For young urbanites, nightclubs can often feel like safe havens, a realm of fantasy where space and time are rendered meaningless by pounding bass and strobing lights. All their worries can be left at the door as they escape into a world of drunken hedonism, a moment where they can enjoy themselves to the fullest.
With a similar outlook, Chinese photographer Chen Wei has created Noon Club, a photo series offering his poetic take on the dancefloor. In his work, swathes of vivid colors and enveloping darkness are the backdrops against which club-goers sway to and fro. But strangely enough, the dancers don’t seem particularly excited. In fact, their troubled demeanors and closed eyes suggest their minds seem are elsewhere entirely. “The club is a narrative device,” Chen explains. “Whether it’s a dancer lost in the music, a dirty dancefloor after the people have left, or the expressionless people hiding within the fog—these images express my own complex feelings about life’s realities.”
蹦迪是一件梦幻又残酷的事。俱乐部里，炫彩的灯光混淆这空间和时间的概念，人们跟随强劲的节拍追随心中的幻想；而踏出俱乐部大门，冷酷的现实就又摆在面前，无法适从。大批舞客们连夜追寻的，是脱离现实的都市避难所，是一夜之间的片刻美丽。
中国艺术家陈维的系列作品《正午俱乐部》无疑是献给俱乐部的诗歌，通过极富色彩和空间感的视觉语言，对俱乐部中的所有事物一一描绘。然而，画面中灯光下的人们却又无精打采，好像每个人都有说不出的心事，漫无目的地散落在舞池中间。他说道：“俱乐部是一个叙事的壳，无论作品中表现的陶醉于舞蹈的状态、散场后凌乱不堪舞池、还是那些烟雾里面无表情的人们，都包含着我自己面对现实的复杂感受。”
Through his artful snapshots of clubs and club-goers, Chen delivers a sobering vision of modern life: he believes that today’s world has been stripped of happiness, with mass commercialization and digitization being the main culprits behind our joyless existence. His work distills this bleak outlook into a visual format.
With so many people in search of a place to vent their frustrations and anxieties, clubs have perhaps best filled that need. These spaces represent a subversion of the norm, a middle finger to the unspoken guidelines that have long dictated how life should be lived, a place that can’t be replaced by the digital world.
Chen sees nightclubs as society in miniature. People from all walks of life gather in these places, all with their own goals and expectations for the night. These different individuals have all come together under the promise of a good time, but a sense of unease often simmers beneath the surface. While Noon Club offers glimpses this restless energy, Chen reveals that the images weren’t even taken in real clubs. For “In the Waves,” he invited over a dozen young creatives to take part in the shoot, which was completely staged inside a studio. Without even any background music, the models were instructed to party their hearts out within the blinding lights and enveloping fog. The dancers can be seen in varying states: some are fully into it, some aren’t even dressed for the occasion, and others look downright lost. Chen seems keen on speaking a simple truth— even when partying, it’s not completely possible to shed the weight of reality.
影像记录骗不了人，陈维所要传达的内容的确不怎么开心。在他看来，现代人都迫于网络或是商业的劫持，生活变的更加病态。人们需要一个场所来宣泄情绪，需要通过面对面沟通来获得慰藉。而地下俱乐部能代表反叛与抗议，又是人群聚集的场所，是一个再合适不过的选择。
俱乐部像个小社会，这里鱼龙混杂，每个人内心对当晚的期盼都有所不同。而他们却因为相同的场地和氛围而聚集于此，每一个单独的个体都难以抗拒随音乐摇摆的人群。这样的想法促使陈维完成了《正午俱乐部》系列，来探讨并映射现实中随波逐流的我们。
该系列中所有布景和灯光并非取自真实的俱乐部场景。整个创作过程发生在一个影棚里，陈维邀请了数十位年轻人参与其中，指导他们在毫无音乐的背景下，用舞蹈完成一次放飞自我。幻蓝和幽黄的灯光与烟雾缭绕的人造氛围下，“舞客们” 的形态涣散、眼神空洞，一些人想竭尽全力沉浸在自己的世界、一些人甚至还身着上班的通勤服，丝毫没有俱乐部本应该有的快乐。这不仅让我们思考：即便身处梦幻的角落，也难以卸下现实的枷锁。
Connecting a thread between club culture and modern society, the series offers different perspectives of a night out. Images include wide shots of crowded dancefloors, close-ups of individual party-goers and their sweat-soaked clothing, and even interior shots of empty clubs. Each scene, though greatly different in nature, all capture the anxieties, struggles, and loneliness of the modern Chinese youth in their own way. As the dancers sway and gyrate, they almost seem desperate, as if the right combination of moves can placate their emotions.
