At the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, a village changed by "Art Village Construction"
Our reporters Zhang Bin and Zhang Jian
This is a 5-year "art village construction".
In 2018, Wu Xiaochuan, a professor at Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, led a group of experimental art students to come to Shijing Street, Huyi District, Xi'an City to collect wind and create.
At the foot of Zhongnan Mountain in the Qinling Mountains, the rolling golden wheat fields have become the creative space, and the wheat straw sculptures and installation art stand upright in the fields.
The villagers gathered together and wondered, "What is art?"
Over the past five years, fellow villagers, artist groups and the local government have joined hands to explore. Symphony, Qin Opera, and drama have been performed one after another in the wheat fields; the sickle that harvested wheat, the peeled corn cobs, and the old jars with pickled sauerkraut were all photographed. , exhibiting the remodeled art gallery in the village; art village chiefs, rural revitalization consultants, musicians, and tourists flock here, and the villages that are less visited are becoming more and more jubilant.
Inspiration from art has allowed the local area to explore a high-quality development road that empowers the rural revitalization through literature and art, and it has also made the villagers gradually understand: "Chopping vegetables is art, harvesting wheat is art, and life itself is art."
5 acres of wheat fields and an accidental intervention
The first time I came to Caijiapo Village, Shijing Street, Wu Xiaochuan, a professor at Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, fell in love with this village at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain.
Caijiapo Village is built along the Qinling Mountains. There are more than 1,000 households with nearly 4,000 people. The leading industries are 1,100 mu of grapes and 600 mu of kiwifruit.
The villagers also grow wheat and corn.
"Backed by Qinling Mountains, villages, wheat fields, and orchards are dotted among them, and there is a natural and pure beauty." The teachers and students decided that "experimental art" will be launched in this village.
Compared with the well-known painting, the "experimental art" born in the early 20th century is more free, unique, and abstract. Video, installation, photography, action performance, etc. are all subordinate to it, and the viewing threshold is also high.
Teachers and students rented 5 acres of wheat fields and created various works of art in the wheat fields.
For example, the huge installation work "Maiba" made of wheat straw and steel frame; the towering giant bird's nest built with branches and wheat straws...
Everything is too unfamiliar, everything is too trendy.
This "intervention" puzzled the villagers: "What are these 'outsiders' doing?"
The teachers and students felt that something was wrong.
They went to the villagers and most of them said "I don't understand".
It was originally expected that this kind of "local creation" would have a close emotional resonance with the villagers, but the overly artistic presentation went against the grain, instead creating a sense of strangeness and alienation.
"You can't exhibit on your own, but connect with everyone's daily life." The team members tried to start with the art forms that people like to see.
Some people suggested that it might be better to call it "Guanzhong Busy Strike Art Festival".
The so-called "busy" means the end of busyness.
"Have a busy meeting" is an ancient custom in the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province. After the summer harvest every year, the villagers take advantage of their free time to visit relatives and friends and exchange production experience.
However, with the increasing convenience of transportation and the continuous enrichment of material civilization, this tradition gradually disappeared.
That's how the first show was decided.
In the distance, the Qinling Mountains are the background; near, the teachers and students built a 100-square-meter stage in the field after the wheat harvest, and the invited Qin Opera Troupe, Aerobics Team, and Folklore Group appeared one after another.
Qinqiang sang into the hearts of the elderly, and the young people hummed to the tune of the folk song. Everyone felt it was fun, everything was harmonious, and everything became vivid.
The long-lost noise has brought great touch to the local town and village cadres.
The root of this kind of touch is that at that time, including Caijiapo Village, many villages along the Qinling Mountains had just taken off their poverty hats, but they still lacked recognition and popularity. "As long as tourists step on the accelerator, they will miss the intersection into the village ".
Even mentioning Caijiapo, many people will mistakenly associate it with the railway station 100 kilometers away.
More importantly, because it is only more than 50 kilometers away from the main urban area of Xi'an, the "siphon effect" has gradually made the village appear hollow, and some once cherished high-yield farmland has also been abandoned.
That year, the rented 5 mu of wheat fields produced 3,000 catties of wheat, milled more than 1,000 bags of flour, and produced more than 500 bottles of vermicelli.
