《经纬±0.000》吴德斌2008作品展
2008年8月23日--2008年9月23日
北京酒厂艺术园九立方美术馆
《经纬±0.000》吴德斌2008作品展
策展人：王立新
学术主持：邹跃进
“权力的地理学”
---吴德斌“经纬±”系列作品解读
邹跃进
吴德斌近两年来创作了一批主题为“经纬±0.000”的系列作品，在这批作品中艺术家描绘了当今世界上一些对中国和世界有着重大影响力的公共建筑，或更准确地说是政治、军事和宗教建筑，如中国的中南海、美国的国会山、五角大楼和白宫，台北的总统府，俄罗斯的克里姆林宫，中东宗教圣地东耶路撒冷、沙特阿拉伯的麦加圣地等；与此相关的是，他还描绘了与这些建筑相关，也在历史上或当下同样具有世界影响力的政治人物，如中国的毛泽东、蒋介石、俄罗斯的戈尔巴乔夫、美国的布什、以及被称为基地组织头目的拉登等。很显然，从吴德斌这批取名为“经纬±”的系列作品中的形象性质看，大致可归为政治、军事和宗教的三种类型。它们既与国际和地缘政治、军事冲突相关联，同时也可看到美国学者享廷顿在上世纪90年代开始谈论的当代世界三大文明（儒家文化、伊斯兰教文化、基督教文化）冲突的踪迹。不过我想特别指出的是，吴德斌这批作品的重要意义，尽管在表面上与国际和地缘政治、军事和文化的冲突都有关系，但是从更深的层次上看，则涉及到“权力地理学”，以及技术进步所带来的世界的图像化、图景化与当代政治、权力、监控和利益之间的新型关系。
“权力的地理学”这一说法，是我从地理学杂志“Herodote”的编辑访谈福柯的一个总标题借用过来的。我之所以认为吴德斌的这批作品与“权力的地理学”有关，是因为他不仅描绘了当今世界上一些重要的政治、军事和宗教建筑，重要的政治人物。而且还在于他更关注这些对象在地球经纬线上的精确位置。我们知道，“经纬”属于地理学的范畴，是测量地球上的物体在空间上的精确位置的概念，它侧重对象的客观性表述。然而必须看到的是，地理学之所以成为一门学科，在发生学的意义上，它的最初动力却来自军事和战争必须绘制地图的需要。如公元前334年，亚历山大渡海南侵，继而东征，随军地理学家尼尔库斯沿途搜索资料，于是做出了一个重要贡献———第一次在地球上划出了一条纬线。从本源的意义上说，绘制地图，并通过经纬线使其更精确，无疑与战争中制订克敌制胜的战略有关系，所以，从一开始，地理学就是权力的地理学。吴德斌在作品中描绘对象在地理学上的精确位置，也就是为了呈现这些对象在世界版图上的权力与反权力之间的斗争和冲突。
为了精确表述和确定物体在地球上的准确位置，人类在科学探测和研究的基础上，发明了与这一目的相关的方法、技术和设备。按地理学杂志“Herodote”的编辑的说法，地理学中的地图经历了希腊人的度量、中世纪的探索和十八世纪的审查三个阶段和三种模式。这说明地理学的演变是随时代的发展在变化的，而从技术的意义上说，它甚至是在不断进步的。我之所以要在此特别强调这一点，是因为在我看来，吴德斌的这批作品的意义，不仅与这些建筑和人物的权力与地理学的特殊知识相关联，而且也与这些作品中的图像，特别是那些建筑图像的来源紧密相关。这是因为，吴德斌在这批作品中所描绘的政治、军事和宗教建筑形象，都是来自Google， 即“谷歌”上能搜索到的，由人造卫星拍摄的地球图像。当然，吴德斌不仅依照“权力的地理学”主题，有选择地挪用这些图像，而且也根据绘画艺术的特定要求，对其进行了改造和加工，使其更具有视觉艺术上的感染力。
4然而，吴德斌挪用和改造卫星图像的根本意图，还是为了从今天的立场出发，从一个特定的角度揭示“权力的地理学”，与海德格尔所说的在高科技时代世界被图景化之后的新型权力关系。对此我们可以从如下角度来理解：地理学作为一门学科，当它借用现代高科技的手段，获得了从地球之外全天候、全方位监视地球的能力之时，技术、知识与政治权力之间的关系，已表现为一种全球化特征。从某种意义上说，人类从来没有像今天一样，把监控提高到如此高的水平。吴德斌的“经纬±”系列作品要揭示和呈现的，正是我们今天生存的真实境域，那就是在现代技术的条件下，福柯所言的“权力的眼睛”不仅表现在对地球上各种政治力量的监控上，而且也无处不在地渗透在我们的日常生活之中。
从艺术方法论的角度看，吴德斌的“经纬±”系列作品，与美国波普艺术对复制技术时代生产的大众图像的挪用有类似之处，它突出表现为被艺术家挪用的图像，不仅与图像本身的意义相关，而且更为重要的是与产生图像的技术，社会影响和政治功能密不可分。这也就是说，对于吴德斌来说，重要的不仅是这些在世界上具有重要地位的政治、军事和宗教的建筑与人物的意义，而且也是这些图像的产生过程、方式和功能，即技术和知识与政治权力和全球监控的特定关系。如果我们从艺术方法论的这一角度，来考察吴德斌的“经纬”系列作品在当代艺术中的地位，那么很显然，他的艺术在总体上超越了当下那些同样关注和表达当代国际政治冲突、文化冲突的艺术类型的。
2008-8-7于北京望京花园
Geography of Power
Interpretation of Wu Debin’s Series Latitude and Longitude ±
Zou Yuejin
In the past two years, Wu Debin has created a series of Latitude and Longitude ±, in which he describes some influential and significant public buildings in China and other countries, or to be more accurate, some political, military and religious buildings such as Zhongnanhai of China, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the White House of the US, Taibei General Government, the Kremlin of Russia, East Jerusalem of