一、中国摄影存在的问题

国内著名摄影家于德水在近年的一个访谈里不无感慨地说：“那时候有一种说法：摄影是一支没有文化的队伍。实际情况也基本如此。当时中国的摄影没有高等教育，拿相机的人大多没有文凭，有文凭也是别的行业的文凭，转行搞摄影的……”

于德水的话，还原了当代中国摄影界早期的状况。那时中国摄影家的基本组成，主要来自这样几个领域：

1.媒体、报社的职业记者，以配合当时的政治宣传为宗旨，这类影像后来被戏称为“新华体”。

2.机关企业的宣传部门或工会的宣传干部，以宣传本行业的先进事迹、重要活动以及职工文化生活等内容为主。

3.群众文化馆，以组织群众性文化活动并配合政治宣传为主。

改革开放以来，中国摄影界的人员组成以及文化水准已经有了根本性的变化。尤其是近十余年，一些高学历人士进入媒体，进入摄影界，使得摄影界的人员构成有了根本性的改变，然而，相应的文化积淀却仍然相当薄弱。今天的摄影界，就处于一种有“学”而无“养”的状态。而这种文化积淀上的薄弱，则直接导致了今天摄影界诸多难以解决的问题。

奥古斯特·桑德：年轻的农夫，1914年

1.审美能力与影像判断的缺失

众所周知，中国是一个摄影的大国，却又是一个审美的小国。由于没有经历过现代主义美学的基本教育和视觉训练，国人的审美经验大多还停留在美即漂亮，美即养眼的层次上。在“红光亮”、“土豪金”等恶俗趣味的裹挟下而更加低俗。很多摄影家真正面临的问题，其实并不是拍不出好照片，而是根本就看不懂好照片。

至于众多的摄影发烧友，就更是等而下之。这也就是为什么“糖水片”尽管名声很臭，却从来不乏追随者的原因所在。当然，在审美能力与影像判断能力缺失的背后，其实是一系列知识体系的阙如，这一点后面将详细谈论。

2.摄影分类的错位

由于摄影理念的落后与摄影类别的单一，在国内摄影界里，除商业摄影等门类外，摄影主要被分为了记录类和艺术类两种。记录类里包括新闻摄影、报道摄影等媒体摄影及纪实摄影，艺术类则主要被沙龙摄影所占据。

这就使得那些真正在艺术上有所追求的摄影作品成了无家可归的孤儿——比如写实主义的艺术摄影，在记录类里会显得缺少新闻性和信息量；在艺术类里又与那些沙龙风格风马牛不相及。而写实主义艺术摄影恰恰是西方现代主义摄影路径中极为重要的部分。

其实，传统的沙龙摄影在今天已经根本算不上艺术摄影了，但由于传统理念的根深蒂固，真正的艺术摄影反而在这一门类中成了边缘，变得名不正言不顺，以致被挤到了所谓“新锐摄影”这样一个以年龄资历等为标志的不伦不类的行列。

3.中国摄影史写作的难产

中国历来有文史不分家的学术传统，而史学又是中国学术中文化积淀最为厚重的学科，所以出现了如陈寅恪那样的一代史学大师。但由于摄影这一职业本身的特殊性，局外人很难洞悉影像文本的深层奥秘，所以文史大家中鲜有治摄影史者。

而具有影像观看经验的摄影界人士，又缺乏必要的文史学养，不具备文献学等史料梳理及考证的治学能力，以致在有关中国摄影史的史料研究方面，除了抢救性地整理了一些口述资料以及影像资料外，严谨学术意义上的文献学研究几乎还是一片空白。在这样的情况下，任何有关通史的写作都几乎是不可能完成的任务；就算勉强完成，其可信性和完整性也肯定是值得怀疑的。

保罗·斯特兰德：盲妇人，1916年

4.教育理念的滞后

就如大学的文学系绝不仅仅只是教学生如何写作一样，摄影系也不能只教拍摄技巧和后期技术，而更应注重影像文化素养的整体提升。读文学系并不一定能成为作家，但却可以成为一个懂文学的人。他们即使未能成为学者或批评家，至少还可以成为一个有眼光的读者。

今天的国内摄影教育，受摄影理念的局限，很多都将摄影专业教育搞成了技校式的培训。虽然也设置了其他方面的文化课程，但在教学方法上又大多是灌输式的而非启发式的，以致这些相关的人文知识在学生那里全都变成了有标准答案的“知识点”。这样的教育不利于影像文化通才的培养。也正是由于这种重技术轻学术的摄影教育现状，致使摄影专业与传统的文史哲艺等专业相比，一直处于边缘的地位。

