Long March Foundation

The Long March Foundation is a non-profit organization, established in New York in 2003 and is responsible for supporting the educational activities of the Long March Project, such as ‘Long March Project – The Great Survey of Papercutting in Yanchuan County’ in 2004; ‘Long March Project – Yan’an’ in 2006; and all publications produced by Long March Space (eg. exhibition catalogues and artist monographs).

Long March Foundation is funded on a project-to-project basis.

‘Long March Project – The Great Survey of Papercutting in Yanchuan County’ 2004

Generously sponsored by

Yanchuan County is located to the northeast of the city of Yan’an in Sha’anxi Province, China. The paper-cutting art form of this region is nationally celebrated, their particular local traditions and techniques referencing, amongst others, the ancient symbolic systems of the Hua and Xie Dynasties. The Long March team, with the assistance of the Yanchuan County Government, organized cultural cadres and key local artists to undertake the most thorough survey of paper-cuttings in the entire county, informed by integral questions such as ‘How does one effectively bring attention to China’s unique creative qualities in an international context?’; ‘How can one use China’s unique social organizational structures, and the creative resources of history, geography, politics and visual culture to provide Chinese art with an understanding and practice of the ‘contemporary’?’ Surveying 180,000 people and collecting over 15,000 paper-cuttings, written and oral biographies, sound recordings, and the creation of a documentary film, this undertaking has resulted in the establishment of the world’s largest archives of this art form, which has subsequently included in the 2004 Shanghai Biennale, 2004 Taipei Biennale and the 27th Sao Paulo Biennale in 2006.

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‘Long March Project – Yan’an Forum on Art Education’ 2006

Generously sponsored by

Yan’an is the last site of the 6000 mile historical Long March route of Mao Zedong. It is a revolutionary site of the Chinese Communist Party and a laboratory for the construction of an ideal society and utopia. In May 2006, the Long March Project arrived in Yan’an, with over 80 Chinese and international artists, scholars, critics, curators, media representatives and leading art educators from across China to engage rural experiences, general social mobilization, visual economy, sustainable society, and the construction of a visual subjectivity in the realization of new work and critical debate. This project also featured the ‘Yan’an Forum on Arts Education’, initiated by renowned contemporary Chinese artist, Cai Guo Qiang and organized by the Long March Project. This forum was dedicated to the discussion of three topics: ‘The Situation and Understanding of Contemporary Chinese Education’; ‘What is Contemporary Art Education? Difference, Challenges, and Breakthroughs’, and ’How to Implement Contemporary Art Education’.

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Publications

Most recent publications:
Zhan Wang: Garden Utopia

The catalogue Zhan Wang: Garden Utopia was published on the occasion of Zhan Wang’s major solo exhibition at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, May 2008, which was co-organized by Long March Space.

This book is an announcement, as well as a metaphor. It is not a documentation of completed and installed works in actual spaces. It does not attempt to make any pronouncements or explanations about reality. It imagines and predicts the narrative of a visual logic, illustrating the connections between thinking about exhibitions and the execution of a concept, in order to create an ideal structure between the creation of works, curatorial practice, and visual expression. This book provides a reference for comparison with the final realized exhibition. It is a site for dialogue and discrepancy between reality and utopia. The works, as well as the exhibition space, has been completely “modeled” to emulate an ideal. This book is about utopias: in their real, futuristic, artistic, spatial, exhibition and conceptual forms.

Yang Shaobin: 800 Meters Under

800 Meters Under was published on the occasion of Yang Shaobin’s solo exhibition 800 Meters Under at the Long March Space, Beijing (Sept – Oct ’06). The project was a collaboration between Yang Shaobin and the Long March Project, and took over 2 years to complete. During the course of the project, Yang Shaobin and the Long March team visited both underground and open-pit coal mines in Tangshan, Hebei Province, one of China’s major coal-producing areas. They were to experience for themselves the working and living conditions of the coal miners. The result, fully documented in the catalogue, was a series of oil paintings, installation and video works inspired by their experiences. Through archival and artistic portrayal, Yang Shaobin’s work successfully shines light on an underground world rarely seen, and brings individual experience to its audience, highlighting coal miners’ lives; a juxtaposition of hardship and happiness, despondency and courage. In addition to the curatorial notes by curator Lu Jie, the catalogue includes 2 specially commissioned texts by Jiang Yuanlun (Professor of Literature, Beijing Normal University) and Wang Minan (Professor of Literary studies, critical theory, modern art and literature) which provide both commentary and context.

Contact:
lm@longmarchspace.com