Later in the week, I accompanied  Jiang Jiehong (Joshua), Director of Studies for my PhD, and also the co-curator of the ‘Fourth Guangzhou Triennial 2012′, on a jam-packed day of studio visits on Huashan Lu, the Hero Pen Factory in Tapou, and the ‘MadeIn Company’ studio in Tapou, along with a lunch meeting in ‘Plaza 66′. Joshua, along with Jonathan Watkins, Director of the Ikon Gallery, are still finalising artists for the Triennial, and as I am Curatorial Assistant for the festival, I am trying to be as involved as I can, when and where possible…at the moment it is mostly from a distance whilst in Shanghai.

The first stop was to see a very young and emerging female Chinese artist called Lu Yang. I came across her work, ‘The Anatomy of Rage’, at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing back in October 2011 when I was there for a conference, so I was familiar with her practice. She showed us a series films and works in progress that may well be considered for the Triennial, alongside past practice, including a piece called ‘Underwater Frog Leg Ballet’ that literally blew me away. Basically, electronic signals from a heavy beat electro song were attached to the nervous system of frog’s legs that were placed in series…so when a specific part of the song was played, a certain set of the frog’s leg would dance. You have to watch the video to understand this further…I have never seen anything like it, and it silenced me over lunchtime thinking about it. In fact, it still does now. Her practice is coherent, strong, clearly defined in the realm of scientific exploration and technology, it is mature and refined…not something you see very often and at her age. It was nice to see how involved she was with her research topic too…medical diagrams and books everywhere in her studio. I will definitely be considering her for a future exhibition…my mind is already thinking about the curatorial concept. I hope to spend more time with her during my Shanghai days too…I’ve already asked her to do a lecture at AIVA as I felt the students would really be inspired by her dynamic and visually immersive practice.

Next was a lunch meeting with Mathieu Borysevicz from the Shanghai Gallery of Art to talk about the possible offsite project for the Triennial. So much of this project is still in discussion and yet to be confirmed so I can’t really say anymore about it…a great, positive conversation was had though. Fingers crossed it gets the go ahead from the powers that be…it’s not up to us in this case as the content of the proposed project is a little controversial, well, in a Chinese sense. Next stop was the Hero Pen Factory in Tapou to meet Jin Shan, who I have spoken about many times before in previous posts. He let me take the small photograph shown below…he found it on the factory floor. I love things like this with an unknown history. Who are these people? What did they do? Joshua had not met Jin Shan before, so I was glad that I was able to initiate the opportunity for them to talk. Strangely enough, Joshua studied the same course, in the same year, as his older sister. As ever, it is a small world right? It astounds me sometimes. It was then onto the ‘MadeIn Company’ to talk to Xu Zhen where we talked Weibo, the Triennial and Chapter 4 of my PhD as there were a few gaps in my research that I needed to ask him about as he is part of one of the three case studies. A brief ten-minute chat managed to clarify it all. These kind of days, although exhausting, are so motivating as it makes you realise you are surrounded by such creative, inspirational minds. It makes me realise why I do what I do and for what reason. The next time I’ll speak to you is after 20 hours of travelling back to the UK via Dubai…let’s see what stories I have to tell then…hopefully it will be a positively interesting journey.

So from the 21 students, the panel of seven gave out five fails…25% fail rate is not good. Some students I think expected it, others really did not. There were a few tears here and there, and a request from my Visual Communication students to be more negative and critical! I really did not expect that feedback so next semester I’ll have to try to put my serious and brutal hat on…not something which I’m used to as I’m quite a positive-criticism kind of person. This comes back to how the process of teaching in China and the UK are very different in so many ways…that’s another conversation. Shown below are some images of the students work…jewellery, graphics and animation…

One of the most passionate and promising students is Kin Lao (Lao Zheng shown on the left below), a pre-MA Product Design student, here shown talking to Claire Farrell from EC Arts, Birmingham, and course leaders Edward Liao and Zhang Hong. Before I talk about Kin’s work, I’ll tell you why Claire was with us at AIVA. She was in Shanghai after world travels in New Zealand and Hong Kong, to talk to the MadeIn Company (contemporary Chinese artist Xu Zhen) about their involvement with her current project ’48SHEET’. Opening in April 2012, ’48SHEET’ is a National and International project that will transform the city of Birmingham throughout April 2012 into a unique urban gallery by utilising up to 100 advertising billboards across the city for visual art. The two key artists for this project are MadeIn Company and Raqs Media Collective along with other emerging and established artists. As I have recently worked with both these groups, Claire and I had really good conversations about how the project will develop. ’48SHEET’ will also be included as part of the ‘Fourth Guangzhou Triennial 2012′ too, which I am Curatorial Assistant for…it is definitely going to be an interesting year for me in terms of projects and I’m looking forward to seeing Claire’s project unfold…a shame I won’t be in the UK to see it.