5.心态的封闭——“土围子”心理

由于摄影这一媒介的特殊性，中国摄影界相对于文学界以及其他艺术门类而言，显得尤为封闭。知识界的话题可以涉及文学、美术、音乐，但对摄影则较少谈及。这一方面大概是因为对摄影的媒介特质及历史较少深入了解，另一方面也因为中国摄影很少能够介入到其他领域中去。久而久之，摄影界相对于其他艺术类别而言，凸显的只是行业特征而非文化特征，以至于其应有的影响力大打折扣。

外界不了解摄影界，摄影界也不了解知识界的最新动向及理念，渐渐形成了一种“土围子”的心态。摄影界内部虽也时有论争，但话题大多陈旧。类似于1960年日本摄影界的“名取——东松之争”，直到2012年才在国内展开。在这样一种特殊的业界状态下，业余摄影人大多成了摄影器材发烧友，而职业摄影师又成了拍“行活儿”的摄影匠，不思进取、自娱自乐、自闭自嗨……

至于那些有志于探索求新，想在新媒体时代的影像艺术上有所作为的人，不仅人数非常有限，而且也很难被传统摄影圈所理解。更为重要的是，即便是这些在影像艺术观念上比较前沿的人士，似乎也尚未寻找到自身的文化逻辑，往往仍然停留在复制西方当代艺术已有的模式上难有创新。

查尔斯·埃博茨：摩天大楼的午餐，1932年

二、中国摄影创作及研究面临的困境

从另一个方面说，在新媒体时代，以往的媒体摄影已经发生了根本性的改变。如果仍以西方半个多世纪前的社会纪实摄影理念来面对今天的现实，是不是一种刻舟求剑呢？今天的中国摄影界，已经进入一个新的转折点了。玩器材和拍糖水片的影友们，其实就是摄影的消费者，与真正意义上的摄影并没有多大关系。

而对摄影真正有所追求的摄影人，有的回到了传统工艺制作层面，有的回到了直接摄影的理念，更有的困守于记录式的理念却又不知如何记录……与此同时，一批受过专业摄影或艺术教育的年轻人正在迅速成长，他们无论在艺术素养还是思想理念方面，都不是那些发烧友出身的传统摄影人所能企及的。但他们也自有他们的困惑，那就是如何摆脱对西方的简单模仿而创造出真正属于自己的艺术语言。

中国摄影界今天所面临的困惑，核心问题就是理念上的困惑。而理念困惑又源自理论研究的局限：理论视野的偏狭和范式的陈旧。由于没有经历对媒介本体及语言进行深入探索的阶段，也就很难真正理解这一探索阶段之后的各种当代路径。摄影家和艺术家们虽然可以通过国际交流、媒体介绍等多种渠道而熟知世界上不同时期的影像作品，但对其背后的理念以及相关的理论谱系，却往往又是知其然而不知其所以然的。

我们往往会以自身所熟悉的知识背景去理解西方摄影，就如当年以浪漫主义的想象去理解现代主义一样，我们又何尝不是在以批判现实主义去理解写实主义甚至是当代艺术。在这样的理解中，几乎所有写实主义的影像艺术探索，都可以被归入“纪实类”。同样，对于当代艺术、当代影像的“学术龛”也会被简单地理解为“政治抗议龛”——其间的学理背景与特定逻辑关系统统被简化为“政治抗议”的手段。

中国摄影所走过的路径，是一条绕过了本体探索阶段与学术利用阶段的道路。虽然其间也有有识之士进行过这方面的不懈努力，但仍未成规模。就如直到今天仍有很多人把摄影当成是“真实”的记录，绝大多数摄影家走出沙龙的方式，就是选择将记录进行到底——记录事件、记录民俗、记录场景……从而将对影像探索转化为对“题材”的搜求。

马丁·芒卡西：坦噶尼喀湖边逐浪的男孩，1932年

这种把摄影当成记录工具的摄影之路，在特定的时代里，是具有其自身价值的。就如那些当年的老照片一样，留下了可供记忆追寻的历史的印痕和踪迹，为历史研究、社会学及人类学研究提供了珍贵的影像文献。然而这种对摄影媒介的单一化使用方式，仍属于摄影的初级形态而不是高级形态。

这种对摄影记录功能的使用方式，其实是建立在对“真实性”天真的信赖之上的，也就更谈不上学术利用的层面了。尤其在影像唾手可得并已经开始泛滥的今天，这种单纯记录式的摄影到底价值何在？

传统的理论研究，与其说是研究文学与艺术的，还不如说是研究社会及现实环境的，也就是分析社会现实对作者有何影响，作者又是如何通过作品去反映社会现实的。然而这种研究其实与本体没什么关系，最后成了作者研究和社会研究，解释不了文学、艺术以及摄影本身。所以美国的新批评及其他的形式主义批评兴起之后，就淘汰了这种批评模式。

