策展人|崔灿灿

　　开幕|2018.09.01 3:00pm

　　展期|2018.09.01-2018.10.21

　　地点|站台中国当代艺术机构（北京朝阳区酒仙桥路2号798艺术区中二街D07）

　　站台中国当代艺术机构荣幸地宣布，将于2018年9月1日下午3点在站台中国主空间推出重要个展《谭平1993：两个模数的开始》。展览邀请崔灿灿担当策划，他从谭平众多创作中遴选出两条线索，分划为两个空间，囊括9件视频影像及多组在一定模数下创作的素描、版画、油画及装置作品。展期持续至10月21日。

　　谭平1993：两个模数的开始

　　（一）

　　“观念艺术是作为一个想法而存在的。作品的外观较之作品的想法是次要的，这样保证了想法的首要性。系统（system）就是艺术作品。作品的外观是对系统的验证，缺少对系统的理解，是无法理解它的视觉外观的。”是什么“才是最重要的，而不是它看起来如何。”

——索尔·勒维特

　　“模数”在谭平的作品中重复出现，它形成了谭平创作的基本语法。像是单词或是形状，按照一个全新的尺度重新组合。单词过去的信息，也就变得无关紧要了，它只是提供某个念头开始的直觉。当符号的象征价值或是传情作用变得次要时，唯一重要的便是这个语法，模数形成的一个系统。

　　谭平为许多作品都设计了一个模数，使用哪个模数的制度和规则，也都是事先想好的，而形式只是执行这个模数的手段。模数成了创作艺术的机器。这种例子在谭平的创作中随处可见，也极为丰富。作品《60×60》，四块120×240cm的木刻版，按照60cm或是它的倍数，进行不同比例的切割，所有的尺寸皆可以除尽；《彳亍》，几百件素描作品，按照每张两分钟的原则进行绘制；《一杯》，相同满满的一杯墨水，保持一致角度，进行两百次倾倒；彩色木刻系列，木板按照二分之一、三分之一、四分之一的标准比例裁切，然后用多种组合模式，彼此重叠的在纸张上印刷。

　　“模数”自身会发展作品，会产生变量。这个变量有时是几种，有时是几百种，有时接近于无限。亦如60cm的切割，可以有多种方式；二分之一或四分之一叠加的彩色木板，可以有几百种组合；同样倾倒而出的墨水，2分钟画出的素描，相同的“模数”，却可以得出无尽不同的结果。没有一个圆是一样的，没有一刻的痕迹是重复。

　　时间和空间是达成无限的决定性因素。但在空间中决定展示的尺寸是困难的，似乎当一个想法需要传达的时候，任何尺寸都是可能的。但如果体量过大，形式的压迫，足以削弱想法本身；如果过小，信息也会丧失，创作的强度和尺度就得不到体现。展示或是改变空间，成了谭平新的观念思考。

　　为了将观念变成可见的形式，谭平设计了第二套模数系统。《60×60》每次的展出方式，取决于和墙面、左右作品之间的关系，距离和比例的分布成了它最终的核心。于是60cm便有了两个叠加的模数，一个是关于切割的，一个是关于展示的。《彳亍》中大小、时间一致的几十张素描，被放置在高低不同的底台上展示。展示的模数，使得《60×60》和几十张素描获得了不同的空间和尺度。它们之间的距离、比例和分布，给出不同的节奏和停顿。像是节拍器在时间中的运用，它们最终都会形成不同的时间，于是模数指向时间。

　　两个模数，有时也会只选取后者。作品《＋40m》的出现，源于对美术馆空间进行占据的想法，谭平用6个小时的连续时间，在木板上划出一根40米的线，印制成版画，在美术馆的圆形空间中环绕一周。模数又衍生模数，《＋40m》的负形偶然得出了作品《-40m》。不合理的模数，被谭平富有逻辑的继续发展，它们同样被用于空间的占据和改变。6小时的时间，再生的模数，最终形成了两个正负空间，于是模数指向空间。

