“之”、“乎”、“者”、“也”，都是中国古代汉语中的文言虚词，其本身并没有任何实际意义——但有趣的是：这四个看似空洞、虚无、多余、矫饰、无所指、可有可无，甚至在语言演进的过程里，已经日益被我们抛诸脑后的语气助词，却一度是中国古代文学中最重要的修辞手段。
正是通过这样的修辞，表达本身变得耐人寻味——它开始逃离原始、生硬、简单和直接，也不仅仅局限于信息传递的功能性要求，而是在人际的交往和沟通中，一度延伸出丰富的情境。与此同时，也正是通过这样的修辞，字面和文本背后的意义、观念、思想和情感，得以强调、突出和彰显。
从这个意义上讲，艺术或许和“之乎者也”一样：它不是日常生活里的必需品，也远远没有政治、经济或军事那么强大的撼动力——好比巴黎卢浮宫里最负盛名的《蒙娜丽莎》，无论那500年来仍未破译的微笑令多少人为之倾倒，也无法阻止战争的此起彼伏，或是对刚刚横扫全球的金融危机力挽狂澜——艺术的存在，仿佛就是现实世界里的小小修辞，就像喜欢咬文嚼字、不求实际的老夫子口中念叨的“之乎者也”，可以随时被抽离。但是，如同“之乎者也”的意义，不能简单地从字面上来解读，而是需要放到整个中国文学史的演变中去定义一样，艺术存在的价值，也需要被纳入文化的上下文语境，并在其中建构它所特有的重要性——作为一种创造性地表达方式，艺术也许正扮演着文化进程中不可或缺的角色。
因此，如果说“之乎者也”无疑曾经是我们本土文化中最具特征的语言、文字和表达方式，那么当下呈现在我们眼前的艺术——那些看似矫情的、虚拟的、多元的、浅表的或晦涩的图像和符号背后，是艺术家个性化的观念和情感表达，也是他们从自我的文化土壤和内心世界里，滋生出的对这个时代、以及我们正身处其中的日常生活的注解。
也许，对于艺术标准的固守、争论或喋喋不休，在今天都不是一件讨好的事情，在约瑟夫•波伊斯“人人都是艺术家”和安迪•沃霍尔“在未来，每个人都能成名15分钟”的宣言之后，当代艺术变得有些失重——艺术是什么呢？或许，艺术就那些正在从事某种创造的人，对于现实世界所书写的修辞学，是另一种发音的“之乎者也”。
策展人：韩晶
2009年8月
Zhī Hū Zhě Yě-Art Rhetoric
Curator：Han Jing
“Zhī”, “Hū”, “Zhě”, “Yě” are all function words without actual meaning in ancient Chinese. However, what is interesting is that these four words which seems empty, illusory, redundant, mannered, meaningless and dispensable and have almost been abandoned in today’s Chinese used to be the most important rhetoric in ancient Chinese.
The rhetoric is just what makes expression itself become meaningful and thought-provoking and avoid being primitive, harsh, simple and direct. It is not limited to the function of information transferring, on the contrary, it creates rich context in interpersonal association and communication. Meanwhile, it is the rhetoric that makes the meaning, notion, thought and emotion hiding behind the words turn to be emphasized, prominent and obvious.
From this point, maybe art is like “Zhī Hū Zhě Yě”. It isn’t necessity in daily life and is far less influential than politics, economy or military. We can take the most famous Mona Lisa in the Louvre as an example. No matter how mysterious and admiring the smile of Mona Lisa is, it can never prevent a war nor save the economy from the desperate worldwide crisis. Art is exactly like unimportant rhetoric in real world and like “Zhī Hū Zhě Yě” spoken by pedantic ancient Chinese intellectuals and can be deleted at any time. However, just as the meaning of “Zhī Hū Zhě Yě” can’t be understood simply and literally but need to be placed into the whole development history of Chinese literature, the value of art need to be brought into cultural context so that its importance can be really realized and understood. As a way of creative expression, perhaps art is just playing an indispensable role in cultural progress.
Therefore, if “Zhī Hū Zhě Yě” was undoubtedly the most typical language, words and expression in our local culture, then contemporary art which seems to be pretentious, fictitious, polynary, superficial and obscure images and symbols are personal notion and emotional expression of artists who give comment and explanation for our times and daily life according to their own cultural background and inner world.
Probably, the adherence to art standard, the endless argument and chatter on art are all arduous but thankless job. After Joseph Beuys said “Everyone is artist” and after Andy Warhol declared “Everyone can be famous for 15 minutes in the future”, contemporary art have become more of less agravic. What is art? Maybe, art is rhetoric written for real world by those who creates in some way and is another kind of “Zhī Hū Zhě Yě”.
2009.8
【编辑：霍春常】