形式主义理论在20世纪取得了非凡的成就，但同时也暴露出了自身的软肋，那就是文本规则永远无法囊括艺术创新。形式主义其实就是一种对于文本规则或媒介特质的研究，理论家的目标是如何将其完善化、系统化，而作家艺术家们的目标却是如何突破之，也就是所谓的“出格”。当这种平衡的张力被打破时，形式主义理论就会面临崩溃……比如后现代艺术、当代艺术出现以后，现代主义的那些规则就失效了。

形式主义有关形式语言的研究虽然很牛，但却忽略了一个很重要的方面，那就是有关个体言语——也就是艺术家个人的艺术语言的研究。在索绪尔语言学中，语言又分成语言和言语。语言是普遍性的规则，言语则属于具体的表达和呈现。作家、艺术家总是以自己的个人方式来利用甚至是突破这些规则，从而形成他自己的艺术语言与个人风格。

那么研究语言，主要用语言符号学的方法就可以，而研究作家、艺术家个人的艺术语言呢，显然就不够用了，因为作家、艺术家的艺术语言，说到底就是他们各自不同的人生态度，是源自他们心灵深处的产物。具体地说就是他们心性与个人认知及心理防卫方式的综合体现。

爱德华·韦斯顿：人体，1936年

有两个具体的例子，一个是鲁迅，一个是张爱玲，鲁迅就因为在他少年成长期的时候，目睹了很多世态的炎凉，很多丑恶的东西，在他内心中形成了一种对社会特定的认知，所以他的艺术语言永远都是阴沉沉和粗线条的，很阴冷。

再看张爱玲，她从小父母离异，父亲找个小老婆，两人一起抽大烟……又把她囚禁起来不让她跑……所以她写的亲人永远都是仇人，屋里总是弥漫着鸦片烟味……写到月亮都是黄黄的，写到华美的旗袍时会联想到上面爬着虱子……就因为她内心对这个世界的认知就是如此的，而这种内心的认知在艺术上就形成了她的个人风格。

实际上个人化编码就是个人面对世界所发出的属于他自己的一种“言语”，所谓个人风格就是建立在“言语”上的。

形式主义、本体研究以及整个的现代主义语境陷入危机之后，下一步该怎么办呢？西方的后现代艺术、当代艺术大多走向了反观本体及媒介的学术理路；而在根本就没有经历过现代主义语境以及形式主义和本体探寻的中国摄影界，在很大程度上则属于传统反映论的老调重提。

比如过分强调摄影的社会批判功能而完全没有对影像媒介自身的反思。这是一种非常错误而且危险的路径，中国百年的近现代史已经证明了这种“文学工具论”、“艺术工具论”的危害。提到“工具论”，有必要多说几句：在当代影像艺术中，影像媒介所充当的也是“工具”。但这与充当“为政治服务”的工具完全是两回事，完全是背道而驰的。

质言之，当代影像艺术的影像，是艺术元语言的工具，具有自反性和后设性；而在政治宣传乃至简单的社会批判中，影像所充当的却是政治话语抑或“政治正确”式口号的工具，不仅不具有自反性和后设性，甚至已经完全是背道而驰的了。

罗伯特·卡帕：一名年仅15岁的国军士兵，汉口，1938年

三、中国摄影突围的尝试

现在的传统摄影家，在摄影理念上陷进了“美”和“记录”越来越难以自拔……其中很多人都想创新却又苦于不得门径。现在的新锐摄影师们，他们虽不为旧的观念所囿，但也存在一些问题，那就是模仿的痕迹过重了。所有的创新都起于模仿，这没错。但如果只是停留在知其然不知其所以然的模仿阶段，那就是个很严重的问题了。

新锐摄影师一般都看了很多当代西方的影像，并从中寻找自己的灵感，这本该是很正常的。但他们在模仿西方影像的某些外在形式时，却并不一定理解其内在的理路……而当代影像最重要的又恰恰是理路和思想而非外在形式，所以这就有买椟还珠之弊了。

自20世纪60年代以后，西方摄影的发展就基本上是跟着各种跨学科的理论走向而发展到今天的，不懂相关的理论就弄不懂“其所以然”。那么如何才能够知其然进而还知其所以然呢？那就是对理论本身的创新。

20世纪西方的现代主义时期，在中国基本上就是一个空白。作为重要历史阶段的现代主义时期，能否被我们轻易地跨过去呢？事实证明不行。因为从现代主义到后现代主义直至当代，是一个相辅相成的完整理路，没有现代又谈何后现代及当代？

正因为现代主义在西方已经成为了一种体制化的东西，成为了一种规范和权威，所以后现代和当代艺术才会以自己特有的方式来反抗它。而在中国，唱主角的是“红光亮”和“土豪金”，现代主义从来就没真正立足过，那么如果再以当代反抗现代的话，岂不就是“为赋新词强说愁”了么？所以虽然现代主义与后现代主义及当代艺术在西方是生死冤家，但在中国却同属难兄难弟。

