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎疫情问题，引发了人们对方方面面问题的思考和热议，那你作为一个艺术家，这样的社会重大事件总会对自身创作的世界观以及价值观的判断产生思考，就像1981年开始蔓延美国的艾滋病疫情，很多艺术家的创作涉及对此议题的探讨等等。那针对此次疫情，出于艺术家的视角，其中的哪些方面会引发你的思考？是否会联想到哪些或哪件有类似思考共鸣的作品？
Liu Xinyi: Art Shard Questionnaire
February 6, 2020
The outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic has brought with it numerous questions and concerns for people to think and talk about. As an artist, such a major event may impact and influence your practices and value systems. For instance, the AIDS epidemic began to spread in 1981 in the United States, many artists' creations and discussions were involved around such issues. In light of the current Covid-19 epidemic, and from the perspective of an artist, what are some of the aspects of the current Covid-19 has made you reflect on? Is there any work that resonant with you?
巧合
记忆里还没有什么事能在正月里和春节争抢注意力的。疫情恰好与过年全程重合，事态的发展令每个社会成员都深受震撼。国家的防疫宣传反复动员人民要将雷打不动的年俗看作威胁自身健康的风险因素。日益严峻的气氛覆盖了年关这种原本保留在现代性之外的时间感知。
Coincidence
Based on my memory, there is nothing in sight that can compete with the Spring Festival in the first month of the lunar year. However, the outbreak of the epidemic coincided with the entire New Year holiday this year, its rapid development shocked everyone in society. The National Epidemic Prevention propaganda has repeatedly informed people that their celebration traditions are risk factors that will threaten their health. This increasingly serious atmosphere of the epidemic alters our perception of time during the holiday period, which was only existed outside of modernity and neglected in modern society.
我们的两套历法可能是两个重影的心理时间，而每个国人都早早地自学了转换和调试的功夫，在两重时间之间切换无碍。尽管法定的春节假期只有7天，但每到年关，就不难察觉到整个社会提前两三周就开始进入某种过渡状态，到了节后返工还要反向经历一次。这两段过程很像视频剪辑中常用的淡入淡出技巧，而嵌入其中的年节总是万家灯火的画面，足以安顿被现代化事业损耗的身心。如果参看经济统计的数据也能印证这种循环：中国历年的GDP都是在四季度到达一年中的顶点，而在一季度收缩至上一季度的四分之一，再逐渐走高。社会学视角的研究不断提醒众人，维系这个增长型社会运转的基层早已经普遍过劳，需要加强心理救助，完善社会保障。而现实中，真正有帮助的还是长达一个多月的身心离岗状态。特别是临近年底，收尾和准备过渡就是一项全民共识。
Our two sets of calendars may seem overlapping with the two psychological times, in which all the Chinese have learned to convert and debug very early on so that there is no difference in switching between the two. Although the statutory Spring Festival holiday is seven public holidays, it is not difficult to notice that every year the whole society begins to enter a transitional period from two or three weeks in advance, and the process will be reversed after the holidays. These two processes of time are very similar to the fade-in and fade-out techniques that are commonly used in video editing, the thousands of lights represents a longing for family and staying at homes are embedded in the festival image, which is enough to reset our bodies and minds that were lost in the modernization. If one looks at the economic statistics, one can find an obvious cycle: China’s GDP in the past years has reached its peak at the fourth quarter in a year, and it has contracted to one-quarter of the previous quarter, and then gradually increases. Researches from the sociological perspectives have constantly reminded people that to maintain this cycle is already overworked, and the society needs to improve its psychological supports to maintain social security. In reality, what may help is to separate the physical body and the mental state for more than a month. So that preparing for the transitional break towards the end of the year becomes a consensus choice among people.
