On The Edge Of The City:An Exploration Of The Identity Of The Artistic "Shenzhen Drifting" Group

Since the establishment of the cultural policy,the cultural industry has become increasingly important for the development of Shenzhen.The art district(art village)has gradually entered the public eye as a product of cultural industry development.In 2013,the rent of F518,an art creative district close to the city centre,rose by nearly 60%.The art group that could not afford high rents chose to flow to the old village of Aohu Village,a city edged border between Shenzhen and Dongguan.New Who Art Village was established.Due to the presence of the art group,the old village of Aohu,which had been ruined by the impact of industrial development,revived the vitality of art and even escaped the fate of being demolished.This paper takes the art group of New Who Art Village as the main research object,and uses the research methods such as participatory observation,in-depth interview and questionnaire survey to explore the identity of the vertical development of New Who Village art group.The study found that before entering the New Who Art Art Village,most of the artists were“drifting”and their living state were relatively unstable.The expulsion of capital and the olive branch thrown by local artist Deng Chunru allowed the art group to live in Aohu based on the need and recognition of “art identity”.After staying at Aohu Village,the art groups formed their own artistic space boundaries through space production,creating a “wall” of “art identities”and distinguishing them from the surrounding residents.At the same time,based on the practice of interaction within the group,the identity of the inner group can be constructed.Art clusters create a strong "artificial" space for identity,but it also brings new problems: from conflicts with local residents.The author further studies the identity of the Aohu art group through local perception.The study finds that the artistic group and the local residents are not highly integrated,and they have conflicts and confrontation with the landlord as a local resident in the space competition.In confrontation,the positive distinction of identity appears as an extension of internal group identity and estrangement from outside groups.As a result,the Aohu art community faces the possibility of new drifts.