Remember, Not Forget

Ou Ning

Sneaker Culture is like other pop stuff. It’s all about forgetting but not remembering. In the social chain of the circulation of production and consumption, only by removing people’s memory quickly can new exciting points be born. But Nike Dunk takes an opposite way. Its launch in 2008 is to remind people of the sense of honor and belonging from those loyal minds to their teams during the NCAA Basketball Tournaments in 1985 and 1986. That’s also when Dunk was born. The faster the society develops and the more frequently the trends change, the more precious old things seem to be. Vintage is not only a revolution of clothes, shoes and accessories but also an explosion of social thoughts and collective unconsciousness. Real Sneaker lovers are not only collectors of materials but also feelings. They research the history by material remains and point out the direction of future. 

To cooperate with artists has become Nike Dunk’s legend. By the help of their talents, Nike Dunk can increase the creative level of Sneaker culture continuously. A pair of shoes can break the material limit again and again and walk to a broader world of more possibilities. How Japanese people discover Nike Dunk is a typical cross-culture transformation. They read the west from eastern angle, bring up new points and pass them back to the west and finally lit up the popularity of Nike Dunk which gets today’s explosion of love to it. In 2008, or the Olympic year for China, what interactions will happen between Nike Dunk and China’s reality and society? What culture attachment can China’s artists provide to Nike Dunk? How can they develop Nike Dunk’s history? These are the questions I want to answer when organizing this exhibition.

As curator, first I want to have an innovation of the exhibition’s grammar. Nowadays, art exhibitions have large varieties and tons of mediums. However, in this exhibition for Nike Dunk in China, I want to go back to a single medium or type. Thus I invited the partner of Steven Holl Architects and his team from OPEN Architecture, an experimental studio to design a theatre with four screens lined up in the exhibition space in Shanghai. All the participant artists, no matter which field they come from, have to create their works by video media. Their works will be shown on the four screens in chronological order. The audience is also required to watch the works collectively to guarantee a certain time length of their exhibition experiences. The design of OPEN architecture not only meets this requirement but also connects the whole exhibition space by the format of a mobius strip, which also provides tricky exhibition guide to the audience.

Besides, in total, seven artist or artist groups were invited to create on the unified media platform and projecting equipments. Besides artists in mainstream cities like Beijing and Shanghai, I also invited director, designer and sound artist from Dalian, Zigong (Sichuan Province) and Hangzhou to make sure their works can touch a broader social space and deeper reality level in China. Gao Wendong, an independent film director who got selected by Berlin International Film Festival for his first long narrative film, organized a game of shooting basket for the residents in a slum neighborhood in Dalian. It comes out as a fast-speed experimental documentary to present in this exhibition. Another independent film director Ying Liang who is also active in international film events, filmed a story of a young basketball player in a local basketball training base in Zigong. Chen Feibo and Li Jian, the two graphic designers from Hangzhou cooperate with sound artist Li Jianhong, to show “omnipresent sports” by the format of Motion Graphics. Ray Lei from Beijing is only 22 years old. His animation is full of humor and fun, quite impressive. Shanghai senior artist Zhou Hongxiang use video installation to express his comprehension of basketball and skateboard games. Both from Beijing, new media artists 8GG and Xu Wenkai respectively designed their interactive installations which audience can get involved with.  

To explore the spiritual connections between Nike Dunk and China is the theme of the works of all this participant artists. In this country with fast growing economy and ambitious people, forgetting happens often. The emphasis of Nike Dunk: to remember, can be a very good reminder.