ProjektChina

// In Construction //

2010-02-28T21:42:00.002+01:00

Series 2 // Poster Series

2009-11-13T11:34:00.001+01:00

http://liasatzinger.blogspot.com/

Series 2 // The Subversive and Censored Cinema of Eastern Europe

2009-11-03T11:32:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

Thank you to everyone who made it to our first series 'Gender and Differentiation.'

Our second themed four weeks is running under the title 'The Subversive and Censored Cinema of Eastern Europe.' Under this theme we hope to explore the very serious issue of how the moving image can be considered such an extreme form of artistic anarchy; and as a result, the films we are showing have been considered either too political to be shown or have created a grave question-mark over the integrity of their films. These issues have often concluding in the film-maker not being able to work in his or her own country. Due to the nature of these films and the fairly-recent lifting of their ban it is with great shame that they still have not been widely distributed. We believe that the quality of these films, due to both the highly political atmosphere in which they were made, combined with being spawned during the experimental 60's - 70's new-wave-film era, have produced some of the most engaging, exciting and captivating works.

This series is truly not one to be missed, and we hope to see you there!

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Where :: Sassoon Gallery (Behind Bar Story, Under Peckham Rye Train Station Railway Arches)

When :: Every Tuesday, 7.30pm

Price :: Free

Tuesday 3rd November - The Round-Up Miklós Jancsó (1965 Hungary)

Tuesday 10th November - A short to be shown marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall followed by: The Party and the Guests by Jan Němec (1966 Czechoslovakia)

Tuesday 17th November - The Ear - Karel Kachyna (1970 Czechoslovakia)

Tuesday 24th November - On the Silver Globe - Andrzej Żuławski (Poland 1977 - 1987)

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Hope to see you there!

Lydia and Rachel

START A DISCUSSION, OUR FACEBOOK PAGE ----->> http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Skawinski-and-Marshall-Films/298185995713?ref=nf

Final Rooftop Screening :: Fritz Lang 'Metropolis'

2009-09-17T15:28:00.001+02:00

Dear all,

Thank you to everyone who has made it over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, due to a mix-up of dates, next week will be the last screening on the car-park roof due to the fact that Franks Bar will officially be no more after the 27th September.

With this in mind, we have decided to change the schedule and play our original last-in-the-car-park series; Fritz Lang 'Metropolis' (1927). We think that this film is not to be missed given the surroundings in which it will be screened. Of course invite your friends, but make sure you bring plenty of blankets / cushions / hot toddy's etc; anything to keep you warm.

Again, due to the bar being closed, please send us an email to rachelandlydia@gmail.com (if you don't already have our phone numbers) so we know you are coming and can let you in at the gates.

Place :: Franks Campari Bar, Peckham (above Peckham Multi-Plex)
Time :: Monday 21st September, 8.00 pm
Price :: Free

We will let you know where we will be moving to; alternatively keep checking our blog for more info: http://www.skawinskiandmarshallfilms.blogspot.com/

See you there,

Lydia and Rachel

Roof top screening No.2

2009-09-11T15:27:00.002+02:00

Thank you to everyone who came to our first film night, was a great success - we thought it looked great and were more than happy with the way everything panned out. A huge thank you goes to Rupert and Dave who helped set everything up and let us pinch their sound system and projector for the evening....

So with that, we would like to invite you all to the next in our film series; Věra Chytilová 'Daisies' (1966). The screening will be at the same place (F rank's Campari bar), on the 14th September at 8.00 pm. As before, due to the bar being closed, please email us at rachelandlydia@gmail.com (if you don't already have our phone numbers) so we know you are coming and can let you in at the gates. Again, feel free to bring friends, but we are required to keep numbers to a minimum, so perhaps not too many.

Hope to see you there, bring blankets (it may get cold) and a hot flask of whatever you like,

See you there,

Lydia and Rachel

For more info --->> http://www.skawinskiandmarshallfilms.blogspot.com/

Rooftop Screening No.1

2009-09-04T18:19:00.002+02:00

Hello hello all you film lovers!

