The Mountain Breathes Beyond Measure
山汽莫测
Type Research-based Art Project (Commission by Beiqiu Museum of Contemporary Art)
研究型艺术项目（北丘当代美术馆委任）
LocaleTunnel Space and Back Mountain Canyon by Jilong Mountain, Nanjing, China
南京鸡笼山旁的隧道空间与后山峡谷
Year2024
Research Assistant
ZHANG Bolei
张博磊
The mountain embedded in Beiqiu Museum once experienced a “surgery”. After "the largest artificial waterfall in Asia" was demolished and several rounds of repairs, a huge remaining space was left between the mountain and the urban interface, which is depleted with sunlight. It is what local maintenance engineers call the "Back Mountain Canyon". It is the infrastructure of building infrastructures, like a sac that cannot heal after injury, and the concrete roof on top exists like a scab that cannot be removed.
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，几经缝补，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 sub-space" is regenerated on the mountain that has been dug up. 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 possesses no construction in the disciplinary discourse of Architecture, and therefore is aphasic in academic discussions; engineers who normally use it do not speak out after maintenance work; for the audience, the muted scene they see through the window is fragmentary, often leading their imagination to be distorted. When located in this hanging box, we would start to fall into multiple "interiors" and become more or less bewildered.
而所谓“隧道副空间”，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 screening, perhaps only the mountain breath that exists everywhere in the tunnel is real: the mountain's exhalation is happening all the time and continues throughout the precedent spatial transformation. Neither the sandblasted surface nor the grass-covered roof could cover it up. In other words, because of the breath wetness, the mountain in this place could prove its self-origin.
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。
The artist started with the metaphor of “blind box” and studied the spatial composition of the "Back Mountain Canyon". With his assistant, he collected the mountain’s wet air and monitored its breathing rhythm. He then departed from the Beiqiu Museum and explored the relationship between the topography in Nanjing’s urban area and the local knowledge production system. Finally, he returned to the wet tunnel and reflected on the slightly dry surveying-drafting techniques through a set of site-specific artworks.
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知识生产体系之间的关系；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。
历史照片
后山峡谷
建模渲染（右上为展览空间）
Animation video, projector, window in the tunnel space, screen-printed text
142x128cm
Loop Play
Humid air from mountain, etching on copper plate, custom-made showcase, Calcium chloride dehumidifier, plastic funnel
250x200x45cm
3周后，一种铜的碱性氧化物所呈现的孔雀石色开始出现。
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)
Two-channel video (color, sound), chemical barrel, collected water from the "Back Mountain Canyon" from April to June
2’32”
“后山峡谷”楼梯上的除湿袋
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