Anyway, Kin Lao…one of the few students who constantly surprises us with his ideas and enthusiasm, and keeps us all smiling in the office. In the last semester, he experimented with paper-making techniques for use in products, going through rigorous experimentation and testing processes. What is most interesting about his practice is that he decided to focus on the discarded parts of fruit as the organic base to make his paper, looking at the idea of recycling and no waste. His main source was the Chinese grapefruit, pomelo, 柚子 yòuzi…so the peel of the pomelo. He also experimented with how coffee, grape and other organic foods worked on their own and with the pomelo. His work really did blow us away in terms of concept and experimentation as he used very simplistic techniques to make the works….and as you know some of my background is in paper-making so it certainly made me happy. We are looking forward to how he develops his practice next semester…and Claire is too. Certainly one to watch.

Earlier in the week I came across the construct below that is being used to advertise the ’9th Gwangju Biennale 2012′. In fact, I think I might have posted it on my blog before…anyway, I’ll show it again. The exhibition is taking place from the 7th September to the 11th November this year under the thematic of ‘ROUNDTABLE’. It is ‘to explore the possibility of democratic and non-hierarchical exchange concerning global cultural production, through various forms of collective endeavour, research into historic entanglements among societies, and the exploration of diverse contexts of belonging.’ Basically, it sounds like one big dialogue between all those parties involved in such an event…and that’s what the construct below communicates too…thoughts and conversations. The co-artistic directors have said, ‘‘ROUNDTABLE’ allows us to reflect on our shared contemporaneity at a time when the tremendous momentum of ecological, political and economic change has radically transformed our global reality. This theme was derived initially from our working method of being geographically distant but brought together through different media of communication. No one sits at the head of the round table, no linear narrative drives its deliberations, and it becomes the seed-bed for the future.’ Pretty apt for describing the current cultural climate where it especially resonates with the way in which contemporary Chinese art is developing. I think I will reference this construct, amongst others, in Chapter 6 of my PhD thesis…I look forward to hearing and reading about how it actually functioned as a curatorial rationale later in the year.

Another find was the recently published book ‘Aftermath: A new global economic order?’(August 2011) by Craig Calhoun (Editor) and Georgi M. Derluguian (Editor). This book is the third in a series (after past and present) looking at the future of the global financial crisis and has a chapter dedicated to the Chinese political and economic economy, and the growing power of the nation. They raise questions such as will countries such as China, India and Brazil become the new world leaders? And is their growth due to following conventional economic guidelines or instead to strong state leadership and sometimes protectionism? This text I might have to read in order to provide some current economic context as part of the final chapter and conclusion as part of my PhD. Another one to add to the ever-growing book list to buy…along with Routledge’s ‘Interpreting Art in Museums and Galleries’ (December 2011) by Christopher Whitehead, which came out last month. I’m sure it will provide again, more contextual aspects to my research.

A final find, was the book below ‘The Order of Things’ by Finnish artist Mikko Kuorinki. It really struck a chord with my artistic practice, my love of words and language and the obsessive want to archive. Order, order, order.

 ”The desire to classify the world has always been a need for mankind: We collect, reflect and sort the things.”

Kuorinki references the phenomena of Michel Foucault’s ‘Order of Things - An Archaeology of the Human Sciences’ (1970), one of the core works that anchor the French Structuralist school of thought. He takes the title literally, putting all the words of the book in alphabetical order…From A to Zoophytorum. Kuorinki has re-ordered knowledge that is already available. It immediately reminded me of the work of the Canadian artist Kim Rugg, who under a similar conceptual thought, reconstructs and re-alphabetises newspapers and other ephemeral material. Like Rugg, Kuorinki decomposed a text to an alphabetical material, and composed, at the same time, a new text, which offers a new and unusual view into the thinking of the renowned French philosopher. This book, has instigated a train of thought within my mind about a future exhibition construct…a dialogue exchange between a contemporary Chinese artist and Kuorinki…let’s see how my concept unfold…I already have a few Chinese artists in mind for this. Anyway, on with finding information to fuel the mind…

1. To have more (self-)belief

This is something I try to work on every single year…to have belief in myself, in all that I do, and to rightfully think I am good at the many endeavours I put my heart and soul into…to have a positive mental attitude about me, myself and I…and to never lose faith in mankind as that’s when you lose faith in the future. People have the ability to surprise you every single day, to make you smile and make you believe that anything and everything is possible in life. By thinking positively, I believe positive things come and just happen…self-belief is the key to the door of opportunity.