　　不同的组合，测量着形成不同的时间和空间的因素。它们在创作和展示的两个模数系统中，成为谭平的目的之一。在实现过程中，任何统一模数下的差异，就会显得非常重要。任何不规律的东西，便成为作品中最重要的表达意图，它们是时间和空间的韵律。就像建筑中的比例，比例的差异之处，即是光和空气的所在。模数也是，它是呼吸的次数和节奏。亦如模数在现代城市中的运用，每一块标准的地砖，每一种标号的螺丝，每一面等比墙，每一个通用工具和模块化的空间，组成了一个庞大的、复杂的，有利于我们更好存在的城市结构。但在模数和模数的差异之间，在相异值的连接部位，便是个体的自由和艺术家的想象的存在。

　　如果模数被艺术家频繁使用，而且它的出发点都是关于艺术。那它们就是艺术，而不是建筑的、工业的。就像文字不属于任何系统所专有。

　　（二）

　　“国际主义、实验主义、偶像破坏论、跨媒介、解决艺术和生活的二分法、暗示、玩闹、无常的事物和特异性。在一个虚伪、做作、浮夸而又缺乏幽默感的世界里，激浪主义精神是很需要的。”

——迪克·希金斯

　　没有模数是纯粹的模数。一旦模数被运用，模数就具有意识形态、现实感和个人性。就像建筑师尼迈耶在巴西利亚的城市规划中的争议，既是教科书的典范，又是乌托邦的失败案例。是以人的视角和感知来建立城市的社区模式，还是以汽车和现代交通工具的模式来建立？模数关乎存在的秩序和尺度，它是语法，也关乎人的使用和使用语法的目的。

　　观念和模数是不一样的，前者暗示了一个艺术家的立场、视野和持续的方向，后者只是其中组成的一部分。模数执行观念。当展览前厅中的9个视频，被放置在一起的时候，它变成了一个系统性的观念。这个观念指向艺术家对艺术的价值、作用和精神性象征的理解。

　　《覆盖2号》持续画了三天的时间，谭平不断的搁置画面，不断的涂改，形成了几十次无常的画面秩序。画面没有最终的结束，也无需一个结束的依据。每一个决定性瞬间或是经典的自我时刻，不断被破坏。创造一个伟大的形式，不再是目的，目的是建立、破坏和覆盖形成的一个流动的形态。更直接的答案，谭平在《白墙计划》中给出：“从白墙到白墙，是这次行为最核心的部分。展览结束后整个空间被重新覆盖，我们所有创作过的东西全部消失，而这件作品最终完成的时刻，就在消失的那一刻。它的意义就在这里。”

　　是什么激励了这种开始，又使这种激励最终消失？展厅左边第一件《时间》和右手最后一件《……》，抛出了线索的起点和现在的结果。1993年，谭平创作了第一件空间互动的作品《时间》，他从平面走出，将制作另外一件《时间》的铜版残留的块面，无序的拼成了一条直线，放置在一个罗马风格的建筑中。他试图打破媒介的局限，建立与艺术外部的对话关系。从东方的禅宗到西方的古典精神，从媒介的转化和实验，到呈现方式的改变，对于艺术的无限开放，成为激励他创作的雄心。相隔10年后，他每一次都试图持续实验，他反复涂抹、更改，又彼此抵消、覆盖；他持续的一天倒一杯墨水，寻找最近于圆的状态；他在中国美术馆最权威的主厅，用一把刀，划开一根线；他创作几百张素描，每张设置两分钟，在固定的时间里涂擦。最终，没有一个痕迹，比另一个痕迹更高级，它们的命运只是激励下一个开始。

