Scene

Crystalloid

Crystalloid , also titled, “Buddhist Relics”, involves processes of sublimation, crystallization and coagulation. Judging from such a title, it's natural for us to draw the conclusion that this part of the exhibition focuses on the embodiment of the feelings. thoughts and experience the artist acquired during the survey. Instead of producing a straightforward representation, such embodiment is more like some kind of abstract extract of the reality. Moreover, it may even influence the reality. Therefore, some of the works can be considered as the gradual yet constant revision and refinement of the original conception of Think Tank . Other works, however, may seem not so directly relevant to the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and its suicide phenomenon. It takes experience and patience for the viewer to feel the internal relationship between the works and the subject matter.

Crystalloid features installations such as A Lot of Trees make a Piece of Coal, Ataraxic of Zhuangzi , Certificate of Merit No.2 , Samsara of Smoke , and Don't Lean upon a Balustrade , etc.

SNJYRB No.011# Diplomas No.2

Installation with iron plate, chain, pulley block

4m x 3.5m x 2.2m

A 1970s' certificate of merit with the image of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is selected. The patterns of the certificate are cut out of a 1cm -thick rusty iron plate with water jet scalpel. The patterns are not totally completely cut out from the iron plate so that they can be folded upwards, forming an angle of 90 degrees with the rusty certificate of merit. The edges of the patterns are very sharp.

SNJYRB No.118# If only we have people

The words came from the old newspaper People's Daily on December 29, 1968, which had reported the completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge . On the top right corner of this newspaper had the Chairman Mao ana said “Human being is the most valuable in all the world, lead by the Communist Party, If only we have people, any miracle will be possible”

Here this sentence was reproduced on the wall with coal powders and mucilage glue. But the coal powders fell on the floor was been replaced by the taxidermal crows.

Ataraxic of Zhuang Zi

Installation, 5m x 2.5m x 2.5m

A large transparent glass gourd is put on the floor of the exhibition hall. At the mouth of the gourd, there is an enlarged syringe needle made of stainless steel. Several black butterflies are put into the gourd that can breathe through the pinhole of the needle.

Love is dead … ..where is the capital of Madagascar ?

Performance, Photo-installation and video

” Love is dead. All that left is void.” The sentence, written in blood, is supposed to be the last words written by someone who had committed suicide on Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge . The photo was shot by Qiu Zhijie on the Bridge in January 2008.

In June 2008, the artist wiped the writing off and wrote another sentence with his own blood: “Where is the capital of Madagascar ?” Then he recorded the sentence by video and photo. Photographs directly mounted onto the walls show the two sentences.

Think Tank

Think Tank , the idea of which was developed before the artist began the survey about the suicide phenomenon on the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge , is presented in two major forms, painting and note-taking. The paintings shaped the early formation of the whole project. On one hand, they are the concretization of the artist's imagination and conception. On the other hand, they outline its scheme in a visual way. Meanwhile, they can also be considered as drafts of the installations. The significance of this lies in the fact that it enables the artist to explore the meaning behind the specific subject matter. It impels the artist to make constant adjustment and development during his survey. Therefore, Think Tank is constantly enriched and updated with the furtherance of the survey.

In January, 2008, Qiu finished his creation of lithograph series Nanjing , copperplate The World Series , paper work Bridge Series and some sketches, minutes and woodcuts at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. These works are a study of the suicide phenomenon on the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge from an artistic perspective. They have formed a spiritual basis for the artist before conducting the field investigation. Meanwhile, these works are inter-connected and complementary: Nanjing forms the context of Bridge , while The World forms the context of Nanjing . furthermore

Furthermore,Qiu had start the photograph series Paper folding Planes— this is also an investigation on the relationship between the gigantic construction and the suicidal psychology.

SNJYRB No.103# Many trees made a piece of Coal

1. Wood brackets and 50 tons coal construct a huge black archaeological pit. Visitors may enter from the bottom of the pit. Taking the stairs upward, they can access the exhibition hall on the second floor of the museum.In different parts of this archaeological pit,some taxidermal crows are buried ， parts of them are bared..

2. Inside the hollow spaces of the archaeological pit -- between the walls and under the steps, 100 live ravens and 100 live butterflies are hidden.T he visitors can hear the sound, but they can not see them.

3. The floor and steps of the pit is full of raven-shaped coal sculptures. When entering the pit, visitors will tread these ravens down into coal powder.

4. During the exhibition, two “archaeologists”(two performers) will work in the pit. They will keep reshaping the coal powder into raven-shape sculptures by using a special cast mould.

SNJYRB No.127# Don't Lean upon a Balustrade ,

Installation and sculpture

1.3mx20mx 15m

Two hundred reliefs are inlaid into the railings of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge , among which 22 pictures are included. The reliefs show the achievements made by the socialist construction during that period, such as the ten representative buildings in Beijing , East Wind, a liner of ten thousand tons, and the Qinghai-Tibet and Sichuan-Tibet railways. These reliefs and the sculptures entitled “People” erected at the bridgehead were created by…, and were widely considered as he best sculptures in China at that time.

