189 Mailing Art, 2020 ~ 

Ongoing Art Project with Effie Li




We (Dongyan and Effie) started this project on the 9th of October 2020. It is an ongoing mailing art project between Singapore and Shenzhen City. Started from Effie in Shenzhen City, by mailing over two paper plaster sculptures made by herself. We are going to take the turn to rework and make changes to the objects and sending them over to each other again and again.

We used to work with different kinds of media, (Dongyan used to work more with videos and  Effie used to work more with 3D sculptures and installations.) But we would like to see what can we create by working on the same piece. During the process, there were and there are going to be a lot of problems and changes, as it is an ongoing project. Our ideas keep changing, as we have no idea of how these objects were being modified by another person. Meanwhile, we are also trying to explore the different ways of documenting and archiving (such as through writing, drawings, photographs…) to record down the whole process. We would like to experiment with various types of installations by creating different kinds of art atmospheres in different countries.


2020年发生了太多的事,许多原本计划好的事情都被迫中断。我们(陈东彦与李宛怡)想要通过一种不同的方式,在这个特别的时候做一个特别的合作。一位在新加坡,一位在深圳,由于疫情的原因,跨国旅行变成了一件遥不可及的事情,但是包裹可以。在一次语音谈话中,我们聊到了邮寄“意识”的这个想法。

于是这个远距离合作的邮寄艺术项目,就在深圳跟新加坡之间开始了。

在这个网络发达的年代,除了快递,人们已经不再通过写信来表达自己的想法,情感了。长期隔离在一个地方会让我们的精神开始放空,枯竭。我们相信,思想是需要碰撞的,意识是需要流动的,这样才会有更多新的灵感迸发出来。但是除了网络,通过这种邮寄的古老手段,是否还能够用来表达一段思想,一段感情,一段想法呢? 我们这个包裹在运输过程当中,其实代替了我们本身去旅行,在这来来回回的过程中,我们不断地对这个包裹进行重组,改造,这不仅是我们自身主动进行的改造,还有在邮寄的过程中,受到的一些震动,一些不可抗力的摩擦,甚至破坏。当我拿回这个包裹的时候,它已经不是跟我寄出的时候一样的包裹了。

这个作品由2020年10月9日开始从深圳寄出,目前已经到了第五个来回。作品的走向由一开始的一个简单石膏雕塑,进化成了我们一开始也想不到的东西。由于是一个合作项目,我们之间对作品不同的想法,也会在这个作品上渐渐体现出来,这是一种碰撞,也是一种融合。在这个过程中,我们也在探索不同的记录方式,我们尝试着用照片,用文字,用影片,社交媒体等方法,把这个过程记录下来,因为这也是这个作品最重要的一部分。这个包裹所经历的一切,也正是我们所经历的。

在接下来日子里,我们也会继续在两地之间不断地邮寄这个作品,我们希望这会是一个长期的项目,随着时间的推移,它或许会慢慢演变成各种各样的形式,这也是这个作品最令人期待的部分,就像是我们想要重新规划的路线,在2020年的疫情发生之后,思考着如何重新开始。



+ + +

9/10/2020
Mailing 01 
Sent out from Shenzhen



12/10/2020
Mailing 01
Received in Singapore


21/10/2020
Mailing 02
Sent out from Singapore



25/10/2020
Mailing 02
Received in Shenzhen



19/11/2020
Mailing 03
Sent out from Shenzhen


21/11/2020
Mailing 03
Received in Singapore





06/12/2020
Mailing 04
Sent out from Singapore


11/12/2020
Mailing 04
Received in Shenzhen

22/01/2021
Mailing 05
Received in Singapore

18/03/2021
Mailing 06
Sent out from Singapore

24/03/2021
Mailing 06
Received in Shenzhen

To be continue...