“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” – Denis Waitley

2. To eat well no matter what the cost

It’s true, you are what you eat…and when I say eat “well” I don’t mean, huge, over-sized meals as if I am trying to bulk up, I mean healthily and as eco-friendly as possible…though that’s quite hard in China as it comes at a cost. Since living in Shanghai, I have been easily distracted from my usual eating routine and habits and therefore, consumed a mountain of different foods that haven’t been very kind to my body. In turn, I have had realised that you shouldn’t change your ways just because you are in a different country. In the UK, I was very strict with my diet due to my health and thus, my body worked a lot better (well, to some degree). However, in China I haven’t engaged in the same process of selecting, preparing, cooking and baking my food and it definitely shows. Why pay for organic vegetables and spend hours cooking when you can buy a full meal made in minutes for the same price? It’s difficult. So in reality, I need to select and cook my food…China shouldn’t be selecting it for me…so I’ll be using Shanghai’s Slow Food map to destruction this year…organic food boxes, regular visits to the wet markets and really healthy and wholesome cooking ahoy.

3. To get back to artistic practice

Throughout my artistic career, the scales of art practice versus art theory occasionally become imbalanced…there are times when I write more than I make, though I think that happens with most creative types. More recently, due to being immersed in PhD land, a world of words, curating and teaching, I have become more caught up in writing, arts management and administration, where my artistic practice has been severely neglected. So at the end of 2011, I thought I’d make a head start on this resolution and start to engage with my practice again…a sketchpad has begun and I signed up to take part in the fourth ‘Book Art Object’, an international book arts project. I’ll keep you updated as to how it develops…and what else I start to think about…

4. To have the ability to say no  To be selective

I know this might sound a bit strange as a new year’s resolution should be positive right? “No” is such a negative word so that’s why I crossed out the first attempt at number 4 and rephrased it. Most people would probably say they need to be able to say yes more, to be a “yes man” as such…but I have the opposite problem. I seem to say yes to almost everything, when actually I should be more selective about what I agree to…I almost have a fear of missing out. I sometimes feel that my life happens without me knowing about it, without me being in control of it, so in 2012 I need to become more conscious of the decisions I make so that I can appreciate and enjoy all these experiences a lot more.

5. To invest in exercise

I’m starting to train…so I need to invest in some good sports equipment…running shoes, spinning shoes, ballet clothing and other exercise attire such as a thermal running hat and appropriate running gloves. It’s not just for fun anymore (well, ballet and cycling the city are)…I have goals I want to achieve. On my life list is running a marathon, so I thought it was about time I got into training. In 2012-13 I aim to do a half marathon, and then after that (after the completion of my PhD, which will give me more time to tread concrete) I want to complete a full marathon…I’m not sure where or in which city yet. I am currently running in a pair of Adidas cross-training trainers that I bought in New Jersey, USA, at the beginning of 2008 for $20. They are fine for an average a gym workout but for long-haul runs, which I am now investing in, they are causing my feet more trouble than you can think. I also wear a pair of black Quiksilver woolen gloves to keep my hands warm…really not good when for sweaty palms as they are not breathable at all, so they are degrading fast. I am managing to run about 6 miles about 4 times a week…trying to push myself a little further each week. I reckon resolutions 1 and 2 are going to be instrumental in the development of this one…let’s see what happens. Bring it 2012…

]]> http://rachelmarsdenwords.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/my-top-5-for-2012/feed/ 2 Rach Happy New Year New Year SH TG 4 Typewriter Dont Stop http://rachelmarsdenwords.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/my-top-10-of-2011/ http://rachelmarsdenwords.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/my-top-10-of-2011/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:31:36 +0000 Rach http://rachelmarsdenwords.wordpress.com/?p=3678 ]]> In the online world, I’ve been noticing a lot of people have been presenting their top five or top ten of this, that and the other as the year 2011 comes to an end. So I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and tell you about my top ten for 2011…the ten things that have defined the past twelve months of my life. This process has made me realise what makes up Rachel at this moment in time…and it made me smile. This is an incredibly honest blog post to bring 2011 to a close. My next and first post of 2012 will be about what I want from, and what could happen in, the coming year, and my new years resolutions. What are yours going to be? So here is my top ten of 2011…and this time it’s personal. I intended this post to be short and succinct…needless to say, I just can’t stop writing sometimes.

