新语词与中国当代艺术史的形状

New Terms and the Shape of Chinese Contemporary Art History

当代艺术评论的写作或艺术史的书写离不开新语词的运用。这些词能适应或揭示艺术创作的新动向,它们支撑着当代艺术史及其理论的基本语码或框架,折射出当代艺术史与以往文体不相同的某种先锋性。离开这些词来描述当代艺术是困难的,在写作风格定位上也是难以想象的。新语词中最为重要的部分是对艺术群体或艺术现象进行概括或作定性描述的指代类名词,它们在当代艺术史中起到核心关键词的作用。为了有针对性地描述特定的新艺术现象,这类词并不直接套用外来词,一般为对旧有词进行改造、重组或引申而来,具有鲜明的创造性和本土色彩。鉴于这些词对于当代艺术史已产生或将要产生的核心意义,有必要对它们进行内涵的分类阐释和相关的价值判断。不同的产生语境、词源和构词方法形成的新词在适用能力上有一定差别,而出现场合的重要度和使用频率的多寡不同,也决定了这些词在当代语用中的生命力,少量的生造词的适用度还有待时间的进一步检验。

One significant feature in writing the Chinese contemporary art review or art history is the need of large amounts of newly - invented terms. Being able to adapt to or reveal the trend of art creation, the new terms are created to bolster the basic discourse or the framework of the contemporary art history and theory and to demonstrate some avant - garde quality of the writing of Chinese contemporary art history that are dif- ferent from the previous ones. It is unimaginable to write contemporary art criticism without these new terms and it is difficult to set the style of the writing without these terms as well. Among these terms, those used as referencing noun to generally or qualitatively summarize or describe the new art group, art movement or phe- nomenon are of particularly core importance to the contemporary art history. To specifically describe the fea- tures of new artistic phenomenon, these terms are seldom copied from foreign words indiscriminately, rather, they are created through modification, rebuilding or appropriation of existing terms so that they are original and native - based. Considering the crucial implications these new terms already had or will have on the con- temporary art history, it is necessary to interpret their connotations in groups and to assess the related value judgment. The differences in the contexts, etymology and word - forming of the term lead to different usabili- ty of the new terms. Other decisive elements of the vitality of these new terms concern the significance of the occasions where those new terms are used and the frequency they are used with. The usability of some newly -coined terms is to be examined in the future.