Wu Xiaochuan sells these "harvests" for free in the art circle. He hopes that "for every bottle of vermicelli issued, one more person can pay attention to the villages that produce these grains."
In the blink of an eye, the northwest wind blew across the Guanzhong Plain, and the continuous Qinling Mountains and contiguous wheat fields were covered with winter snow. The villagers were also wrapped in thick cotton-padded clothes and rarely went out.
Everything seems to be calm, but a more systematic "artistic village construction" is brewing.
"What is art? Harvesting wheat is art!"
The touch never ends.
In the spring of the second year, town and village cadres took the initiative to find Wu Xiaochuan to discuss "can we do it again".
"Come, come, come in a few days!" There seemed to be some kind of tacit understanding, and the two sides hit it off.
Huyi was originally rich in cultural soil. It is known as the "Hometown of Modern Chinese Folk Paintings". The peasant paintings created by the villagers are simple, simple and vivid. They are not only printed on stamps, but also in dozens of countries and regions. It has been exhibited and collected by many domestic and foreign museums.
After continuous discussions and a series of feasibility demonstrations, the systematic "art village construction" began.
The three major sections of Zhongnan Drama Festival, Dadi Ecological Art Exhibition and Community Art Space have become the main methods of "village construction".
Perhaps the popularity of the party has not dissipated for a long time. When I heard that the village was going to hold an "art festival", many villagers asked to join, and the reason was simple and simple: "Last year, the village was obviously lively and there were many guests, and the grapes were sold for several thousand yuan more. ."
The performance needs a venue. After design, a flooded pond full of garbage next to the wheat field will be transformed into Zhongnan Theater.
Some villagers volunteered to draw the design drawings; some villagers were responsible for laying out the line and measuring; some villagers called the transport team, truck after truck to remove the garbage, and then truck after truck to pull back the loess and fill the foundation.
"It started at 5 o'clock in the morning, and it was built in 20 days." This speed made Wu Xiaochuan unbelievable, "Looking back, the villagers have personally transformed the foul-smelling flooded pond into a beautiful outdoor theater. full of symbolism.”
The village also held an unprecedented press conference.
The press conference was held on a stage built by the villagers themselves, and some villagers came to the stage to recite their own poems, which was grand and down-to-earth.
"At a leisurely pace, I went around the wheat field theater; I watched the show in the cool wind, praised and clapped my mouth; I was moved to tears, and I went crazy with excitement..." 70-year-old Wang Yan used to be a party branch in the village Secretary, he was the first to come to power, and the more he read, the higher his voice became, and the fellow villagers also applauded excitedly.
In 2019, Caijiapo Village carried out more than 60 cultural and art projects, and 22 (groups) of domestic artists created more than 40 works of land art, community art, and video art. These large-scale immersive art exhibitions born in the fields have attracted tens of thousands of viewers.
Some villagers took the initiative to find artists and wanted to participate in the creation.
"You will find that they are skillful and attentive, and sometimes they build art installations and engrave words much better than ours," said the artists.
The acceptance of the villagers continues to increase, and their enthusiasm for art is infinitely stimulated.
The students took photos of fellow villagers laughing happily after the harvest, and then made high knife flags and planted them in the wheat fields.
Under the clear sky, fellow villagers looked at their huge portraits echoing the Qinling Mountains, and suddenly understood the connotation of this art exhibition: "What is art? Harvesting wheat is art, and we are the masters of the wheat fields and a part of art."
As a rule, these huge photos and art installations are to be demolished after the exhibition, but the fellow villagers found a team of artists and hoped to keep some.
"Because seeing these works reminds us that this is the art we have completed together, and it is also our contribution to the village." Said the villager Sheng Yangdi.
This year, a careful photographer took a group photo of five groups of villagers in Caijiapo Village.
In the photo, the children are squatting in the front, the old people are sitting in the middle, and the young and middle-aged people are standing in the back row. The background is the village road that stretches into the distance.
Here's an overhead photo, with almost everyone smiling and looking up high, eyes determined and hopeful.
Art brings beauty to a bowl of noodles
From onlookers, participation, and continuous integration, "Art Village Construction" has gradually taken root in Caijiapo.