面对“红光亮”和“土豪金”来说，它们的精神实质都是属于“现代精神”的，只不过方式截然相反而已。也就是说，从历时性的历史发展来看，后现代和当代艺术是否定现代主义的，但如果从后当代性的东方智慧立场来看，又都是共时性的，可供我们自由选择的。

安塞尔·亚当斯：月出，埃尔南德斯，1941年11月1日

那我们要如何弥补现代主义与后现代及当代艺术之间的天然断裂呢？我们不妨先从艺术语言的维度切入，然后再递进到艺术的元语言，直至文化逻辑。现代主义艺术所追求的，是形式语言本身的突破，而形式语言在当代艺术中却只是个道具，其真正的核心是形式语言背后的元语言。所以那种说当代艺术不需要语言了，或是说语言不重要了，其实都并不全面。

确切地应该说，形式语言已经不像以往那样重要了，原本隐匿于形式语言背后的元语言则走向了前台。当然这并不意味着形式语言的消失，其实只是转换了角色：在现代主义那里，形式语言自身即是艺术的目的，而在当代艺术这里，变成了可资利用的材料。在后现代的立场，是要颠覆现代主义审美特征，另辟路径。

貌似是反美学的，还要反美术馆，打破艺术与现实的疆界，走向当代。实际上反美学也是一种美学，反语言也是一种语言，不过是超越了传统审美的感受方式，超越了以往以视觉为文本中心的语言编码而已。

这种当代观念艺术不再是凸显影像文本本身的价值，而是要建立一种超越于传统文本概念之上的艺术逻辑，而这种艺术逻辑的特征就是当代艺术语言的特征，看似非语言实际是一种新语言，看似无规则实际是一种新规则——是在这种呈现本身与它背后的话语方式之间，建立一种新的规则。

再说摄影语言，如果我们一条条地归纳什么是摄影语言，貌似永远也说不清，因为涉及的东西太多了。如果我从本体这个思路来说，答案就有了。沿着这个思路，我们可以认为：从现实物象到最后呈现的影像之间的过程，就是摄影的编码过程。其中所进行的编码，就是摄影语言。

有了编码以后就出现了语言，这个语言不管是媒材的也好、构图的也好、光影的也好都包括在内，就是它的语言。任何物象一旦从现实中抽离而进入框之后，就会离开原来的现实语境，转而融入特定的文本语境，看似依旧栩栩如生，实则早已面目全非，这就是语言最大的奥秘。

尤素福·卡什：丘吉尔，1941年

每一种媒介本体所规定的语言方式，都具有一定的再现性，比如电影、视频等动态影像媒介、声音媒介……但任何再现又都不可能是无限的，都会有其“局限性”。传统“反映论”的思路一直是夸大某一媒介的再现性，很少对其局限性进行反思。比如一提文学，就提倡什么史诗性的作品，反映一个时代之类。

一说到摄影，就是记录历史，记录一个时代的风貌……如果我们换一个角度，思考媒介的局限性，就会发现其实正由于文学无法复制事物具体的外貌，才转而去描述内心的世界，才有了心理描写和内心独白等文学所特有的形式。文学无法再现视觉，于是有了“通感”……而摄影也正因为无法像电影或视频那样进行动态的叙述，才有了静态影像自身的精彩……

所以与其一味地在再现的道路上让媒介捉襟见肘，还不如干脆利用其局限性，让媒介局限转化为不可替代的媒介特质。所以，摄影界现在应该换一种思考的方式了，不要只想着如何再现，也应该回过头来反思一下再现本身了。

摄影发展到今天，摄影媒介本身已经突飞猛进了，数码化、网络化包括手机化……媒介本身的飞速发展，这会带来整个的变化。一个是影像最大化的普及，是影像的大众化；另一个是影像探索难度的提高。摄影的普及绝不意味着摄影的门槛降低了，而是摄影的门槛提高了，因为地球人都能拍的东西，已经不需要摄影家再去拍了。

一方面影像已经成为我们日常语言中的一部分，成为了一种新口语。今天文学界对这个东西并没有认识得特别清楚。以前我们日常交流光说话就够，而今天恰恰需要什么？需要手机了。手机短信也是一种口语交流，但不止语言，也包括图像。所以生活中手机之间彼此发送的影像，不是摄影作品，而是日常用语的一个有机部分，质言之就是新口语。

与其说这些海量影像是记录现实的，不如说是其本身就已经是现实一种了。今天影像与现实之间已经不再像以前那样，是简单的记录与被记录的关系。因为现实本身已经高度视觉化，影像化和虚拟化了，这些影像本身就是现实。再举个例子，就举新媒体时代的手机摄影，各种图像拍的多了去了，但每一张照片跟艺术都没什么关系，它就是一种简单的生活口语。

