Since Cai Lun greatly improved paper production during the Eastern Han Dynasty, 25-220 AD, by using cheaper materials and making it more accessible to the common people, zhezhi, or paper folding, and Jianzhi, paper cutting, have had important ceremonial and decorative roles in Chinese society and culture. Within the past 10-15 years computers, smartphones, and computer games have taken captive the imaginations and ‘in between time’ time of Chinese people replacing the more common and manual forms of ceremony and design with virtual and digital entertainment. Chen Qiulin’s work for the past 10 years has been about memory and loss and the impact upon society of China’s political and economic reforms. From watching her hometown being dismantled and submerged in the waters of the Three Gorges Dam, to the devastation of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, she has experienced the reverberations of loss and has been telling this story through her and others personal experiences in various ways and mediums.

Chen’s newest installation work, 14,235, was produced in Jingdezhen, where the finest porcelain in the world has been produced for over 1,700 years. It is made up of 14,235 white porcelain zhezhi objects. Chen’s initial installation is composed of several hundred zhezhi of varying sizes that are in heaps on the floor of the main gallery space. Over the course of the show, more and more pieces will arrive and be added to the installation. Like a sea of geometric salt crystal formations they will seem to grow out into the space until 1000’s of white porcelain zhezhi fill the gallery.

When I first came to China in 2008 I noticed folded paper objects all the time on the streets and sidewalks, around bus stops, plazas, anywhere people walked, congregated, sat, or talked. I watched children play games throwing tightly folded zhezhi squares to the ground trying to flip their opponent’s pieces into the air. These objects and practice come from a Chinese folk tradition with direct links to the ancient past. In the last couple of years I have found less and less zhezhi, at least in Beijing, and now daily watch people gazing into their smartphones playing computer games and watching movies isolated from their friends and the world around them.

Chen’s traditional materials and methods might lead one to misinterpret her narrative as simply abstract or decorative. But if you observe Chen’s earlier works, and make a connection to her themes of displacement and loss in rural China, these porcelain zhezhi could easily remind us of the 1000’s of forgotten who are pushed aside in the name of “progress” and the good of society. Or they could just be the shards of personal memory housed in disposable paper containers and lost in the heap of time and uniformity. Her work views two distinct worlds that are growing dangerously apart. These humble forms huddled together on the floor like new fallen snow cover a multitude of wrongs and point the way to a better day; the common and transient now rendered white and pure, forever.

Also included in the exhibition are small figures made of ‘papier mache.’ They are insignificant in stature but powerful in scope. Terrifying, humorous, breathtaking, they are amazing portraits of the soul and body of mankind. Ancient and disfigured they sit with feet dangling in the air peering out over the white geometric field pondering their plight and history, as people in Chen’s hometown did as they sat and watched their homes being dismantled then drowned in water, or crushed by natural disasters. Their dried and broken bodies are in a frozen state of decay but their spirits, like children, are resilient and ever young.

自从东汉时期（公元25年至公元220年）的蔡伦极大地改进了造纸术，利用更为廉价的材料使造纸术更易为寻常百姓所触及，折纸和剪纸便在中国社会和文化中具有了重要的仪式性与装饰性角色。在过去10到15年里，电脑、智能手机和电脑游戏以虚拟和数字化的娱乐替代了更为平常、更依赖体力的仪式与设计形式，从而俘虏了中国人的想象力与“间隙时间”。陈秋林过去十年的作品便是有关于记忆与遗失，以及中国政治经济改革对于社会的影响。从目睹她的家乡被拆并没入三峡大坝的洪流，到2008年四川地震造成的严重破坏，她经历了遗失所带来的巨大影响，而她也以各种方式和媒介、通过她自己与他人的个人经历，讲述着这个故事。

陈秋林的最新装置作品《14235》制作于景德镇，1700年来世界上最好的瓷器都是在那里制造出来的。这件作品由14235件白瓷折纸物件组成。陈秋林的装置最初有几百件大小不一的折纸，它们在主展厅的地面上堆成几堆。随着展览的进行，越来越多件折纸将会抵达这里，并被添加到装置当中。就像一片由几何形状的盐结晶体构成的海洋，它们将在空间内漫延，直至上千件白瓷折纸将画廊填满。

2008年初到北京时，我总能注意到折纸物品，它们出现在大街和人行道上、公交车站附近、广场周围，以及人们行走、聚集、坐下或交谈的任何地方。我看着孩子们用折纸玩游戏，他们把叠得很紧实的折纸方块扔到地上，试图将对手的纸弹到空中。这些物件和习惯源自一种同古老过去直接关联的中国民间传统。最近几年我能发现的折纸越来越少了，至少在北京是这样。而今每天看到的，是人们盯着他们的智能手机玩电脑游戏以及看电影，同他们的朋友与周遭世界隔绝开来。

陈秋林所使用的传统材料和方法可能会导致人们将她的叙事错误地解读为仅仅是抽象的或是具有装饰性的。不过，假如你观察过陈秋林早前的作品，再联系到她关于中国乡村的迁移与遗失的主题，便会发现，这些瓷制的折纸可以很容易地使我们想到那上千被遗忘的人，在“进步”和为社会好的名义下，他们被弃置一旁。又或者他们只是个人记忆的碎片，封存在一次性的纸质容器里，并在大量的时间与单调中迷失。她的作品考量了两个不同的世界，这两个世界危险地渐行渐远。这些在地板上挤作一团的卑微形状，如同刚刚落下的雪，覆盖了大量的过错，并指出通往更好明天的道路；那平常的与转瞬即逝的，现在被渲染得雪白而纯净，直至永远。

展览中还纳入了由“混凝纸”制成的小人儿。它们的身形不值一提但范围却很庞大。这些小人儿可怖、幽默、令人惊叹，它们是对于人类的灵魂与身体的极好刻画。它们古老且容貌受损，坐在那里，脚悬荡在空中，端详着那片白色几何田，思索着自身的困境与历史，就像陈秋林家乡的人们那样，他们坐在那里，看着自己的家被拆毁，淹没在水中，或是被自然灾害压成碎片。他们脱水而破碎的身体冻结在一种腐朽的状态里，然而他们的精神，如孩童的那般，是坚韧而能复原的，并且永远年轻。