The Wrinkles of the City Shanghai by JR

The Wrinkles of the City

城市肌理 A Project by JR

艺术家自白 JR 拥有世界上最大的画廊。他在世界各地的街道上展览他的作品,引起

他们的生 活轨迹与城市历史息息相关。这样一种巨幅没有框裱的,被重

那些不去美术馆参观 的人们的注意。他的作品混合了艺术和身体力行,

新定义的摄影作品,取自于博物 馆的文档中。

他的作品主题包括承诺,自由,同一性和极 限。

最后但不是最不重要的一点是,在 2010 年 10 月,JR 获得了 TED 的年度奖

在巴黎地铁里找到他所想要表达的场景后,他做了欧洲街头艺术巡展,通

。每年 TED 选择 获奖的个人,奖金是 10 万美元,更重要的一点是,“一个

过墙上的艺术去和人 们沟通并且交换信息。然后,他开始挑战垂直极限,

改变世界的愿望。”旨在利用的 TED 社区的人才和资源的特殊数组,这个

看着普通老百姓的故事和生活被贴上首都 的屋顶。

奖项有很大的影响力。

2006 年,他完成了“一代人的肖像”,他在巴黎的中产阶级区张贴郊区的“暴 徒”们大开幅的肖像, 当 JR 的作品覆盖巴黎市政大楼的时候,这个地下项 目变成了“官方的。” 2007 年,他和马可一起做了“脸对脸”项目,是迄今为止最大的未授权的摄 影展。JR 在八个巴 勒斯坦和以色列城市张贴了巨大的以色列人和巴勒 斯坦人面对面的肖像,他想要张贴在两边国 家的隔离墙上,专家告诉他这 是不可能的,然而,他办到了。 2008 年,他为了“妇女是英雄”这一项目踏上了漫长的旅途,在这一项目中, 他强调了妇女的伟 大和尊严,因为在战争时期妇女往往成为冲突的目标。 虽然,这一项目并没有改变世界,但有 时在一个意想不到的地方看到的一 张笑脸会让你相信它可以实现。 JR 使他的作品从巴黎贫民区建筑的墙壁到中东国家的街道墙壁甚至非洲 破损的桥上以及巴西 的贫民窟,而这些他都是自发的,没有人请他这么做, 他的这种“渗透式艺术”让人们开始关注 一些在生活里觉得完全没有必要 关注的东西,他们不仅仅关注它,还把它做成了艺术。老年妇 女做了一天 的模特儿,孩子做了一个星期的艺术家。在这个艺术氛围中,没有舞台去 区分谁是 演员谁是观众。 JR 的作品在当地展出后,又在伦敦、纽约、柏林和阿姆斯特丹展出,展示 的是当地人自己的 故事和个人经历。 有一些他没有解释的匿名巨幅人物肖像, JR 想把想象的空间留给观者和 主角。 关于 JR 的作品:提出质疑 JR 目前正在做两个新的项目: “城市肌理”提出的问题是关于城市的记忆 以及居住在城市里的 居民。这是 JR 与中国上海这座城市里老年人对于 这座城市的回忆的一次碰撞,这座城市由于 其历史、经济发展和社会文 化突变在城市的历史回忆中留下了疤痕。JR 与这些被拍摄的老人 交流, 把他们的画像贴到墙上,他想象他们的皱纹,眉间的沟壑,成为时间的印迹,

The Wrinkles of the city The Wrinkles of the city Wrinkles of life. Recesses of history. Meanders of memory… Memory, which wavers, suppresses, wanders – as life itself flows. But those wrinkles rarely lie. Everything is there, tucked away like the blows of a sculptor’s chisel or the scoring of an engraver as he records some historical scene. Life’s acid has corroded the models’ features. More often than not, life has not been kind but there they are, posing with dignity. No pride or egotism here. Just shared moments where the subject reveals himself. Baring body and soul. Moving, the testimony of these old people met by chance. From the one who can hardly speak and whose mind seems to fail him to the one whose legs no longer take his weight but whose zest for life is as strong as ever. One by one the women confess with disarming sincerity that they find fulfilment in a game of mah-jong or poker, and don’t really bother about the rest. We come across a model who shares the secret of her relatively well-preserved appearance – a folk remedy of up to 400 massaging strokes of the fingertips to her face, twice a day, for the past 40 years.

The lives of these old people which we too have witnessed deserve to remain undisturbed. We should approach each subject with modesty and respect, without troubling the rhythm of a routine established over decades of life in retirement.

But memory can play tricks. Sometimes it vacillates, wanes, gets stuck.

One woman responds to a question about the names of her children in silence, with just a weary sideways glance. As though life, her life, had not been any better for them in any case.

One by one, joy, distress, humour, courage, lucidity, anger jostle to emerge, in contrast with the spoken words which sometimes struggle to get out.

