Greetings all!  丽江工作室2008年度进驻项目名曰”新农村实验室”。”新农村”即中国试图协调农村生活与日新月异的城市生活而付出的努力。“实验室”即农田，以及田地中的一切，这也便是我们实验的原始材料。这是一个艺术调查阶段，旨在探讨居住乡下的意义，尤其是在拉市海，在中国，在此时此刻。我们会定期制作海报（broadsheet），作为我们合作的资料存档，从而记录并交流我们的经验。本次海报包含了一周以来我们探讨的一些内容。首先，我们开始着手调查中国知识分子在农村的历史。工作室成员胡嘉岷为此写了一篇引言。此文的片段粘贴在海报及工作室网站上。第二部分记录了进驻艺术家古暮阳（Duskin Drum）对这里的农民逐渐丧失土地一事的初始反应。对付的途径之一是用更少的土地生产更多的粮食。Duskin开垦了我们厨房背后的一小块空地，并开始在上面纵向耕种土豆。海报展示了他的计划草图。第三样素材是进驻艺术家Ernesto Salmeron对我们居住于此之诗意的反应：他将我们的农民邻居们描述成”campeches”——艺术家可望而不可及的某种事物。海报还记下了60个美国高中生对工作室的一次参观。他们在中国的经验寄托了未来中美相互理解的愿望。最后，海报展现了一些神兽麒麟的图画。拉市海当地神话说，这只杂合的神兽能赐予这里的土地以能量与丰饶，直至近世这只神兽仍以麒麟舞的形式造访过这里。然而，对于麒麟的记忆及需求正在消逝。为了新农村的现实，我们正尝试营造一些情境，让这只神兽得以复现。
 
Lijiang Studio’s residency-based project for 2008 is called the New Countryside Laboratory. The ‘New Countryside’ refers to China’s attempt to reconcile farm-based life with the newly developed urban life. ‘Laboratory’ refers to the farmland, and everything in it, as our raw material for experimentation. This is a period of artistic research into what it means to live in the countryside, specifically in Lashihai, China, right now. As a record of our participation we periodically make ‘broadsheets’ which to register and communicate our experience.This weeks’s broadsheet contains a few elements from conversations at the farm. The first is to research e the history of Chinese intellectuals in their countryside. Studio member Hu Jiamin has explored this in terms of fantasy and morality, excerpt on www.lijiangstudio.org.Duskin Drum responds to the fact that farmers here are gradually losing their land. One way to provide for the future is to produce more food on less land. Duskin has taken a small plot behind our kitchen and is starting to grow potatoes vertically. The broadsheet contains a sketch of his plan.Ernesto Salmeron describes our way of living here, describing our farming neighbors as “campeches” - something that visiting artists can only aspire to be. The sheet registers the visit of 60 American high school students whose experience in China represents, well, the tip of the iceberg. Finally, we have some drawings and rubbings of the mythical beast Qilin at Lashihai. Local myth tells of a composite beast which gives power and fertility to the land here, and up until recently this beast has visited the community in the form of a dance. The memory and need for this beast is fading. The New Countryside Laboratory will re-invent this beast in 2008.  with our best, -Lijiang Studio