We would like to invite you to the first roof top cinema event, join us at Frank's Campari bar for our selected series of films. Beginning Monday the 7th of September at 8.00pm with the screening of JacquesTati's 'Playtime' (1967). More info about the films in the series can be found at skawinskiandmarshallfilms.blogspot.com (please bear with us regarding updates!).

Due to the fact that Frank's is closed on Mondays it would be handy ify ou could rsvp if you are attending by sending us an email at rachelandlydia@gmail.com (where we will give you a phone number to call) so we can let you in at the gates. Feel free to bring friends, however we are required to keep numbers to a minimum so perhaps not too many.

We hope you all can make it...bring some blankets and a hot flask ofwhatever you like.

See you there.

Lydia and Rachel

Any queries, please don't hesitate to send us an email to the above address. cheers!

16 Seconds :: Whitstable

2009-09-03T13:48:00.012+02:00

Here's some small mobile-phone video diary entries of my time in Whitstable.

The sea

A young couple on a date, let me film their crabbing bucket. When I was little, my granny would take out all of the cousins to the seaside in Suffolk, where we would go crabbing and eat tomato ketchup sandwiches.

The used shells from thousands of shellfish.

The used shells from thousands of shellfish no.2.

The used shells from thousands of shellfish no.3.

Wind through the boat masts.

Wind through the alley of boat masts.

Seafront houses.

2009-08-15T22:01:00.002+02:00

Rachel Marshall at one end of Žilvinas Kempinas Tube
(Lithuanian Pavilion 53rd International Art Exhibition)
Photo: Lydia Skawinski-Shearer

Žilvinas Kempinas Tube was one of the first pieces that we managed to see at the Biennale. When I say 'managed' this was us somehow managing to blag ourselves into the preview of the Lithuanian opening. It was one of the works throughout the entire Biennale which we all kept talking about, and while I did not forget about it in my initial posting of my Venice musings - I simply wanted to wait until I got my photograph developed.
Please look out for this artist, as his work is so aesthetically and physically interesting and powerful, if you see his name at a gallery near you - make sure you visit...

// Crazy English is a 1999 Chinese documentary directed by Zhang Yuan. //

2009-07-25T16:20:00.007+02:00

'Crazy English' by Zhang Yuan follows Li Yang, the founder of 'Crazy English', in his quest to teach millions of Chinese the English language. He is keen to re-iterate in each of his 'motivational' speeches; the pure linguistic necessity of learning English will therefore lead China into becoming the dominant international society. i.e. there will be a snowball effect, where, by learning English now - will mean in the future the rest of the world will be learning Chinese.

This is all very well, but Li Yang's methods and his attitude become more and more disconcerting as the film progresses. His (masked) 'motivation', which he preaches to his followers, is to help them lead better lives and to make China a more prominent player in the international economy; actually reveals him as being heavily nationalistic, to the point where, in my opinion, he becomes quite shockingly fascist.

As wikipedia rightly extrapolates: "Li Yang's mass rallies begin to resemble Mao-era Red Guard
rallies or even Hitler's Nuremberg Rally." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_English_(film)

For me, I also found it a difficult film to watch, as I often found myself confused as to where Zhang Yuan's prerogative lay. At points the film seems to be focused on his own (Zhang Yuan's) admiration for Li Yang, at other times his pointed disgust as he follows Li Yang and his own concern as to the powers of persuasion that can follow such celebrated persons.
It is also one of those films that I know will sit in my head and continue to be thought about. A powerful insight into a popular figure in China, and alarming that an individual can command such a profile and respect from a large segment of a society can still exist.