Middle East, Holy Land Mecca of Saudi Arabia. At the same time, he depicts some influential political characters in history and today who are related to those architectures, including Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-Shek of China, Gorbachev of Russia, Goerge W.Bush of America, and Laden, head of Al-Qaeda. It is clear that Wu’s Series Latitude and Longitude ± can be divided into three kinds by the characters—those of politics, military affairs and religions. His works not only have relations with International geopolitics and military conflicts, but also show some traces of conflicts among the three civilizations (Confucian Culture, Islamic Culture and Christian Culture) of contemporary world. Apparently,Wu’s works are related with International political, military and cultural conflicts ,but from a deeper level, they also deal with Geography of Power, and the new relationship between the images(caused by the advancement of technology)and contemporary politics, power ,control and interest. This is where the significance of his works lies in.
I borrow the opinion “Geography of the Power” from the title of an interview which the editor of Herodote (a geography magazine ) had with Fu Ke.The reason why I relate Wu’s works to Geography of the Power is he not only describes some important political characters and political ,military, religious buildings of today ,but also places great emphasis on their precise positions of the latitude and longitude in geographical coordinates. As we know, latitude and longitude, belonging to the category of geography and emphasizing objective expression of objects, is a concept measuring the exact positions of things on the earth. But we should know that in the sense of ontogeny, the original impetus of geography emerges from the need of drawing maps for wars and military affairs which is the reason for its being a subject. In 334 BC, when Alexander traveled through the sea to invade the South ,and then to conquer the East, the geographer Neilkuhs,going along with the army and collecting materials along the way, made a great contribution i.e. he drew a line of latitude on the earth for the first time. Man drew maps and made them more precise by using latitude and longitude, which, in the sense of origin, had some relations with their strategies to conquer the enemy and win victory. Hence, from the very beginning, geography is the one of power. Wu describes the precise positions of objects in his works with the aim of presenting the fights and conflicts between power and anti-power in world’s territory.
