THIS WAS A PIECE I EDITED IN CHINESE FOR NEWSWEEK SELECT’S MAY 2007 ISSUE. I TRANSLATED IT AFTERWARD, AND IT WORKS OK IN ENGLISH TOO. I THINK IT’S ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING.

Periscope
A Fairy Tale for 1,001 People

By Shi Yun (Beijing)

Beijing Artist Ai Weiwei’s art studio walls are tightly plastered with 20 sheets of paper; a list of names covers each sheet. One such name is Li Baoyuan’s, a farmer from Xinlian, a village in an impoverished region of Gansu province. During his 41 years, Li has never taken a trip. “But now,” says Ai Weiwei, pointing at Li’s electronic application questionnaire on his computer screen, “he has already been notified he can prepare his visa, and accompany the 1,000 other people I selected to go on a free trip to Kassel, a small city in central Germany.”

This isn’t some grand-scale travel opportunity; rather, it’s an artistic creation of Ai Weiwei’s called “Fairy Tales.” The 1,001 individuals selected are all core components of this piece of art, and will thus be on hand in Germany this June at the 12th convening of the Documenta Kassel exhibition.

Ai Weiwei announced on his blog on February 26 he would pay for travel expenditures to Kassel, and within three days the total of registered people exceeded his target. On March 7th, he had no option but to declare the registration period closed. The final list included all manner of people, including workers, farmers, students, authors, artists and other professionals — even a small-town Dong minority person who didn’t have a formal name. Like Li Baoyuan, they had filled in the 99 questions on the application questionnaire, including one about their dreams. “The origin of ‘Fairy Tale’,” explains Ai Weiwei, “is that I hoped to find a way to bring China’s current social condition to Kassel and thus allow Westerners to view a sample of modern China society.”

The 1,001, whose visas have already been approved, will be divided into five groups that, from June 12, will leave in succession for Kassel. Each group will remain there on average for eight days. During just over one month’s time, quite a few Asian faces appear in Kassel, a city with 250,000 residents. “We don’t know how the locals will react to this sudden ‘Eastern Wave,” but we’re interested to find out. And the city government is being very supportive,” notes Ai.

Upon arrival, each group will take up lodging in a large rented factory building. Men and women will be separated on two floors. Having such a “concentration camp style” living arrangement on German soil sounds a bit disturbing and has led to quite a bit of conjecture, including that it is designed to facilitate Western objectification and naked performance art. Ai Weiwei says this is sheer nonsense. The arrangement was simply made to save money and simplify organization.

This artistic creation that fulfills the childhood dreams of 1,001 people, Ai Weiwei says, has a budget of three million Euros (about 30 million RMB). Fortunately, he has already received full commitment of support for all costs from Switzerland’s Leister and Erlenmeyer Foundations.

“Except for ensuring they stay in Kassel while abroad and return together with the group, I am not going to make them do anything at all,” says Ai Weiwei. “If they’re not willing, they don’t even need to appear at the exhibition site.” He notes that “Fairy Tales” will include some written materials, some photos, and a documentary that records the entire event. He doesn’t believe this is an instance of performance art, but rather a case of “art as field study.”

To some, this piece of art may seem more like a group tour. However, for Li Baoyuan and others who are at long last embarking on a voyage, a free trip to Kassel is like a dreamy story from the “1,001 Nights,” a fairy tale that has become reality.

一千零一人的童话
撰文／石赟（北京）

在艾未未工作室的墙上，密密麻麻地贴着20张印满名字的名单，其中一个是来自甘肃省贫困地区新联村的农民李保元。他在过去41年的生命中，还从未去过任何一次旅行。艾未未指着电脑上李保元的电子版答卷说：“但他已被通知可以准备签证，跟我们选出来的另外1,000个人，免费去德国中部小城卡塞尔参观。”

这并不是一次什么大型的免费旅游活动，而是艾未未一项名为《童话》的艺术创作，被选出来的1001个人都是他作品中的基本组成元素，并将出现在今年6月举行的德国第12届卡塞尔文献展之上。

从艾未未在2月26日的个人博客上发布了这个免费之旅的消息后，仅3天报名人数就已超出限额。3月7日，他不得不声明报名截止。最终公布的名单中包括工人、农民、学生、作家、艺术家和自由职业者等各种身份，甚至还有侗族村寨中连姓名都没有的少数民族。他们都如李保元一样，如实答完了候选问卷上的99个问题，包括他们的梦想。艾未未表示：“《童话》的创作初衷就是希望将中国的社会现状带到卡塞尔去，西方人将会看到一个中国当代的社会样本。”

签证通过的1001个人将分成五批，从6月12日开始先后前往卡塞尔，每批人的逗留时间均是8天。意味着，那座常住人口仅25万的卡塞尔小城将在那一个多月里涌现许多黄皮肤的脸孔。“我不知道当地人对突然出现的大批‘东方元素’会如何反应，我们有兴趣知道，且当地政府也非常支持。”艾未未说。

有趣的是，每批抵达的人将会入住一间事先租用的大厂房，上下两层男女分开。这种在德国境内采用集中营式的住宿安排，听上去有些恐怖，因此最近引来不少猜测，包括方便西方人参观这个“作品”和把它变成卡塞尔文献展上的一次裸体的行为艺术。艾未未表示这完全是无稽之谈，如此安排只是资金所限和便于管理而已。他指出这个为1001个人完成一个童话般梦想的创作费用预算要300万欧元以上（约人民币3,000万元），幸好他已得到瑞士的李斯特基金会和厄伦美尔基金会同意无偿承担所有的支出。

艾未未说：“除了不得擅自离开卡塞尔城并必须随队归国之外，我不会强迫他们做任何事。如果他们不愿意，甚至不用出现在展览现场。”他说《童话》最终会包括一些文字、图片和一部记录全程的纪录片。他认为这不是一项行为艺术，而更像是一次“艺术的社会实践”。
不管这作品在他人眼中是否更像是一次团队旅游，对李保元和其他最终能够成行的参与者来说，免费的卡塞尔之行，就像是一次把《1001夜》里的一个天方夜谭故事，如童话般变成了事实。