　　直到《……》出现，观念被全然揭示。它借用美术馆现有的灯光，结合建筑、音乐、舞蹈，让观者成为作品里的一部分。开灯关灯，艺术浮现，又消失。他试图表现出，任何事都可以替代艺术，任何人都可以成为艺术的一部分。这样的雄心勃勃，并不是谭平所独有，他继承了西方自达达主义以来具有统治力的传统。或者说，谭平的观念和建立“模数”的起源，缘起于一个更为漫长的历史，1940年之后，推动艺术史发展的动力，杜尚对激浪派的影响；波普对达达和杜尚理念的引申；激浪对行为艺术的启示，极简主义在形式上对抽象表现主义的反戈；但当简化行至尽头的时候，观念艺术借其躯壳建立有别于杜尚的观念系统，直到80年代形成了我们今天全球当代艺术的格局。谭平从这段未完成的历史中汲取营养，也建立不满，用各种意识形态、现实感和个人性的结合，重塑自我，连接生活。

　　展览前厅中的作品，被临时搭建成一个系统。这个系统从1993年的《时间》开始，呈现了谭平创作中流动性变化的特点：一种流动的方式，一种持续的运动或是实验，像是河流中的前后波浪，行动和行动之间的持续的变革。有趣的是，它们除了来源于当代艺术的历史延续，又和谭平过往的生活构成了什么关系？是生活的变革激凸了艺术？还是艺术作为一种变革精神改变了生活？

　　（三）

　　1993年，谭平创作了另一件作品《平衡》，它是最早“模数”的开始。他寻求历史感和平面的无限变量，建立多种模数的语法。画面中两个平均等分的红白色块，理性而又简洁。在其之上，几个不规则的有色块面，直觉化的分布。这一年，他参加了柏林世界文化宫举办的“中国前卫艺术展”。彼时，中国当代艺术第一次大规模的和世界交汇。1994年，谭平回到北京，他成为教育者，创立中央美院的设计专业；为此他停滞过艺术创作，过多的行政工作，使他缺乏专注的时间，曲曲折折。他试图建立一种平衡，来解决艺术和行政工作的二分法。他设定模数和尺度，使每一部分都可以理性的通用和衔接。在这个意义上，生活是观念的，生活也是模数的。

　　《理性的点》成了这个展览最好的解释和隐喻。谭平首先制定一个模数，在画面上用铅笔平均分割10厘米的网格，然后在网格中再做二分之一的区隔。在第一个模数的基础上，用直觉在画面的偏中线位置选择6个点，由最中间的点，将6个点用线相连，得出一个放射的延长线。这种直觉性的选择，并不依赖于艺术家经验中的手艺，也是无目的性的，它包含了艺术家大脑中各种可能的思维运动。之后，谭平开始制定第二个模数，把放射性外延线上的点再画出十字交叉线，线延伸至画面的边界。新的延长线和线会再次交叉，在画面中得出了4个不可预测的点。标注记号，大面积的涂抹颜色，再由涂抹的颜色和遍数调整点的色彩。这个复杂的过程中，模数的制定与直觉性的变更，持续的彼此作用。不合理的想法，被绝对且富于逻辑的发展着。

　　于是这件作品中的逻辑，不仅是用来执行的，也是用来推翻的，并最终获得一个自相矛盾的情形。直到我们看到这件作品，看到这些或多或少，或远或近的点。开始思考，它是什么？它又在生产什么？观念与模数的变革，便是世界的全部生产。于是，《理性的点》成为这个展览的中轴线。

文/崔灿灿

　　艺术家简介：

　　谭平，艺术家，教育家，中国艺术研究院副院长。1984年毕业于中央美术学院，八十年代末期留学德国，获硕士学位和Meisterschule学位。英国金斯顿大学荣誉博士。曾任中央美术学院设计学院院长，中央美术学院副院长。在长达40年的艺术实践中，谭平始终探索于绘画、版画、多媒体、设计等多个领域，在其不间断的变化与充满张力的创造中，将当代艺术的诸多节点贯穿如一。

　　Tan Ping 1993: The Beginning of Two Modules

　　Curator | Cui Cancan

　　Opening | 2018.09.01 3:00pm

　　Duration | 2018.09.01-2018.10.21

　　Venue | Platform China Contemorary Art Institute （D07 Main 2nd Street, 798 Art District, Beijing, China）

　　Platform China is pleased to announce we will open an improtant exhibition TAN PIN 1993: THE BEGINNING OF TWO MODULES. We invitate Cui Cancan as the curator of this exhibition. The exhibition are showed in two spce, whith Cui find two clues in numerous creations of Tan, which include 9 videos, sketches, printing, oil painting and installations.The exhibition will be sustained into 21st October.