作为一个拥有庞大员工队伍且集中办公的机构，公务员系统应该也很难置身于这种节奏之外。在两种心理时间的过渡阶段出现系统性的倦怠和松懈并不是那么难以想象。偏偏在这种时候，要让他们对一种了解有限的威胁做出反应，系统内部不是相当笃定就是相当迷茫，更有可能是两种精神状态兼有。考虑到政治自信的因素，早期决策就是强打精神，而后又出现了自我怀疑。如果这种响应延迟大面积出现，恐怕就造成了指令上的真空期。
As an organization with large workforces and a centralized system, the civic government is difficult to stay out of this rhythm. It is not so hard to imagine a systemic burnout and slackness during this transitional stage between the two psychological times. However, at this time, they need to react and respond to a threat with limited understanding of the virus, the organization is either quite determined or quite confused, it is more likely to have both mental states clashed. Taking into account on maintain a political self-confidence, early decision-making is always to establish a fighting spirit, and then naturally self-doubt appeared. If such delay continuously occurs on a large scale, it may cause a vacuum period from the command level.
代际
从一月下旬开始，坏消息已经蔓延开。想到病毒的人际传播比较随机，我开始担心起家里的聚餐计划。不同往年，我开始向家中长辈转述社交媒体上的社会信息。在面对风险时，是知识优先还是经验优先可能是个文化问题。当我试图用知识性的语言去与家长的经验世界协商时，就发现有作用力就会有反作用力。从家长的角度看，在节日里，家庭角色各就其位才是重要的，无论事态紧迫与否。直到除夕夜里，他们的同辈亲属打来电话，传来与他们自身语言系统相适应的警报后，才让气氛起了变化，长辈们感慨这个年过得全无味道，小辈们也草草撤离了这场沉默的年夜饭。
Intergenerational Gap
Ever since late January, the bad news has spread. When I think about the spread of the virus is relatively random, I started to worry about the gathering plan with my family during the holiday. Different from the previous years, I began to repost the information on the virus and its related social problems on social media to my elderly family members. I suppose when facing problems, whether or not the knowledge or the experience is more valued can be seen as a cultural issue. Because when I tried to use an intellectual and informative language to communicate with my parents' experiences system, I found out that when there is a force there is a reaction. From their perspectives, it is more important to consider the roles of the family during the Spring Festival, regardless of the situation, and whether it is urgent or not. It wasn’t until New Year’s Eve that their peers called and alerted them with their communicated languages that are based on experiences and emotions, then the atmosphere began to change: the elders lamented the tastelessness of the year, and the juniors also evacuated hastily with a silent New Year's Eve dinner.
这当中的挫败感，让我联想到家庭内部的长幼秩序或许也可以拿来比照社会变革中最困难的环节，即在我们的文化共识中，可能只有辈分，地域还有籍贯这些东西可以拿来当成群体标识，但这些东西鼓励的是区别和等级。追求人格平等的价值观共同体是因为网络社群的出现才有的文化体验。我们平日里精挑细选的“朋友圈”大概率是受过现代教育，有审美底线，最好是拥抱开放社会的同时代人，这些“朋友”自然是不会认同封堵的逻辑和强制的措施。然而有着血缘关系，同是社会成员的长辈们显然不是这样感知风险的。因为历史经验会驱使他们以另外一套思路来行事，比如，最容易实现的（也是最低成本的）管理方式就是最好的。
The frustration of the intergenerational gap reminds me of the growing order within each family, it may also be in parallel to the difficulties of social and cultural reformation. In our cultural consensus, there are only the differences between seniority and geographical origins to group people, it only encourages people to distinct each other and/or create the hierarchical rankings. The pursuit of equality and human rights only become the common value of the unique emergence of the online community. The “Moment” on WeChat, where friends share their posts are probably selected, and from highly educated backgrounds, they have aesthetically standards and are most likely to embrace an open contemporary society. Naturally, these friends will not agree with the logic and coercion of censorship, nor impost the strict measurements during the Lockdown. However, due to kinship, the elders within a family who are also members of the society do not perceive risks in this way. Because their traditions and experiences will drive them to act from another set of values and ideologies, for example, to consider that the easiest (and lowest cost) management method is the best.