但是当你把这个东西组合起来，重新编辑重新挑选和重新呈现以后，它就有可能成为非常好的当代艺术。为什么？这类作品的语言关系，恰恰表现在你编辑和拼贴的过程中。在拼贴过程中，每一幅日常的无关紧要的小照片，就相当于一幅大照片中的视觉元素，每张小照片可以是没有视觉语言编码的，但拼贴在一起之后，彼此之间就形成了编码。

尤金·史密斯：走向天堂花园，美国，1946年

这就是为什么那些没什么意思的单张照片经过拼贴之后，看起来却完全不一样的原因所在。当然拼贴不只是为了好看，而是为元语言——也就是特定的影像理念和思想而服务的。国内摄影人的思维模式，往往还停留在一种工匠式的思维上，只知道关心构图、用光之类的技巧，对摄影理念却很少探究……而当代摄影恰好是相反的，理念和思想才关键。

最后再探讨文化逻辑的问题。中国美院教授沈语冰先生在《二十一世纪现代艺术批评》的前言中，阐述了对中国大陆当代艺术状况的分析判断。他认为，中国大陆大量借鉴西方后现代主义艺术的影响，从观念、潮流到艺术语言形态各个方面进行了全方位的借鉴。

但是，中国大陆却忽视了对自身问题的分析。自身的现代主义文化结构、文化价值没有确立，却全面学习和借鉴了西方对现代主义的批判和反思的后现代主义艺术。中国大陆当代艺术的这种先天的缺陷，这种结构上的缺陷反而被一种借鉴来的表面成熟所掩盖。

其实这个问题还可以从另一个角度来进行比较，相比大陆而言，台湾文艺界接触西方现代主义及后现代主义无疑要早很多，但是在今天，两岸当代艺术家所面临的问题却很相似，那就是如何产生真正属于自己的独立的当代语言系统。所以仅仅补上西方现代主义及后现代主义的课，并在艺术语言方面去搞翻新是不够的。

因为艺术语言是属于特定的艺术元语言的，而艺术的元语言则又是特定的文化逻辑的产物。西方为什么会出现现代主义？又为什么会出现后现代主义？其背后是有着特定的文化逻辑的。如果这个文化逻辑弄不清，则无法建立真正属于自己的特定文化逻辑，就只能跟在别人的身后亦步亦趋了。也就是说只有当我们建构出一种既是东方的又是人类的文化逻辑时，才有可能产生独立的当代语言系统。

笔者提出的“元影像理论”就是对这一根本问题的深入思考。如果我们能够站在人类文明的高度上，将西方文明与东方智慧看作是一体的，就有可能在“后现代”之“后”，寻找到新的文化逻辑。就好比是人的两条腿，一条是西方文明，一条是东方智慧，只有两条腿协调迈进，人类文明才能稳步前行。

在雅斯贝斯所谓的轴心时代，人类文明的两条腿都向前迈进了一大步。再后来西方这条腿开始发力，这条腿对文明的贡献太大啦！然而一条腿的力道再猛，早晚也会被自己绊住。巴塔耶、福柯、德里达等人开始对人类文明进行反思：德里达勘破了“逻各斯主义”的死穴，但仍然不得不以逻各斯去解构逻各斯；巴塔耶、福柯也都分别看破了文明背后的东西，可对于巴塔耶来说，性、死亡以及献祭，难道就真的意味着救赎之道吗？

黛安·阿勃丝：树荫下手持玩具手雷的男孩，纽约，1962年

对于福柯来说，难道疯癫比文明更值得期待吗？这些理论再到了形形色色的小“后主”们手里，就如核武器到了极端分子手里一样，又被改造成了后殖民主义之类五花八门的“后学”，于是西方这条腿就不再是反思，而是被扭曲变形了……

再看东方智慧这条腿。老子看透了“天地不仁以万物为刍狗”，佛陀更是从根本上大彻大悟。可对于绝大多数人来说，又怎么可能领悟如此深奥的微妙法？于是既不能在元逻辑的“观照”中开悟，又不能在意识自我的认知中开化，如此一来偏执、封闭、守旧乃至“超隐喻”就逐渐形成了所谓的“国民性”。

自五四新文化运动以来，中国的知识分子们就不断地就传统文化的优劣问题展开争论。传统派把中国传统文化捧上了天，反传统派则将其骂得一文不值。东方文明有个与西方文明完全不同的地方，就是以个体的直觉顿悟与内心观照等方式，超越逻各斯中心、超越语言及超越自我意识。

这种东方智慧的路径是破解“语言的囚笼”的钥匙，其所抵达人类智慧的至高境界自不待言。然而也正因为其智慧的高度已经洞察了逻辑的虚幻、语言的虚幻及自我意识的虚幻，所以也就避开了西方智慧那样沿着逻各斯中心一根筋追问到底的路径。

