在“乡村振兴”和“精准扶贫”国家政策的推动下，“公共艺术”“大地艺术”“艺术乡建”，近两年开始以令人瞩目的姿态，很快到各方各界的一致认同，雨后春笋，一时炙手可热。正在寻找乡村振兴、文旅融合新路径的地方政府，对制度化的当代艺术生产感到失望的艺术家们，“越后妻有”这类的“日本故事”就像一个看得见的东方的未来，成为大家一拍即合的“艺术介入乡村振兴”的典范。

艺术家焦兴涛

艺术能够直接服务于社会的现实需求，精神之用终于有了形而下的肉身，这无论如何是令人欣慰和兴奋的。不过，对于当代艺术自身面临的处境来讲，从艺术与真实生活的关系来看，事情似乎要复杂得多。艺术在变得越来越“用”的同时，其内在的美学的规定性也面临着被消解的危险，艺术如何可能在不断介入现实的过程中，保持对日常的超越，同时真正与所在现场建立真实而具体的联系，而不仅仅流于态度。更重要的是，如何建立一种植根现场的创作方法，这是我们期待的。

焦兴涛作品《13896152193》

关心现实，关心乡村，但理应更加关心艺术。

在我看来，不同于国内众多的“乡村艺术”和“大地艺术”项目，酉阳的“乡村艺术季”的众多作品，在策划理念和作品呈现中，体现出了一种面对具体的地点、时间、人物、事件的艺术实践姿态。

曹晖作品《千秋雪》

“时间”——是一个具体的段落和限定，一件“活”着的作品一定是有生命、有段落的存在。“静止”的艺术，是博物馆里面已经不再生长的各种物质文化遗产，供我们观赏、回望和祭奠，或许永恒，但不属于今天的活的创造物，今天的艺术无法离开与“此时此刻”相关的时间维度。没有了时间，所有的“故事”都难以立足。时间就是“此时此刻”的叙事，也是“故事“的长度，它可以是李浏洋作品中那片雨云，一年四季一天二十四时都有一团云雾和一棵树交融在一起，在一个特定的时间，大树下会淅淅沥沥的下起小雨；也可以是幸鑫作品中从仿佛从另一个平行时空穿越而来的稻田火车；在曹晖的《千秋雪》中，白色大理石的积雪雕塑让时间仿佛冻结在这片犬牙交错的叠石中；在焦兴涛的《13896152193》里，时间意味着作品存在的期限，最终将在付之一炬的行为中完成艺术与日常的连接。“世界上有两个桃花源，一个在您心中，一个在重庆酉阳”，这是酉阳的推介语，也是对于“时间”意义的当下表达。

幸鑫作品《火车》

“地点”——是和“时间”相联系的“空间”，是生活的现场和形而下的物质的存在。没有了“地点”的艺术是放在卢浮宫里的“胜利女神”，是大英博物馆的“拉美西斯”，是在动物园铁笼里一动不动的非洲狮，是植物园大棚里没有四季的鲜花。“地点”不是永久和固定的，“地点”是在时间的河流中的乱石，激荡起“此时此刻”的水花，它规定了情感的具体形状。没有了地点，一切将成为“模式”。在张超的作品中，地点就是等待雨水浸润的夯土墙；也是陈扬那颗无法移动的枯树，被不锈钢的镜像封闭在绿色的草地上；刘佳的《叠石露天剧场》直接用当地叠石打磨抛光，形成阵列的剧场“座位”，望山见水。有感于此时此地的材料和此时此地的树，因此有了艺术家傅中望的作品，一片戴在树上的直径6米的竹编斗笠，戴上斗笠，就是戴上了家乡。它们不是纪念碑，也不是建筑，甚至不是雕塑，它们和这片起起伏伏的浅丘，嶙峋突兀的叠石，虬枝伸展的枯树，共同联结成为一个自然。

