程然，自画像(狂人日记·纽约)，2016，单频高清录像，彩色/有声，16:9， 5’34”，6版+1AP

Cheng Ran, The Self-Portrait ( (Diary of a Madman - New York), 2016, single channel HD video, 16:9, 5’34”, edition of 6 + 1AP

开幕式：2017年9月9日，星期六，下午4点-6点30

展览日期：2017年9月9日-10月22日

Opening: Saturday, September 9, 2017, 4-6.30pm

Exhibition dates: 9.9.-22.10.2017

　　艺术家程然(1981年生于内蒙)的最新个展"狂人日记"将于麦勒画廊北京部开幕，"狂人日记"——一个试图运用“心理地理学”这个语法，去揭示他者(异乡人)、语言与言说、时间与地方这些问题的一个新的实验。

　　Galerie Urs Meile is pleased to announce the opening of Diary of a Madman, the latest exhibition by Cheng Ran (b. 1981 in Inner Mongolia, China). This exhibition can be seen as Cheng’s latest cinematic experiment in his quest to understand the essence of language & speech, Otherness, aspects of Psychogeography, and the relationship between time and the urban environment.

　　程然所代表的这一代中国青年艺术家的难题并非诉求于身份认同和文化反思，而是如何在日益复杂和多元的文化中辨识价值和发现艺术家的自主性，因而令他们的创作对边界、差异、对抗以及边缘化等主题尤为敏感。用程然自己的话说“当这个界限变得模糊时，可能就会出现我想要的。”他的每一次新作，都试图跨越着某种界限。

　　As part of a new generation of young Chinese artists, Cheng Ran and his peers face the challenge of defining and developing their individual artistic autonomy in an increasingly monopolized global environment. Perhaps this is why his generation is particularly interested in themes such as boundaries, differences, resistance and marginalization. As the artist has said, “When a boundary becomes blurred and opens up something new, that is what I look for in my work.” His artistic practice has followed this motto since.

　　“狂人日记”由三部分组成，是艺术家由2016年起至今持续创作的最新项目。每一部分选取一个城市作为拍摄和创作地点，逐步集合成一部属于艺术家自己的“城市故事集”。第一部分《狂人日记·纽约》完成于2016年，是程然在纽约三个月的艺术家驻地期间之作。随后的同一年，他参与了一个以色列的驻地项目并为这个项目创作的作品定名为《狂人日记·耶路撒冷》，作品仍在创作进程中。2017年，程然在香港拍摄了《狂人日记·香港》，使之成为一个跨越三种截然不同文化领域的梦幻视觉三部曲。此次展览程然将藉由精心分隔的展厅和蜿蜒迂回的观展路线，展示出主旋律的三部曲：纽约、香港和耶路撒冷，以及作为序篇的挂墙电视机绘画《xxxx年x月x日》、和大尺幅剧照墙《耳朵流浪者》，另有多件装置作品，使观众如浏览于程然日记的书页之中，并产生丰富而震撼的视觉体验。

　　Diary of a Madman is an ongoing project which began in 2016. It currently consists of three parts, each filmed in a different location, that have gradually come together to form the artist’s own “urban cantos.” The first part, Diary of a Madman - New York, was completed during a three-month residency in New York in 2016. This was followed by another residency Cheng undertook in Jerusalem in the same year—Diary of a Madman - Jerusalem is still a work-in-progress. In Hong Kong, the artist filmed and completed Diary of a Madman - Hong Kong in 2017, turning the existing project into a visual trilogy of a phantasmatic journey across three vastly different cultural spheres. The exhibition will showcase the two completed parts of the project, New York and Hong Kong, alongside elements of the Jerusalem segment. Cheng Ran has carefully divided the space and devised a meandering exhibition path to present the three segments of the main work, New York, Hong Kong and Jerusalem. In addition, the television painting DD-MM-YYYY serves as a preface, while a large wall mural of production photographs titled The Ear Bums, and several pieces of installation works bring the viewer through the pages of Cheng Ran’s diary in a powerful visual experience.

程然，桥(狂人日记·纽约)，2016，单频高清录像，彩色/有声，16:9， 4’25”，6版+1AP

Cheng Ran, The Bridge (Diary of a Madman - New York), 2016, single channel HD video, 16:9, 4’25”, edition of 6 + 1AP

　　展览和作品借用鲁迅的小说《狂人日记》的名字，但不同的是，艺术家并没有明确地表达出一种政治性批判，而是通过巧妙的摄影技术和他对于记忆、地方风景和语言极具特色的解读，传递了一种神秘的诗意：一个停留在曼哈顿大街小巷和她巨大城市投影之间的迷失感，或是残留在一种犹如疯人般脑海中的令人难解的迷惑感......纽约篇中，第一人称叙述和近似疯狂的被异化感以及一种强烈的失落感始终贯穿整部作品。香港篇中的香港是一个去掉她光鲜外表和繁华购物中心的真实香港。作品以“麻鹰”(亚洲黑鸢，频繁出现在香港上空)和“唐狗”(在香港被遗弃的土狗)这两个极具城市符号的动物的视角来叙述他们的城市见闻，诗意地表达出城市居者的命运与他们所在这个真实的城市环境之间的微妙关系。《xxxx年x月x日》用不拘一格的形式，结合录像、电视机及其挂件、涂鸦和霓虹灯管，以及各种拾来物，表达城市历史中的某一瞬间。

