艺术院校美术馆典藏作品展的叙事
——以中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展为例
赵 辉 中国美术学院美术馆
摘 要：
典藏作品展反映一个美术馆在学术上的深度和广度，展览的内在结构是叙事成功与否的关键，并由此引发出：确立学术主题、甄选藏品和原始资料、安排叙事情节、视觉呈现、观众因素等问题。本文以中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展为例，就艺术院校美术馆典藏作品展策划中的叙事元素进行探讨。
关键词：
展览策划、典藏作品展、展览叙事
美术馆作为社会公共文化服务体系的一部分，是为全民提供公共文化产品服务的公益性机构。大学是一个国家、民族最具精神活力的智性平台，是勾描理想的画布，传承思想的纽带，发展文化和科技的动力。“大学的有效的统一特性，以及大学的现实性，却不在于科学的原始统一过程所具有的某种精神力量，这种精神力量发源于大学”。[①]我国的艺术院校是中国文化和近现代艺术史的重要构建版块，尤其为20世纪的中国美术注入大量新的思想和人才，深刻影响和推动了中国近现代美术的发展进程，是铸就我们民族精神家园的重要基石。
长期以来，我国艺术院校美术馆被视为教学成果的陈列厅，而没有被作为造型艺术博物馆来进行高效有序的规划和运营。随着我国美术馆时代的起步、发展，其学科自主性的逐渐完备，提升和完善艺术院校美术馆定位的必要性日趋迫切。艺术院校美术馆脱胎于陈列馆的历史和现实是客观存在的，由此，必须改变从属于教学的附属状态，凝练藏品的学术脉络，突破原有单一、粗糙的展陈模式，从而向国际通行美术馆形态迈进。
常设展是一座美术馆各种展览中最为基础，也最见功底的项类，是美术馆长久生存和发展的维系所在，展现着的整体馆藏水平和学术能力。长期以来，我国少见真正意义的常设展，而是常以藏品展作为替代。藏品展的展品组织、学术梳理相对疏浅，策划工作相对简单，尚谈不上深入艺术史的学术层面予以探讨。近年来，尽管常设展览的开设还未能尽如人意，但对于藏品的研究和利用已有长足的进步。由此，藏品展的学术性得以保证，在相应的学术框架下更为注重彰显藏品的典型性和经典意义，而展陈等方面的诸多元素也有了相应的统筹和策划。举办典藏作品展，依托于长期积累形成的藏品规模以及整体历史背景和发展沿革等状况，展览的内在结构就成为叙事成功与否的关键，并因此引发出：确立学术主题、甄选藏品和原始资料、安排叙事情节、提炼引导线索和视角、转换和衔接章节时空、文案口吻以及逻辑性和视觉呈现的关系、经典型和趣味性相协调等问题。
作为著名美术学府的美术馆，中国美术学院美术馆成立于2003年，时间虽短，却秉持学院一贯的学术宗旨，继承了学院长期积淀的丰富藏品，有着独立的学术传统和学术定位，从而有别于国内其他重要的艺术机构，是学院人文精神和人文理想的实践者。2013年春季适逢中国美术学院建校85周年，美术馆利用馆藏精品，举办“大师与庙堂——中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”，现以此展为例，对艺术院校典藏作品展视觉叙事各层次问题进行探讨。
典藏展的策划基础
美术馆的展览必须有相应的文化态度、文化立场和系统的学术规划，通过收藏和展览构成该美术馆 “艺术史”表述结构。展览策划是美术馆知识立场和文化信念的推行者，不尽相同的策展理念反映出他们在学术上的深度和广度。艺术院校承担着中国艺术教育和艺术前沿探索的双重任务，其展览策划更具有风向标意义。一个有着良好积淀的艺术院校美术馆，它的典藏就是中国艺术史的重要切片。
美术馆典藏的基础是学术研究，典藏作品展的策划更以学术研究此框架，有计划、有步骤地向公众作相对固定的展示，使公众获得艺术陶冶、接受艺术教育。典藏展的策划包括将已有藏品、文献归结为学术问题进行研究，并通过一切可能的方式，对艺术或社会问题进行新的解决和解释。其展览目的是让美术馆藏品及文献进行新的语法组合，探索和形成美术馆艺术史书写的视角。美术馆通过对藏品与艺术史关联的深入研究，探求其结构性意义，以表述自己的学术主张和研究成果，才能在本土文化建设和国际语境中形成独有的学术个性和学术地位。
典藏作品展览策划的学术研究主要针对藏品在社会历史背景、艺术史、艺术思潮、艺术理论等方面展开讨论，也包括美术馆学、教育、传播等相关课题的研究。“大师与庙堂——中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”利用丰富的馆藏资源，以中国美术学院校史发展为基本叙事逻辑，对校史中重要的艺术和艺术教育问题做深入的研究。特别是对中国美术学院发展历程中诸多看似二元对立的现象和问题，深究其内在规律和学理依据——如中西艺术融合及中西艺术之争问题、如注重艺术本体精神和关注社会变革问题、如严酷的战争环境与艺术人才成长问题，以及一元领导与多元并存问题、狂热政治氛围下的人性力量等问题。通过校史研究并结合中国近现代美术史，这些问题与之相互印证，学院的学术谱系得以直观地明晰，昭示了学院与中国现代美术发展与教育、创作的深厚渊源。
