A Story of Qinglu Shanshui by Gu Wenda

On a sunny Saturday morning in September, I made my way over to the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center to attend Gu Wenda’s large-scale, participatory performance A Story of Qinglu Shanshui, the second public contemporary art day (2016). The event, directed by Gu and backed by Ping An Financial Centre (PAFC Mall), was to include 1,500 volunteer children from Ping An Corporation’s remote area charitable schools. As I searched for the entrance to the hangar, where the event was to take place, I spotted some young students as they held their mothers’ hands. Following them into the hall, I saw the area had been prepared with neatly arranged rolls of large xuan paper. A pot with algae paint and a paintbrush marked each designated position for the students. One could oversee the entire setting from the hall’s high terrace, accessible by escalators, where spectators were invited to watch the performance.

Soon after entering and settling into their stations, the children grew restless, using their buckets and brushes as percussion instruments. They filled the hangar with their loud, excited drum rolls in anticipation. When Gu eventually allowed the children to crack the pots open and paint, the performative climax was palpable. Stick figures, animal forms and houses began to appear in green watercolor on the xuan paper. There was a shift of pace in the air as the paper became saturated with the algae, which, despite being food-grade and toxin-free, released a putrid odor. The more motivated painters continued smearing the now large puddles of green with one hand, while using the other to cover their mouths and noses with their custom-made T-shirts. Most remained unaware of what the green paint was, simply stating that it was “smelly,” and dropping their gear as they asked the accompanying adults if they could stop. In the center of these students was Gu, who with a giant brush on a large roll of paper created his calligraphy work titled Verdant Mountains, Emerald Waters (2016), part of his “Simplified Chinese Phrases” project (2005–). In this piece, Gu merged together the characters in the titular sentence—qingshan ("verdant mountain") and lushui ("emerald waters")—creating not only a new algae-ink scroll, but also new Chinese characters.

• China