编者按：中国现代艺术档案暨《中国当代艺术年鉴》编辑部在此疫情肆掠时期，高度关注艺术的意义和作用的变化，关心档案所联系和追踪的每一位艺术家，编撰发表中国当代艺术家辞条，编辑2019卷《年鉴》，筹备北京民生现代美术馆在6月举办的“中国当代艺术年鉴展2019”。我们2月3日复工，除北大本部行政人员之外，全体居家远程办公，以坚守本职而向抗击灾难的前线工作者和死难者致敬，虽然深感此刻人类的悲怆、艺术之无奈，但值此巨变当代艺术毕竟多少还在显露世界的本质和人的本性。中国现代艺术档案（CMAA）的日常工作之一，即致力于收集、整理以各种形式发表的当代艺术文献，其结果发表于《中国当代艺术年鉴》每一卷的附录。CMAA公众号选取其中部分文献，并提供参考性的主题词、关键词与内容提要，与学界共同观察和反思；谨为提示当代艺术的现象与问题，并就此检验当代艺术何为。内容不代表CMAA的观点和立场。

【主题词】机构

【关键词】星空间、美术星空、高瑀、“下一站：卡通吗？”、70后、赵半狄

【内容提要】本文为星空间创办者房方的记述，以星空间的创办与发展为线索，侧面反映了当代艺术发展的一角。

【网络链接】

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/LlRqRITjBMzrjf2Geh0wnw

2005年我28岁，已经在中央电视台工作了5年，在《美术星空》栏目做电视编导。这是第一个好像也是最后一个出现在中国国家电视台的当代艺术栏目。这栋楼就是我上班的地方，跟我岁数差不多大的中国人可能都认识这个直挺挺的大板儿楼。它和中华世纪坛、军博连成一片，在西长安街的北侧遥望着西客站。这些下雪的照片是2005年1月5号拍的，那时候我身上总是喜欢揣着一个迷你的傻瓜相机，而且特别爱穿户外的运动服装，好像时时刻刻都在准备应对突发的灾难。

I was 28 in 2005, and had worked in CCTV for 5 years as an editor of a program called Art and Artist, which is the first, and maybe the last contemporary art program that ever appeared on the national TV of China. This is the office building. Almost all the Chinese people of my age recognize this slab-type building that sticks up into the sky. It was lined up with the China Millennium Monument and the Military Museum, looking at the West Railway Station from afar. I took these snow photos on January 5th 2005 with a automatic miniature camera that I carried all the time. I preferred outdoor sportswear very much then. It seems that I was expecting some disasters to happen at any minute. 

毕业以后，我走动最频繁的艺术家，是我的大学同学黄宇兴。他特别喜欢养奇奇怪怪的动物，而且必须都是那种冷血的。有一次去他家，他让我观摩蛇吃老鼠，我的惊悚换来了他的得意。2003年我开始跟伍劲合伙投资艺术品，默默地把网撒向那些刚刚毕业的年轻艺术家。从那时候起，我就更主动地把自己当星探来看待，很像是一个乐此不疲的淘金者。除了黄宇兴那儿，我还要跑很多艺术家的工作室。有的在北京市中心，比如温凌，他家就在长安大剧院后面。有的在学校里，这是我第一次见烟囱，在他的宿舍。北京以外，重庆是年轻艺术家聚集的另一座金矿。这是高瑀的工作室，他是我第一个签约的艺术家。这是韦嘉的，那时候他还在做套色石版画。这是我第一次见陈可，照片拍虚了，她身上的蓝大褂和花套袖我印象特别深。我在重庆最早认识的艺术家里，还有李继开，他带我去过重庆红卫兵的墓地。有一次去他家玩儿，坐着坐着忘了时间，差一秒就没有赶上火车。