刘佳（女）《叠石露天剧场》

“人物”——没有了具体的人，艺术就失掉了原因和对象。没有了“人物”，就失去了直接而朴素的情感的温度。人的参与是完成一件作品的必要前提，失去了与具体的时间和场景中具体的生动而鲜活的人，就没有对立、就没有紧张、没有差异，就没有协商、媾和、交织和共生的关联性。在艺术家武小川的《九曲十八道之四—镜墙》中，灵感来自“转九曲”的习俗，祈求神灵保佑、驱逐邪魔、祛病除灾、人畜平安，在这里，人的习俗和生活成为作品的缘起和内容。李娜的《宝.物》由当地百姓春耕秋收的各种农具构成一个记忆中的门廊，通过艺术集合拼贴的是关于在这里具体生活着的人的记忆和故事。洛鹏的作品《水印风雨桥》，从一开始，就期待着人的走入，水的故事在人的穿越和怀抱的期待中得以娓娓道来。

李娜《宝·物》

“事件”——在具体的时间和空间中的人与人的相遇就是一个“事件”，充满了各种偶然、随机、意外和转折，它在此时此刻爆发出所有的惊奇并敞开各种幽秘的通道，让艺术家 用故事和叙事，把过去和现实演绎成为面向未来的当下传奇。中国现实处境的复杂、丰富和刺激早已经远远超越所谓艺术家的“想象力”。艺术、时间和地点一起，构成联结人与人关系的“事件”。在焦兴涛的《13896152193》中，十一堆劈材堆成由十一个数字组成的手机号码，艺术家随时接听愿意打给他的任何人的电话，并尽可能去回答提出的问题，由此，建立艺术家、观众以及当地居民在现实生活中的真实联系。艺术家置身于这里，面对生活中发生过和发生中的事情，把生活中遇到的任何的“中断”和“意外”作为艺术媒介进行创作，可以是艺术家自己的工作，也可以是与当地居民共同合作的项目，既直接与生活现实接触，也呈现出一个充满想象的无法言说的未知。

酉阳叠石花谷景区

这种回到真实空间，面对具体的时间、地点、人物、事件进行的，因地制宜的，此刻即时的创作，是针对中国乡村现实和文化处境的艺术。艺术于是成为镶嵌于生活这只彩盆之中的瓷片，成为编织在竹筐中的彩线，成为在散步中一处偶然的聚集、一个不期而遇的电话、一场不经意的节日、一次意料之外的惊讶。因此，寄希望着在随后的几年，酉阳的乡村——叠石村、红花村、花田村……连着空间和里面真实生活着的人，直接成为艺术的一部分，让作品直接嵌入生活，让现实直接成为“材料”——以此成就今天艺术的“桃花源”。

——焦兴涛

“Time, Place, People, Event” ---- Record of “New Peach Colony”

Driven by the state policies of “ rural revitalization” and “precise poverty alleviation”, “public art”, “earth art”, “artistic rural construction” are supreme hot like bamboo shoots after the spring rain and have started to be recognized and proved in recent two years with an eye-catching posture. To the local government looking for new paths of rural revitalization and integration of culture and tourism, and to the artists disappointed with the systematized contemporary art production, the Japanese story of “Echigo Tsumari” is like a visible future coming from the east becoming a model of “ Art involving in rural revitalization”.

It is delighted and exited that arts could directly serve the real needs of society, and spirits finally have the physical body. However, for the situation that contemporary art is facing, things seem to be much more complicated in terms of the relation between art and real life. When art becomes more practical, its inherent aesthetic principles are facing danger of being dispelled. How could art stay ahead of daily normal standard during the process that art involves in reality and builds up real and concrete connections with scene instead of shown by attitude? More importantly, how to build up a creating method rooted in scene is what we are expecting for.

Caring about the reality, caring about the villages, caring more about art. From my point of view, different from numerous domestic projects of “rural arts” and “earth arts”, most artworks in Youyang Rural Art Festival have presented a practical attitude towards concrete place, time, people and event when presented in planning ideas and artwork presentation.