禁足
长辈们逐渐了解到事态的严重性，而心理时间对我耳语：准备返城。一提出即触发了一条熟悉的指令：“不可以出门，对于你们的安全，我们是有责任的”。无论我在头脑中如何迅速比较了动和不动这两种选择可能遭遇到的各种问题，嘴上还是止住了说理的冲动。面对家庭关系中强化了的责任主体，相对应的角色是被保护的儿童。这种决策必以稳妥出发，并假设儿童体认这种结构下的诸多保障。如果该管理结构具有普遍性，禁足也许是更具社会整体意识的决定。所幸那会儿年货储备比较充足，非常时期家人之间也需要陪伴，看来还得继续过年的生活。
Groundedness
When the elders gradually realized the seriousness of the situation, the psychological time whispered to me that it is time to return to the city. As soon as I raised this, a familiar voice triggered: "You cannot go out, we are responsible for your safety." No matter how quickly I evaluate the various consequences of the two options - moving vs. not moving - in my head, my impulse of reasoning stopped when encountering with the elders. In the face of the strengthened subject of responsibility in family relations, the corresponding role is to protect the child. This kind of decision must proceed with stability, and it is assumed that children recognize the many guarantees under this structure. If the management structure is universal, grounding may be a more socially conscious decision. Fortunately, at that time, the stock of new year's goods was relatively sufficient, and family members also needed to accompany each other during the extraordinary period. It seemed that they had to continue their New Year's life.
至于那个让我既向往又紧张的世界，瘟疫的驻场可能是种生态时间。当几百万人，甚至是几亿人连续几周都待在家中的时候，我们那些屏住呼吸的城市也会展现出一种久违的样貌：街道静谧，车辆稀少。偶有行人穿梭，也是矜持无言。一部分野生动物还获得了新的活动空间……我回忆起五环外的夜晚还有在康巴什的漫游。也许是那些了无生气的场面最容许我去想象什么是理想的社会。
昨晚家里接到社区通知：从今早开始，居家隔离成为强制要求，每户派专人采购物资，一周两次。可我还在惦记阿里在各个地方的“城市大脑”。它们肯定还在照常运行，日夜分析着各种监测数据，还有摄像头拍摄的海量图像。尚不会很快结束的疫情让这种市政治理变得越来越接近于艺术：因为只要警报不解除，那些遍布公共空间的治理系统就失去了对象，也失去了用途，还产生了存在意义上的美感。是禁足带来的脱离感给人创造了平行于现代性的感知。难怪这几天家长反复叮嘱，要学习入定的功夫：不言语，不动念，不分别，不执著。搭配这种不寻常身体现实服用，按说可以化解我的许多困扰。
As for the world that makes me both aspire and nervous, the plague may be an ecological time. When millions of people, even hundreds of millions of people stay at home for weeks, our cities that hold their breath will show a long-lost appearance: the streets are quiet and the vehicles are scarce. The occasional pedestrian shuttle is also reserved. Some wild animals may get new spaces for activities... I recalled the night outside the Fifth Ring Road and roaming in Kangbashi. Perhaps those lifeless scenes allow me to imagine what an ideal society is.
Last night, the family received a notice from the community: From this morning, home isolation is a mandatory requirement, and each household can only send one person to purchase goods twice a week. However, I am still thinking about Ali's "urban brain" in various places. They must still be running, as usual, analyzing various monitoring data day and night, and the massive images taken by the camera. The epidemic that will not end soon makes this municipal governance closer and closer to art: because as long as the alarm is not lifted, those governance systems throughout the public space will lose their objects, their uses, and their meanings. And creates a sense of existentialist aesthetics, in which it is the disengagement brought by the groundedness that in parallel to modernity. No wonder my parents have repeatedly told me these days that they must learn the skills of not speaking, not thinking, not differentiating, not persisting. Under this unusual physical reality, they are supposed to resolve many of my problems.