Qiu Zhijie asked more than 20 students majoring in sculpture at China Academy of Art to copy the reliefs on the railing of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge . When moulds were made, coal powders and black feathers were added to make the black “shadow” of these reliefs.

The reliefs are inlaid between the wooden railings and columns. The surface of the wood is covered with coal. All the coal surface are flapped by many people's palm and were full of human fingerprints. This coal surface will be desiccate slowly during the show.

The coal railings connect the Archives and Think Tank by forming a zigzag bridge in the exhibition hall of Think Tank . Viewers have to cross the zigzag bridge to enter Think Tank .

Note: The bridge are transfigurated as the chinese traditional “ zigzag bridge” which the visitors can have as many chance to stop,stay,and view, to delay their steps forwaord to the other shore.

SNJYRB No.126# Metempsychosis of the smoke

two parts installation in both first floor and second floor.

In the first floor, visitors first find In the middle of the exhibition hall, an infusion set is hung from the ceiling and black ink is slowly injected into a small transparent gourd on the floor.

Twenty small transparent gourds (50 × 35cm ) and twenty enlarged syringe needles made of stainless steel. The empty small gourds are placed at the corner of the wall.

When a gourd is filled during the two months exhibition, a syringe needle made of stainless steel will be attached to it and then the gourd will be replaced and put on the other side.

When visitors up to the second floor, they will find a long iron table. (90(H)*400(L)*60(W) cm)in the middle of the space, just above the gourd downstair.

At both ends of the table there are 4 ink-rubbing machines, which continuously rub four specially-made ink sticks. Ink will flow into the exhibition hall downstairs through the hole in the middle of the table, and down the funnel at the bottom, and finally through the infusion pipe and the hole in the floor.

Four infusion bottle racks will continuously supply the ink-rubbing machines with water.

The shape of the ink sticks is the same as the bridgehead of Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge where three red flags are erected. The ink stick is 24cm -high, 5cm -thick and 7cm -wide, weighing 1 kilogram.

Note 1: “ Three Red Flags” was a famous political slogan in 1950-1960s, it was the symbol of Mao's thoughts.

Note 2: the solid chinese ink sticks,are made from the ash of the smoke from deal wood, oil,and coal. )

Archives

Archives feature all kinds of historical materials about the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge that the artist has collected, including audio and video materials, books, certificates of merit, envelops and newspapers from the past; materials collected during field survey; and documents such as questionnaires and documentaries created by the artist during the survey. Some of the archives can be deemed as creative, especially when such an experimental approach is adopted during the survey. Some historical narratives, due to the slight embellishment made by the artist, have turned into Fluxus articles in a way. If Think Tank can be regarded as the internal “core” of the whole scheme, then the Archives are the achievements made by the scheme.

With the furtherance of the investigation, the Archives are constantly enriched and updated.

SNJYRB No.118#

Swallow Rock (Yanzi Ji) used to be a site prone to suicide incidents before the completion of Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge . People who wanted to commit suicide would sit on the railing and then fall into Yangtze River on their back. So there used to be a saying popular in Nanjing , “back in the river, life in the heaven.” Before the Anti-Japanese War, two wooden tablets saying “Have a second thought” and “Don't die” were erected at Swallow Rock by renowned educationist Tao Xingzhi. The two tablets were widely regarded as admonishment tablets. Qiu Zhijie has copied Mr. Tao's handwriting onto xylograph and printed a batch of calligraphy exercise books according to the xylograph. These calligraphy exercise books are given to people persuaded out of committing suicide and to volunteers. They are asked to trace the model characters, which is a part of the recovery therapy.

Here in the exhibition room,a video shows the process of the artist rubbing the “admonishment tablets” with a pencil. The text of “Have a second thought” and “Don't die” appear little by little, with the different tourist's speaks on suicide while they viewing this admonishment tablets.

Another video documents how the suicides and volunteers use theese calligraphy exercise papers.

Calligraphy pieces wrote by the suicides and volunteers, with the woodcut board also show in the installation.

Clinic

Clinic puts emphasis on the artistic therapy adopted to treat people who have attempted suicide. This includes: the art projects designed and initiated by the artist that aim to help those in need, as well as in cooperation with other suicide-prevention organizations.

Clinic is based upon the cooperation with “Soul Inn”, a psychological consultation room in Nanjing .

“Soul Inn” is a non-governmental suicide prevention organization established by Chen Si, who is also known as The Catcher on the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge . Since 2003, Chen Si has made a habit of coming to the bridge every weekend, to try to persuade people out of committing suicide off the bridge. So far, he has saved nearly 150 people. His feats have attracted wide attention among the media. During his work, Chen felt the urgent need for establishing a place where he could take care of and give psychological advice to those attempting to commit suicide. Therefore, Chen founded Soul Inn.

Qiu Zhijie has volunteered much of his time and energy to “Soul Inn”. With the support of other college students, together they have taken measures and held psychological interventions to help console those attempting to commit suicide. As an artist, Qiu also proposed that art play an integral role in psychological therapy and in the trauma recovery process.