After graduation, Huang Yuxing was the one artist that I spent the most time with, he is a friend from the academy. He is a lover of strange animals, the cold-blooded ones. One day at his place, he made me watch a snake swallow a mouse, and was triumphant at my horror. In 2003, I began investing in art with Wu Jin as my partner. casting a net for the young artists who just left school without making a noise. Since then, I started to perceive myself more as a talent scout proactively, or rather a tireless gold miner. Besides Huang Yuxing's, I had a lot of artists studios to visit. Some were in the downtown, such as Wen Ling's, whose building backed onto the Chang’an Grand Theatre. Some were in the academy. This is my first encounter with Yan Cong. It was in his dormitory. In addition to Beijing, Chongqing was another gold mine inhabited by the young artists. This is the studio of Gao Yu. He is the first artist I signed. This was Wei Jia's. He was still doing multicolor lithography at that moment. This was the first time I met Chen Ke. The photo was out of focus. I was deeply impressed by her blue gown and colorful sleeves. Li Jikai is also among the first artists I got to know in Chongqing. He's the one who took me to the red guards’ cemetery in Chongqing. When I paid a visit to his place, I was oblivious to the time that had passed, and nearly missed the train.

视频截图 video screen shot

2005年的春节前，腊月二十五，我在北医三院的产房外面，迎来了我的女儿。跟大部分初次当爹的人一样，我看见这个皱皱巴巴的小生命的时候，眼眶湿润了。我给她起名叫立立，是站立的立。这体现了我内心的矛盾，虽然我很害怕独立的女性，但我又欣赏女性的独立。这也是我对自己的提醒，说话我就要三十岁了，而立之年带给我兴奋感也让我觉得紧张。我曾经很想在电视行业大干一场。为了获得更多的话语权，我参加过马东的《挑战主持人》节目，也参加过Discovery频道的新锐导演评选，还不知深浅地竞聘过央视制片人，但结果都以失败告终。分析了一个溜够之后，我觉得可能只有自己单干了。怂恿我付之以行动的人里首当其冲的要数伍劲，他比我大六岁，是中央美院的同门师兄，也是在《美术星空》带我入行的人。我们俩在一起的时候，最常陷入的话题就是预测中国艺术的未来。更具体点儿说，是讨论跟我们年纪相仿的这批艺术家，将来谁能出人头地，可能一般人很难理解这种热忱。

Before the Spring Festival of 2005, on the 25th of 12th lunar month, I welcomed my daughter outside a delivery room in the Peking University Third Hospital. Like most first-time dads, when I saw this wrinkled creature, my eyes watered. I gave her the name "Lili", which means being independent in Chinese. It revealed my inner conflict. On the one hand, I was quite afraid of the independent women. On the other, I admire their independence. It was also a reminder to myself, that I was about to turn 30, the age of being independent, thrilling and panicking at the same time. My plan was to have a big go at the television industry. In order to make my voice heard, I participated in Challenge the Host, a show of Ma Dong, as well as a director competition of Discovery. I was even ignorant enough to compete for a producer's post in CCTV. I failed in all of these attempts. After some thorough analyzation, I was aware that the only solution was to start my own business. Wu Jin was second to none inciting me to take actions. He is 6 years older than me, a senior alumnus of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, who brought me into the trade when we worked for Art and Artist. When we were together, the most heavily discussed topic was the prospects of the art of China, or to be more specific, who, among all the artists of our age, would stand out in the future. This kind of passion might not seem reasonable to others.

我的创业生涯是从798开始的，在一栋编号3818的旧仓库里，租了大约100平米的小单元。伍劲和我决定将画廊命名为“星空间”。这有纪念我们在《美术星空》共事的意思，也是标明我们的野心，要托起将来能在艺术史里闪闪发光的明星。从那以后，我把新浪博客的签名改成了“当代艺术推销员”。星空间的开业定在了4月1号，这是我有意选择的。因为这天是愚人节，大家都可以敞开了撒谎。2005年，中国大陆仅有的几家画廊基本上都是外国人开的，本土画廊还停留在空想阶段。

