The Mountain Breathes Beyond Measure
山汽莫测
Type Exhibition-Making Project
(Beiqiu Museum of Contemporary Art)
展览制作项目（北丘当代美术馆）
LocaleTunnel Space (Jilong Mountain, Nanjing, China)
隧道空间（南京鸡笼山旁）
Year2024
Research Assistant
ZHANG Bolei
张博磊
Fieldnote
The mountain embedded in Beiqiu Museum once experienced a “surgery”. After the demolition of what was once "Asia’s largest artificial waterfall", multiple rounds of repair work left behind a vast residual space between the hillside and the urban interface. Deprived of sunlight, it is the "Back Mountain Canyon" in the lexicon of local maintenance engineers . As the infrastructure of architectural infrastructures, it is like a sac that refuses to heal after an injury, and the concrete roof on top resembles a stubborn scab that cannot be peeled away.
嵌入北丘美术馆的山体经历过一场“手术”：曾经的“亚洲最大人工瀑布”被拆除后，经过几轮修补，在山体与城市界面之间留下了一个巨大的、不见天日的剩余空间。那是检修工程师口中的“后山峡谷”，是建筑基础设施的基础设施，像一段受伤之后无法愈合的囊体，其上覆盖的混凝土屋顶如同一片无法揭去的结痂。
The so-called "Tunnel Space" is an area that has regrown from the excavated hillside. Like a blind box, it is anchored on the long-abandoned landscape waterfall and has become the interior of the inner space. The tunnel is destined to play a role of speechlessness: the space holds no significance within the discourse of Architecture, therefore aphasic in academic discussions. The engineers who routinely use it do not speak up beyond maintenance work. Visitors, peering through its windows, encounter fragmented and muted scenes, often leading their imaginations astray. When we found ourselves inside this aerial blind box, we would gradually become ensnared within layers of "interiors," inevitably experiencing a sense of disorientation.
而所谓“隧道空间”，是被挖断的山体上重新增生出来的地方。它犹如一个盲盒，锚定在早已废弃的景观瀑布之上，成了建筑体内部的内部，并注定扮演一个“无话可说”的角色：它本身在建筑学话语上是没有建构的，因而在学术讨论中是失语的；正常使用它的工程师们，在完成检修任务之余并不发言；进入其中的观众，透过窗户所看到的景象在被消音之后是片段式的，使其假想往往失真。当我们身处这个空中盲盒时，便开始自陷于多重“内部”之中，或多或少都会有些迷失。
After rounds of sifting, perhaps only the pervasive mountain wetness within the tunnel remains real: the “breath” of the mountain is ever-present, enduring through all phases of spatial transformation. Neither the sandblasted surface nor the grass-covered roof could cover it up. In other words, it is the breath from the mountain that could prove the origin and identity of the place.
一番筛除下来，也许只有隧道内无处不在的山汽是真实的：山的呼汽时时刻刻都在发生，贯穿了空间改造前后，也是喷砂表面和筑顶覆草所掩盖不了的。换言之，因为有汽，在场的这座山才能自证来历。
Thus, starting from the metaphor of the blind box, the artist investigated the spatial composition of the "Back Mountain Canyon". Together with his assistant, the artist collected mountain wetness and monitored its respiratory rhythms. From there, the exploration extended from Beiqiu Museum to examine the relationship between the topography of Nanjing’s urban area and local knowledge production units. Finally, the artist returned to the humid tunnel space, and through a set of site-specific artworks , he reflected on the somewhat dry technical knowledge of surveying and cartography itself.
于是，艺术家从盲盒的隐喻出发，研究“后山峡谷”的空间构成，并与助手收集山汽、监测北丘的呼吸节奏；再从北丘出发，探索南京市区的地形与本地知识生产单位之间的关系；最后回到湿润的隧道空间内，用一组场域特定的艺术作品反思略显干燥的测绘制图技术知识本身。
隧道空间入口处所见,左侧为嵌入的山体岩壁
历史照片
后山峡谷
湿度监测
Animation video, projector, window in the tunnel space, screen-printed text
142x128cm
Loop Play
隧道空间窗户上的文本
Humid air from mountain, etching on copper plate, custom-made showcase, Calcium chloride dehumidifier, plastic funnel
250x200x45cm
山汽开始滴落在刻有南京城市景观的铜板上
三周后，铜的碱性氧化物所呈现的孔雀石色出现了。
漏斗、文字与铜板
Mapping比例尺1:1，等待对面加湿
Water-soluble chalk, fluorescence pen, telescopic pole, plastic ring, nylon rope, industrial humidifier machine, PVC pipe, rubber water pipe, humid air from mountain
311x517cm (area of the wall)
完成墙壁制图所用的粉笔和线绳
Two-channel video (color, sound), chemical barrel, collected water from the "Back Mountain Canyon" from April to June
2’32”
后山峡谷楼梯扶手上的260个除湿袋
收集袋中存储的水
知识生产与向天装置地形图
Giclée print on etching fine art paper
130x110cm
那座气象台预测的雨水从下方如瀑布般流过
Giclée print on etching fine art paper
110x110cm
山汽日昳佳
Giclée print on etching fine art paper
167x96cm