　　Tan Ping 1993：The Beginning of Two Modules

　　(I)

　　"Conceptual art exists as an idea. In this way the appearance of the work is secondary to the idea ofthe work, which makes the idea of primary importance. The system is the work of art; the visual work of art is the proof of the system. The visual aspect can'tbe understood without understanding the system. It isn't what it looks like but what it is that is of basic importance."

--Sol LeWitt

　　"Module", an element repeatedly occurring in the works of Tan Ping, forms the basic grammar in his creation. Similar to words or shapes, modules go through a new combination based on brand-new dimensions. The previous information contained in the words thus becomes insignificant, and only serves to spark the instinct as certain idea is conceived. When the symbolic value or expressive role of symbols becomes secondary, a system produced by the grammar, or module, is the only thing that matters.

　　Tan devised a module for many of his works. Whichever module with distinctive systems and rules will be employed is basedon the preconceived notion, and forms only serve as a means to execute the module. Module becomes a machine that creates art. A rich variety of examples abound in works created by Tan. His work 60×60 is composed of four 120cm× 240cm woodblocks cut in measurements of different proportions ranging from 60cm to its integer multiples; Follow my line (《彳亍》) comes as a collection of several hundred sketches, with each drawing drew within two minutes; One Cup(《一杯》) is finished by pouring ink of the same full cup for two hundred times from the same angle; as for the color woodcut series, the wood is cut by a standard proportion of one second, one third andone fourth before being printed on the paper with numerous combinations thatare mutually overlapped.

　　"Module" itself will develop a work and produce a variable. This variable is diverse in terms of quantity, sometimes several, sometimes several hundred, and sometimes close to infinity. The aforesaid examples provide evidence. A range of means are available in the cutting based on 60cm; the color wood superposed by one secondor one fourth can be presented with several hundred combinations; similarly, the same "module", the same ink poured on a drawing painted within two minutes can yet produce an endless variety of results. All circles are different from each other, and all traces are different from each other.

　　Time and space constitute the decisive factor behind infinity. However, deciding the dimensions to be displayed in the space proves difficult as it seems that any dimension is possible when an idea needs to be conveyed. But dimensions that are too large would impair the idea itself due to constriction of form; those that are too small would lead to a loss of information, rendering it impossible to exhibit the strength and dimensions of creation. Thus whether to exhibit or change the space becomes a new concept for Tan to think about.

　　Tan designed the second set of module system to transform the concept into a visible form. How 60×60 is displayed each time depends on its relationship with the wall space and works on the left and right, making the distribution of distance and proportion the final core of it. Hence 60cm has two super imposed modules, one about the cutting, and the other about the display. The several dozens of sketches of the same size andtime in Follow my line are placed on platforms with different heights. The modules displayed inject elements of different space and dimension into 60×60 and Follow my line. Distance, proportion and distribution among these modules are accompanied by various rhythms and pauses, just like the application of metronomes in time, which will form different time in the end. Therefore, the module is indicative of time.

　　Sometimes, only the latter of the two modules will be selected. The emergence of the work＋40m derived from an idea to occupy the spaceof the gallery. During a period of consecutive six hours, Tan lined out a 40m line on the wood, which was printed into a picture encircling the gallery with circular space. Existing module gives birth to new module, hence the work - 40m as negative space of ＋40m by accident. Through further logical development by Tan, unreasonable modules are likewise used to occupy and change the space. Module and its derivative formed during the six hours ended up with two kinds of space, positive and negative.Therefore, the module is also indicative of space.