1. My 28th year

After talking to a lot of my friends who are also aged 28, it seems that this year, the 28th year, is quite a defining period. It seems to be the year when you realise what you want out of life, what you like and dislike, what you like to wear, eat and drink, where you want to be, and who you want to spend your time with. You now become selective. Individuality reigns. You start making (maturer) adult decisions…well sometimes…and are content to leave certain parts of your childhood behind. You become content in your skin, body and mind, and start come to terms with what has already happened in your life, and what you have to deal with today…now…this moment. As I state this slightly utopian, rose-tinted view of my 28th year, it doesn’t mean that I don’t get thoroughly frustrated, confused and bewildered by life sometimes…that still and will always happen, in fact it is today. So this is who I am, and 28 seems to be an OK age. I never thought I’d say that. I always thought your early 20′s were the best ages to experience…welcome to your late 20′s Rachel. Exciting times ahead.

2. Friends – new, old and lost

Friends (and family – my family are my best friends too) are so important to me. This is something that my Mom has brought me up to realise, and I really don’t know what I’d do without them. Since the 1st January 2011, after a whirlwind four-month PhD fieldwork research trip to China at the end of 2010, I have made so many new acquaintances, colleagues and life-long friends across the globe. Digital technologies have changed the way the world communicates making it so much easier to keep in touch with my international counterparts, though I will always keep the postal service alive sending letters and notes from wherever I am in the world. Writing letters and sending parcels is a dying art. Only a handful of my friends still do this and I appreciate it so much. Remembering occasions and being thoughtful is in my blood, I swear passed down from my Mom. As she keeps on telling me, making someone feel special…special for everything that they are, special for just being them…is one of the most important things in this life. Older members of my family have also told me that friendships come and go in your life…something that I can’t always get my head round especially after something that happened in June of this year. One of my closest friends decided to end our friendship of many years, and to this day I have no idea why…no idea why certain things were said to me and why I was made to feel the way that I did…completely destroyed. I have never in my life been made to feel that way by a so-called friend. It made me question everything about myself and whether I was that person I was being made out to be. It was a real struggle especially when I was dealing with so many other things (including number 8). At some stage during this life event, I had to trust what I thought and felt inside, and what I knew from other people…trust the fact that my other friends were, and are, still standing by my side, being there for me. Moving to China, in October this year (number 4), also made me realise who my real friends are, and in quite a surprising way. Good friends are hard to find, and they are amazing creatures to have in your life once you do find them. It is important to remember those who are no longer living with us…those even more super special friends who are still very much part of our lives and in our thoughts every single day. To my cornerstones…to “the box of trust”…to those that know me instinctively, inside out…a big thank you for all your love, kindness, encouragement, help, support and words of wisdom of over the past twelve months. Without you, I would not be who I am today.

3. Words about art…the art of words

In 2011, I have gone from my second to third year of PhD research into the translation through interpretation of contemporary Chinese art in the West since 1980, specifically the idea of a transcultural curator and transcultural curatorial practices. I have now started to write-up my 80,000 word thesis in addition to planning a series of curatorial happenings between China and the UK. My work life has stepped up a gear where my world is now made up of words (if you couldn’t already tell)…lots and lots of words. I get incredible word guilt…I would say on a daily basis…so I call myself “word girl” in my head. I have found new meaning to writers block, where it took me nearly nine months (until September 2011) before I could write something of any worth as part of a thesis chapter. Since being in China, I have actually managed to get into a good routine and head space in order to write so I’ll be handing in my first chapter in only a couple of weeks. On top of writing my thesis, I am being offered more and more freelance exhibition review and arts journalism work for some of the art worlds renowned magazines and specialist journals both online and in print…just odd articles here, there and everywhere. I have been a little overwhelmed by these opportunities and still question whether my words are of any worth. The strange thing is the day I got offered one of these jobs, a bookbinding colleague on Twitter said to me “never underestimate the power of one” in relation to my blog. Funny right? I’ll have more specific new about this in 2012.

