TY - CHAP

T1 - Visualizing Utopia

T2 - The Trojan Horses of the Bishan Commune

AU - Corlin, Mai

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - project that unfolded in Bishan village in the countryside of Southern Anhui province, in Eastern China. The project was devised by the artist and intellectual Ou Ning, who in 2010 drafted a notebook entitled The Bishan Commune: How to Start Your Own Utopia (2014 [2010]). The utopia of the notebook was based in the ideas of Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin and the Chinese rural reconstruction advocate of the 1930s James Yen. In 2011 Ou Ning and his colleague Zuo Jing, initiated the Bishan Commune project in Bishan Village in Southern Anhui Province. From 2011 and to its forced closure in early 2016, the Bishan Commune attracted a range of artists, activists and other volunteers, who came and spent time in Bishan and organized art festival, film screenings, second hand shops, reading groups, archery research, performances, sharing sessions and so much more. I have been given task of presenting some of the visual strategies of the Bishan Commune, and one of the first questions that come to mind is: How did the Bishan Commune present itself visually and why? And also: How did this visuality change along the way? The project existed for five years and had its daily routines in the village, it had a visual presence on social media platforms, it had strong international presence, it was exhibited worldwide and was aware of the importance of its visual statements.

AB - project that unfolded in Bishan village in the countryside of Southern Anhui province, in Eastern China. The project was devised by the artist and intellectual Ou Ning, who in 2010 drafted a notebook entitled The Bishan Commune: How to Start Your Own Utopia (2014 [2010]). The utopia of the notebook was based in the ideas of Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin and the Chinese rural reconstruction advocate of the 1930s James Yen. In 2011 Ou Ning and his colleague Zuo Jing, initiated the Bishan Commune project in Bishan Village in Southern Anhui Province. From 2011 and to its forced closure in early 2016, the Bishan Commune attracted a range of artists, activists and other volunteers, who came and spent time in Bishan and organized art festival, film screenings, second hand shops, reading groups, archery research, performances, sharing sessions and so much more. I have been given task of presenting some of the visual strategies of the Bishan Commune, and one of the first questions that come to mind is: How did the Bishan Commune present itself visually and why? And also: How did this visuality change along the way? The project existed for five years and had its daily routines in the village, it had a visual presence on social media platforms, it had strong international presence, it was exhibited worldwide and was aware of the importance of its visual statements.

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9783837670554

SP - 46

EP - 53

BT - Beyond Molotovs - A Visual Handbook of Anti-Authoritarian Strategies

A2 - kollektiv orangotango, International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies

PB - Transcript Verlag

ER -