展覽概述
Introduction

由深圳關山月美術館於 2014 年首辦的「在路上」是個獨特的年度項目,到今年已是第五屆。每一年關山月美術館都會邀請超過15位來自中國及香港各大學院、藝術學校和美術館的策展人、藝評人和學者組成提名委員會,提名有前途的中國青年藝術家。再經過委員會選拔及策劃,其中約 20 到 30 位藝術家的作品就集結成一年一度的「作品提名展」。

《在路上》今年首次以「新媒體藝術」為主題,香港站的展覽就以《中國年輕媒體藝術家》為名,展出由提名委員會選出的接近 30 位藝術家及6位城市大學創意媒體學院教師的作品。展覽一方面為中國當代媒體藝術現況作一個概括的描述,同時亦展示年輕藝術家們如何探索、控制、或是盤弄不同的媒體,把「新」「舊」媒體共冶一爐。

中國是個崇尚創新的國度,十多年來,其媒體藝術無論在數量或質量上都有長足的進步。在圖像製作、繪畫和書法方面中國有獨特兼且悠久的歷史,在這些藝術中「時間」「空間」、「黑」「白」、「聲音」「寂靜」等等範疇錯綜複雜,常常處於既敵對又和諧的微妙狀態中。建基於這個藝術傳統,中國青年媒體藝術家們以自己對當代的感知為引,孜孜不倦地挖掘新路徑,在當代藝術的發展上留下足跡。

On the Road is a unique, annual project initiated in 2014 by the Guan Shanyue Art Museum,Shenzhen, here seen in its 2018 version. The process involves 15 curators, art critics and scholars, from major institutions, art schools and museums throughout China and Hong Kong, proposing a selection of promising young Chinese artists. This collective curatorial process results in the creation of an impressive “nomination exhibition” from which a final selection of the best 20-30 works is then made.

This year, for the first time in its history, the annual On the Road exhibition is dedicated to New Media Art. With the title Young Media Artists in China, the 30 or so works selected by the nominating committee (along with 6 contributions by the faculty of the School of Creative Media, CityU) provide a stimulating and exciting overview of the media art scene across China today, and demonstrates how young Chinese artists are exploring, manipulating, and playing with media, often combining both older and ‘newer’ media to new ends.

During the past 10 years the new media art scene has grown in size and quality in a country highly receptive to innovation. China’s own rich and unique history of image-making, painting and calligraphy, offers a tradition where time and space, black and white, sound and silence are often juxtaposed in a subtle dialogue made up of contrasts and complicity. Building on this tradition, with diverse and modern sensibilities, young Chinese media artists are digging new paths that leave firm tracks across the ever-changing field of contemporary art.