Art-oriented reconstruction movement and governance in rural China: illustrated by cases in Guangdong Province

ABSTRACT

Reconstruction and governance in rural China have been a recurring theme for the last century. This article presents case studies based on Art-Oriented Rural Reconstruction Movement (ARRM) projects in Guangdong Province to analyze their modes of reconstruction, the themes they chose to engage with and their social impact, and the various social actors that dominated these projects. This study aims to answer whether ARRM provides a better mechanism as a creative mode of rural governance and whether other desired benefits, such as attracting economic resources toward the preservation of local culture or invigorating the local community, are better achieved. The cases help shed light on the question of the performativity of ruralism in connection with China’s contemporary urban practices in Shenzhen and a series of government-led art events of rural revitalization in the countryside. In doing so, they help identify what ARRM means to the ‘self-governed’ and the imagined ‘harmonious’ rural society, as well as what both mean to China.

KEYWORDS:

• Art-oriented Rural Reconstruction Movement (ARRM)
• new ruralists
• art intervention
• artist-in-residence projects
• rural harmony

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Yi shu xiang jian is often interpreted as ‘rural construction through art,’ ‘artistic interventions in community,’ or ‘community-based artistic interventions’ by researchers of this field in mainland China. As the term ‘reconstruction’ has been used to indicate the RRM (xiang cun jian she) by scholars of the Republic of China, and nowadays, the art projects introduced to rural areas are not necessarily artistic (sometimes they are cultural in a broad sense), it is thus more accurate to translate the term ‘yishu xiangjian’ as the ‘Art-oriented Rural Reconstruction Movement.’

2. Guggenheim Museum, ‘Rem Koolhaas and AMO Explore Radical Change in the World’s Nonurban Territories in the Guggenheim Exhibition Countryside, The Future’, 19 February 2020. https://www.guggenheim.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Countryside-The-Future_PressKit_021920.pdf. (Accessed 27 October 2022)

3. Rongshutou Rural Foundation (RRF), ‘Qingtian – zhonghua wenming fuxing de xiangcun xianchang (the specific site for the cultural revival of rural China)’, 12 November 2018. [EB/OL] http://ciudsrc.com/zhuanti/2018–11-12anli3/. (accessed 13 September 2022)

4. Qu Yan visited the Xu Village in Shanxi Province in northern China for the first time in 2005 and started his photographic series in 2006; he initiated the Xu Village Project by launching the first international festival there in 2008 (Qu 2013; M. Liu 2022, 87–92). Based on a thorough photographic study of Xu Village’s power space, belief space, and living space, Qu argued that the core problem in Xu Village was the severe damage to the local cultural identity caused by the commodity fetishism advocated by evolutionism and developmentalism. Qu adopted a three-pronged strategy to solve these problems, which entailed implanting the concept of an ‘international art village’ to dispel the myth of fake cultural heritages, restoring cottages and folk customs, and improving rural education for left-behind children (Li et al. 2021).

5. It is a traditional folk custom for people in the Lingnan area to build a fire tower during the Mid-Autumn Festival every year. It is also a coming-of-age ceremony for the youth. The tower is generally made of brick, bamboo, or tile, square or round, with a height of 3–10 meters. By burning firewood and straws in the tower collected by the children during the festival day, people gathered around the flame to bless future generations in the village.

6. RRF, ‘Qingtian – the specific site for the cultural revival of rural China’

7. Data were collected from the director of RRF through unstructured interviews in July 2022.

8. RRF, ‘Qingtian – the specific site for the cultural revival of rural China’

9. Ronggui Street Office of Shunde District, ‘Magang cun xiangcun zhenxing xiangmu danyi laiyuan caigou gonggao (Single-source procurement announcement of the rural revitalization project of Magang Village, Project No.: FSRY-D18003),’ 24 May 2018. [EB/OL] http://www.shunde.gov.cn/sdrgjd/tzgg/zfcgzb/content/post_3916493.html. (accessed 15 September 2022)

10. Data were collected from an onsite investigation by the author at Qingtian Village in July 2022.

11. Data were collected from the in-residence staff of the Rural Women Development Foundation (RWDF) through unstructured interviews in September 2022.

12. ‘Dragon Eyes’ refer to the paired holes found on the door heads of houses in the region, which are a characteristic of the local style.

13. Chen Xiaoyang, ‘Dragon in Field,’ 18 December 2016. [EB/OL] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HxJ8DhCE12Rtc8tvWEU1YA (accessed 16 September 2022); Yin Kanbao, ‘Local Flow: Open Exhibition of Resident Artists,’ 17 December 2018. [EB/OL] https://reurl.cc/9pxr3Y. (accessed 16 September 2022)

14. Chen Xiaoyang, ‘They and Us: Socially Engaged Art Practices at Yuan Museum,’ 19 September 2019. [EB/OL] http://www.ruralwomengd.org/9772.html. (accessed 16 September 2022)

15. The ‘Dragon Eyes’ program was primarily funded by the He Foundation since the second session, and the RWDF played a role in funds management later on. Data were collected from the in-residence staff of the RWDF through unstructured interviews in September 2022.

16. The annual rent increased to 3,500 CYN in the second five years. Data were collected from the in-residence staff of the RWDF through unstructured interviews in September 2022.

17. ARTDBL and Chen Xiaoyang, ‘‘Yuan Museum: The villagers do not live on art but need sustained art in life,’ 19 May 2017. [EB/OL] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NLLQNBm-GRFBq0fXLbV4aA. (accessed 16 September 2022)

18. Data were collected from the in-residence staff of the RWDF through unstructured interviews in September 2022 and were followed up in 2023.

19. Guggenheim Museum, ‘Rem Koolhaas and AMO Explore Radical Change in the World’s Nonurban Territories in the Guggenheim Exhibition Countryside, The Future.’

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xianmei Luo

Xianmei Luo is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Academic Research at the Shenzhen Art Museum, China. She received her PhD in art history from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Her research interests primarily focus on private collecting and private art museums in China. She incorporates research methods and perspectives from political science and sociology into her work in art history. Her research encompasses contemporary art, museums, urban studies, and cultural governance. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to her research and actively works to enhance interdisciplinary research practices. She is also involved in writing about contemporary Chinese art and has translated books that discuss modern and contemporary art in Hong Kong.