4. China

I moved to Shanghai, China, in October of this year to carry on with my PhD research, lecture in visual arts at a private art and design academy and to carry on with all my other creative endeavours…independent curating, arts writing, bookbinding, book arts projects, running, cycling, ballet, eating, drinking, thinking, over-thinking, living and breathing. China has become quite a large part of my life since starting my research in 2009 and since spending four months here at the end of last year. Living in a place like this makes you realise how little you need to live and how much we take for granted in the West…things really happen here, happen and change fast in the blink of an eye. So now it really has become part of me…it’s culture caught under my skin and we’ll see how long for. That decision is yet to be made but will be in the early months of 2012. I’m enjoying my adventures here every day, even though you have your good Shanghai days and bad Shanghai days. You only know what these are if you’ve lived in Shanghai, right?

5. Cycling

This is one thing that I can’t live without – my bike. This is my English bike…my 1980′s Raleigh Wisp. I miss it so much. I’m currently riding around the streets of Shanghai on a black Chinese Battle bike that is too small for me. I swear if I invest in one of the beautiful custom-built single speed bikes that are so much cheaper to buy out here, it will get stolen in a flash. I wouldn’t be able to keep it in my apartment as I have a seven floor walk up. Cycling helps clear my mind and is good for my soul as it makes me smile. I cycle nearly everyday now and can’t ever see it not being a part of my life.

6. Weddings

2011 has definitely been the year of the wedding…going to or being invited to them. All of my friends seem to be at that age (if there is a certain age for it) of getting hitched (or having babies but I think that will appear in another years top ten list and not far off either!). I could only attend six from the nine invitations I received, as I was either out of the country or there was some other “personal” reason as to why I could not attend, as mentioned in number 2. For my closest friends, I handmade and bound their wedding books as my gift to them. I like doing this as it’s something so special. Here’s to Zoe and Dave, Jemma and Dave, Jackie and Chris, Aamna and Luke, Hannah and Chris, Heather and Dan, Frankie and John, Laura and Jim, and finally Liu Yi and Lu Wen Qing, I raise a glass (or mug of peppermint tea that I currently have) to you all, and wish you a world of happiness in your many years together. By the way, I already have three invitations for 2012…and so the wedding train continues.

7. Baking

Since becoming a homeowner in 2009, and since being a little ill during the past year (see number 8 below), I have become very interested in my kitchen and what goes into my food…how to make good food by choosing the right ingredients and thinking about every step of the cooking process. So instigated by my Gran’s (now infamous) ginger biscuit recipe (as you can see below), throughout 2011 I have become slightly obsessed with baking…baking cakes, biscuits, tarts, cheesecakes, desserts, pies, savouries…you name it, I’ll try and bake it. Carrot walnut and banana cake, cherry and almond cake, Victoria sponge, gingerbread loaf, maids of honour, jam tarts, baked raspberry cheesecake, Viennese biscuit cake, lemon drizzle cake, feta pesto muffins, lemon thins, wholewheat pizzas, bread and butter pudding, banana and raisin flapjack, soda bread, coconut snaps…the list goes on and on. For all parties and occasions, I will come accompanied with one of my “bakes”…it is almost expected now. People are known to be slightly addicted to the ginger biscuits, where batches are often baked on demand. I tried to make them here in Shanghai for Christmas Eve celebrations but they were a little bit of a disaster, even with Chinese ginger sugar and ginger powder that I thought would increase their potency they failed. I blame the table top oven and the imported baking powder…things that I’m not used to using so it completely throws you. You get used to your own oven right? I fear in 2012 I won’t be baking quite as much as I’ll be in China…unless I crack using the glossy red table top oven.

8. Health

Anyone who knows me well, knows that over the past few years, well since 2003, I’ve had something wrong with my renal and digestive systems that specialists, doctors and nurses just can’t seem to work out. This year, I was subjected to another series of very intrusive scans, tests and operations (cancelling my 28th birthday) that knocked my confidence, getting me further frustrated with my current health situation, as the results came out (mostly) inconclusive. Some of what I have to deal with can be controlled by my diet and daily routine…so I am often to blame for some of the times when I get ill. Control like this is hard sometimes, really hard…but then most of the time I don’t think anything of it. I’m forced to eat, drink and act healthier…I don’t eat meat, only fish…no more alcohol or caffeine…nothing acidic, processed, or anything that is basically bad for you…that can’t be a bad thing right? My routine medical tests for my visa in China also flagged up something new, which I wasn’t really prepared for and I have to get checked out in 2012. I never thought my body would start falling apart at such a young age. I hear a lot of my friends say that too. Through dealing with loved ones who have degenerative health conditions for my whole life, it has made me think differently about certain things…about what is and isn’t important in life…so that’s why number 2, friends (and family)…people are so important. Experiencing health issues either yourself or with/through other people really gives you a different perspective on, and appreciation of, life. I’m hoping that 2012 will be the year to finally find out what is going on with my body…perhaps with Chinese medicine, perhaps with Western…either way I hope a solution (or understanding) is there for me.