《正午俱乐部》系列始于 2013 年。“正午” 和 “俱乐部” 是两个对立的概念。通常，很少有俱乐部会在正午开放。陈维说：“我们通常把夜晚用来蹦迪，所以中午便可以坐下来谈论俱乐部。” 这种概念，让俱乐部成为话题，让思考贯穿于他的摄影作品中。
整个系列包含了俱乐部的方方面面，除了舞池人群的宏观视角之外，陈维还对俱乐部空间、人物全身和局部动作、灯管、皮衣等事物进行特写。那些破败不堪的俱乐部内饰、破旧的装置、变形怪异的动作、汗流浃背的背影，这些七零八落的身体动作，好像都在影射人们的内心——我们苦苦挣扎，或许就是为了抵达内心的幻想境地。
Prior to photography, Chen created lighting and installation art. This background offers him unique insight in photography, especially with regards to spatiality, materiality, and how light can help evoke a specific mood. For Noon Club, Chen and his team designed everything from the ground up. “Shooting a photo requires a lot of preparation,” he explains. “From the early concept, set design, discussion, set construction, and execution—it takes a tremendous amount of time.”
In the four shots of Dancefloor, Chen Wei themes each image around different props and lighting. In Dance Hall (Pearls), disco balls of varying sizes populate the dancefloor, an unseen light source out of the frame illuminates the dancefloor with warm tones. In Dance Hall (Blueness), purples, cyans, and azures engulf the dilapidated space. Without any human subjects, his set design and lighting setup became the primary story drivers. “Without light, we’re blind, unable to see the manmade or the natural world,” he says. “Light is the prerequisite for visibility, and it’s also the starting point of my work.”
His preferred presentation format, ink-jet prints, gives his images a grainier feel and heightens the vibrant colors to surreal levels. Plenty of care also goes into every offline showing, with Chen deeply involved in how his works are lit or framed in gallery settings.
早在摄影之前，陈维曾从事灯光和装置艺术领域，这让他对空间、材质和灯光有着独到的理解。在《正午俱乐部》每一幅照片开始拍摄之前，陈维和团队都需要在电脑上进行大量的设计工作。他说：“我的照片需要做很多前期准备，从方案草图、设计、讨论，到与建材工人对接、执行制作，都需要耗费大量的时间。”
在《舞池》作品中，陈维分别以 “金”、“碎”、“蓝”、“珠” 等字眼命名舞池的不同状态，呈现了创作中不同材质的运用。这些材质在缤纷的灯光下，与整个俱乐部环境相映成趣，让画面变得立体感十足。当谈论到作品中的灯光运用时，陈维说道：“没有光我们就看不见东西，不论自然还是人造，它们是可视的前提。也是我的工作的起点。”
而在拍摄完成之后，陈维通常会对作品进行喷墨打印的处理，让作品呈现出更具颗粒感、色彩鲜艳的特点，增添了不少超现实的意味。与此同时，作品在现场展出时也别具考究，陈维通过对现场灯光和布置的处理，让作品与展厅彼此呼应。作品的颜色和空间感夺“框”而出，体现地淋漓尽致。
Ultimately, Chen hopes viewers can keep an open mind when looking at his work. “Clubs are places of uncertainty,” he says. “They’re places of volatile emotions, endless stories, and it’s all too difficult to express accurately using words. That’s why I chose photography.”
Later this month, Chen Wei will host a new solo exhibition titled Good Night at HOW Art Museum. See below for details.
Exhibition:
Good Night
Dates:
March 27th, 2021～June 11th, 2021
Address:
Hao Art Gallery (Third Floor)
Zuchongzhi Rd., Lane 2277, #1
Shanghai, Pudong District
People’s Republic of China
对于作品的解读，陈维希望观众保持开放的态度。他说：“因为俱乐部总有太多不确定性，有太多情绪、太多故事会在这里发生，用只言片语很难准确的表达。这也是为什么我选择用摄影来呈现的原因。” 马上的三月，陈维将在上海昊美术馆三楼展厅举办小型个人展览《陈维 Good Night》。
展览:
《Good Night》
时间:
2021年3月27日～2021年6月11日
地址:
昊美术馆（上海）三楼展厅
上海浦东祖冲之路2277弄1号
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Contributor: Pete Zhang