本次典藏作品展策划之时，最为基础的工作是对于藏品本身展开研究。作为“有形之物”的作品，与“无形之物”的意识形态、社会环境、社会风尚共同构成艺术史。所以藏品研究，不仅要关注作品本身，而更应将其置于宏观视野中进行考察，研究作品与大时代的关系，在艺术史序列中的地位，在美术馆典藏体系中的位置，以及在艺术家艺术思想、风格样式演变中的作用。同样，在作者的研究中也要考察这些问题，并要注意他（她）与学院的关联，在学校学术谱系中的身份。同时，策划展览时尤其不应忽视相关文献与实物的收集和研究，它们一方面能客观地印证历史，另一方面也使展览的元素更加丰富，帮助观众建立起观展的现场感。
然而，美术馆在留存和呈现历史的同时，还要关注当代艺术潮流和创作，对其发展有所参与和引导，这同样是美术馆典藏作品展的基本任务，也是当代美术馆的发展趋势。因此策划藏品展必须注重展览与当代艺术的关联，鼓励年轻艺术家和艺术学子进行探索，对一种艺术现象或问题展开研究和探讨，从而引发业内和观众的反思、讨论、甚至争议，这对今天的艺术起着切实的推进作用。“中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”在不同的版块中重复体现中西艺术碰撞的主题，表现一个艺术群体以开放的心态引入西方艺术，并积极灵活地与本土社会互动，在一个复杂的文化空间内建设当代中国人审美观念的探索。
典藏展中的展品选择
一个有积淀的艺术院校美术馆，他们的藏品见证了中国社会和艺术运动演绎的过程，藏品展的目的是将艺术作品放置在艺术史的架构中进行新的评估和界定。美术馆并不完全意味着只是一个“新观念的包装者”，也并不意味着作品只是与展览观念相联的文化符号，选择什么样的艺术作品展出是考验美术馆学术高度、历史眼光、文化责任的一个重要的方面。艺术作品必须被放在艺术史的架构中进行评估，必须具有独特性和超越性。
“艺术是通过此时此地揭示艺术家彼时彼地创造的东西，从而让我们和过去联系起来。”[②]每一件藏品都是在一定的历史环境与社会环境中产生，藏品中隐含着丰富的信息，我们不能把艺术作品和艺术现象作为超越历史时空和社会现实的存在，要突出艺术与现实、历史之间复杂的联系。艺术院校美术馆通过藏品展的形式，梳理院校自身的历史及其与20世纪社会文化变迁相关联，使文化实践与人文理想交织在一起。展品的选择就是对藏品及文献资料等历史文化资源的在研究、再梳理，在此基础上进行合理利用及当下阐释，从而构成新的知识动力。
中国美术学院是20世纪我国第一所高等教育起点的国立美术学院，由时任国民政府大学院院长蔡元培先生发起成立。85年来，中国美术学院数易校名，但办学历史从未中断，成为中国最有影响力的国立美术学院。在长期办学的过程中，中国美术学院聚集和培养了一大批上世纪中国最优秀的艺术家。他们构成了超级强大的阵容，他们的追求和成就也充分体现了20世纪中国美术纷繁复杂的特色，他们的作品自然成为中国美术学院美术馆收藏重点。
“大师与庙堂——中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”在众多藏品基础上精选出80余件各时期师生校友作品，其中不乏林风眠、潘天寿、黄宾虹、赵无极、吴冠中、刘开渠等艺术巨匠的作品。这些藏品不仅是中国美术学院美术馆重要的资源，也是中国现代美术史上的代表之作。策划者力求以展品勾连起诸位先生与学院的关联，同时透过他们的生平及作品瞭望20世纪中国美术的发展进程。展览配以相关文献，以既观且读的方式，向学院和社会进行展示，传达展品所叙述的那段美术历史与故事。
各艺术院校的藏品大多为艺术精品，然而，好作品的相加并不一定等于是好的展览。典藏展览不能因为是精品杰作就进行简单的拼凑组合，放松对其内在有机联系的把握。此次典藏展与以往不同主要在于，力求体现美术馆的意志，显示出一个大学美术馆的文化立场和人文理想。展览突破原有的学科画种及作品创作年代的限制，以美术史为背景，学校发展变迁为视角，以作品为实证，勾画出85年来学院学术风向和发展变迁，及各时期师生、校友与学院的血脉联系，从中可以清晰的看出20世纪中国美术发展的脉络和特质。
展览策划期间遇到的最为棘手的问题是，藏品的遴选，并不是缺乏作品，而是太多的作品因为场地或叙事结构的局限而难以割舍。许多藏品虽然作品无法在同一场展览中共同出现，但仍然是中国美术学院学术谱系中重要的一环，共同构筑起美院学术大厦的深厚基础。最终，策划者形成一个总体思路，既将藏品分为不同展季展出，以藏品展的形式逐步向常设展模式过渡，一方面解决了藏品展示亮相方面的遗憾，一方面也有助于形成展览的传播效应。并且对加深加强藏品研究也有相当的促进作用。
典藏展中的多元叙事
美术馆从某种意义来说是艺术史的回顾者和总结者，典藏作品展览的立意与编排，在于提炼出一条引导人们进入由艺术作品构成的过去、现在和未来的线索。 现在是立足点，过去是基础，未来是建立在过去、现在之上的理想，典藏作品展在叙事逻辑的语法编辑尤为重要。通常，线性的编年史方式最为常用，它以作品图解“艺术运动”或“风格”的衍变过程。正如英国学者斯维特拉那·阿尔帕斯所说：“视觉文化对历史进行解释是正当的。近年来，一些最成功的西方艺术展览往往是专题性的展览。”[③]
