时下传统文化的保护正面临各种矛盾。当学者提出“文化不应过度消费”时，文化获得极大重视，而被保护起来的文化却也重新成为了某种精英主义的文化。当传统为精英所看重，虽有升格，但其也在丧失鲜活生命力。而当传统再遭遇消费文化，传统文化愈加复杂了。由此，这便引导出一个问题：被“供奉”敬仰的传统和处于消费时代的传统文化将何为？
回应这种思考，我在较早时间便有所实践。之前我做过夏布观念摄影，将传统文化遗存的夏布作为了观念摄影成像之载体。在这行为中，我所看重的并不仅是其作为视觉载体本身引发的摄影改变，根本上我想要实践或纠正的，正是文化精英主义对传统文化的过度保护。将夏布作观念摄影呈现载体，这是对夏布功用性开发的重要艺术尝试。因为在这样境遇之中，一种重新被焕发的功用可以使传统事物免于成为“景观”、“文物”的存在。
At present, the preservation of traditional culture is confronted with a range of contradictions. When scholars argue that “culture should not be excessively consumed,” culture is accorded heightened importance; yet the very act of protection also risks transforming it once again into a form of elite culture. When tradition is valued primarily by elites, it may be elevated in status, but it simultaneously loses its vitality and immediacy. When tradition further encounters consumer culture, the condition of traditional culture becomes even more complex. This situation thus raises a fundamental question: what is to become of tradition that is “enshrined” and revered, and of tradition that exists within an age of consumption?
In response to these reflections, I began experimenting with such ideas at an early stage. I previously created conceptual photography using xiabu—a traditional cultural textile—as the medium for image-making. In this practice, what concerned me was not merely the visual transformation that photography undergoes when xiabu is used as a carrier, but more fundamentally an attempt to challenge and correct the excessive protection of traditional culture driven by cultural elitism. Employing xiabu as the material support for conceptual photography constitutes an important artistic experiment in expanding its functional possibilities. In such a context, a newly reactivated function can prevent traditional objects from becoming mere “spectacles” or static “cultural relics.”
Playing a Tragedy in Comic Way No.1
传统文化应该归于民间。在当前现代思潮冲击之下，传统文化面临到非同一般的生存压力，而这却也是所有传统文化朝向现代性转变之必然的“痛”。只有传统文化获有当代性“阐释”，或有基于民间的功能转换，传统才会避免消失的命运。在我看来，传统文化在精英主义和市场经济二者中面临多种博弈。而传统文化致胜的关键密匙正在于朝向底层的回归。传统文化只有在底层才能生根，这是其传承发扬的重要基础。文化进入市场逻辑，这对传统文化是重要的机遇。处在当代文化中，市场逻辑是任何人、任何事物再难逃脱的。多方博弈中，国家保护方式也难免显得力不从心。而今天的学者，其所作努力却仍旧企图以文化精英主义对抗消费文化，但另一方面，他们又对抗着底层的文化。而对传统文化的现代发展来说，这才是最根本的保守主义。
Traditional culture should belong to the people. Under the impact of contemporary thought, traditional culture is facing an extraordinary pressure to survive—yet this is also the inevitable “pain” that all traditions must endure in their transition toward modernity. Only when traditional culture is given a contemporary interpretation, or undergoes a functional transformation grounded in everyday life, can it avoid the fate of disappearance. In my view, traditional culture is engaged in multiple forms of negotiation between elitism and the market economy. The key to its resilience lies in a return to the grassroots. Only at this foundational level can traditional culture truly take root, providing the essential basis for its transmission and continued vitality.
The entry of culture into market logic represents an important opportunity for traditional culture. Within contemporary cultural conditions, market logic is something that no person or object can easily escape. Amid multiple competing forces, state-led forms of protection inevitably appear limited in their effectiveness. Yet many scholars today continue to attempt to counter consumer culture through cultural elitism, while at the same time resisting grassroots culture. For the modern development of traditional culture, this stance constitutes the most fundamental form of conservatism.
