Long March Project 1999—: Archive and Dialogue

Since the opening of The Long March Papers 1999— on September 4, 2025, the exhibition hall has presented a dynamic, evolving archive display shaped by the interplay of “archive” and “dialogue.” Within the spacious red space, visitors engage with online and printed versions of the two-volume archive—comprising 1,690 pages total—at five illuminated desks, while simultaneously encountering interventions and invitations from the dialogue participants situated at the center of the space.

The archive Long March Project 1999— connects twenty-five years of Long March Project history with the current comprehensive systemic context, unfolding major projects across four chapters: “Outside In,” “Long March Space,” “Walking Backward,” and “From Within Outward.” These chapters encompass projects such as “Long March—A Walking Visual Display” (Stations 1-12), Station 13 “25000 Cultural Transmission Center,” “The Power of the Public Realm,” “Coal Mining Project,” “The Great Survey of Paper-cutting in Yanchuan County,” “Ho Chi Minh Trail,” “Rhizome Forum,” and “A Proposal for ‘Sheng Project’.” Across these continuously evolving projects, the Long March Project has gradually built an action-based network centered on projects with multiple parallel developments, breaking down inherent binary relationships and homogenized production, display, and consumption within multiple complex and inverted contexts, thereby continuously constructing its unique Long March worldview.

The Long March Project is not a verification of predictions about reality; this archive is not a revisitation or interpretation of history, but rather a genuine presentation of the specific circumstances of this project, reflecting the structural issues within and surrounding contemporary Chinese art contexts. Rather than summarizing or interpreting, it presents representative materials from each stage in multiple linear trajectories (including curatorial proposals, field investigations, discourse production, on-site photographs, artworks, etc.), functioning simultaneously as a confession, connection, and — most importantly — an energetic call.

The hundred-day dialogue has brought together more than one hundred participants. These conversations may begin from the propositions and projects of the Long March Project, or may depart from its history to enter a new “Long March”—one shaped by contemporary imaginations, reflections, and confrontations with the present and the future. Participants include those personally invited by initiator Lu Jie, as well as many self-initiated participants who voluntarily signed up, or audience members who came to browse the archive and subsequently joined the dialogue, spanning three generations of artists, curators, and scholars. 

Some participants are deep collaborators of the Long March Project, while others who have maintained distance, frequent encounters without full communication, or first-time contacts; some arrived with tens of thousands of words of notes or prepared questions, while others chose to review two-volume archive; some focused on the overall context or historical stages of the Long March Project, while others turned directly to discussions about current situations and future tasks. There were both one-on-one intimate dialogues and group meetings or intersections of multiple crowds. Voices from different fields and generations interweave here, collectively constructing a dynamic, layered, and open discursive space.

On December 13, 2025, The Long March Papers 1999— will close. With it, Long March Space as an institutional entity and physical base will end, which means the completion of Station 13 of the Long March Project, 25000 Cultural Transmission Center. The Long March Project will return to a moving, durational project form. The metaphor of “Long March Road” embedded in its genetic code, with its intrinsic structure and spirit, will continue to drive the Long March Project to always “follow the path,” meaning to continue moving forward and keep revolution alive. Through the launch of the two volumes and the hundred-day dialogue, The Long March Papers 1999— will guide the Long March Project to continue on its ongoing journey ahead.