　　Different combinations estimate factors contributing to different time and space, which becomes one of the purposes of Tan in the two module systems created and displayed. Differences behind any uniform module would appear to be very important in the course of creation. Anything irregular would turn out to be the most significant intention expressed by the work of art, namely, the rhyme of time and space. Imagine the proportion of buildings where the differences in proportion are what the lighting and air lie in. The same holds true for module which is the times and rhyme of breaths. For instance, application of module in urban city, such as every floor tile of standard size, every screw of standard type, every wall ofequal ratio, every modular space and universal tool, helps create a large andcomplicated urban structure through which we can exist better. However, where different modules are connected with each other leaves individual freedom for an artist to imagine.

　　Modules that are frequently used by the artist with their starting point related to art should be regarded as artinstead of being architectural and industrial, just as words are not the preserve of any system.

　　(II)

　　"Internationalism, experimentalism, iconoclasm, intermedia, attempted resolution of the art/life dichotomy, implicativeness, play or gags, ephemerality and specificity. In adeceptive, affected and fickle world without sense of humor, the spirit of Fluxus is very necessary.

--Dick Higgins

　　No module is pure module. Once applied, amodule will exhibit elements of ideology, reality and individuality. A case inpoint is the controversy over the design by architect Niemeyer in the urbanplanning of Brasilia, both a text book example and an unsuccessful Utopianfantasy. Should the urban community established from the perspective and perception of humans or based on cars and contemporary transportation tools? Module involves the order and dimension of existence, and as grammar, it also concerns the use of grammar by humans and corresponding purposes for such use.

　　Concept and module are different. The former hints at the position, vision and future direction for an artist, with the latter only being part of the former. Module serves to execute the concept. When the 9 videos in the antechamber to the exhibition hall are put together, the module becomes a systematic concept which indicates the artist's understanding of the value, role and spiritual symbol of art.

　　It took Tan three days to paint Overspread No.2, during which changeable picture order formed for several dozens of timesamid continuous suspension and revision by Tan. The picture has no end in theend and a basis for such end turned out to be unnecessary. Every decisive moment or classic self-centered moment is under constant destruction. Creating a grand form is no longer the purpose, which instead lies in a moving pattern formed by establishment, destruction and coverage. Tan offered a more direct answer in his work The White Wall Project: " From white wall to white wall, this is at the very core of our act. Upon the conclusion of the exhibition, the whole space will be covered anew, and all things we have created will disappear.The moment when all things disappear marks the completion of the work of art, which is the meaning of the work".

　　What stimulated the beginning and finally made such stimulus disappear? The first work Time on the left of the exhibition and the last one …… on the right throw light on the starting point of the clue and the current result. In 1993, Tan created his first work Time featuring interactive space. Moving beyond the plane, he pieced the blocks left from the copperplate used to finish another work of the same name into a straight line in a disordered manner, and put it in a Roman-style building. He tried to breakboundaries in media and build dialogue relationship with the external art. An infinite openness to art, ranging from the Zen in the East and classical spirit in the West, from transformation and experiment of media to changes in the display means, became an ambitious stimulus to his creation. After 10 years, he made efforts to carry out continuous experiments each time, with repeated erasureand revision, accompanied by mutual offset and coverage; he repeatedly poured the same glass of ink for a whole day to seek a state closest to a circle; he used a knife to draw a line in the most authoritative main hall of the National Art Museum of China; he created several hundreds of sketches, each finished within two minutes, with erasure for a fixed period of time. In the end, notrace is superior to another. They are nothing but a stimulus to the next beginning.