Playing a Tragedy in Comic Way No.2
作为学者，其所负有职责乃是重新“阐释”传统而非保有传统，艺术家亦然。重新“阐释”传统，有两条路可以走：一、从传统本身寻求现代性，并将其与时代结合创新；二、传统结合当代文化，在与时代重新对接的异质重组中获有精神性存在。从五四对传统文化的颠覆，到如今开放后对文化的保护态度。不得不说，人们的思想已经在逐渐进步，但朝向终极解决却都有一段道路。
无论文化或艺术，都应认识这样一个事实：消费文化是现代性文化的重要部分而不仅是商业社会本身。当传统的当代运动遭遇到消费，单纯将传统放逐于市场和隔离于市场都显得偏颇，而传统学者对于消费文化和消费文化中大众文化的研究是明显不足的。
The responsibility of scholars lies in reinterpreting tradition rather than merely preserving it, and the same holds true for artists. There are two possible paths for such reinterpretation: first, to seek modernity from within tradition itself and to innovate by integrating it with the spirit of the times; second, to combine tradition with contemporary culture, allowing it to attain a renewed spiritual presence through heterogeneous recombination and reconnection with the present. From the iconoclastic rupture with tradition during the May Fourth Movement to the more protective cultural attitudes that emerged after the era of reform and opening up, it must be acknowledged that public thinking has gradually progressed. Even so, there remains a considerable distance to travel before any ultimate resolution can be reached.
Whether in culture or in art, one must acknowledge a fundamental fact: consumer culture is an essential component of modern culture, not merely a byproduct of a commercial society. When the contemporary transformation of tradition encounters consumption, both the outright banishment of tradition to the market and its complete isolation from the market are misguided approaches. The study of consumer culture—and of popular culture within it—remains notably insufficient among scholars of traditional culture.
Playing a Tragedy in Comic Way No.8
比如川剧来说，改革开放后遭受到其它艺术形式冲击，因文化消费的失败而走向边缘。但借由新精英主义的保护政策与市场化包装，两种极端的文化“复兴”使它在市场消费中分化成或“昂贵”或“低廉”的两极文化，消费的分野也构成了文化的分野。“雅”与“俗”的对立便是精英与大众的离距，并越来越呈现出极端趋势，而无平衡之可能性。所以当我们倡导现代性时，我们文化的潜意识却仍旧是保守的。
《喜演悲剧》创作于这样的文化语境，反映出这样的现实。你看那置入杯中的戏剧，亦如温室花朵一般，灿烂、夺目，又如消费文化的产品一般鲜艳、诱惑，但它更本真状态却是处于杯中，仅是一种文化的景观。当传统文化恢弘的气势最终被释放并成为微缩景观，这是多么可悲可叹的事情。
Take Sichuan Opera as an example. After the reform and opening-up period, it was impacted by other art forms and gradually marginalized due to failures in cultural consumption. Later, through new forms of elitist protection policies and market-oriented packaging, two extreme modes of “revival” emerged. Within market consumption, Sichuan Opera became polarized into either an “expensive” or a “cheap” cultural form, with divisions in consumption giving rise to divisions in culture itself. The opposition between the “refined” and the “popular” thus marks the distance between elites and the masses, a gap that has grown increasingly extreme, leaving little room for balance. As a result, even as we advocate modernity, the cultural subconscious we carry remains fundamentally conservative.
Playing a Tragedy in Comic Way was created within precisely this cultural context and reflects such realities. The theatrical scene placed inside the cup resembles a greenhouse flower—brilliant and eye-catching, vivid and alluring like a product of consumer culture. Yet in its truest state, it exists only within the cup, reduced to a mere cultural spectacle. When the once-grand momentum of traditional culture is ultimately released only to become a miniature landscape, it is a fate that is both tragic and deeply lamentable.
Playing a Tragedy in Comic Way No.10
作品命名“喜演悲剧”，来源于中国传统戏剧“悲剧喜演”的表演法则。“悲凉”和“凄惨”，并不是传统文化所追求的剧场效果。相反，有意以笑声构成“间离效果”，观众反而从故事情节和人物命运的悲剧中“跳”将出来，作了“壁上观”。对戏剧来说，悲剧喜演，是步险棋，也是高招。
如今传统文化之危机，亦复如此。命运何往，在于我们以何种方式转“悲”为“喜”，这才真正考验我们。而作为今天的学者和艺术家，能做“壁上观”，绕开当代性的陷阱才是紧要事情。
The work is titled Playing a Tragedy in Comic Way, a name derived from the performance principle in traditional Chinese opera known as “playing tragedy comically.” “Bleakness” and “misery” are not the theatrical effects sought by traditional culture. On the contrary, by deliberately using laughter to create a sense of alienation, the audience is prompted to step back from the tragic storyline and the fate of the characters, becoming detached observers. For theater, to perform tragedy in a comic way is both a risky move and a masterstroke.
The crisis facing traditional culture today is much the same. Where its destiny leads depends on how we transform “tragedy” into “comedy”—this is the true test before us. For today’s scholars and artists, the most crucial task is to adopt the stance of a detached observer, to step back and avoid the traps of superficial contemporaneity.