然而就如东方智慧是破解西方“语言囚笼”的钥匙一样，西方文明恰恰也是破解东方魔咒的钥匙。借助西方文明这条腿，东方智慧才可以有大作为，迈出人类文明接下来的一大步。东方的元逻辑与西方强大的形式逻辑一旦形成互补，人类文明必能走出后现代的迷途，步入全新的里程。因为东方智慧对于逻各斯的超越，可以替代解构主义的解构，对现代性的超越更可以替代后现代主义的“颠覆”。

那么具体到艺术领域呢？艺术，尤其是观念艺术，表面上看是发现了新的语言方式，实际上是发现了新的逻辑关系。回归东方智慧如果落在具体实处的话，我们就可以给艺术创造出一个新的逻辑维度——元逻辑的维度。

肯尼斯·约瑟夫森：纽约，1970年

归根到底，文学也好，视觉艺术及摄影也好，其存在的问题都不仅仅是自身的问题，而是更高层面的文化逻辑的问题——我们失去了自己的文化逻辑。失去了自身文化逻辑的文学界、艺术界及摄影界，要么是连西方的文化逻辑也没弄明白，愚妄地执迷于各种江湖混场子，要么也只能在西方的文化逻辑下搞搞花样翻新。

不是说西方的文化逻辑不好，而是说当我们不具备自身的思想丰富性时压根就学不好，更遑论在文化逻辑里面创新。只有在这个维度上进行思考才行，否则任何单一门类的文学理论、艺术理论以及摄影理论都没用。元影像理论提出“回归东方智慧”，绝不是简单回到传统的文化逻辑中去——实际上也根本不可能——而是站在人类文明的维度，在引进理性精神破除愚妄的同时，再以东方智慧去破解“语言的囚笼”，从而对文化逻辑予以重建。

唯有在文化逻辑这一高度上进行创新，才有可能创造出新的艺术元语言，乃至新的艺术语言，直至推动人类文明的结构性创新。或许这才是我们从根本上彻底破除自闭自嗨的“土围子”的关键，也是东方智慧对于未来的人类文明的意义所在。

原载：《长江文艺评论》2016年第3期

英文直译

1、 Problems in Chinese Photography

"There was a saying at that time that photography was a team without culture," Yu Deshui, a famous domestic photographer, said with emotion in an interview in recent years. The reality is basically the same. At that time, there was no higher education in photography in China, and most people with cameras did not have diplomas. They also had diplomas in other industries. They changed to photography... "

Yu Deshui's words restore the early situation of contemporary Chinese photography. At that time, the basic composition of Chinese photographers mainly came from such areas:

1. professional journalists of media and newspapers, aiming at cooperating with the political propaganda at that time, were later dubbed "new Chinese style".

2. propaganda cadres of propaganda departments or trade unions of government enterprises shall mainly publicize the advanced deeds, important activities and cultural life of employees in the industry.

3. the mass cultural museum is mainly organized with mass cultural activities and political publicity.

Since the reform and opening up, the composition of Chinese photographers and the cultural standards have changed fundamentally. Especially in the past ten years, some high-level people have entered the media and entered the photography industry, which makes the composition of the photographers have changed fundamentally. However, the corresponding cultural accumulation is still quite weak. Today's photography is in a state of "learning" and "no" support ". However, the weakness of this cultural accumulation has directly led to many difficult problems in photography today.

Augustsander: young farmer, 1914

1. aesthetic ability and the lack of image judgment

As we all know, China is a big country in photography, but also a small country of aesthetic. Because of the lack of basic education and visual training of modernism aesthetics, most of the aesthetic experience of Chinese people still stay at the level of beauty, beauty is eye cultivation. It is more vulgar under the influence of the evil taste such as "red light" and "earth luxury gold". Many photographers are really facing problems, in fact, they don't take good photos, but they don't understand good photos at all.

As for many photo enthusiasts, it is even lower. That is why "sugar water tablets" are notorious, but they have never lacked followers. Of course, behind the lack of aesthetic ability and image judgment ability, it is actually a series of knowledge system deficiencies, which will be discussed in detail later.

2. dislocation of photography classification
Due to the backward concept of photography and the single category of photography, in the domestic photography, except for commercial photography, photography is mainly divided into two categories: record and art. The record category includes media photography and documentary photography such as news photography, report photography, etc., while art is mainly occupied by salon photography.

This makes the photography works that are really pursuing in art become homeless orphans - such as realism art photography, which will appear to be lack of news and information in the record category; in the art category, it is not in touch with those salon style wind horses. Realism art photography is exactly the most important part of the western modernist photography path.

