MISSION
宗旨
The Institute for Provocation’s work revolves around the following questions: How can the practice of an alternative space be part of constitutions of society and contribute to its cultural production? What kind of institutional forms and methodologies can boost value creation? And how to transform the critiques and self-critiques that emerge during the process of collective decision making to a kind of creativity?
激发研究所工作的开展将基于以下核心问题：
- 可代替空间的实践如何成为社会的构成部分并为文化和艺术生产做出贡献？
- 何种机构实践的工作方法能参与并促进价值创造？
- 如何将机构群体决策中的批判和自我批判转换为一种具有创造力的艺术生产？
IFP tries to produce inter-provocative working network and methods throughout the cooperation with curators, artists, researchers, its residency artists as well as the people who may work in non-artistic field. Firstly, the IFP organizes research, writing, workshop, curatorial and publication activities based on an institutional perspective; Secondly, while assisting residency artists and curators to complete individual projects during their stays, the IFP shall initiatively exchange the concepts of our institutional practice and share the network with them. We reckon that our trajectories would supplement, inspire and irritate each other. Through these collaborations, we aspire to create plenty of meaningful crossings and drawing a more diverse cultural landscape under the operation of the institute as a whole.
IFP provides a platform for local and international contemporary art discourses, exchanges and exhibitions, opening up possibilities for sustaining dialogues between artistic, curatorial, social research and other modes of knowledge production. We also put emphasis on the fluidness in collaborations. Regarding the exhibition space as being one of the carriers of aesthetic, spatial and sociopolitical speculations explored by artists, we aiming towards a process-driven art making. As the IFP works with people from different backgrounds, we would like to introduce international artists to Beijing and link them to other individuals and organizations within our networks. Since the first year IFP started its residency program in 2009, we have provided knowledge and assistance for artists from all over the world and continuously shared experiences of doing artistic research and curating events and exhibitions.
Furthermore, the practices of residence artists are also very important for IFP’s research projects and local art ecology. We are distinctly aware of IFP’s multiple identities in terms of geographical transformation, collaborator distribution, research subject, social engagement, etc. IFP has a clear advantage when getting involved with no matter long or short term projects. The projects IFP does are usually based on the Chinese context at present and they simultaneously absorb and link to new and international situations and resources. This approach gives our work wider pan-Asian and global perspectives that generates profound impacts.
激发研究所试图通过与策展人、艺术家、研究员、学者、我们的驻地艺术家以及非艺术领域人士的合作与共构产生相互激发的工作网络和方法。一方面，激发研究所从机构实践的角度开展研究、写作、策展和出版等工作；另一方面，我们在协助驻地艺术家及策展人完成个人驻地研究的同时，主动地将机构项目与他们交流并共享资源。我们相信这两项工作会相辅相成，增加对彼此的刺激和启发。这两条工作脉络会在机构的整体运作下产生多个交汇点和更多层的意义，也描绘出了更加多样的文化地图。
激发研究所提供一个针对在地的和国际的当代艺术讨论、交流、展览的平台，打开具有持续性的在艺术的、策展的、和社会研究领域的讨论以及多种方式的知识生产的可能性。我们侧重于具有流动性的合作和以过程为主导的艺术生产并把项目空间看做艺术家和策展人对美学、空间、社会政治理论的思辨和实现的载体之一。激发研究所在与不同领域的人一起工作的同时，会把国际艺术家介绍到北京并将他们与我们在当地的其它人脉网络相连接。自2009年开展驻地项目以来，我们已为多个国家的艺术工作者提供知识和帮助，长期地积累了学术研究和活动策划的相关经验。
此外，驻地艺术家的工作也是对激发研究所自身的研究工作和当地艺术生态的刺激。我们清楚地意识到激发研究所在地理、人员分布、问题研究、社会介入等方面中身份的多重性。这也是我们发起长期与短期的对特定艺术性和社会性问题的讨论时的优势所在。它的项目经常以中国当下的语境为出发点来展开研究，并且积极有效地吸纳和联系新的、国际性的语境和资源，进而使我们的工作具有更广阔的泛亚洲和全球化视野，产生更深远的影响力。