“没有空间的计划”总是试图勘探客体和它所承载的投射之间的差距，目的不是还原客体的本身，而是甄别和理解围绕客体所建立的话语所建立的基础。过去存在和被广为流传的艺术样式和符号构成了艺术史的话语，我们希望认识这种话语是如何形成的，它符合了何种需要，它可能遮蔽了什么。我们在这个合作项目中尝试着把自己置入这些艺术样式和实践的语境中，希望通过重复和模拟某些创作的方式和情境并在此过程中展开讨论，也同时记录下我们所展开的讨论作为一种认识的经过。

我们对于“长城”这个图像的兴趣来自于它是如此频繁地出现在我们的视线之中，以至于它达到了传播某种意识形态的效果。我们的经验所建立的基础不是长城的本体，而是它被赋予的象征意义。我们往往不假思索地接受了这种象征意义，就像我们对于艺术史的膜拜一样，但忘记了质疑它们存在的基础和意识。这些基础和意识从未远离我们，它们不仅界定着我们的经验，也塑造着我们认识事物的轨迹。它们透明而不可穿越。

我们再次重复这个符号，不是希望强化它一贯所传达的意识，而是通过我们的叩问（长城是钢铁的吗／钢铁长城是长城吗／为什么把长城当做钢铁的／长城什么时候变成钢铁的／钢铁长城是这个长城吗／怎么说长城是钢铁的／长城哪里是钢铁的／看不出来长城是钢铁的怎么办），来动摇它所象征的意义的坚固性。如果艺术真的能有所作为的话，那么我们的叩问也许可以作为一个开始。正如，布鲁斯·瑙曼（Bruce Nauman）挂在他工作室门外的，创作于1967年的第一件霓虹灯装置所说的“真正的艺术家帮助世界揭示神秘真相。”（“The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths.”）至今，它仍激励着我们。

“没有空间的计划”是艺术家陈劭雄和刘鼎于2010年年底开始合作的项目。

“Project without Space” consistently tried to explore the gap between object and the projection it carried. The intention was to discriminate and understand the basis established by the dialogue about the object, instead of the restoration of object itself. The widely circulated artistic forms and signs from the past have built up the languages in art history. We expected to check how this kind of language came into being, what demand it met and what it may hide from us. We attempted to incorporate ourselves into the artistic form and practical context in this cooperative project, to repeat and simulate some creative methods and conditions while carrying out discussion during this course. Meanwhile, we recorded our discussion and kept it as the process of understanding.

Our interest in the image of “Great Wall” came from its frequent presence in our sight. It turned up so frequently that it has promulgated certain ideology. The basis for our experience was not Great Wall but the symbolic significance it was bestowed. We tended to accept its significance without thinking just as we worshiped the art history. The basis for its existence and its ideology were forgotten. The basis and ideology have never left us by not only defining our experience but shaping the way we know everything. They were transparent but insuperable.

We emphasized this sign again without the intention to enhance the ideology it usually conveyed. It was to shake its sturdy symbolic significance by a series of questions (Is Great Wall made of steel and iron? /Is steel and iron Great Wall still Great Wall? /Why do we think Great Wall is made of steel and iron? /When did Great Wall become steel and iron Great Wall? /Is this Great Wall the steel and iron Great Wall? /How can we say Great Wall is made of steel and iron? /Which part of Great Wall is made of steel and iron?/ What if I cannot see steel and iron in Great Wall?) Our questioning can be a starting point if art can do anything practical. Bruce Nauman once said for his first neon light installation that was placed outside his studio in 1967: “The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths.” It is still encouraging today.

Two artists, Chen Shaoxiong & Liu Ding, worked together on “Project without Space” from late 2010.