　　The title is a reference to the short story Diary of a Madman by Chinese writer Lu Xun (b. Zhejiang, China, 1881–1936). In a departure from Lu Xun’s story, Cheng is less interested in an explicit political message. By using complex cinematography expressed through his idiosyncratic ideas on memories, living space and language, his story conveys a mysteriously poetic sensation—one which lingers between the streets of Manhattan and the remnants of their shadows inside a disturbed mind that hums along to a strange tune… A profound sense of loss, alienation and madness run in the first person throughout the course of the New York segment. In the Hong Kong segment, the artist turned his focus to a Hong Kong without the shiny façade and myriad shopping complexes through the eyes of ‘Ma Ying’ (the Asian black kite, a common bird in the skies over Hong Kong) and ‘Tang Gou’ (a stray dog), two symbols of the city, poetically conveying the destinies of the city’s residents and their subtle, inextricable links to the true environment of this city. DD-MM-YYYY uses discordant forms, combining video, a television set and its mountings, graffitti, neon tubes and other readymade objects to convey a moment in a city’s history.

程然，唐狗与麻鹰(狂人日记·香港)，2017，多频影像装置，尺寸可变

Cheng Ran, Mongrel and Black Kite (Diary of a Madman - Hong Kong), 2017, multi-video installation, dimensions variable

　　在这两部曲中，程然利用反转和互换的方法，自然拆解了原来的语义与语言的中心，从而滑向另一种不能快速定义的语境中，这个语境是难解的，差异化的，甚至是荒谬的。但这样一来，它达到了诱导我们真正注意到这个语言/言说本身的目的。而这正是程然想要在这部作品中想要表述的：通过这些所有指涉这种两难迷惘和矛盾的影像语言：光影、听觉与视觉的脱节和拆解(通过语言的互换)实现了一种向陌生的他者话语形式的开放。

　　In these two parts (New York and Hong Kong), Cheng freely deconstructs meaning and speech in their original setting by reversing the roles, thus presenting a complex lingual situation that resists ready definition. This situation seems unfathomable and absurd, but it is in such circumstances that we are forced to look at the nature of language and speech from a fresh viewpoint. And this is exactly what the artist would like us to understand in his work: through all the dilemmas and contradictions, within imagery fused with the demolition and reconstruction of words, Cheng opens up a profound space for contemplation of ‘otherness.’

　　本文编辑自郭小晖为展览撰写的文章《程然新作：狂人日记》

　　The above text includes excerpts from Guo Xiaohui’s essay Cheng Ran’s New Work: Diary of a Madman written for this exhibition.

　　程然，1981年生于中国内蒙，目前生活和工作于杭州。此次展览是程然在麦勒画廊举办的第八个个人展览。艺术家近期的个展包括程然：“录像选映”，麦勒画廊 北京-卢森，瑞士卢森(2017);“狂人日记”，新美术馆，美国纽约(2016);“奇迹寻踪”，K11 Art Foundation，中国香港(2016);“橙蓝”，乔空间，中国上海(2016)。近期联展包括“火花!几时再见”，油街实现，中国香港(2017);“Constellation - Contemporary Art in Today’s China”，格鲁吉亚国家画廊，格鲁吉亚第比里斯;芝加哥艺术学院，美国芝加哥(放映，2017);“无序之美”，卡斯雕塑基金会，英国西萨塞克斯(2016);“转向：2000后中国当代艺术趋势”，上海民生现代美术馆，中国上海(2016);“意象无限”，巴塞尔艺术展，巴塞尔博览馆，瑞士巴塞尔(2016);“SALTWATER: a Theory of Thought Forms”，第14届伊斯坦布尔双年展，土耳其伊斯坦布尔(2015);以及2014年在巴黎东京宫和2015年在香港K11 Art Foundation举办的“中国内部：巨人之内”。此外，程然在北爱尔兰贝尔法斯特的个展“程然-奇迹寻踪”以及在上海浦东新区民生码头8万吨筒仓区域举办的群展“2017上海城市空间艺术季”也将于今年十月开幕;2018年还将在以色列特拉维夫当代艺术中心举办个展，并参加美国“克利夫兰前沿三年展”。

　　Cheng Ran was born in 1981 in Inner Mongolia, China and currently lives and works in Hangzhou. This exhibition marks his eighth solo exhibition at Galerie Urs Meile. The artist’s most recent solo shows include: Cheng Ran: Selected Films, Galerie Urs Meile, Lucerne, Switzerland (2017); Diary of a Madman, New Museum, New York, USA (2016); In Course of the Miraculous, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong, China (2016); and Orange Blue, Qiao Space, Shanghai, China (2016). Recent group exhibitions include: Sparkle! When will I See You Again, Oil Street Art Space, Hong Kong, China (2017); Constellation–Contemporary Art in Today’s China, The National Gallery of Georgia, Tbilissi, Georgia, and Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA (screening, 2017); A Beautiful Disorder, The Cass Sculpture Foundation, West Sussex, UK (2016); Turning Point: Contemporary Art in China Since 2000, Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2016); Unlimited, Art Basel, Messe Basel, Messeplatz, Basel, Switzerland (2016); SALTWATER: a Theory of Thought Forms, 14th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (2015); and Inside China, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2014) which then toured to K11 Art Foundation in Hong Kong in 2015. In addition, Cheng Ran’s solo show Cheng Ran–In Course of the Miraculous in Belfast, Northern Ireland and group show Shanghai Urban Space Art Season 2017 will be launched this October. He will also be holding a solo show at The Centre for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv in 2018, and will take part in FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.