Art Intervention and Rural Population Mobility: Research on Hongjiang Art Village in Guizhou

Abstract

Since the 21st century, with the acceleration of urbanization, the transformation of rural areas to postproductivism, and the prospect of rural revitalization, art intervention has become important for reshaping rural space and adjusting the structure of the rural population. Taking Hongjiang International Art Village in Guizhou as a typical case, this paper performs a systematic analysis of art intervention and rural population flow from three perspectives—space production, field reconstruction and life-world change—by introducing Lefebvre’s space production theory, Bourdieu’s field theory and the life-world perspective. It is concluded that there is a two-way system mechanism between art intervention and rural population flow. Specifically, art intervention creates a new rural space form through physical space reconstruction, symbolic space reconstruction and social space reorganization. In this space, foreign artists and local villagers are in different field positions, and they take advantage of capital conversion to achieve limited but real social integration by means of habitus adjustment. More importantly, art intervention has essentially changed the life world of aborigines and formed a new local ballet of moving, staying and meeting. The actual effect of art’s mediation of population mobility depends on the coupling of the three mechanisms of spatial openness, field autonomy and life-world continuity. Therefore, this paper provides a complete and solid theoretical framework for art-driven rural transformation, which has positive implications for rural revitalization policy.