Like a window into a secret universe, these stolen moments open our eyes to a parallel existence, a world apart. These people may have crossed the finishing-line into retirement, but often they take up some new activity, many by necessity, others just wanting to keep busy.

But despite their amazingly busy schedules, each person gives up some time for a photo shoot and to answer questions from a decidedly younger generation which wants to go deeper than snapshots.

A relationship is struck much faster with a photographer. In front of the lens everyone gives away much more. The metal eye, fixed a couple of

feet from the subject, under JR’s direction examines and questions those strange lines on the face, those wrinkles. Just like written lines they form chapters, some radiating from the eyes like stars, others crossing the forehead harmoniously, like flowing water. Each chapter could be a stage in their lives. Lives worthy of long novels, echoing everything these characters have endured in nearly a century.

But ultimately, the most moving thing is the humour and detachment with which these people with a lifetime behind them treat the project.

The younger generation will have to hurry, because time is passing and a game of mah-jong is about to begin.

And where in all this has the younger generation offended? Only that it doesn’t know those hidden recesses of history which are part of each person’s history, and so of the history of humanity. This only makes the essence of JR’s tireless work of transmission more relevant. On an artistic, editorial, social and above all, human level.

Spotlight on his talent, his teams and his insatiable thirst for a challenge.

JR is essentially like those demi-gods of antiquity, such as Prometheus, who busy themselves with many things, but whose main role is not clear at the start. It is revealed by the passage of time.

At the head of his troops, backed by a dependable general, JR tackles the city as if it were a battlefield, throwing himself upon all sources of inspiration. No hidden recess of the city escapes his conquest. As young as Alexander the Great in his boldest campaigns, JR roams the world in search of new challenges. Hard not to believe that one day he won’t reach for the moon and grasp it for some cause worthy of our attention.

Magda Danysz

Rony Zhuang 庄祖荣 My name is Rony Zhuang. I was born in 1943, in Shanghai. I studied at the Shanghai University of Textile. After that, I worked as an engineer in a factory, which led to my promotion to Director of the textile department. But then came along the Cultural Revolution. Soldiers from the Cultural Revolution army pushed me down a flight of stairs and left me for dead. It was only several hours after that they came back to help me. They waited on purpose so as to be sure I would never fully recover from the fall. In the end I lost the use of my legs.

It was only when Deng Xiaoping got to power that I got back my old way of life. I now love my country again. I believe that Deng and Hu were very good leaders and that they saved China. They are the ones to thank for China’s rapid economic growth and development. The Cultural Revolution was a terrible period that did a lot of harm to China, making it a poor, famished country.

I want to write a book, giving my opinion on dictatorships like the ones that existed in the USSR, Albania, Yugoslavia, or North Korea. A lot of governments think their policies are good, but they don’t know what people think of them or what they really need. I want to write about people’s real needs and point out dictator’s mistakes. I don’t think I’ll manage to have a book published in Shanghai, as it is a hard thing to do here. I’ll probably give it to my three children. They all live in the US now. They were allowed to go to an American university when Deng got to power. I had already taught them English at home. I didn’t have to pay any school fees. Now one of my sons is an engineer in California, the other is an electrician, and my daughter does not have a job at the moment. They come home once a year. My two sons came for the Universal Exhibition this year.

我姓庄,1943 年出生在上海。毕业于上海纺织大学。我在一家工厂做工 程师的时候,我被升 职做了纺织部门的领导。但随后而来的文化大革命, 红卫兵把我推下了楼梯,不管我的死活。 几个小时之后,他们才回来查看 我的情况。他们故意等那么长的时间来确保我已经从跌落中恢 复过来。 最后我的双腿瘫痪了。很多人跟我情况相似他们在文革期间去世了。我 很幸运也很高 兴能幸存下来。当邓小平当权时,我回到了我原来的生活 。我爱我的祖国。我相信,邓小平和 胡锦涛是非常优秀的领导者,他们会引领中国走正确的道路。感谢他们成 就了中国经济的快速 增长和发展。文化大革命是一个可怕的时期,对中 国造成了很大的伤害。 我想写一本书,写一写我对苏联,阿尔巴尼亚,南斯拉夫以及北朝鲜的独裁 统治的意见。许多 政府认为他们的政策是对的,但是他们不知道他们的 人民所真正需要的是什么。我想写关于人 民的现实需要和独裁者的错误 。我不认为它会在上海出版,因为这比较困难。我可能会把它给 我的三 个孩子,他们都住在美国。邓小平掌权时,他们被允许进入美国大学留学 。我曾经在家 里教他们英语,我没有付任何学费。现在我的一个儿子住 在加利福尼亚州,是一名工程师,另 一个是一名电工,我的女儿现在还没有 工作。他们一年回家一次。我的两个儿子今年回来看了 世界博览会。

MAKING OF

MAKING OF