Research On Public Art In Nanzhanglou

This thesis probes into the NanZhanglou experiments and presents some reflections on the role that public art plays in constructing the new rural communities.As China starts to reform itself and jions the international community, its social structure is undergoing a transformation. In contrast to the dramatic urban development,rural areas lag behind, which leads to a widening urban-rural gap. For this reason,the progam of New Socialist Countryside is put on the agenda. In the last analysis development in rural areas should be human oriented, in which spiritual civilization construction is the first priority. A community should be intended for the people who are living in it, and thereby reflects their spiritual outlooks. Therefore,it is more than an engineering or environmental issue to improve its infrastructure and hygienic conditions. What's more, it contributes a lot to the construction of the spiritual civilization. Public art, with its focus on the public space and visual culture, is an indispensable means to shape the residents'spiritual world. No one can underestimate its importance in making reparation for the rural absense of visual culture, preserving the residents'historical memory, inspiring the local passion for modernization,and educating or cultivating the local farmers.In 1988, Hanns-Seidel Foundation and NanZhanglou Villege started a program of Equivalence between Urban and Rural Areas. By using this program as a case study and employing the anthropological method of fieldwork, this thesis investigates and describes those public-art concerned problems which arise from the efforts to proserve tradition and improve public space. The program of Equivalence of Urban And Rural Areas is initiated in Bavaria in the 1950s. It aims at a rural development model in the context of urbanization. According to this experiment, the rural residents, inspite of their differences in livingstyle from the urban dwellers,,can achieve some material and spiritual equivalent in the living standard. The experiment provides the rural residents with a spiritually and aesthetically positive guide in such public cultural fields as visual culture in the public space. It also highlights the significance of public art in the program of New Socialist Countryside. The NanZhanglou experiments show that local leaders and the public have come to realize the importance of public art and accept its existence. The practice of public art in this village proves its role in shaping the spiritual civilization. This article aims to find both the original ideas and modes of operation of public art, which are suitable for the rural areas in the program of New Socialist Countryside.Chapter one, which serves as an introduction, focuses on the necessity of public art in constructing the rural communities. It argues that the absence of visual culture reflects the problems in the community's spiritual civilization. Public art in the form of the plastic arts is closely related to the public life. It plays an important role in building visual images and the spiritual civilization of the rural community.Chapter II focuses on the experiment of Equivalence between Urban and Rural Areas in NanZhanglou village. By means of field survey, this chapter describes the process and the current situation of this experioment. It is an objective and realistic analysis of the existing public art in the village. The chapter examines the changes public art has brought to the community since the implementation of the experiment. It also makes an objective comment on the conflicts stemming from the different concepts between China and Germany in the construction of public art.Chapter III focuses on the mechanism of public art construction in NanZhanglou, which requires the involvement of the government, various agencies and the community. It also investigates the influence of the investment from various aspects on the motion and the implementation of public art. In the process of construction,the forms and techniques of public is in correspondence to the changed concepts in public culture caused by the rapid social transformation, the penetrating commercial culture,and the process of urbanization. On the other hand,the villagers'participation is also an important part of the mechanisms. The villagers have not only witnessed the initaiation of the program, but also examined it thoroughly. Their attitude is a critical evaluation to the success of public art.Chapter IV discusses the functions of public art in NanZhanglou village. It retrieves traditional culture and forms of public art, and serves as the media of transmitting public culture. In the construction process from 1988 to 2008, it left a subtle effect on the spiritual life of the residents. They come to realize the role public art plays in their life. The aesthetic and moral impact of Public art is also obvious, which leads to the conclusion that concept can change the lives of people.Chapter V focuses on the social impacts of the NanZhanglou experiment. which arouses the outside concerns on the rural cultural life and the method in which public art shapes spiritual civilization.Chapter VI analyzes how a particular rural community can build its public art. This analysis is based on the practices in NanZhanglou village. Public art implementation firstly invovles public participation, without which no public art would be complete. This chapter analyzes the village's imitation and commercialization of public art,reflects on the adverse effects and proposes methods of constructing public art with regional characteristics.These investigation,analysis, and demonstration proves that the public art has been slowly gaining recognition in the rural communities. It has gradually become an important means by which the local spiritual civilization is shaped.