　　Upon the emergence of ……, concept wascompletely revealed. By means of the light available in the gallery and incombination with the building, music and dance, it enabled the audience to become part of the work. Art appears and disappears as the light is on and off alternatively. He tried to convey the point that anything can replace art and anyone can become part of art. However, such ambition is not unique to Tan, who, in fact, followed the long dominant tradition in the West since Dadaism. In other words, the concept of Tan and the establishment of "module" has itsorigin earlier. The driving forces behind the forty-year history of art after1940 are diverse: impact of Duchamp on the Fluxus; Pope's extensions of the concepts of Dada and Duchamp; enlightenment drawn by performance art from the Fluxus, and the gap between minimalism and abstract expressionism in terms ofform; but when the minimalism was taken to its extreme, the conceptual art usedit as a means to establish the concept system different from that of Duchamp before the global contemporary art landscape took shape in 1980s. Tan drew on strengths from the unfinished history and meanwhile voiced his dissatisfaction, reshaping himself and getting connected to life upon a combination of various elements of ideology, reality and individuality.

　　The works in the antechamber to the exhibition hall were temporarily integrated into a system. This system showed the mobility seen in Tan's works starting from Time in 1993: a means of mobility and a continuous movement or experiment is like the waves moving inthe river, an indication of continuous transformation one action after another. Interestingly, in addition to their origin as part of the continuity of history in contemporary art, what is their relationship with the past life of Tan? Did the changes in life trigger art? Or did the art as a kind of transforming spirit change life?

　　(III)

　　Tan also created another work Balance in 1993, which marked the beginning of the earliest "module". He sought after the sense of history and infinite variables of plane to establish grammar of avariety of modules. The equal red block and white block in the picture look reasonable and simple. Above the two blocks are several irregular color blocks characterized by intuitive distribution. It is during this year that he tookpart in the China Avant Garde Exhibition held in the Haus der Kulturen der Weltof Berilin, which marked the first time when contemporary Chinese art debuted on the world stage on a large scale. The next year, Tan returned to Beijing,became an educator and introduced the design faculty to the Central Academy of Fine Arts; to finish the administrative work, he once suspended artistic creation as the heavy work prevented him from focusing on art. Amid the zigzagging life, he tried to strike a balance to solve the dichotomy between artistic creation and administrative work. He established modules and dimensions to make every part universal and connected in a reasonable way. Inthis sense, life is conceptual, and is also modular.

　　Reasonable Point turned out to be the best interpretation and metaphor of the exhibition. With a preset module in mind, Tan used a pencil to equally divide the 10cm grid on the picture, followed by a one-second segment in the grid.  On the basis of the first module, Tan intuitively selected six points in thenear-central line position of the picture, and connected them with a line starting from the middlemost point, thus drawing an extended line. Such intuitive selection is not dependent on the skills cultivated through anartist's experience, and is also aimless. It contains all sorts of possible mental movements in the mind of the artist. Next, Tan began to work out the second module, put a cross curve with the points on the above extended line and further extended the line to the boundary of the picture. The existing line and the new extended line would intersect, with four unpredictable points in the picture. Tan made marks, applied colors on a large area and adjusted the colorof points in light of these colors and how many times they are applied. During this complicated process, established modules and intuitive changes continually interact with each other. Unreasonable ideas are absolutely developed in alogical manner.

　　Therefore, the logic in the work of art isused not only for execution, but also for negation, ending up with aparadoxical situation. The sight of this work of art and these points, many or few, near or far, got us thinking what it is and what it is producing. Changes in concept and modules are all that the world is producing. Hence Reasonable Point becomes the central axis (backbone) of this exhibition.

　　By Cui Cancan

　　The artist：

　　Tan Ping is an artist, educator andPresentVice President of CNAA, whograduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts(CAFA) in 1984. He studied in Germany in late 1980s, gain master degree andMeisterschule degree, then awarded honorary doctorate degree of Kinston University,and was the dean of School of Design of CAFA andVice President of CAFA. In the 40 years artpractice, Tan always devote himself to exploring painting, printing,multimedia, design and so on, and nodes of contemporary art been incorporated inhis ever-changing art creations.