My entrepreneurship started in 798, from an old warehouse numbered 3818, in which I rented a unit as large as about 100 sqm. Wu Jin and I decided to name our venture as Star Gallery not only to memorize our mutual working experience at Art and Artist but also to declare our ambition to give rise to the the super stars that would shine in the history of art. Henceforth, my self-introduction on the Sina blog became Salesman of Contemporary Art. The opening of Star Gallery was set on April 1st. I chose the date intentionally, for it's the Fools' Day, and people could tell as many lies as they want on this date. Back in 2005, there were only a few galleries in mainland China, mostly founded by foreigners. Opening a local gallery was still more or less a daydream.

星空间的首展叫“下一站：卡通吗？”，最开始想的名字里并没有这个“吗”和问号，我总觉得哪儿不对劲。有一天在大山子路口等红绿灯的时候，忽然觉得应该变成一个问句，这个小小的改动让我激动不已。开幕的那个下午我们并没有举行任何仪式，只是事先准备了一些喷漆，供大家在3818库门口发泄了一下。展览同期出版了一本小画册，我发动了周围所有的朋友一起忙活，写文章、翻译、设计，还做了很多调查问卷。那时候艺术出版还很不发达，能有一个印着书号的出版物问世，参展的艺术家们都觉得特有面子。

The first exhibition of Star Gallery was titled as Next Station: Cartoon? At first it wasn't question-marked, but I kept feeling something's wrong. One day, when I was waiting for green light at the Dashanzi intersection, it dawned on me that the it should be a question. I couldn’t help getting excited for this small change. There was barely a ceremony in the opening afternoon. We just prepared some paint spray for people to release their emotions on the facade of Warehouse 3818. A catalogue was published as part of the exhibition. I mobilized everybody I know to work on it together, writing, translating, graphic designing, and even answering questionnaires. In those days, when art publishing was very much underdeveloped, such a publication with a proper ISBN made every participating artist feel honored to some extent.

视频截图 video screen shot

2005年，“70后”的概念已经比较时兴了。朱其在今日美术馆策划了一个展览叫“70后艺术”，副标题是：市场改变中国后的一代。在开幕现场，我拍下了收藏家张锐，但我当时并不认识他。在现实世界里，我也丝毫没有嗅到市场的气味。星空间开业大半年了，不光没有卖出任何作品，甚至连问价的人也没有。我和画廊的伙计们只顾努力地做展览，好像只有三年不开张才是画廊生意的正解。

"The 70s generation" was a popular notion already in 2005. Zhu Qi had curated "Art after 70", an exhibition in Today Art Museum subtitled The Generation Changed by the Market. At the opening, I took a photo of Zhang Rui, a collector, without knowing who he was. The fact is, I scented nothing about the market. It had been more than half a year since Star Gallery was founded, but nothing was sold, not even inquired. Doing exhibitions was the only thing my colleagues and I cared about. It seemed that we'd taken it for granted that we would not sell a thing in 3 years.

夏末秋初，我和赵半狄在一起，度过了全年最开心的一段时光。我们在北京走街串巷，准备大大小小的道具，为他“一个人的奥运会”忙得乐不可支。在百忙之中，也没忘了讨论911和本拉登。十月份我们飞到了瑞士的首都，在伯尔尼市长和收藏家希克的参与下，举办了奥运的开幕盛典，赵半狄封我为秘书长。我从伦敦召集来我的中学好友马志华，又从巴黎调遣了我的表妹殷亦晴充当志愿者。跟赵半狄一起玩儿很容易达到忘我的境界，以至于到了2008北京奥运的时候，我的记忆还频频闪回到那次的瑞士之行。

At the end of the summer and the beginning of the autumn, I had been with Zhao Bandi, enjoying the most fabulous time of that year. We wandered about the streets of Beijing, busy with preparing the props, overwhelmed with joy for his "One Man's Olympics."Given our tight schedule, we didn’t forget to talk about the 911 attack and bin Laden. We flew to the capital of Switzerland in October, and held the opening ceremony for the Olympics with the presence of the mayor of Bern and art collector Uli Sigg. Zhao Bandi crowned me as the Secretary General. I summoned my high school buddy Ma Zhihua from London, and my cousin Yin Yiqing from Paris as volunteers. It was so easy to go into the state of ecstasy while having fun with Zhao Bandi that I still kept thinking of our Swiss journey when Beijing held its own Olympics in 2008.

