Shared Mythology and the Conflict of Ideals:
The Second Anren Biennale
From 1405 to 1433, during the first century of the Ming Dynasty, the Three Treasure Eunuch Zheng He commanded Chinese flotillas on a number of voyages from Nanjing to the western coast of the Indian Ocean. On these epic journeys, the Chinese fleets visited more than thirty states, including those of Borneo, Java, Sumatra, the Philippines (Sulu), Malaya (Pahang), the Khmer, Kolkata, Siam, Bengal, Aden, Arabia, Somalia, Hormuz, and Mogadishu. The farthest destinations were East Africa and the Red Sea. These were the largest sequence of maritime expeditions in human history prior to the Age of Discovery of European mariners that began at the end of the fifteenth century. According to records, one of “Zheng He’s voyages” comprised as many as two hundred ships and twenty-seven thousand mariners. Whether or not the main purpose was to establish and consolidate a tributary system, exploration (rather than conquest, which was the main idea motivating European voyages) of previously unknown societies and the establishment of international exchanges were undoubtedly among the purposes of Zheng He’s expeditions to the “Western Ocean”.
Sixty-one years after the last treasure ship of Zheng He set sail, in 1492, the German mariner Martin Behaim collaborated with a painter to produce the world’s first globe, which he named the Erdapfel, a German word meaning “the apple of the Earth”. The globe comprised two hemispheres fashioned from linen, the periphery was reinforced with wood, and the cooperative artist hand-painted the maps that covered it. Although this globe did not include the Americas, because Columbus has not yet returned to Spain, and there were inaccuracies, such as Japan (designated by the old name Cipango) being painted to appear much larger than its actual area and its location fixed much farther south than was the case, the globe conceptually embodied a map of the Earth largely as we know it today: the vast Eurasian continent, the oceans adjoining Asia and Europe, and even St. Thomas Island. Later, Europeans reached Asia and arrived in China and Japan, signaling mankind’s entry into the early stage of globalization.
From the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, and English have continuously arrived in China and, now, in today’s era of networked human globalization, different cultures and different civilizations have undergone dizzyingly profound changes, but this does not mean that mankind has yet entered a shared and integrated world.
The Second Anren Biennale draws on two historical metaphors regarding East and West to express the main themes of contemporary art in the age of globalization: In an era of complex and dramatic conflict, in which rival civilizations observe the world, how do we talk and communicate with each other? Further questions are: What do the new treasure ships in the era of globalization bring from the people of Asia to other regions of the world? And what new kind of globe can embody a new vision of humanity and an understanding of the past, present and future of human civilization? How can humanity build a shared community of civilizations that can face the challenges of the future together?
In the 1990s, Samuel Huntington was aware of the problems that exist between different civilizations. He argued that as a result of modern challenges, global politics is being reconstructed along the boundaries of culture. Peoples and countries with similar cultures come together, while peoples and countries with different cultures part ways. Alliances based on ideological and superpower relations will give way to alliances based on culture and civilization, and the redrawing of political boundaries is increasingly converging with the boundaries of culture such as race, religion, and civilization, which is replacing the Cold War camps, and the fault lines between civilizations are becoming the central boundaries in global political conflict.
As we all know, no period in world history was as complex as today and, as genetically unique and non-recurring living individuals, artists living in different national, regional, and cultural contexts necessarily perceive and express the world with differences in communication and understanding that must be elucidated through constant dialogue.
The sensitivity of artists and the richness of artistic ideas form the faces to be presented at this Biennale and, especially at a time when the world’s pattern is undergoing profound change, the voices of art will appear particularly influential and enlightening. Based on the lessons of history, art often makes valuable prophecies about the future. Huntington pointed out: A multicultural world emerged after the end of the Cold War, whereas previously the world had been largely comprised of Western countries led by the United States, socialist countries led by the Soviet Union, as well as a “Third World” which was considered poor and lacking in stability. This is certainly not to say that historical and cultural communications between different countries and regions had only just begun, but that for a considerable period of time previously the differences between the histories and cultures of various countries and nationalities were shrouded by ideological conflict and not fully presented. After the end of the Cold War, people of different background civilizations began to place issues of culture and identity on the agenda: Who are we? Where are we ultimately from? Where are we going? As a result, conceptual issues of ancestry, tradition, language, religion, history, and customs began to emerge; cultural preferences, commonalities, and differences also began to emerge. Based on the changes in the world, culture is beginning to become a more effective political strategy and communication tool. The organizational and structural abilities of culture often transcend ideology, and cultural conflicts often break through the consistency of ideology. The basic strategy of the Anren Biennale is to provide the opportunity to observe and analyze this complex and diverse world through the artist’s personal observation, as well as to enter into their dialogue with the audience, and to simulate the various interesting issues highlighted in human cultural exchanges through an aesthetic perspective.
The conflict between civilizations is based on cultural differences, so it is possible to communicate through culture and then modify the systems, economic interests and even national interests that humans have built on the basis of civilization. From a biological and philosophical point of view, conflict is inevitable, but inter-connectedness, mutual influence and even change are also all basic facts of civilization. Regardless of the type of civilization, from ancient times to the present there has never been a civilization that is unchanging. This makes it possible for us to find and present new paradigms of civilization.
Technological revolutions, political arrangements, the construction of the rule of law, and the formulation of rules are the basic guarantees for the establishment of a community among the various countries that make up the international community. Community itself is a promise of harmony and goodness, which human beings require to build the individual life they require for their development. However, different countries have different ethnicities, religious beliefs, cultural traditions, customs, and even races; in a nutshell, different national civilized backgrounds have obvious differences. At the same time, the question of the special purposes and strategies of the interests and operating groups of different countries makes it very difficult to establish a shared community and so at the same time as we formulate specific political and economic rules, we may have the opportunity to establish a civilized community by taking advantage of our discussion of values and our cultural exchanges to negotiate human ethics and indulge in the trial and error of artistic blind spots. Because of the existence of traditions and residues of civilization or culture, we can discuss how to shape a new civilization in an era of globalization suited to the human community, on the basis of respect for the history and traditions of different civilizations.
“Shared mythology” signifies the ideals, questions, and efforts required to establish a human civilized community!
Wednesday, 17th April 2019