Man has invented the method, technique and equipment on the basis of scientific exploration and research in order to define and describe the precise positions of things on the earth. According to the opinion of Herodote’s editor, maps in geography experienced three stages or three patterns i.e. measurement of the Greek, exploration in the Middle Ages and examination in the 18th century, which proves that geography changes with the development of times and is always progressing in the sense of technology. The reason why I put special emphasis on this point is the meaning of Wu’s works is not only related to the power of buildings, characters and the special knowledge of geography but also related to the images, especially their sources. This is because the images of polictial, military and religious buildings described in Wu’s works are from Google i.e. those pictures of the earth are searched from Google and taken by man-made satellites. Of course, Wu Debin selects those pictures based on the theme of Geograry of Power, and improves them according to the specific demand of the art of painting.
But his intention of selecting and improving those pictures is to reveal the Geography of Power and a new relation of power being pictured in the age of high-tech which is proposed by Heidgger.And we can explain this from the following point: If geography, as a subject, gains the ability of keeping overall watch over the earth beyond it, then the relation between technology, knowledge and political power becomes a characteristic of globalization. In a sense, man has never advanced the monitor and control to such a high level. The real condition of our current existence is the right thing (that) Wu Debin wishes to reveal and present i.e.the concept—the eye of power—proposed by Fu Ke permeates our daily life and reflects the controls of various political forces on the earth.
From the point of art methodology, the selection of images in the Series Latitude and Longitude ± is similar to American spectrum’s selection of popular pictures made in the age with copy technique. The works show the selected pictures is not only related to the meaning of themselves, but also related to the technology, social influence and political function. To Wu Debin, the important thing is not only some significant characters and political, military and religious buildings, but also the process of its production, the method and the function, or the specific relation between technology, knowledge and political power, global control. If we evaluate the position of Wu Debin’s Series Latitude and Longitude ±0.000 in contemporary art from the point of art methodology, then obviously his art has transcended the one, which has the same concern and expression of contemporary international political and cultural conflicts.
Wangjing Garden, Beijing
Aug.7, 2008
白宫 北纬38°53'51.23" 西经77° 2'11.09" 布面油画
The White House 38°53'51.23"N Oil Painting on Canvas
77° 2'11.09"W
克里姆林宫 北纬55°45'10.41" 东经37°37'10.27" 布面油画
The Kremlin 55°45'10.41" N Oil Painting on Canvas
37°37'10.27" E
中南海 北纬39°54'33.13" 东经116°22'44.41" 布面油画
Zhongnanhai 39°54'33.13" N Oil Painting on Canvas
116°22'44.41" E
国会山 北纬38°53'23.32" 西经77° 0'33.38" 布面油画
Capitol Hill 38°53'23.32"N Oil Painting on Canvas
77° 0'33.38"W
乔治.布什 布面油画
George Bush Oil Painting on Canvas
蒋介石 布面油画
Chiang Kai-Shek Oil Painting on Canvas
毛泽东 布面油画
Mao Zedong Oil Painting on Canvas
弗拉基米尔·普京 布面油画
Vladimir Putin Oil Painting on Canvas
漂浮的地缘 装置
Floating Geography Installation
吴德斌85期间重要艺术作品《自述》 布面油画
该作品被收录到下列重要著作
主要文献记载
Main Document Record
《中国油画史》2005年出版
The History of Chinese Oil Painting, published in 2005
《新中国美术史》2002年出版
The Art History of New China, published in 2002
《中国当代美术1979-1999》2001年出版
Contemporary Chinese Art 1979-1999, published in 2001
《中国现代艺术史》1992年出版
The Art History of Modern China ,published in 1992
《中国当代艺术文献》1992年出版
The Art Document of Contemporary China, published in 1992
《首届九十年代艺术双年展作品文献》1992年出版
Work Document of the First Art Biennale of the 1990s, published in 1992
《现代油画》1991年出版
Modern Oil Painting, published in 1991
《美术》杂志1988年第3期
The 3rd issue of Art Magazine, published in 1988
《画家》杂志1988年第2期\1991年总第15期
The Second issue of Painter Magazine, published in 1988 / the Fifteenth issue of Painter Magazine, published in 1991
《中国油画》1987年第2期\1992年第4期\1997年第4期
The Second issue of Chinese Oil Painting, published in 1987 / the Fourth issue of Chinese Oil Painting, published in 1992 / The Fourth issue of Chinese Oil Painting, published in 1997)
