First Floor – Independend Art Space
In a situation where contemporary art in china is seen by the outside as happening only in Beijing and Shanghai, Nanjing and similar cities have a special significance to broaden the view on contemporary art and bring more diversity to the ongoing process. We founded “First Floor” to give Nanjing a voice. Self-managed, agile, low budget are our definition points to marginalize the economical factor of art to its proper size.
“First Floor” is an independent, self-managed art space. The members are not limited to being “artists”, while working at the “First Floor” we all switch between being artists, curators, writers, thinkers, workers and spectators. In a general predisposition characterized by hierarchical structures we work collectively to create one voice together. We intend to overcome the solitude of the artist working in his or her atelier alone, hence we create a platform, a public room, where we can work on our ideas together. The place where art is created and exhibited becomes merged into one to blur the borders between the process of creating art and its outcome.
Under the proposition of art as social and public process we aim to promote “First Floor” inside and outside of Nanjing. We understand art as an essential part of modern society.化茂一楼 – 独立艺术空间
当外部习惯于通过北京或上海认识中国当代艺术的时候，南京（亦包括类型近似的城市）的艺术的自证就具有了一些特殊的意义，它将展现一个更有广泛和真实的中国当代艺术。在艺术资源匮乏的现实下，这座城市的艺术应该怎样发出声音？华茂一楼”正是基于一个背景下形成并展开思考的。自我主导、快频率、低成本成为了我们工作方式的关键词，也是被边缘化的艺术生态下的生存策略。
“华茂一楼”是一个自主艺术机构，这里的成员并不以艺术家作为唯一身份，同时每个个体亦可以被视为策展人、批评家、观众或者别的什么身份。每个人的思考和创作互相构成一个“场”，在没有严格预设和彼此平等的条件下共同发出声音，每个人不同的思考、概念及创造在无形的约束下延伸和成型。这里可以被视为从艺术家私人工作室到公共展览空间（如通常意义下的美术馆机制）的一个中间地带，艺术的私人性将在“华茂一楼” 中在一定程度上变得可以被言说、递进和证伪。在一个显得世俗化的艺术生态里， 这样的氛围就更显得珍贵。
社会化、公共化的命题将促使“华茂一楼”获得实体之外无限的生长空间。某种程度上说，在这个文化上弥漫自我呓语的旧文人气质城市中，让艺术获得公共化的存在感就更显得尤其的必要。