2008年金融危机以来，艺术家魏艺先生以社会调查的角度深入走访了上百个村落，调查了上千户农民家庭，详细了解了他们的生活现状，跟踪他们在城市打工的现场和居住的环境；耗时三年，调查覆盖了湖南、湖北，江西，福建、广东，浙江、江苏，上海、义乌、深圳、广州、福州等14个省市。
本次展览是继魏艺先生《凤凰西去20000米——湘西田野调查艺术文献展》项目展和《走过一千零一夜——金融危机三周年后我们的今天》项目展后，又一个以农民生态为主题的展览，作品以空间切换的形式，分别以农民的农村住家、农民在工厂、农民在出租屋的三个不同的空间画面，纪实地归纳了广大农民在轰轰烈烈的中国改革开放和城市化的进程中，在庞大的劳动密集型制造业中，始终是最艰辛的，最默默付出的历史事实。
在魏艺看来，生命是鲜活的，而艺术是灰色的，生命永远高于艺术，只有根植于生命意义的艺术才是艺术的意义所在，也是艺术品和艺术家的意义所在。显然魏艺先生是站在生命的立场上说话的。不难看出，农民问题至今仍是中国最沉重问题，希望大家在感受沉重问题时，为广大农民更好的明天多尽一份努力，愿历史能够尽快翻过这一页。

EXHIBITION PREFACE
Since the 2008 Financial Crisis, artist Wei Yi has adopted a social survey perspective while making in-depth forays into over 100 villages, where he surveyed over 1000 rural households. He did a detailed study of their living conditions and did follow-ups on their migrant worksites and living quarters in urban settings. He spent three years on this survey that covered the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, as well as the cities of Shanghai, Yiwu, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Fuzhou.
This exhibition continues the theme of peasant life conditions which Mr. Wei Yi explored in two earlier project exhibitions: “Phoenix Flies West 20,000 Meters: Document Exhibition of Field Survey in West Hunan” and “Today—Three Years on from the Financial Crisis: Passing through 1001 Nights.” The current artwork adopts the form of spatial alternation, respectively showing peasants living in rural homes, doing migrant work in factories and staying in rented rooms, using inductive reportage to convey the historical fact that amid the magnificent advance of reform, opening and urbanization in China, as enterprises carry on massive labor-intensive operations, migrant workers have continually and uncomplainingly made tremendous contributions under tremendous adversity.
In Wei Yi’s view, the stream of life is forever vivid, but art is gray. Life is always more elevated than art. The significance of art lies nowhere else but in art’s rootedness in life’s concerns. This is also where meaning lies for the artist and his artworks. Clearly Mr. Wei speaks from the standpoint of life’s inherent value. It is not difficult to see that even now the peasant problem is China’s weightiest problem. We hope that when people perceive the weightiness of this problem, they will make more effort for the broad masses of peasants, so we can turn this page of history as soon as possible.