In 2009 in New York, Jane Debevoise of Asia Art Archive made a video interview with me on Chinese contemporary art of 1980s. In the following year AAA sent Anthony Yung to my home in Vancouver for a week, to help organizing my messy old documents and materials. He brought back a few boxes to Hong Kong for scanning. It became a part of their ambitious database “Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980-1990”. I was inspired by the earnest and dedicate effort they made for this project. I have been always for the idea of "openness" and "resource sharing". I began to organize and sort out various materials I collected in the past, including texts, images and videos. It seems a simple task but also quite time-consuming.
In 2013 the China Academy of Art Press published a four-volume "Zheng Shengtian’s Writing on Art”. This is the first result of my effort in past few years. The credit should also goes to Ms. Li Lin, Geng Jianyi and his "imagination laboratory." Without their encouragement and support these little books won’t be available for our readers so quickly. The second step of my plan is to build a web page, so that I can continue to upload my documentation on an open platform, providing reference and communication channel for everyone. Often people would ask professionals to design and manage their website, but for a personal one, it does not seem convenient and efficient. I have always hesitated to trouble others. One day I discovered software Sandvox. After downloading the trial I found it very handy and thought I might be able to DIY even with high tech. Although the software may not make exquisite design or do complex jobs, it is good enough for a plain-use database.
I call this site "Sheng Project". In Chinese it could be translated as “Sheng’s homework”. It is actually loaded with the “homework” I had made over the years and will continue to do so. I agree with the statement on AAA’s website: an archive is not “an enclosed space, but a space that is open and productive, generating new ideas and works that continually reshape the archive itself”. I hope that my homework could inspire other people’s thinking, and through more interactions we will be able to improve our research and understanding on the issues we all concern.