12月份，我终于卖掉了画廊开业以来的第一件作品，实现了零的突破。售出的是陈可的一幅小画，收入将近一万块。除了不知道怎么赚钱以外，我的另外一个毛病是有一分收入，就会产生花掉十分的念头。年关将至，我却紧锣密鼓地搞起了装修，准备以北野武的电影“坏孩子的天空”为名，汇总一下“70后的问题青年”。在编辑展览图录的时候，我和刘治治、安静整天混在一起，成为了特别要好的朋友。2005年的最后一天，展览如期开幕，“坏孩子”们聚在一起，在北京的钱柜KTV度过了一个有酒有肉的跨年夜。

That December, I sold the first work since the opening of the gallery. A breakthrough indeed. It was a small painting by Chen Ke, sold at nearly 10 thousand. I never got the hang to make money. To make things worse, I always tend to spend ten times what I've earned. Although end of the year was approaching, a gallery restoration went on in full swing. I intended to assemble "the problem kids born in the 1970s" with an exhibition named after Takeshi Kitano's film Kids Return. I worked with Liu Zhizhi and Lee Ambrozy all the time  while editing the catalogue, and became very close with them on the last day of 2005, the exhibition opened as planned. The problem kids gathered and indulged ourselves in a KTV room on the New Year's Eve in Beijing.

这是2006年1月1日凌晨四点多钟的金鼎轩，我和一众艺术家们从KTV出来到这儿吃夜宵或者说是早饭。接下来的几天，我也都在忙于迎来送往，沉浸在展览带来的亢奋中。发掘同代人中的艺术精英，跟他们一起讲述共同经历的时代，正是那阵子我经营画廊具体的热情所在。而“坏孩子的天空”，可以说是我最为得意的代表作。从北野武电影中借来的展览名，完美地体现了我想要的腔调。那是一种被精致包裹的叛逆，是一群混迹在优等生当中的“蔫土匪”。既不同于80年代风起云涌的宏大叙事，也不是90年代血肉模糊的地下状态。

This was Jingdingxuan at 4 o’clock in the morning, January 1st 2006. I came here for some late-night food, or rather breakfast, with the artists after Karaoke. For the next couple of days, I was busy with greetings and farewells, immersed in the excitements of the exhibition. To discover the artistic elites of my generation and to write the history of our time together with them were the specific source of my passion for running a gallery. And “Kids Return” was, as it were, my magnum opus. The title borrowed from Kitano’s film perfectly embodied the attitude I desired — a sort of being rebellious under the cover of delicateness; “a scoundrel with an honest demeanor” mingled with a group of excellent students. It belonged to neither the grandeur narratives of the stormy 1980s nor the savageness of the underground state of the 1990s.