中国艺术院校的历史，与中国现当代艺术的发展进程有着密切的联系，同时也是中国知识分子追求社会进步的缩影。策划典藏作品展，策展人有责任和义务通过对历史的研究、梳理，使这种不懈的精神追求和人文理想得以呈现。回顾艺术院校发展史，有助于解决今天艺术发展中的诸多问题，尤其是传统文化如何在当代传承、融合、转型。中国社会正处于转型期，社会各界都表现出对西方现代文明的向往和集体的现代意识。这种现代意识也伴随和影响着中国艺术院校的发展，不同时期的艺术教育和艺术潮流，总是与这种意识发生着互动关联。因此，对艺术院校历史和藏品的研究和展示，探寻现代意识与本土文化的交融，是美术馆不可推卸的文化责任。
“大师与庙堂——中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”的结构框架即以线性的历史叙事为主，以校史为序列分三个版块，将不同时期教师和学生归纳其中。各版块在作品选择上着意体现作品的经典性，以及作品在题材和艺术风格上所承载的社会史和艺术史的意义，阐释不同历史时期我院先辈的艺术探索和社会责任以及贡献。分别为：
初创期（1928——1949）。学院以蔡元培“思想自由，兼容并蓄”思想为办学方针，开放与兼容是这一时期重要的特征。展览选用林风眠、李风白、李金发、潘天寿、刘开渠等先生作品，体现学院先辈在办学之初，努力引进西方现代艺术教育模式，并积极实现本土化这一风貌。同时，早期学生中如胡一川、力群、罗工柳、王式廓、彦涵等更以社会进步、国家兴亡为己任，凭借手中的刻刀和画笔直接走上抗战的前沿、走向延河之滨。展览均选用他们延安时期的作品，用图像还原他们的所表现出的社会责任和勇气，以及艺术风格流变的历程。这一版块还展出赵无极、吴冠中、朱德群等人的作品，他们是在抗战最为艰苦卓绝的环境下完成学业，却成为20世纪最为著名的艺术家，策划者把他们的作品并置，力图使观众产生探摸这一现象背后的深层原因。抗战胜利后，学院办学出现两个转向，首先是由于潘天寿等中国画名家担任校长，使传统艺术教学得到重视和回归；另一个转向由倪贻德、蔡仪等教授的鼓动，使现实主义的创作思想和态度在校园内蔓延。展览在历史的框架下呈现这一时期学术势态的总体状况，同时穿插在此背景下产生的一些艺术问题和现象。
新生期（1949——1976）。在这时期，尽管有困惑和浮躁，有曲折和痛苦，但更多的是理想的追求。建国后，教师队伍人员构成多样，多种艺术主张和观点并处，其中有自解放区文艺干部为代表的革命现实主义、以潘天寿为代表的中国传统艺术、以林风眠为先驱的中西融合、以苏联及东欧为样板创作教学体系，以及部分原先旅欧艺术家所代表的其时欧洲流行的艺术观念。策划者通过将代表不同的艺术主张的作品并置，力图呈现这些流派和艺术家群体在学术上互补并存，在相互砥砺和刺激中相融，共同促进多元化探索的图景。这一版块中还提炼了诸小专题：融合中西、推陈出新，开拓了现代中国人物画新风的“浙派人物画”；以表现现实生活的苏式写实主义；国画分科教学、成立书法科；在版画创作上凸显出民族风格的探索等。
开放期（1976至今）。进入新时期，学院也走进了一片新天地。全面客观地评价这一时期的历史进程，可能还有待时日，然而学院改革、开拓、扩展、跨越的良好态势给人的印象是非常深刻的。尤其是进入了21世纪，在“多元互动，和而不同”的学术方针指引下，中国美术学院比以往任何时候都更显得精神高扬。学院师生在创作上持续保持良好的态势，许多作品业已成为美术史上新的经典之作。令人遗憾的是，由于美术馆的收藏局限，在二十世纪80年代中国美术学院曾起主导作用的“八五新潮”代表人物的作品均未收藏，以致造成展览结构上的缺陷。
需要指出的是，中国美院美术馆典藏展由于藏品的限制，艺术家的作品并不是其所处校史节点的创作。作品所呈现的时期、地域、质材和门类不尽相同，并不严格符合原有的线性框架，而这一限制却为展览带来了新的诠释契机。策划者放弃了采用按艺术风格或材料来选择安排陈列方式的一般方法，以致展览在原有的历史表述的基础上融进了非线性、非历史的因素。展品选择阶段更突破固定思维，从各个主题出发，让不同时期的艺术家的作品，按不同地域或文化背景进行组合，置放在同一空间之中，产生彼此接触、对话和融合的效果。这一效果所带来的多重意义的诠释，既进一步体现和丰富了策展人的观点，也使作品的内涵在新的叙事逻辑下产生鲜活的互动和微妙的漂移，从而使观众在整体性叙事线索的引领下，获得了更为细腻丰富的感受。进而使我们凝视于那些艺术发展史中相互重叠抑或相互远离的、纷繁复杂的事实，勾划出一个真正属于观众自己的、永恒的文化瞬间。
展览策划中结构安排以非线性的叙事方式展开，已是一种较为流行的展示形式，它或是在整体框架上放弃历史的发展脉络，时间顺序上采用非线性的语法表述，包容多元化的艺术风格与艺术观点，寻找另一种普遍性与整体性的存在。美国博物馆学学者黛博拉·J·梅杰斯在《博物馆和“非历史性”展览：设计者的新策略或者说是一种重要文化现象》说：“这种非历史展览的出现，已经迫使我们去面对这样的一个事实：虽然艺术的历史性发展过程的事实依然毫无疑问是无懈可击的，但是艺术史学者却试图去‘修整’风格和观念的残损并采取一个新的概念及其实践去摧毁进化论的观点，原始的构想、普遍的风格和圣洁的白色区域等种种方案的尝试表明，艺术品已经开始被安排在多姿多彩的新理论基础上。虽然这一切依然具有浓厚的个人主义色彩，但是它的大门，确实已经轰然中开。”[④]
典藏展中的观众因素
