At 7am, Beijing raised the second red alert on Dec. 19. The same day an art exhibition named "Stifled! More than Smog" was opened at 2pm at the Tree Gallery of 798 Art Zone.
Ariel, Hao Qingsong, Daozi and other Christian artists or critics cried out against haze smog through a 10-minute show during which they sat quietly wearing respirators. Besides, there was a QR code "I'm Haze Absorber" on an artist's clothes who distributed the QR code map to pedestrians.
Later they held a three-hour seminar which talked about the reasons that caused fog haze in different perspectives and analyzed the order of severity that fog haze may harm on human bodies.
Ariel, the curator of the exhibition, shared the purpose of this exhibition, "Fog haze, a multiple metaphor, refers to sin. The difficulty of the situation and the stifling of faces indicate the last day and catastrophe. Fog haze, relates to not only reality and appearance, but also the topics of the fall and salvation, dwelling and exile. In Hebrews, the word 'sin' means 'missing the direction'. When the Olympus gods sought power and women, the God of Sinai looked after orphans and widows. Therefore, the artists of the fog haze time who undertake the mission they should have, need the capacity and courage to solve the difficult situation, need to explore the trace of the hidden light and to ask where the ultimate salvation lies. The art cares both the contemporariness and transcendence."
She talked about the value of the art works, "artists reflect on and think over the fall of the spiritual beliefs and human's sin via the general difficult situation, whose views diffract the invisible transcendent experience and ultimate care. For example, one of the paintings, God---Gold (By Daozi), asks the relationship among the difficult situation, the sin of human and ultimate salvation. The epic vast painting the Eye of the Sky by Liu Yaming, connects the sin of all living creatures and destroy with judgement, presenting a picture of the last day. This concerns the pondering over the general humanity and the wisdom of survival and] deity implications."
Hao Qingsong, the academic moderator, said, "Nobody can keep out of the issue as long as a man can't bear to leave his motherland. So everyone is a victim. So what 'artists in fog haze' should do has become the most urgent problem contemporary artists cannot avoid in today's China."