2006是中国当代艺术品市场的井喷之年，年初的艺术圈就显现出某种不同以往的躁动。全国性的串联自然必不可少，大家都频繁地往返于上海、南京、杭州、重庆等地。看展览、看艺术家工作室，也去看拍卖、看画廊。瑞士人何普林创办的香格纳，已经度过艰难的草创期，从复兴公园搬入了莫干山路50号。他旗下的诸多艺术家都是我特别喜爱的，我每到上海必去拜访。那时候的冷林尚未与佩斯形成合作，但他的北京公社也有着令人艳羡的海外关系。与之搭档的是纽约画商Max Protetch，在2000年就曾举办过张晓刚在美国的首次个展。3月31号，纽约苏富比春拍史无前例地增加了中国当代的板块。而就在这一天，张晓刚的作品创下了979,200美元的成交纪录，使他成为第一个在拍场上跻身百万美金俱乐部的中国当代艺术家。50后、60后价格暴涨的示范效应，很快传导到了70后、80后身上，而且那种速度和强度也是我们始料未及的。4月8号，陈可的一幅一米见方的作品在香港苏富比拍出了近50万的高价，几乎是预估价的十倍。初出茅庐的年轻艺术家们顿时成了香饽饽，带着钱，带着各种诱惑的掠食者随之蜂拥而来。上海红桥画廊的创办人窦洪刚，就是下手既快又狠的一位。时至下半年的秋拍，当代艺术已有遍地开花之势，甭管相干不相干的人，都要杀进场去一探究竟。

2006 was marked by the market blowout of the Chinese contemporary art, which had started to reveal from the beginning of the year with the unusual activity of the art scene. Nation-wide connectivity was naturally a must. Everybody traveled frequently between Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Chongqing, etc., seeing exhibitions and visiting studios, going to auctions and galleries. ShangART, a gallery founded by Lorenz Helbling from Switzerland, had survived from its formative years, and just moved to 50 Moganshan Road from Fuxing Park. For a lot of his artists were my favorites, I would visit his gallery whenever I went to Shanghai. At the time when Leng Lin was not yet cooperating with Pace, his Beijing Commune had already got an enviable global network. One of his accomplices, Max Protetch, a gallerist from New York City, was the one who first showed Zhang Xiaogang in America in 2000. On March 31st, Sotheby’s unprecedentedly launched its Chinese Contemporary Art Department at the spring auction in New York City, when one of Zhang Xiaogang’s works brought the highest price of USD 979,200, which nearly admitted Zhang into the million-dollar club as the first Chinese contemporary artist. The boom in the sales of the artists born in the ’50s and the ’60s transmitted to that of the ’70s and the ’80s quickly, with the speed and intensity far beyond our expectations. On April 8th, a Chen Ke as large as 1 square meter was sold high at 500,000 at the Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction, almost ten times the amount of its estimate. The emerging young artists became hot property all of a sudden, when predators with money and all kinds of temptations swarmed into the market, among whom, Dou Honggang, founder of Red Bridge Gallery in Shanghai, was a fast and accurate mover. When it came to the autumn auctions of that year, the contemporary art was thriving everywhere. Everybody, no matter relevant or not, was dying to dabble with it.

视频截图 video screen shot

随着市场的高歌猛进，星空间也迅速摆脱了初创阶段的捉襟见肘，转而进入了一段扩张期。体现在团队建设上，就是如饥似渴地延揽人才，接连引入安静和巩剑两位干将。我跟安静第一次见面是她来采访我，当时她正为英文杂志《That’s Beijing》工作。在她身上我感受到了一种传说中的国际主义精神，既不是傻乎乎的觉得中国哪儿都好，更没有丝毫嫌弃。巩剑是同为中央美院美术史系毕业的师妹，跟她第一次打交道是因为我把钱包落在了她工作的书店。收入的增加也带来了生活的改善，第一步就是换车。我原先的红色polo换成了蓝色的宝马，当时黄宇兴也买了一辆同款的，只不过他那辆是红色。在未经培训的前提下，我养成了开快车的恶习。有一天，我和黄宇兴的助手分别驾着自己的新车，疾驰在北京近郊的高速公路上。因为我领航的车速过快，他的车被一辆面包车追尾了，红色宝马的屁股被狠狠地啃了一口。