In fact, the traditional salon photography is no longer art photography today. However, due to the deep-rooted traditional concept, real art photography has become the edge of this category, and becomes ill-known and disobedient, so it is squeezed into the so-called "new photography" such as age and seniority as the mark of the rank of incomparable.

3. the difficulty of writing Chinese photography history

There has always been a tradition of literature and history, and history is the most profound subject of cultural accumulation in Chinese academic. Therefore, there are a generation of historians like Chen Yinke. However, because of the particularity of photography, it is difficult for outsiders to understand the deep mystery of image text, so there are few people who govern the history of photography.
The photographers with the experience of image viewing lack the necessary cultural and historical education and the ability to sort out and textual research historical materials such as literature. In the aspect of historical materials research on Chinese photographic history, in addition to rescuing some oral materials and image materials, the research on documentary Science in the academic sense is still almost blank. In such a case, any writing about general history is almost impossible to complete; even if it is done, its credibility and integrity must be questionable.

Paul Strand: blind woman, 1916
4. the lag of educational concept

Just as the Department of literature in university is not only teaching students how to write, photography department can not only teach photography skills and post-stage technology, but also pay attention to the overall improvement of image culture literacy. The Department of literature reading can not be a writer, but it can become a person who understands literature. They can at least become a discerning reader even if they fail to be scholars or critics.

Today, the domestic photography education, limited by the concept of photography, many of them have made photography professional education into technical school training. Although other cultural courses are set up, most of the teaching methods are instilled rather than heuristic, so that these related humanities knowledge has become the "knowledge point" with standard answers. Such education is not conducive to the cultivation of image culture. It is also because of the current situation of photography education that emphasizes technology and academic, which makes photography major in the edge position compared with traditional arts and history, philosophy and other majors.

5. the closure of Mentality -- the psychology of "earth encircling"

Due to the particularity of photography, Chinese photography is especially closed compared with literature and other art categories. The topics of knowledge can involve literature, art and music, but less about photography. On the one hand, it is probably because of the lack of deep understanding of the media characteristics and history of photography, on the other hand, Chinese photography rarely can be involved in other fields. Over time, the photography industry, compared with other art categories, highlights only the industry characteristics rather than cultural characteristics, so that its due influence is greatly reduced.

The outside world does not know the photography world, the photography community also does not understand the latest trend and concept of the knowledge field, and gradually forms a "soil encircling" mentality. Although there are also debates within the photography circle, the topic is mostly old. Similar to the famous name - the dispute between the eastern song and the Japanese photography in 1960, it was not launched in China until 2012. In such a special industry, amateur photographers have become more and more fans of photographic equipment, while professional photographers become photographers who take "work", who do not want to make progress, entertain themselves and self-interest and self-restraint

As for those who are interested in exploring and seeking new ideas and want to make a difference in the image art in the new media era, the number of people is not only very limited, but also difficult to be understood by the traditional photography circle. More importantly, even those who are more advanced in the concept of image art, they have not yet found their own cultural logic, and often remain in copying the existing patterns of Western Contemporary Art and difficult to innovate.

Charles ebotz: lunch for skyscrapers, 1932

2、 The difficulties faced by Chinese photography creation and research

On the other hand, in the new media era, the past media photography has undergone fundamental changes. If we still face the reality of today with the concept of social documentary photography more than half a century ago in the west, is it a kind of struggle? Today, the Chinese photography industry has entered a new turning point. The film friends who play equipment and take sugar water films are actually the consumers of photography, and have little to do with the real sense of photography.

But the photographer who really pursues photography, some return to the traditional technology production level, some go back to the concept of direct photography, and are more stuck with the concept of record type, but do not know how to record At the same time, a group of young people with professional photography or art education are growing rapidly. They are not able to reach the traditional photographers of the origin of enthusiasts in terms of artistic literacy or ideology. But they also have their own confusion, that is, how to get rid of the simple imitation of the West and create their own art language.

The core problem of the confusion faced by the Chinese photography circle today is the confusion of concept. The confusion of ideas comes from the limitation of theoretical research: the narrow theoretical perspective and the obsolete paradigm. It is difficult to understand the various contemporary paths after the exploration stage because it has not experienced the stage of deep exploration of media ontology and language. Although photographers and artists can know the world's image works in different periods through international communication and media introduction, they often know the concept behind them and related theoretical genealogies, but they often know it but do not know why.

We often understand Western photography with the knowledge background we are familiar with. Just as we used to understand modernism with romantic imagination, we are not in the process of criticizing realism to understand realism or even contemporary art. In such an understanding, almost all realistic exploration of image art can be classified into "documentary". Similarly, the academic niche for contemporary art and contemporary images will be simply understood as "political protest niche" - the academic background and specific logical relationship between them are simplified to the means of "political protest".

