An Exhibition of Works from the Longquan Baoxi Artist Residency Program

Fanrong Art Museum, Suzhou
Exhibition Dates: October 14 – November 14, 2023

In the summer of 2023, four artists, Chen Ping, Hua Yuanfei, Zhuona (Summer), and KIMVI , were invited to Lishui County's Longquan Baoxi Scenic Area in Zhejiang Province for a ten-day artist residency. This exhibition, The Story of Baoxi Village in the Long Country of Yunbai, presents the culmination of their immersive journey and collective dialogue.

The residency was situated within a remarkable landscape of architectural and artistic innovation, part of the Longquan International Biennial. Here, twelve international architects were commissioned to create permanent bamboo structures. Our artists' studios were themselves seminal works of architecture: a bamboo hostel designed by Anna Heringer Studio and a creative and innovation center by Li Xiaodong Atelier. The surrounding site, a holistic complex featuring a boutique hotel, a celadon ceramic museum, workshops, and a striking double-helix bridge, provided a constant source of inspiration. The region itself is historically renowned for its Celadon glazes, a material and cultural heritage that deeply informed the residency's creative output.

The Story of Baoxi Village in the Long Country is more than a documentation of a place; it is a testament to a process. It represents the artists' "connecting and balancing"—a navigation of the sights, sounds, and feelings encountered during their stay. The exhibition features a diverse range of media, including installation, video, ceramics, visual arts, drawing, painting, filmed performance, and photography.

A defining characteristic of this project was the profound sense of collective authorship that emerged. In constant dialogue, the artists' individual practices became intertwined, resulting in a curation where the boundaries of authorship are intentionally blurred. The exhibition is composed as a single, cohesive installation, integrating photography and physical artifacts from the residency into a unified visual and spatial narrative.

The title, The Story of Baoxi Village in the Long Country of Yunbai, suggests that just like everyday life, this is both a narrative and an underlying energy, awakened under specific circumstances. The residency offered an "area of potential factors"—the profound presence of the white clouds over the countryside, the tactility of bamboo architecture, and the legacy of celadon—but the most critical determining factor was the artists' own awakening. The resulting works are not merely a reflection of their external environment, but a manifestation of their internal creative journeys.