9. Food

If you read this blog regularly, you should know by now that I like to take pictures of virtually all the food that I eat wherever I am in the world. I’m not entirely sure why and how this happened. I think it might have something to do with the fact that, as I’ve said previously in numbers 7 and 8, I’ve become very interested in knowing what goes into the food I eat because of my health. I love the colour in food too…the natural colours. Foods have their own palette. You certainly are what you eat. I also think this obsession with photographing food comes from me constantly trying to archive my life just like in my fine art degree show back in 2005, where I typed on a typewriter over 30,000 6″ x 4″ ruled index cards, which were sorted into fifteen categories including aphorisms, statements, words, verbs, names, dreams, fears, all housed within an index card cabinet. I suppose this blog acts as a 21st Century version of archiving my life…the next stage up from the index card cabinet…I can’t wait to see what’s archived in 2012.

10. Ballet

Finally, I started ballet when I was very young with, I think, the Royal Ballet School at an accredited studio in Surrey. In the mid-1990s, my parents had to move north to the Midlands, UK, for work, so my ballet routine couldn’t really be maintained. It was hard to find a dance school that was even remotely comparable…so lessons stopped and it slowly disappeared from my life, apart from watching on-screen and stage with a slight ache in my heart. At the end of October this year, now aged 28, in my 28th changing year, I’ve started my love affair with it again. I joined a dance studio in Shanghai, round the corner from where I live, and I started ballet lessons all over again and it is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Just like cycling it helps clear my mind and is good for my soul as it makes me smile. Smile. Smile.

“I think as adults, we need to learn that there is no right or wrong way to play.” – Charlie Todd

So go out and play today…

I’m trying to find local bands and musicians to listen to from Shanghai, Beijing, China as a whole, not only for myself but to take back to my musician friends in the UK. So far, courtesy of going to gigs at a few clubs and bars, attending EP releases and also attending the Night Market at ‘Dada’ last week, I’ve come across some seriously good sounds. I’m not going to say noise as “noise” is a music genre in itself out here, which is incredibly popular…not my kinda thing though. My selection of finds includes ‘Hamacide’ and his album ‘Mighty Little Machine Remixes’……‘Dead J’ with his new album ‘tíng tái lóu gé‘……‘AM444′ who I would like to say are like a Chinese-Shanghai version of No Doubt/Gwen Stefani…’Plastic Chocolate’, a Shanghai/Korean group that I can’t find any information about online but I came across one track that sounds pretty good……‘Rainbow Danger Club’ with their album ‘Where Maps End’……and finally the ‘Bass Shelter’ EP. I asked people if they knew any electro-jazz-funk-sampling-bass-beat-folk-acoustic local music…a very broad-based request…and these were the recommendations I got. Pretty good I think. I have started chatting to ‘Hamacide’ by e-mail and hopefully he’s going to show me more of the local music scene here. I think a few friends back home will really appreciate what I’ve discovered and who knows, maybe they’ll inspire them somehow. Finding and listening to new music always breeds creativity in me, and fingers crossed helps to write more words of my PhD. It’s PhD Wednesday today so let’s see what happens.

Apart from music…I have been attending the land of contemporary performance, interactions with exhibitions, and collaboration with creatives…that and doing bookbinding workshops with the Jewellery students at AIVA, but I’ll talk about teaching another time. The contemporary performance event on Saturday evening was the ‘Legacy of Marina Abramovic –Future of Performance’ as part of ‘Taking the Stage OVER’ in collaboration with Space18 at Bund18. Another fantastic space in Shanghai. I have spoken previously about Abramovic’s work as I went to see ‘The Life and Death of Marina Abramović’ as part of the Manchester International Festival 2011 earlier this year.

‘Taking the Stage OVER’ is ‘a dynamic, year-long exhibition that attempts through a series of events, situations, and happenings, to activate an important chapter in the history of contemporary art from the last decade. The artists featured developed their own projects related to live art, performance, theater, situations, actions and other live aspects in art presented on “the stage” and its various manifestations at multiple sites throughout Shanghai.’ An interesting concept and project developed by the Shanghai-based independent curator Biljana Ciric.