当代美术馆与社会公众的关系近来得到普遍重视，在展览策划中观众的感受和体验应作为思考的重要问题之一。美术馆如何彰显公共性，回归公众，并不是免费开放那么简单，更为重要的是它所呈现出的文化性质，能否与公众产生内在的互动与联系。展览的意义已经不只是悬挂、展示美术作品的概念，要注意到当今社会审美和体验的丰富性，应该将学术与大众接受进行良好的结合。“博物馆使它成为了一个具有视觉兴趣（visual interest）的物体”。[⑤]成功的美术馆展览其目的在于激发起观众的好奇心，使他们愿意在离开美术馆后仍然保持着兴趣、在适当的机会选择适合自己的方式与艺术互动。
从某种意义上，美术馆、展品、观众是一体的，艺术关注社会及人本身的情感是永远的主题，观众与艺术沟通就是情感唤起的过程。当观众在欣赏作品，不是被动接受既有意义，而是与作品、艺术家一起同构、印证和阐释正在发生并不断深化和演进的意义。美术馆对于观众不应是高高在上的教导，而是引导，展览提供给观众不是问题的解决方案和结论，而是给受众提供一种可能性，或是提出问题，甚至这些问题并不一定要在展览中直接获得解决。展览由此成为一种对原有知识观念的挑战。它对于受众是一次以视觉方式的思想遭遇，让他们在遭遇的瞬间获得新的契机和启迪，观众由此作为艺术精神再创造的主体，产生强烈的参与感，与艺术之间产生紧密的关联。展览在结构的设计安排上围绕着观众参观的动线展开，版块设置随时间顺序、地理顺序、心理顺序展开。研究者按照艺术发展进程和流派风格的演进进行分析，同时，使之成为人类共同的艺术典藏库和艺术研究的文献档案馆，表明博物馆的独立思考。
由此带来的是问题是，美术馆如何“说话”，这一点却常常得不到应有的重视。如要将展览打造成为具有吸引力的话题，就要充分考虑到公共传播的效应和便利性，注意改变美术馆“话语”的态度、语气。当展览主题确立后，文案撰写的角度和基调应在全面的调查、研究、组合，特别是视觉形式的原始材料的基础上，充分结合文本、影像、及其他新兴媒体，对展览主题进行全面呈现。艺术作品、文献资料和空间氛围等因素，使美术馆的话语表达更加生动。文献展板，是展览重要的组成部分，配合展品，形成图文并茂的格局，既是对展品内涵的学术延伸和外化，也是引导公众更好的进行审美活动的有效助力。在展览构想和展陈设计方面，尽可能使文献展板具备高度美学意义和感官吸引力，力求形式的多样性，充分调动观众的兴趣，激发观众思考的热情。展陈的设计品质，决定了展览整体的视觉效果，好的展示设计会使观众在展场独特的氛围中感受到视觉上被鼓动，内心被激起审美的欲望。
“中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”在策划构思上就试图以最佳的叙事方式，向观众表述一件件作品与一座学府一段艺术历史的亲缘，激发起观众兴趣。策划者和设计者一起反复沟通展陈方案，力求展示技术及观念上的更新与提升，利用声光电、装置等技术手段，达到活泼、变化、互动的观展效应。具体实施时，对参观动线的设置，展品的疏密安放和排布关系，平面作品与三维作品的穿插、呼应，灯光布置、气氛营造，及至展览结构性标题的设置、作品标签说明的撰写、户外海报招贴等视觉系统的设计，都站在观众的角度予以考量。在正确和易读的原则下，尽量为观众营造一个适合多维体验要求的展厅环境，充分利用作品本身的美学魅力触动观众内心的感动，引发观众学习和探索的潜能，以确保展览意图得到流畅而充分的传达。
不可忽视的是，当代美术馆的展览已经不仅仅局限于知识，而是对知识的局限性本身做出揭示，并对这种局限可能对人和社会的限制发出警示。“中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”充分运用艺术院校在专业教育和专业理论研究方面的优势，注重引导观众对艺术形成尊重与好感，乃至树立艺术理想。通过向观众讲述所关注的艺术或社会问题，使其在知识、审美、思想各方面得到启发，对现有知识进行反省和批判，并显示出人的觉醒和觉悟。
典藏展中的教育与宣传
与展品应在学术框架内寻求到合适的定义一样，美术馆所举办的展览项目，也要充分考虑到的相应的社会语境和时代背景。为此，学术研讨、教育和宣传推广活动等展览的外围活动，成为展览向社会和业界内外输出和传达的重要途径，需在策划阶段就将之作为整体的一部分加以综合运作。只有将美术馆的学术传播和公共教育功能激活，使之更真切有效传达展览的信息和意图，展览才有可能真正具有内在的活力和开放的品格。美术馆也将成为一个活体与所在区域形成共生的格局，参与到文化生态的构建和生成。
展览的目标定位是否明晰，主要落实在如何设置学术主题，向受众表述怎样的观点和立场；其次是明确所开展的学术或宣教活动对象的层次与结构；除此之外，要充分利用各种媒体，无论是传统的平面媒体、影像媒体，还是日益强势的网络媒介，借助媒体的公共影响力，使展览引起更多的关注和更为广泛的传播力。
中国的艺术院校见证一个世纪以来中国美术发展，院校美术馆藏品的作者，大多为20世纪中国美术发展史上值得研究的艺术家。所以展览本身就具有相当的学术性。“中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”在对学术性的确保和把握过程中，积极发挥了学院的专业优势，站在研究者的客观立场联合艺术人文学院，展开相关研讨会，对展览中涉及的作者和作品，展开具体讨论，并形成文字。座谈会通过严谨的学理角度和鲜活的感受性角度，对同一个展览主题形成互为补益的深度挖掘，既丰实了展览内涵，也扩展了展览的外延。