As the market were rolling full steam ahead, Star Gallery soon got rid of the hard-up state during our start-up period, and moved on to the stage of expansion. In term of team building, Our biggest focus was the recruitment. Lee Ambrozy, followed by Gong Jian, joined the team. I met Lee for the first time when she gave me an interview for That’s Beijing. I was impressed by the legendary internationalist spirit in this woman. She was neither a blind lover of everything of China, no a despiser in any sense. Gong Jian is my art history alumna from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. I made her acquaintance when I lost my wallet in the bookstore where her worked. The increase in income facilitated the improvement of life standard, which began from a new car. My red Polo was substituted by a blue BMW. Huang Yuxing bought the same type, but his was a red one. Untrained as I was, I developed the bad habit of overspeed driving. One day, my new car roared onto an express way in the outskirt of Beijing, leading Huang Yuxing’s, which was driven by his assistant. Because I went too fast, his car was rear-ended by a van. The back of the red BMW was badly bitten.

2006年的北京，沙尘暴特别多。而尚处在青春期的798，却正值一个最甜美的年代。除了自己的画廊，我最常去的地方要数紧挨着3818库的一家咖啡馆，叫Pause ，是暂停的意思，中文名叫闲着也是闲着。自从有了这家咖啡，我约人就再不去别的地方。不光是我，很多艺术家和媒体人也都成天长在这儿，大有巴黎黄金时代花神咖啡的派头。那时候另外一个我总去的地方，是美国人罗伯特·博纳欧经营的东八时区书店。他不光引进大量的外国画册为中国艺术家们集体“补课”，还出版了很多中国当代艺术的图书，送往法兰克福等地的书展。

In 2006, Beijing suffered from sandstorms more severe than usual. The flourishing 798, on the other hand, entered its best time ever. The place I was probably at if I was not in my own gallery was Pause, a cafe next to Warehouse 3818. Its name in Chineses, “Xian Zhe Ye Shi Xian Zhe”, means “having nothing else to do anyway” in English. Since I discovered this cafe, I had never made an appointment anywhere else. It wasn’t just me. Many artists and media people would hang out here all day long. It was the Beijing version of Cafe de Flore of Paris in its golden age. The other place where I was often seen was Timezone 8, a bookstore run by Robert Bernell from America, Robert had not only introduced plenty of art books from abroad, making up the missing lessons of the artists here in China, but also published a number of books about the Chinese contemporary art and sent them to book fairs around the world, like the Frankfurter Buchmesse.

10月份，我在临时租用的巨大场地里，为高瑀举办了他的首次个展《标本》。而且花费“重金”打造了一部动画短片，印制了一本高难度的展览图录。开幕当天，我们还郑重其事地举办了一场新闻发布会，竭尽所能地把全北京的艺术记者全数邀请到场。那一年的高瑀刚刚25岁，清瘦而生猛，难怪有些报道称他为当代艺术的“童星”。尽管比起文学圈的80后崛起，艺术界已是慢了好几个半拍，但我们这种大张旗鼓的造星运动，还是不免招致了一些来自同行的敌意。而对于高瑀的作品，也存在着泾渭分明的两种判断。喜欢的人往往有各自推崇的理由，不喜欢的则一致将其视为浅薄的文化垃圾。

In October, I temporarily rented an enormous space for Specimen, the first solo exhibition of Gao Yu. An animated short film was commissioned at quite a high cost, so was a painstakingly printed, extremely delicate catalogue. On the opening day, we even held a formal press conference, sparing no efforts to get as many art journalists as possible from every corner of Beijing. Gao Yu was barely 25, wiry and daring. No wonder he was called “an underage star” of contemporary art in some of the reviews. Although compared with the literary figures born in the ’80s, the artists of the same generation had risen only too late, our promotional pageantry still aroused the inevitable hostility of some colleagues. Regarding to Gao Yu’s work of art, the opinions were at opposite poles. There were various reasons to like him, but those who didn’t had a singular voice — blaming it as shallow cultural garbage.