The path of Chinese photography is a way to bypass the exploration stage and academic utilization stage. Although there are also people of insight who have made unremitting efforts in this respect, they have not yet been a scale. As many people still think of photography as "real" records until today, the way most photographers go out of the salon is to choose to record the record to the end - record events, record folk customs, record scenes Thus, the image exploration will be transformed into the search for "subject matter".
Martin munkasi: the boy who was storming by Lake Tanganyika, 1932

This photography Road, which takes photography as a recording tool, has its own value in a specific era. Just like those old photos of that year, they left traces and traces of history that can be traced for memory, which provides valuable image documents for historical research, sociology and anthropology research. However, the single use of photographic media still belongs to the primary form of photography rather than the advanced form.

This kind of use of photographic recording function is actually based on naive trust in "authenticity", and it is also not able to talk about the level of academic utilization. Especially in today, when the image is available and has begun to flood, what is the value of this simple record photography?

Traditional theoretical research is not only about literature and art, but also on social and realistic environment. It is to analyze the influence of social reality on the author and how the author reflects social reality through works. However, this kind of research has nothing to do with ontology, and finally becomes the author research and social research, which can not explain literature, art and photography itself. So after the rise of new criticism and other formalism criticism in the United States, it eliminated this criticism mode.
Formalism theory has made remarkable achievements in the 20th century, but it also exposes its own weakness, that is, the text rules can never include artistic innovation. Formalism is actually a study of text rules or media characteristics. The aim of theorists is how to perfect and systematize them, while the goal of writers and artists is how to break through it, that is, the so-called "out of style". When the tension of this balance is broken, formalism will face collapse For example, after the emergence of postmodern art and contemporary art, the rules of modernism will be invalid.

Although the research on formal language is very good, it ignores a very important aspect, that is, the study of individual language, that is, the artist's personal art language. In Saussure linguistics, language is divided into two parts: language and language. Language is a universal rule, and language belongs to specific expression and presentation. Writers and artists always use and break through these rules in their own personal way, thus forming their own artistic language and personal style.

So it is possible to study language mainly by means of linguistic semiotics. But it is obviously not enough to study the artistic language of writers and artists. Because the artistic language of writers and artists is, in the end, their different attitudes towards life, which are the products of their deep heart and soul. Specifically, it is the comprehensive embodiment of their psychological character, personal cognition and psychological defense.

Edward Weston: human body, 1936

There are two concrete examples, one is Lu Xun and the other is Zhang Ailing. Lu Xun, because of his childhood, saw a lot of the cool and ugly things in his life, and formed a kind of special cognition of society in his heart, so his artistic language is always gloomy and thick line, very cold.

Then look at Zhang Ailing. Her parents divorced from her childhood. Her father looked for a little wife and they smoked together And imprisoned her again to keep her from running So her family members are enemies forever, and the house is always filled with opium smoke When it comes to the beautiful cheongsam, it will be associated with lice climbing on it Because her inner cognition of the world is so, and this kind of inner cognition has formed her personal style in art.

In fact, personal coding is a kind of "speech" that an individual sends out to the world, which belongs to himself. The so-called personal style is based on "speech".

What should we do next after formalism, ontology research and the whole modernist context are in crisis? The western postmodern art and contemporary art mostly go to the academic way of objecting to ontology and media; but in the Chinese photography field, which has not experienced the modernism context and formalism and ontology exploration, to a large extent, belongs to the old tone of traditional reflection theory.

For example, the social critical function of photography is overemphasized without reflection on the image media itself. This is a very wrong and dangerous path. The modern history of China has proved the harm of this kind of "literary Instrumentalism" and "art Instrumentalism". It is necessary to say more about "instrumental theory": in contemporary image art, image media also acts as a "tool". But it is totally different from serving the political service, which is totally contrary to the one.

In short, the image of contemporary image art is a tool of art meta language, which has reflexivity and post creation; in political propaganda and even simple social criticism, the image acts as a tool of political discourse or "political correctness" slogan, which is not only independent and post designed, but also completely contrary.

Robert kappa: a 15-year-old national soldier, Hankou, 1938

3、 The attempt of breakthrough in Chinese Photography

Nowadays, traditional photographers are increasingly difficult to pull themselves into the concept of photography with "beauty" and "record" Many of them want to innovate but they are struggling with it. Although the new photographers are not limited by the old ideas, there are some problems, that is, the trace of imitation is too heavy. All innovation starts from imitation, that's right. But if you just stay in the imitation stage of knowing it and not knowing it, it is a serious problem.

It should be normal for new photographers to see many images of the West and find their inspiration. But they do not necessarily understand the internal logic of western images when they imitate some external forms of western images The most important thing in contemporary image is the way of theory and thought, not the external form, so it has the disadvantage of buying and returning to the Pearl.

Since 1960s, the development of Western photography has been basically developed to today with the development of various interdisciplinary theories. If you don't understand the relevant theories, you can't understand "it is so". that