中国美术学院久在杭州，对于杭州地区美术活动产生了深远的影响，学院的名师名作向来是公众期待欣赏的对象，本次展览利用良好的群众美术基础，突破学院和专业的范畴，以主动积极地姿态面向公众，推出了相应公共教育和推广活动。
首先，“中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”在校内各科系展开宣传，展览本身是对在校学生进行校史与艺术史的宣传与教育的绝好载体。增进学生对学院历史的和学术脉络的了解，有助于深化学生对学校的荣誉感和责任感和归属感。展览海报在杭城各大高校内张贴，邀请大学生群体前来参观，并欢迎预约，以便提供导览服务。为充分调动学生的参与热情，策划者在学院内部召集和筛选学生志愿者，通过座谈和培训等方式，带领他们了解学院的学术谱系及作品背后的信息，再由他们结合各自的专业背景，向更广泛的学生观众进行专业导览。
进而，中国美术学院美术馆发挥与社区的辐射与影响，主动与老年大学联系。老年大学聚集着众多美术爱好者，作为展览的重要参观来源，他们通过展览既可增强自身美术修养，同时也可发挥老人在每个家庭中，尤其是对孩子的影响，将展览的信息、理念、观展习惯辐射至潜在的大众层面中去。为更好地服务于老年美术爱好者，美术馆组织志愿者为提供导览服务，并安排相应时段，邀请研究生或专业教师在现场指导老年书画爱好者进行临摹等活动。
美术学院周边社区的中小学也是本次展览推广的对象。而今的中小学生的知识储备和文化视野已远超过去，通过这一活动，不仅是引导低龄观众对艺术产生兴趣，同时也潜移默化输出了中国美术学院的文化概念。展览期间，为娃哈哈小学组织了两次参观活动，让小学生到展厅对着作品进行临摹或在展品的启发下直接创作，活动之后，设专区将孩子们的作品与典藏展同步展出。这些从小养成参观博物馆和美术馆的孩子，是未来社会的中坚力量，他们的文化修养和知识背景对提高民族整体文化素质有着决定性的作用。为进一步完善美术馆的公益职能，美术馆还举办了一期与自闭症儿童的观展活动，以期艺术的力量对患儿有所助益。
利用媒体进行宣传是现下覆盖面最为广发的宣传手段。然而，媒体具有多重性格，在媒体应用上，如何发挥其正面的意义，则是美术馆展览策划人员所必需投入的工作。“在20世纪以来，媒体随着社会的发展与需要，加上科技的进步，已使媒体的成为无所不在的生活制约者。面对媒体的强势发展，有些仍然存在传统观念的接受者，认为媒体是可选择与控制的行为，并且在其接受过程中，很温和而收某一道德价值观的影响，而媒体是受到某一程度的控制，即为扬善抑恶的理念很明确。但媒体在竞争的时代里，它已不是如此被动等待的选择，而是对于所选定的目标作有力的推展。”[⑥]作为策划者，首先要对媒体本身有足够理性的认识，以及了解受众对媒体的不同要求和态度，才能有效地发挥媒体作用，展开良性的宣传。本次典藏展无论是为学院教学提供借鉴，还是对社会公众进行美的熏陶，都有着重要的意义。
首先是展开面对社会的网络宣传。美术馆网站和官方微博发起相关的专门话题，跟踪报道展览从筹备到布展以及展期内的全过程。以吸引业内外各方人士关注。再者，运用专业刊物进行宣传。策划者通过学术梳理和研究，在专业刊物上发表专题文章，为当下的艺术教育和创作提供借鉴。第三，运用大众媒体进行连续宣传，形成较为广泛的报导信息链。一方面在全国性的媒体上，如《光明日报》《美术报》《中国文化报》都刊登新闻扩大影响。一方面方面专门约请如《浙江日报》《钱江晚报》《都市快报》，及浙江电视台、上海电视台等地域性媒体前来报导和参与体验导览和临摹活动。通过报纸、广播和电视，形成三维的大众宣传网络对展览进行深入报道，积极吸引本地观众。
不应忽视的举措还有宣传资料的发放。除向大众发送展览介绍资料外，通过向相关单位针对性投放以及赠送相关图书资料，不仅扩大了影响，也起到交流沟通的效果。同时，美术馆还专门寄送请柬和画册给展品的创作者本人或家属，感念其捐赠义举，告知其展览情况，请创作者或家属代为宣传，扩大展览在专业领域内的影响。
综前所述，美术馆的典藏作品展览不只是对艺术史进行简单的叙述，而是对已有艺术资源以一定的主题为核心展开的一系列专业化的运作。“中国美术学院美术馆典藏作品展”力求以中国美术学院的文化积淀和品格特质为出发点，呈现一种既不同于本土流行的批评概念，又不同于西方解读模式和图像构架，并以此映射和启发我国当下的艺术样式和潮流，成为文化精神的引导者和反思者。从而，在全球化艺术框架之中展示当代文化的特质，为形成民族文化自信心和凝聚力提供依据，为中国艺术的多元性提供学术经验和价值体系。
[①] 海德格尔：《世界图像的时代》，孙周兴译，《海德格尔选集》下卷，上海，上海三联书店，1996年，第894页。
[②] 大卫·卡里尔：《博物馆怀疑论——公共美术馆中的艺术展览史》，丁宁译，南京，江苏美术出版社，2009年，第288页。
[③] 斯维特拉那·阿尔帕斯：《博物馆——一种观看方式》，费婷译，王璜生主编：《大学与美术馆：美术馆的文化策略与学科建构》总第三期，上海，同济大学出版社，2012年，第26页。
[④]黛博拉·J·梅杰斯：《博物馆和“非历史性”展览：设计者的新策略或者说是一种重要文化现象》，梁超译，王璜生主编：《美术馆》总第三期，澳门，澳门出版社，2002年，第10页。
[⑤] 同注③，P24.