During the evening screening, an interview between Jovana Stokic and Marina Abramovic from 2009 at the ‘Marina Abramovic Studio’ in ‘Location 1′ was shown (which you can also see through the last link). In this, you hear Abramovic recite ‘An artist’s life Manifesto’ which can be read here…I have stated part one below:

1. An artist’s conduct in his life:

– An artist should not lie to himself or others
– An artist should not steal ideas from other artists
– An artist should not compromise for themselves or in regards to the art market
– An artist should not kill other human beings
– An artist should not make themselves into an idol
– An artist should not make themselves into an idol
– An artist should not make themselves into an idol

‘I put my own life into performance; body is the subject and object in my work; I ritualise everyday life to make things simple, making things minimal to almost nothing, leaving a pure presence of the performer and public in the space; body and mind in the space as it happens; bringing the public to a special state of mind for transition; performance becomes life itself; I am interested in legacy, building a legacy.’

In addition to this insight into her practice, another short film was played about Abramovic’s new project in Monte Negro called the ‘Marina Abramovic Community Center Obod Cetinje’ (MACCO Cetinje) to be built in a derelict fridge factory which opened in 1953, the largest in eastern European at that time giving local people 8000 jobs. In the video, as shown below, Abramovic gives a personal insight into why she is setting up this new centre…it is incredibly inspirational to hear what she wants to achieve.

After the screening Jovana Stokic, curator of the ‘Marina Abramovic Studio’ gave a further introduction to Abramovic and her work through Skype in a conversation with the project curator Biljana Ciric and Q&A session with the audience.

On Monday evening, two exhibitions opened at the Minsheng Art Museum. The first was ‘Eternal Sunshine’ by the New York-based artist and filmmaker Marc Lafia, presented by Mathieu Borysevicz from the Shanghai Gallery of Art. Here, Lafia transforms the virtual space of online social networks into a large-scale interactive installation involving video, sculptures, and audience participation. It brings together a number of techno-social concerns that have been central to Lafia’s artistic career, in particular, his interest in how our environments are programmable, and how we are all part of an elaborate program that is as real as it is virtual.

‘‘Eternal Sunshine’ is constructed around an imaginary swimming pool which helps to set the scene of a warm summer afternoon. Strewn around the pool are lounge areas, a ping-pong table, video monitors, an open microphone, electric guitar, and other activity stations including a series of ad hoc questions listed on a blackboard that encourages audience feedback. Surveys ask audience members to list their favorite books, films, vacation spots, and emails. Free refreshments, art and dance classes, karaoke sessions and popular magazines are provided as a way to retain the audience and encourage them to customize the space to fit their own expressions, needs and tastes. While this open recreational space is fun and relaxing, it is also a laboratory, a place to inventory people’s likes and dislikes, their fears, pleasures, intimate longings and desires. In one corner of the room we see signs, ‘more happy music’, ‘more sun’ ‘evacuate’. These signals suggest that this enjoyable place is actually pre-designed, a software program beyond our control. The signs also suggest that the environment is continually being optimized and personalized. In fact museum staff will update any requests of the participants, whether it is to play their favorite songs, change the color of the lighting or add their favorite flavor refreshment, all in effort to streamline the eternal sunshine of utopia. Eternal Sunshine employs art as an event and uses networks, both private and public, to affect a cultural space that produces in the end, what we know as globalization.’ – Marc Lafia

This was an adults (and children’s) playground for the evening. It was really good to see some Shanghai’s art world getting involved with this playful interactive installation instead of usually seeing them in a formalised private view context…to see curator Hou Hanru, and gallery Director Mathieu Borysevicz play the drums, and gallery workers play ping-pong, eat pizza whilst sitting on the floor, and sing karaoke. This felt like more of a summer social than a formal exhibition opening. Perfect. During this time, Lafia also gets you thinking about how social networks and interactions work and “play” in our daily lives…how narratives are constructed of our lives both in reality and virtually online…where and how do I fit in with all of this? And can I drop my guard, stop thinking so much and get involved? Let’s play!

One artwork really emphasised these notions. Called ‘Hi How are You Guest 10497′, it is a video piece ‘which brings us back into a contemporary moment, where we live inside cinema, inside the network, and where one can reach out across global networks to connect to other ‘private’ spaces. The video portrays the network life of a young woman. In her solitude she remains connected — however ethereally, however precariously — to the world around her. Here we begin to sense that the world has become one global network where identity is always and already expressive, always and already enmeshed in the web of becoming.’ As you sat in the armchair, immersed by the video imagery and the surrounding photographs of Lafia’s conversations with hundreds of (random) people online, you couldn’t help but feel like just another person in this huge network that exists online…questioning your worth and position in the world. Who and what am I in this all?