In 2021, Li Hua, the then mayor of Huyi District, led a team to find Wu Xiaochuan to discuss further expanding the practice radius of "artistic rural construction" and enhancing the artistic energy of the countryside.
"Our local area has abundant natural resources and profound cultural endowments. After completing the poverty alleviation, we have always hoped to further transform these resources, so that the villagers can drink a cup of coffee under the Qinling Mountains and listen to a concert in the wheat fields. Live a quality life," said Li Hua, now secretary of the Huyi District Party Committee.
Caijiapo Village is indeed more eye-catching.
At the entrance of the village, the seven characters of "Guanzhong Busy Art Festival" stand firmly by the roadside; in the village, the happy faces of the villagers are painted on the walls; the rebuilt art gallery in the village welcomes waves of tourists.
Open the performance manual of the "Busy Strike Art Festival", from May to October, a variety of art performances and cultural activities will continue to be staged.
On a summer night, the red carpet has been rolled out in the post-harvest wheat fields, artists in dresses are ready, and a symphony concert in the wheat fields begins.
Under the stage, there are folks riding bicycles from nearby villages, and art lovers who drive from the city for more than an hour.
There are obviously not enough seats, but this does not affect the enjoyment of viewing.
The mountain wind blows from the Qinling Mountains to drive away the heat; by the ear, the tune is sometimes exciting and sometimes soothing.
Possibilities in the wheat fields are constantly being tapped.
Guanzhong people like pasta, and "eating noodles" has also become an artistic display.
On the wheat field, the long table is set up, and the freshly harvested wheat is ground into flour, and after being rolled out, it becomes a bowl of fragrant noodles.
The stars are dazzling, and there are fireflies around. "A bowl of noodles has a ceremony and a sense of beauty."
Art exhibitions are closer to fellow villagers, and more opportunities for development have been created.
Chen Meng, a 60-year-old villager, always keenly prepares more meals whenever cultural and art performances are organized in the village.
He has been operating a farmhouse for 10 years. In the past two years, his business has become more prosperous. He attributed the reason to the increasingly prosperous cultural activities in the village.
"From the income of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan in the past year to more than 200,000 yuan in the current year, the continuous activities have brought tangible benefits. The 18 farmhouses in the village are doing well." Chen Meng said. Kiwi fruit, 2 yuan per catty has to be sold, and now 4 yuan per catty must be reserved in advance."
Wang Yan, a 70-year-old villager in Caijiapo Village, feels that saying goodbye to the rough life, the influence of art is bringing greater inner drive to the villagers.
"In the past, people in the village wore the same clothes when they went to work in the field in the morning, and they still wore the same clothes when they came home, and no one would notice the mud on their trouser legs. Now it is different. After returning from the fields, everyone hurriedly washed and changed into clean clothes. How can people in the art village be so dirty!” Wang Yan said, “This change is not based on external coercive forces such as ‘red and black lists’ and criticism and education, but is gradually shaped in the atmosphere of culture and art. , is a change from the heart.”
This year, under the leadership of the local government, Liyuanpo Village, Xiazhuang Village, and Liyukou Village in Huyi District have gradually begun to tap their own cultural and artistic characteristics to enrich the cultural tourism industry.
What exactly does art bring to the village
If this rural revitalization practice from the lowest level is regarded as a sample of a field survey, then the tacit interaction from fellow villagers, artist groups and the local government is the most impressive.
Over the past 5 years, every party deeply involved in it has also continued to gain.
"The biggest change actually lies in the improvement of confidence. The industry has confidence and life has confidence." Chen Meng said.
Last year, the per capita income of Caijiapo Village exceeded 17,000 yuan. In August of the same year, Caijiapo was selected into the "third batch of national key villages for rural tourism".
Entering, observing and participating in rural areas, Wu Xiaochuan is also constantly completing his artistic value transformation.
"In the past two years, many people have asked me, what can art bring to the village?" This question was rarely asked before, but after years of practice, Wu Xiaochuan's answer has gradually become clear: "Art is not only the art of auctions, but also the art of art museums. , it also contains a deep concern for the current social transformation, and the countryside is an important site of transformation, we need to be there to explore new possibilities in this broad field, and use the form of art to promote new social dynamics.”
At the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, this unfinished exploration continues...