[⑥] 黄光男：《博物馆新视觉》，北京，文化艺术出版社，2011年，第188页。
Narrative of Collection Exhibitions Held by Art Museums of Art Universities
——Take the MCACAA Collection Exhibitions as Examples
Zhao Hui, Museum of Contemporary Art of China Academy of Art
Abstract:
An art museum’s collection exhibition reflects its academic depth and breadth. And the key of a successful narrative is the exhibition’s inner structure, which elicits following questions: academic theme, collection selection, sources, narrative plot, visual presentation, target visitors, etc. This thesis takes the MCACAA collection exhibitions as examples to have a discussion on the narrative elements in collection exhibitions held by art university museums.
Keywords:
Exhibition Planning, Collection Exhibition, Exhibition Narrative
As a part of the social public cultural service system, art museums is a kind of commonweal institution that provides public cultural products for the general public. As a national intellectual platform with high spirits, universities is canvas of dream, bond of thought inheritance and power of cultural and scientific development. “ The effective identity and reality of universities are not within certain spiritual power in the process of original and scientific unification. This kind of spiritual power originates from universities.”[①] Art universities in China are very important building blocks of Chinese culture and modern and contemporary art, and provide a great deal of thoughts and professional talents for the development of China’s art. These thoughts and talents have deeply influenced and promoted the development of China’s modern and contemporary art and have been the significant cornerstone of our national spiritual home.
For a long time, art museums of China’s art universities have been regarded as showrooms of teaching results rather than independent design and art museums. Therefore, they lack efficient and ordered plans and operations. With the starting and further development of China’s art museums, their autonomy has completed gradually so there is the necessity to clear and improve the position of art university museums. art university museums are independent of the history and reality of exhibition halls so it is a must to change the status quo of its affiliation to teaching, compact the academic history of collections and break the current single and rough exhibition modes so that they can come into line with international forms.
Permanent exhibition is the most basic and demanding type of exhibition among all others. Permanent exhibition is the key for an art museum’s long-term existing and development, which embodies the real level of the museum’s collection and academic ability. For quite some time, we can rarely see real permanent exhibitions in China and for most of the time, museums will use a collection exhibition to replace a permanent one. A collection exhibition often has simple and easy organization, academic retrospect and plan, let alone a deep discussion of the history of art on an academic level. In recent years, although the holding of permanent exhibitions in China is still not satisfied, the study and use of collections have reaped great successes. As a result, the collection exhibition is becoming more and more scholastic and shows more typicality and classical senses under the matching academic frame. Besides, many elements such as the display have more organizations and plans. Holding a collection exhibition relies on the long-term collection scale and the overall history and development. And the key of a successful narrative is the exhibition’s inner structure, which elicits following questions: academic theme, collection selection, sources, narrative plot, guidance clues and perspective, transition and link between chapters, tone and logic of official documents, visual presentation, coordination between classics and enjoyment, etc.
As a art museum attached to a prestigious art academy, MCACAA was founded in 2003. Although it’s a short time, the academy has always adhered to the consistent academic principles and has inherited many historical collections. Independent academic tradition and position are the practitioners of the academy’s humanistic spirit and ideal, which make the academy different from other art institution in China. In the 85th Academy Anniversary in the spring of 2013, MCACAA made fully use of its collections and held “Master & Temple -- MCACAA Collection Exhibition”. Now, taking this exhibition as an example, this thesis will discuss the multi-level problems in the visual narrative of art universities’ collection exhibitions.
Plan Basis of a Collection Exhibition
An art museum’s exhibition should have its own cultural attitude, stance and systematic academic plan. Both collections and exhibitions constitute the narrative structure of “the history of art”. Exhibition planers are the promoters of an art museum’s knowledge stance and cultural commitment. Different plan theories reflect different academic depths and breadths of the planners. Art universities shoulder the responsibility of China’s art education and up-to-date art exploration so their exhibition plans are just like wind indicators. If the art museum has good cultural heritage, its collections are important segments of China’s history of art.
The basis of an art museum’s collection is academic study. Planners of a collection exhibition ought to follow the academic frame and present relatively fixed exhibition to the public in a planned and ordered fashion so that the general public may feel influenced by art and accept art education. During a planning of a collection exhibition, all the collections and documents in the museum should be studied as academic problems. Planers should use all possible ways to provide new solutions or explanations to the current art or social problems. The aim of an exhibition is to re-organize all the collections and documents in the museum grammatically in order to explore and form a new perspective to write the history of art. Through the in-depth study of the connection between its collections and the history of art, a museum can explore the sense of the structure and express its own academic favor and research fruit. Only in this way can the museum form an unique academic characteristic and status in both local culture and international environment.
An academic study in the plan of a collection exhibition mainly targets the social and historical background of the collections, history of art, artistic ideological trends, art theories. Also it should have some research projects on art museums, education, communication and so on. “Master & Temple -- MCACAA Collection Exhibition” takes advantage of plentiful museum resources and uses the history of China Academic of Art (CAA) as basic narrative logic to make in-depth research on significant art or art education problems in its history. Especially, the exhibition discusses the internal discipline and theoretical basis of some seemingly binary and opposite phenomena and problems in the history of CAA -- the problem of art noumenon and social revolution, the problem of harsh wars and artists training, the problem of centralized leadership and multi-existence, the problem of political mania and humanistic power, etc. By studying the history of CAA and the history of China’s modern and contemporary art, these problems may be corroborated mutually. Therefore, the academic history will be clarified, which will make clear to all the roots between CAA and the education and creation in the development of China’s contemporary art.
