《上海床下底常識問答比賽》| Shanghai Art Quiz

2014年，我們在亞洲藝術文獻庫(AAA)駐場，發覺圖書館中最吸引我們的材料就是各香港藝術家和從業者的小故事，這些小故事未必會在大歷史的書寫中出現，但每一個小小的點子串連起來後，卻令「歷史」更加立體，當中包括藝術家前輩是如何認識、他們在創作之外做什麼工作、從前的展覽是在什麼地方、以什麼方式進行等。簡單來說，就是這個城市的藝術生態之故事。

現代歷史的書寫，多以國家論述為主，地方故事之整存往往被忽略。如果我們嘗試在每一個城市的藝術生態故事中作微觀、探索、甚至翻開「床下底」，看看那些沒有被掉棄、也沒有被堂而皇之地展示的「床下底珍藏」，我們又會發現到什麼呢？除了自己家鄉（香港）的床下底，我們對有「魔都」之稱的上海也是充滿好奇。在找尋這個魔都的「床下底珍藏」時，我們發現到不少很好的材料，例如AAA的藝術家訪談檔案、趙川老師的《上海抽象故事》和《激進藝術小史(八十年代上海記事)》都是十分貼近生活和人文的藝術故事。

而「床下底常識問答比賽」的舉辦，就是希望為這些「床下底珍藏」提供一個另類的分享平台，以選擇題形式，把大歷史中的小點子一一拆開、拋出，再由各參與者（我們的藝術拍檔: 即是所有參賽隊員和觀眾），把小點子在現場競賽的演繹中串連起來，以好玩的方式回顧這個城市的藝術故事。

During our artist-in-residence at Asia Art Achieve(AAA) in 2014, we found that what interested us the most in the library were those short stories about different Hong Kong artists and practitioners. These stories may not be part of the grand history narrative, but they are the small dots that can be connected together to make “history” more three-dimensional. Amongst are stories about how the previous art generations met each other, what they did in life other than art-making, how and where the art exhibitions took place back then etc. These simply are the sketches of a city’s art ecology.

The writing of modern history often focuses on the national narratives but neglects the stories from places. If we dig out the stories of each city’s art ecology to examine and explore, or even turn around the “under-the-bed” storage space to check out those “treasures” that have not been properly displayed nor thrown away, then what will we be able to discover? Besides the under-the-bed storage of our hometown (Hong Kong), we are especially curious about the City of Magic —— Shanghai. In the search of the under-the-bed treasures in Shanghai, we found a lot of wonderful materials closely connected to everyday life, such as interviews with different contemporary artists by AAA, “Shanghai Abstract Story” and “On radical Art: the 80s scene in Shanghai” by Zhao Chuan.

The Shanghai Art Quiz is an attempt to provide an alternative sharing platform for the under-the-bed treasures. It will use multiple-choice format to pick up and throw out all the small dots in the grand history. Our artistic partners (all the participating teams and audience members) will then help connect the dots together in a live performance of the quiz. It is a fun way to review and reveal the art stories of a city.

本計劃由「香港特別行政區民政事務局藝術發展基金資助」

the Project is “supported by the Arts Development Fund of the Home Affairs Bureau, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”.