As an artist, Qiu is stricken by the contrast between the bridge as a collective memory of his generation and the number of people who have ended their lives there. He decided to create a work on the subject and carry out research into the suicides at the bridge.
For more than half a year, Qiu and his students interviewed people who worked at the bridge, as well as nearby residents, tourists, and those who tried to commit suicide. Qiu even patrolled the bridge with other suicide-prevention volunteers and managed to save two people who attempted to end their lives.
"When you get involved in such a project, you cannot just be an observer," he says.
When the first exhibition of this project, Ataraxic of Zhuang Zi - A Suicidology of The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, was held in Shanghai in July and August, media reports of suicide cases on the bridge and questionnaires about the issue that Qiu designed and collected, were presented as part of the exhibition.
Besides art insiders, the exhibition also attracted the attention of many ordinary people. Qiu attributes this response to the theme of the exhibition - despair - something most people face in life.
"More Chinese artists are using sociological research and cross-disciplinary methods to create works about society, history and memory. Unlike artists who try to establish symbols, they present their work through an assortment of materials," says Wu Hung, one of the curators of Microscopic Narration and a professor of art history at the University of Chicago. "We cannot say yet that this has become a trend, but it is definitely an interesting phenomenon."
For Li, attending the exhibition Microscopic Narration is an opportunity not only to present his works, but also to declare his stance on an artist's role.
"I hope to help revise the contemporary Chinese art scene and remind artists that an artist should also be an intellectual, not just a craftsperson. There are too many empty art works nowadays," he says.
Li's point is echoed by Qiu's advocacy of "total art based on sociological research". Qiu and his students at the China Academy of Art have done several projects, such as The Survey of Zhongshan Park, which focuses on parks named "Zhongshan" all over China and their relation to history, memory and citizenship, and a project on basement guest houses in Beijing.
"I doubt the meaning of 'art for art's sake', and I don't agree with the old idea of regarding art as a simple representation of reality, either. If we don't know enough about reality, how can we represent it in art?" asks Qiu. "Sociological research has changed my understanding of many issues."
Qiu's exhibition Ataraxic of Zhuang Zi - A Suicidology of The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in Shanghai, included paintings, dossiers and installations with elements mentioned in Taoist classics, such as butterflies and gourds.
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