In the plan of this exhibition, the most basic work was to study the collections themselves. These tangible art works together with intangible ideologies, social environment and social trends constitute the history of art. Therefore, the study of collections should not only pay attention to the works themselves but also investigate the works in a macroscopic way and study the relationship between works and times, statuses of the works in the history, positions of them in the museum’s collection system, functions of them in the change of artists’ theories and styles. Similarly, the in the artists’ study, these things should also be considered. In addition, the artists’ relationships with CAA and identities in the academic history are indispensable. Exhibition planners cannot ignore the acquisition and study of relating documents and materials because they, on the one hand, confirm the history objectively, and on the other hand enrich the elements in the exhibition and help visitors feel the scene better.
However, besides remaining and showing history, art museums should also attach importance to contemporary art trends and creations, and take part in and guide the development of contemporary art. This is the basic task of collection exhibitions and the development tendency of contemporary art museums. Therefore, collection exhibition planners must value the relationship between exhibition and contemporary art and encourage young artists and students to explore: to study and discuss certain artistic phenomena or problems and to elicit reflections, discussions or even debates in the field. This practice can really promote the development of today’s art. “MCACAA Collection Exhibition” embodies repeatedly the theme of clashes between Chinese and western art in different sections. It shows the exploration to build contemporary Chinese people’s aesthetic in a complex cultural space by a group of artists with open minds to western art and active interactions with local society.
Collection Selection in an Exhibition
If the art museum has good cultural heritage, its collections have witnessed China’s social and art movements. The aim of a collection exhibition is to re-assess and re-define the art works in the structure of art history. An art museum does not mean “a packer of new conceptions” and the art works do not mean some cultural symbols linking with the exhibition conceptions. The selection of collections is a very important aspect to test the academic height, historical viewpoint and cultural responsibility of the museum. Art works must be assessed in the structure of art history with peculiarity and transcendence.
“Art can build a bond between the present circumstance with the circumstance when the art works were created -- This may help us connect with the history”[②] Each collection was created under a certain historical environment and social environment so there are plentiful information hid behind collections. We cannot regard art works and art phenomena as existences that are beyond historical space-time and social reality. Instead, we should highlight the intricate relationship between art and reality in various historical circumstances. Through the form of collection exhibition, art university museums are able to comb the relationship between their own histories with social cultural changes in the 20th century so that they can combine cultural practices with humanistic ideals. The selection of collections is to re-study and re-comb historical cultural resources such as collections and documents, and to make use of them rationally. Thus, museums can give explanations in the current situations and these explanations may constitute new engine of the pursuit of knowledge.
China Academy of Art is the first national art academy for higher education, which was founded by the president of the Republic of China University, Cai Yuanpei in the 20th century. In the following 85 years, the academy was renamed for many times but never stopped running. Now, it has become one of the most influential national art academies in China. In its long-history running, the academy has attracted and trained a batch of excellent artists for last century. These artists constituted a strong lineup and their pursuits and achievements fully showed the colorful and complex traits of China’s art in the 20th century. Naturally, their works are priceless collections in MCACAA.
“Master & Temple -- MCACAA Collection Exhibition” carefully selects over 80 art works by faculties and students in different periods. Many of the works by Lin Fengmian, Pan Tianshou, Huang Binhong, Zhao Wuji, Wu Guanzhong, Liu Kaiqu and other masters are included. These collections are not only important resources of MCACAA but also magnum opuses in the history of China’s modern and contemporary art. Planners try to use these works to connect those famous masters with CAA and try to review the development of China’s art in the 20th century through masters’ lives and works. The exhibition includes both material works and relating documents that provide visitors visual and reading experience to show the academy and society the art history and stories behind those collections.
Collections in most of art academies are boutique but simply adding boutique works does not mean a good exhibition. We cannot simply add all the collections together just because they are boutique and ignore the inner relations among those collections. The “Master & Temple -- MCACAA Collection Exhibition” is different from others in its struggle to show the will power of the museum and present the cultural stance and humanistic ideal of an art university museum. The exhibition breaks original limits on painting genres and creating times and uses the history of art as the background to picture the academic trends and development of CAA in the past 85 years and the blood relations among faculties, students, alumnus and CAA in different periods on the basis of art works from the perspective of the development of CAA. From it, we can see clearly the history and characteristic of the development of China’s art in the 20th century.
The selection of collections instead of lack of collections is the most tough problem in the exhibition planning -- so many works have to be abandoned because of limitations on sites or narrative structure. Although a lot of collections cannot be displayed simultaneously in one same exhibition, they are still indispensable in the academic history of CAA and they are the foundations of CAA’s academic mansion. Eventually, planners formed a general idea that they will display collections in different show seasons and change the collection exhibition to a permanent exhibition gradually. On the one hand, this idea helps compensate for the regret of not being able to show all the art works, on the other hand, it is conducive to the spread of exhibition. Besides, it can promote in-depth study of the collections.
Multi-Level Narrative in Collection Exhibitions
To some degrees, art museums are reviewers and summarizers of art history. A collection exhibition’s conception and arrangement are to extract a clue to guide general public to enter into the past, present and future constituted by art works. Present is the foothold; Past is the foundation; Future is the dream on the basis of past and present.The grammatical edition of a collection exhibition in the aspect of narrative logic is of great importance. Usually, we prefer linear chronological method -- it uses art works to diagrammatize the evolvement of “art movements” or “art styles”. Just like what the English scholar Svetlana once said, “It is natural and normal that visual culture explains historical development. In recent years, the most successful western art exhibitions are often thematic ones.[③]
The history of China’s art universities has a close connection with the development of China’s modern and contemporary art. Also, it reflects Chinese intellectuals’ pursuit of social progress. Planners of a collection exhibition have the responsibility and obligation to study and comb history in order to present the unremitting spiritual pursuit and humanistic ideal. Reviewing the development history of art universities is conducive to resolving many problems in the current development of art, especially the modern inheritance, integration and transition of traditional cultures. China’s society is now in the transformation period and all walks of society yearn for modern western culture and show collection modern thinking. This kind of modern thinking influences and is influenced by the development of China’s art universities and art educations and trends in different periods always interact with this kind of thinking. As a result, it is the compelling obligations for art museums to study and display art universities’ history and collections and to explore the integration of modern thinking and local culture.