视频截图 video screen shot

画廊的生意步入正轨，但我和伍劲共同创业的热情却并未止步。其实早在几年前，我们刚刚离开央视的时候，就曾萌生创办一家媒体的念头，但一直苦于没有合适的主编人选。2006年的春天，我认识了在《时尚》杂志工作的李昱。她这人有种无知者无畏的混不吝风格，我和伍劲决定邀她入伙，共同创办《HI艺术》。这个杂志的名字是在绿校年展的开幕饭上，一帮酒过三巡的人胡侃侃出来的。有种要把艺术越玩越HI的意思，也像是把艺术当作久违的老朋友，亲热地打个招呼。我们邀请了刘治治作为设计师，但他有一半时间在为这本杂志的定位出谋划策，他为创刊号设计了一个大家费了半天劲也不知道怎么念的Logo。但无论如何，他为这本新生的杂志打造了一身足够出位的行头，这就是我们所期待的。9月5号，编辑部全体出动，来到飘着细雨的上海。在上海美术馆门前，向出席双年展开幕式的贵宾们派发新刊。大多数人对我们这种类似发小广告式的草根作风并无反感，只是个别一两位满脸严肃的先生，冷酷地拒绝了我递来的杂志。

The business of the gallery has gone into the orbit, but the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of Wu Jin and me never ceased. Years ago, actually, just after we left CCTV, we had the idea of starting our own media venture. The only barrier was our lack of the right chief editor. In the spring of 2006, I met Li Yu, who was working for Cosmo at the moment, she was young and fearless, having the guts that we needed. Wu Jin and I decided to absorb her as a co-founder of Hi Art. The name of the magazine was the result of a drunken random talk we hads during the opening dinner of Lvxiao’s Annual Exhibition, it could be considered as an attempt to get high with art, or an affectionate greeting to a long lost friend. We hired Liu Zhizhi as the designer, though he spent half of his time in giving advice on the orientation of this magazine the logo he designed for the first issue, could hardly be recognized by any of us. Well, anyways, he has created an appearance bold enough for the newborn, and that’s exactly what we were looking for. On September 5th, the editorial staff tuned out in full strength in the drizzling rain of Shanghai. We arrived at the gate of Shanghai Art Museum, giving out our newly printed magazines to the VIP guests here to attend the opening ceremony of the biennale. Most of them didn’t hate our grass-root street marketing strategy, except one or two straight-faced gentlemen, who brutally turned me down.

2006年4月，我实现了盼望已久的英国之行。除了大英、泰特、国家艺廊等大型美术馆外，我专程去看了白立方画廊。自从星空间开业，就不断有人跟我聊白立方。以至于到后来，连我自己好像也越来越确信，星空间就是要做中国的白立方。这种比附现在看起来你也许会觉得很可笑，但在当年却极其普遍。在西方列强中寻找成长的标杆，并不是我发明的。陪我在英国游玩的是我的高中同学马志华，他在偏远的乡下跟着一位帝国大律师当学徒。星空间最早的合同，都是他免费为我起草的。年底，我和安静去了趟美国。第一站是迈阿密，这座位于东南端的海滨城市，有点儿像海南岛，是富裕阶层养老度假的圣地，也是所谓的文化沙漠。当北半球过冬的时刻，这儿的气温却十分宜人，巴塞尔艺博会的北美版就选在这里举办。二级市场上演的中国热也带动了一级市场的升温，博览会内外虽然只能看到零星的中国元素，但至少要比今天多得多。告别了佛罗里达的海风，我们来到了安静更为熟知的纽约，一路上我们多次偶遇中国藏家旅行团。这是在高古轩的前厅，当时正在举办的约翰·科林画展有些少儿不宜。除了纽约市中心的美术馆与画廊外，安静还特意带我去了趟哈得孙河流域的Beacon小镇，她的姑妈在令人高山仰止的Dia Beacon工作。除了带我去开开眼，她也正好去看望一下亲人。一顿接着一顿的艺术盛宴，让我想到的既不是雄心勃勃地超英赶美，好像也不是迫切地师夷长技。回到北京，我扎到了画廊和杂志的双线作战中，继续忙得不亦乐乎。

