PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2022, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (2): 264-276.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2022.02.007

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A case study of ineffective public art intervention in rural construction: Haniwa sculpture in Azheke Village, Yuanyang County

YANG Xihao1,2(), WENG Shixiu3,*()   

  1. 1. School of Geography and Ecotourism, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China
    2. School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519000, Guangdong, China
    3. School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
  • Received:2021-02-18 Revised:2021-07-12 Online:2022-02-28 Published:2022-04-28
  • Contact: WENG Shixiu E-mail:yangxh36@mail2.sysu.edu.cn;wengshx8@mail.sysu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(42101245);Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China(2021A1515011644);Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China(2020A1515011381)

Abstract:

Art practice including public art is involved in rural construction to realize the reconstruction of new rural cultural landscape and spatial reconstruction, and to convey the desire for the inheritance and innovation of local culture. However, under the background of heated art intervention in the construction of art townships, few studies have examined the failed cases and the negative influencing factors and mechanism of impact in the construction of art townships. This study examined the public art case of Haniwa in Azheke Village, Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province, which is a sculptural visual art practice in rural construction. This article summarized the failure mechanism of public art involvement in rural construction through this case, and analyzed the local processes in the initial, operational, and post-operational stages. The study concluded that there is a misalignment of values between the "art world" constructed by art discourse and the "life world" constituted by everyday experience, with the former relying on the one-way cultivation of artists, making it difficult to form a "community" and lasting social effects in the short term. In the process of linking the two worlds, the variations and changes in the subjects of power, the actors involved, and the audience groups will all have an impact on the transformation of the value objectives of artistic practice. In villages with different levels of development, the artistic approach to rural construction faces the problem of operability, but more fundamentally, it encounters social structural problems, where a single artistic practice lacks the capacity to solve rural issues. A discussion on the factors and processes that influence failure is an important part of critical thinking about artistic approach to rural construction, and can help to inspire concrete future practices.

Key words: public art, rural construction, failure factors, Yuanyang County