The structure of “Master & Temple -- MCACAA Collection Exhibition” is linear historical narrative. The structure can be divided into three parts following the order of the history of CAA and includes art works of students and faculties in different periods. Planners try their best to select the most classic works with special meanings for both social history and art history in their themes and art styles so that these works can reveal ancestors’ art exploration and social responsibility and contributions in different periods. The three parts are as follows:
Start-up Period (1928——1949). The academy adhered to the policy of “Liberalize Thoughts and Absorb Everything” as put forward by Cai Yuanpei so the main characteristics in this period is openness and compatibility. In this part, planners chooses art works by Lin Fengmian, Li Fengbai, Li Jinfa, Pan Tianshou and Liu Kaiqu in order to show the situation that all the ancestors tried hard to introduce western art education methods into China and realize localization. Meanwhile, many students at that time like Hu Yichuan, Li Qun, Luo Gongliu, Wang Shiguo, Yan Han took social progress and national prosperity as their own missions and went to frontlines and the side of Yan River with their burins and brushes. The exhibition planners chooses their art works in Yan’an period and uses images to revivify their social responsibility, courage and art styles. Besides, works of Zhao Wuji, Wu Guanzhong and Zhu Dequn are also exhibited in this part. They completed their studies in the most harsh environment but finally become the most famous artists of the 20th century. Planners juxtapose their works so that the visitors may fumble underlying reasons for this phenomenon. After the success of the Anti-Japanese War, there were two major transformations of the academy. Firstly, Pan Tianshou, master of Chinese paintings, served as the president so the traditional art regained attention. Secondly, encouraged by professors like Ni Yide and Cai Yi, realistic creative theories and attitudes spread in the campus. The exhibition demonstrates the general condition of academic situation in that period under historical frame and also adds several art problems and phenomena generated by such a social background.
Rebirth Period (1949——1976). In this period, Although there may be bewilderment and fickleness, twists and pains, mostly there were the pursuit of dreams. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the constitution of faculties became more diversified so various art theories and viewpoints co-existed in the academy including revolutionary realism represented by literature cadres from liberated areas, Chinese traditional art represented by Pan Tianshou, fusion of Chinese and western represented by Lin Fengmian, creation teaching methods imitating the Soviet Union and East Europe, and conceptions famous in Europe represented by some artists who had studied in Europe. Planners juxtapose art works representing different art theories in order to make these genres and artists complement and merged with each other in mutual contentions and stimulations. All these will promote multi-level explorations. In the part, there are also some subtopics: “Zhejiang Figure Paintings” that fused Chinese and western methods with innovations and opened a new style for modern China’s figure paintings, Soviet realism that presented real life, Chinese painting teaching that were divided into different departments, the foundation of Calligraphy Department, the exploration of national style in printmaking creations, etc.
Open-Door Period (1976——Now). In the new period, the academy also turned around and entered into a new era. Although it may take some time for us to evaluate the history at that time objectively and comprehensively in the future, the reform, exploration, development and leap of the academy did leave people deep impressions. Especially in the 21st century, under the theory of “Consolidate the foundation and pursue high-level development” and the academic policy of “Interactions in diversity with harmony”, the China Academy of Art was more spirited than ever before and had a magnificent and bright prospect. Creations by students and faculties maintained a great momentum and many of their works have become new classics in the history of art. Regretfully, because of the limitations on collections, works by representative figures of “85 New Tide” that played a leading role in CAA in 1980s are not included. Therefore, there is a structure imperfection in this exhibition.
We have to point out that because of the limitations on collections, selected works may not the works created exactly at the junction of the academy history. The art works showed various periods, locations, materials and genres and may not fully conform to the original linear structure. However, this limitation can be also regarded as a new opportunity for explanation. Planners abandon general display ways like following art styles or materials so non-linear and non-historical factors are integrated into the original historical narrative. What’s more, the selection of collections breaks fixed thinking limits. In accordance with different themes and topics, planners organize art works in different periods on the basis of different locations or cultural backgrounds, and put them in the same space in order to bring about mutual contacts, communications and fusions. The multi-level explanations of this effect not only embody and enrich the viewpoints of planners but also make the connotations of works fresh interactions and subtle changes under the new narrative logic. Therefore, visitors may be guided by the overall narrative clues and experience more exquisite and rich feelings. In this way, we can pay attention to those mutually overlapping or removed, complex but colorful facts in the development of art, which will help visitors delineate their own and permanent real cultural moment.
In the exhibition plan, the structure of the exhibition follows a non-linear narrative fashion. In fact, this sort of fashion has been very popular among planners because it gives up the historical development in the overall frame and uses non-linear grammatical ways to express time sequence. The fashion includes diversified art styles and viewpoints and manages to find another universality and integrity. In the book “Museums and ‘non-historical’ exhibitions: designers’ new strategy or a very important cultural phenomenon”, American museologist Deborah·J·Majors said: “The emergence of non-historical exhibitions forces us to face such a reality: although the historical development of art is, undoubtedly, unbreakable, art history scholars are trying to ‘amend’ damaged styles and conceptions and to adopt and practice a new conception to destroy evolutionism. Many schemes like original conceptions, universal styles and holy while areas manifest that art works are started to be arranged on the basis of new colorful theories. Although all of these may be individualistic, the door is indeed open. ”[④]
Visitors Factors in a Collection Exhibition
The relationship between art museums and general public is given more and more attentions so visitors’ feelings and experience must be considered in exhibition plans. Showing publicity and returning to the public are not as simple as free opening. It is more important whet
