Good Fortune Plant

朋友家见到生菜、芫茜、葱和种一盆,不为吃,广州的吉祥植物。

电影开映前的广告
不知道你是否会有这样的经验,在一些电影导演的作品面前,你对时间和金钱的消费问题上会有进退两难的境遇:到底是应该做一个负责任的消费者,像对选购什么蔬菜什么咖啡都作一番理性判断一般来选择要看的电影;还是赌气地对自己说:“再给他一次机会吧!”。当然,后者的潜台词是,糟糕是必然的,但看看到底能糟到什么程度。选择后者通常是两种状况,要么情绪空虚,要么受周围人群的影响。昨晚又抱着“再给他一次机会”的心情踏进了张艺谋的《金陵十三钗》的放映厅,这次是在家人的要求下作出了这样的选择。毕竟,是春节。
2011年的国产电影,让观众目睹的是商业如何与爱国主义在互相结合和利用,而张艺谋的新片也加入了这个行列。从张艺谋当年的批判现实主义到今天的爱国主义,不得不让我感叹商业的力量是多么强大的。
踏出电影院,我的家人说看得头都紧。我的头没事儿,只是觉得电影票钱花得有些冤,并不是说好片子还是坏片子的问题,而是这样的片子应该是学校和单位统一送票给学生和职工看的,就像2004年 Mel Gibson 拍的《耶稣受难记》,上映的时候美国的一些教堂买电影票分给他们的教会成员。这时我又后悔为什么没有选择更加娱乐的贺岁片,因为如果这些电影都已经失去了让人思考的功能,那就应该摘下一切文艺和艺术的假面具,让糟粕来得更彻底一些吧。
This was Jan 2nd the second day after the new year. The weather was cold, only a handful of occupiers remaining on the Wall street.

Among this crowd, 1/3 were protestors, 1/3 were police, 1/3 were passerby like me.

Asia Art Archive interview with Fang Lu by Fiona He
AAA’s Fiona He spoke with artist Fang Lu about her unique style of camera direction, her interest in food as an artistic medium, and the reality of being a female artist in China today…
Fiona He (AAA): In your earlier works such as Untitled Beings series and Skin, as well as in recent works such as Automatic Happenings, you have self-directed and performed in the artwork. Most of them focus on simple tasks such as lip-syncing while eating cake, repetitively putting on and taking off your clothes, or performing timely awkward quasi-cooking actions in a non-descriptive environment. Can you tell us about your role as a performer in front of your own camera and the relationship between that and your role as artist? Moreover, how does the solitude or intimacy in working alone allow you to explore and convey the possibilities of this medium?
Fang Lu (FL): In my works, the camera is not used to document a phenomenon, but to transform simple tasks and everyday actions. As the camera enters an everyday, common space, time and objects of portrayal transform through which an altered representation is created. The same transformation also happens to the performer. In fact, the most apparent example would be public space under surveillance, and how our behavior in public is in fact, shaped by these cameras. Therefore, when the camera is intentionally placed within a private space, the camera has an instrumental effect on the performer (either myself or other performers). I am interested in this unique characteristic of the camera. Therefore, in many of my works, I create an isolated filming environment in order to allow myself as a performer or other performers to enter a staged scenario. A lone individual may forget the existence of the outside world and that may be quite a liberating moment, whether used to play a role or complete a task.
That is Cuba! Since I got back from the trip all I could think about is how to return there sooner.
(and finally visit a country where Chinese passport is actually useful.)