The second opening at Minsheng Art Museum was for the exhibition ‘Voyager/Rencontrer’ by filmmaker Robert Cahen, curated by Hou Hanru, It presents the artist’s video creations since 1980s. Most of the works are results of his travel experience to various parts of the world, bringing viewers into a veritable floating world navigating between reality and fiction. There were two works I spent a lot of time with…’The Circle’ (2005) and ‘Winter Landscape’ (2005)…silent landscapes of escapism, very different to the energy of the exhibition upstairs. Therefore, there was a strange paradigm between the two shows…from the sublime, peaceful realities from Cahen’s travel experiences, to interactions with real and virtual identities as part of Lafia’s. There was certainly a conversation between the two, even if not intended.

Once the bike was repaired, Lisa and I were back on the road to go and have lunch with her partner Barry. At the moment, I am trying to have what I call “real” experiences in China, like the Communist-style lunch I mentioned in a previous post when I visited the Hero artists studios in Tapou. Barry said they have a similar set up in their office building where his company is, using the same plastic food tokens, eating communally in the basement. So I got myself an invitation to eat with him and his employees. Their lunchtime started on “real” China time at 11.30am rather than 12pm. From the food on offer (apparently they cook different food nearly everyday), I chose radish, mixed vegetables, tofu and greens, salted fish, white rice and a chicken stock soup. The tofu and greens I really liked, along with the random eating experience, and it was all for less that 10 kuai (£1).

Later on that Tuesday evening, I went for dinner with Zheng Weimin founder of ‘ddm Warehouse’ and ‘ARTLINKART’, and the contemporary artists Jin Shan and Girolamo Marri who I saw the next day back at the Hero Pen Factory Studios (mentioned later in this blog post). It was an opportunity for me to talk to Zheng Weimin about the projects I am currently working on, specifically the Guangzhou Triennial 2012, and my PhD research, and it was also a chance to get to know Jin Shan and Girolamo a little better (and have a little gossip about the contemporary Chinese art world…it is amazing how interlinked people are here). Zheng Weimin offered to support the off-site Guangzhou Triennial 2012 digitally through a possible website and ‘ARTLINKART’ so now I am definitely considering a digital facet to the project.

After dinner, we all went to a cafe on Wukang Lu/Anfu Lu called the ‘Marienbad Cafe’ where I had a cup of peppermint tea and further chats. In the cafe was a slightly crazed and skittish kitten that kept on racing round the room, running towards you as if it was going to fight with you…only to play fight though. In Shanghai, well China generally, there are cats and kittens everywhere you go…in shops, restaurants, the wet markets, on the streets, some feral, some house trained. At night, in my apartment complex, you can hear them sing a midnight chorus resembling the sound of babies crying…it is a little unnerving.

The next day, PhD Wednesday as I call it, it was time for a second visit to the Hero artists studios in Tapou that I visited two weeks back, and time for another Communist-style lunch. This time I had pumpkin and broad beans, tofu with greens (like I’d had the day before) and white rice. I love pumpkin, and they seem to eat so much of it here, whereas in the UK you barely see it at all. I was here to see Girolamo Marri and Chen Hangfeng‘s new studio spaces that they had only moved into a few weeks ago.

Girolamo talked through works including ‘Opinions in Shanghai’ and ‘Opinions in Bratislava‘, ‘The graft‘, and ‘Ordinanze sindacali in caso di decesso di porto (municipal ordinances in case of decease of a port)‘. A very articulate artist with humourous undertones to his practice, Girolamo has a real sense of cultural and social identity as part of his concepts whilst explicitly citing and commenting on the work of other contemporary artists. I particularly liked the relationship between the video works ‘Opinions in Shanghai’ and ‘Opinions in Bratislava‘ that I think would make a very interesting dialogue when shown in parallel. I look forward to discussing his practice further over the coming months.

The afternoon had somehow run away with itself so I didn’t have much time to go and see Chen Hangfeng‘s new studio that was extremely chilly in comparison to Girolamo’s. Brrrrrrr. Hangfeng is still in the process of settling in and negotiating his studio. It is a phenomenal space though. It is very interesting to see how Girolamo, Hangfeng and Jin Shan used there studios…in such different ways. I can see myself spending a lot of time here over the coming months…creative dialogues unfolding and (hopefully) projects in the making. Until next time Hero Pen Factory…