"Time" - a specific phase and limit, a "live" artwork must exist with liveness in a certain phase. The art of "stationary" is like the tangible cultural heritage that no longer grows but stay in the museum for us to watch, retrospect and memorize. Perhaps it is eternal, but it does not belong to today's living creation, the art of today cannot be separate from and the relevant time dimension. Without time, all the "stories" are difficult to stand on. Time is the narration of “current moment” as well as the length of “stories”. It can be the “cloud” in the artworks of Li Liuyang, mingling with a tree every day, every season in a year. At a specific time, raindrops drizzle down under the trees. It can also be the train in the rice field travelling from another parallel universe. In “ Perennial Snow” of Cao Hui, the sculpture piled by white marbles makes time seem to be frozen in stromatolite stones. In “ 13896152193” of Jiao Xingtao, time means the duration that the artwork exists, and finally complete the connections between art and daily life. “ Two Lands of Peach Colonies in the world, one is in your heart, the other is in Youyang”. This is a recommendation slogan of Youyang as well as the current expression of “time”.

"Place" - is the "space" linked with "time", the scene of life and the existence of concrete substance. Art without “place” is like the “Victoire de Samothrace” in Musee du Louvre, the “Ramesses” in the British Museum, the motionless African Lion in the cage of a zoo, the flowers in greenhouse without four seasons. “Place” is not eternal or fixed, it is the rock in rivers which stirs the spray in current time, at current place and stipulates the shape of emotion. Without “Place”, everything will become “Model”. In the artwork of Zhang Chao, “Place” is like the loam wall waiting for the rain. It is like the immovable decayed tree in the artwork of Chen Yang, enclosed by the mirror of stainless steel on green grassland. The “ Stromatolite Stones Theatre” of Liu Jia directly polishes local stromatolite stones to form the arrays of “seats” in theatre, mountains and rivers could be seen. Feeling about the current materials and trees in this place, the artwork of Fu Zhongwang has been created: a bunch of bamboo hats with 6-meter-long in diameter. Wearing the bamboo hats is wearing the hometown. They are not monuments, not constructions or sculptures.Together with the shallow hills ups and downs, ragged stromatolite stones and the decayed trees with winding branches, they jointly connect to a nature.

“People”---- Without a specific person, art loses its cause and object. Without “People”, direct and simple emotional temperature will be lost. People’s participation is a necessary premise for finishing an artwork. Without the vivid people in specific time and scene, there is no opposition, no tension, no difference, and there is no relation among negotiation, compromise, intertwining and symbiosis. The inspiration of “The Fourth Part of Mirror Wall of Nine Bends & Eighteen Paths” of artist Wu Xiaochuan comes from the custom of “Turning Nine Bends”, praying for blessing of gods, safe for people and livestock, expelling evil spirit, eliminating sickness and disaster. Here people’s customs and lives have become the origins and contents of artworks. “Treasure” of Li Na showing a porch in memories consists of various farming tools that local people use for spring plough and autumn harvest. Concrete and vivid memories and stories of local dwellings are collected by art. “Watermark Wind Rain Bridge” of Luo Peng is expecting people’s walk-in, the story of water could be told during people’s cross of water and in the expectations that they carry with.

“Event”---- The encounters among people is an “event”, full of coincident, randomness, accidents and turn overs. At this moment, it bursts out all the surprises and opens up various secret passages, allowing the artist to use the story and narratives to interpret the past and reality into an instant legend. The complexity, richness and stimuli of Chinese realities have far surpassed the so called imagination of artists. Art together with time and place constitutes an event connecting people. In the artwork “13896152193” of Jiao Xingtao, eleven piles of firewood are piled up into a cell phone number consisting of 11 figures. The artist is willing to answer any calls made to him and he will try to answer all the questions. Therefore, the connection between the artist and the visitors could be built up. When the artists are putting themselves here, facing events happened or happening in real life, setting any interruptions or accidents as medium for artistic creations, this could be the job for artists and could also be the project cooperating with local dwellings. It directly contacts with real life as well as presenting an unspeakable unknown full of imaginations.

The instant artistic creation created to return to real space and adapting to local conditions when facing concrete time, place, people and events is aiming at Chinese real rural villages and its culture status. Art becomes a piece of porcelain embedded in the pottery of life, a colored thread woven in a basket, an accidental gathering in strolls, an unexpected phone call, a casual festival, an unexpected surprise. Therefore, it is hoped that in the following years, the villages of Youyang, Dieshi Village, Honghua Village, Huatian Village…and the real people inside, directly become part of the art, allowing the artworks to be directly embedded in life. Make the reality directly become the "material" - to achieve the "Peach Colony" of today's art.

Jiao Xingtao