In April 2006, my dream of going to England came true. In addition to the major art museums like the British Museum, Tate, and the National Gallery of Art, I paid a special visit to the White Cube. From the opening of Star Gallery, people had been talking about the White Cube so often that I eventually started to form the vision that Star Gallery was destined to become the White Cube of China. Maybe this kind of comparison sounds ridiculous to you now, but it was prevailing in those days. Finding a role model in the West wasn’t my invention. My traveling companion in the UK was my high school classmate Ma Zhihua, who was then an apprentice of a barrister in some remote village. The first contracts of Star Gallery were drafted by Ma at no charge. At the end of the year, I went to the United States with Lee Ambrozy. The first stop was Miami, a costal city in the Southeast, it’s like the Hainan Island of China, a recreational paradise for the rich in retirement, as well as a so-called cultural desert. When the northern hemisphere is in winter, it still enjoys a pleasant whether down here. This is where the North American version of Art Basel takes place. The China craze in secondary market gave an impetus to the primary one, with a few Chinese elements visible in and around the fair, at least way more than today. After saying goodbye to the sea breeze of Florida, we came to New York City, a  more familiar place to Lee, and ran across several tour groups of Chinese collectors on the way. This was the foyer of Gagosian. It was showing John Currin, an exhibition unsuitable for children. Besides the art museums and galleries in the downtown of New York City, Lee brought me to Beacon, a small town by the Hudson River. Her aunt was working at the prestigious Dia Beacon. My eye-opening experience, gave her a chance to see her family.

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北京大学视觉与图像研究中心与“中国现代艺术档案”

北京大学历史学系艺术史研究室（https://www.hist.pku.edu.cn/bxjj/245439.htm）目前分三个方向进行艺术史的研究，即中国古代艺术、当代艺术和世界艺术。下挂“北京大学视觉与图像研究中心”（编辑”中国现代艺术档案“和《中国当代艺术年鉴》），“北京大学汉画研究所和国际艺术史学会CIHA的秘书处。

北京大学视觉与图像研究中心作为研究中国传统艺术、中国当代艺术和世界艺术的国家基地，承担着艺术与视觉研究、教学和发展的学术任务，其成员为北京大学特聘的相关领域专家学者。该中心由北京大学教授朱青生负责。

北京大学“中国现代艺术档案”是北京大学视觉与图像研究中心的一个学术项目，其渊源是1986年在中央美术学院，后迁至北京大学的现代艺术资料汇集工作。“档案”自成立之初，即把20世纪70年代末以来中国现代艺术文献的收集、整理、编辑工作纳入其学术范围，保存积累了大量文献。“档案”的目的是搜集和记录与中国现代艺术相关的信息和资料，编制《中国当代艺术年鉴》，研究和发表艺术调查报告，介绍和总结中国当代艺术的状况，向国内外学者和机构提供中国当代艺术活动、艺术作品和艺术家的详尽资料。“档案”已初步建成网络数据库，以达到资源共享；同时计划将所有资料存放于北京大学图书馆的专门阅览室，供研究者使用。

Center for Visual Studies, Peking University and Chinese Modern Art Archive

Center for Visual Studies Peking University is a national base of Chinese traditional art, Chinese contemporary art and world art history. It has a group of scholars who, though of different disciplines, all specialize in the cultural and visual studies. The center is under the supervision of Prof. Dr. LaoZhu of Peking University.

Chinese Modern Art Archive (CMAA), one of the research projects of the Center, was founded in 1986 at Central Academy of Fine Arts (then moved to Peking University) and has been devoted to collecting and archiving documents on contemporary Chinese art work created after the mid-1970s. With the mission of documenting the contemporary Chinese artistic events, CMAA does its research through conducting surveys and publishing the Annual of Contemporary Art of China. The Annual provides information on art events, art works and artists in China for the researchers and institutions both domestic and abroad. CMAA also has an online database, which has been developed into an open resource for researchers.  A special room will also be created for the archives at Peking University's library for public research.