You can watch the film here http://www.theauteurs.com/films/1307 for a bargain at £3

/// Photo's to be published in Revista Simples Magazine!///

2009-07-06T01:01:00.005+02:00

So as it turns out - the power of flickr really works... I've just been contacted by Revista Simples Magazine in Brazil, asking to publish six of my photographs from China for an article they are covering regarding Beijing and 'pop things' in China. I think that the magazine is available online and is due to go live in the next few weeks. I'm really excited about it, so keep an eye out... Click here to get taken to the webpage....

±±±± Carshalton Carnival 2009 Balloon Race ±±±±

2009-06-16T15:50:00.006+02:00

Yesterday, I found this card sitting outside my front door. I love it! It's a card which was previously attached to a balloon and set free all the way from Carshalton Carnival in Surrey, which has since floated and found its way to Peckham, London. Apparently a prize will be sent to the finder of the balloon which has travelled the farthest. It's very message in a bottle... You can follow the finding of the balloons by clicking: here which will take you onto the main carnival webpage, from which there is a tracking page attached. One has already been found in Holland, which is incredible...!

If you have time, check out their photo archive. There are some wonderful photographs showing the floats / costumes etc. One of my favourites being the 'meals on wheels' van with a Papier-mâché elephant on the top.

:: Review: La Biennale di Venezia:::

2009-06-12T13:28:00.029+02:00

Since returning from Venice Biennale I have been sitting down trying to work out how to write this post. It goes without saying that the Biennale is enormous, and the problem is - is that I saw so much incredible art that I am dubious of making this into a very long and tedious post. The trip for me was particularly refreshing, and I think this also plays largely to the fact that I went with all artists, rather than art historians. To me I think this provided a new way in which to think and look at art; not to be overtly critical and cynical as my education has taught me, but to appreciate art from different angles etc. I came away from the Biennale feeling completely rejuvenated and excited about art and the possible manifestations of my own personal projects which are deep in my head which came about from firstly being inspired by the show itself, but also from the huge dialogues which thus ensued among our group.

First and foremost, The Peckham Pavilion [[ http://www.peckhampavilion.com/ ]] truly exceeded peoples expectations. Being from Peckham, I'm biased, but really, Hannah Barry Gallery really served as a massive inspiration. Not only had the gallery managed to get a superb spot (in between the two main paid arena's - thus ensuring that all the big-wigs of the artworld were unable to avoid the space), but I was also very impressed with the quality of the art work. On the plane on the way back - I overheard a couple who were singing the praises of Hannah Barry and her intuition, as such a young gallery, to have opened for a week in the worlds most important art show, already the attention surrounding the gallery is rocketing. Just open last Sunday's Observer Newspaper Review or click here to get an idea of the impact the gallery is making (and subsequently to the South-East London area). It really is quite impressive.

Before I proceed into an indulgent jaunt of the countries / artists which really struck me as having that little something else, I must say, the two pavilions which really proved to be a massive disappointment were the supposed heavy-weights: America and Britain.

Firstly, America's choice of Brauce Nauman; I just thought 'my God, what a bore.' That's not to say that I don't think Brauce Nauman is a bad artist, quite the opposite. I've studied large amounts of his work, and I think he's fantastic, but we all know he's fantastic, and I mean, really most of the work that was shown was from his early years as an artist. In my mind the point of the Biennale is that it serves as a representative of the up-and-coming contemporary artists. It just felt like a cop-out to have a well-known artist to such an extent that he's already verging on the level of household-name-fame. Also, I found it slightly disconcerting: is this all that America can come up with? Where's the next generation? Oh-well, it was fun to see some works which I've studied, but never seen...

Bruce Nauman, Double Poke in the Eye (year?)

Britain's representative Steve McQueen entered his film Giardini, (2009) which was intended to be a reflection of the politics behind the Biennale, the positioning of the pavilions etc etc. The film aesthetically was beautiful, and as it turned out - I think it was one of those films that I wished I hadn't read anything about pre-watch. The split screen showed two different long-shot camera angles of the same scene, ranging from some quite haunting men outside in the rain smoking, to dogs scavenging to some beautiful nature shots. Yet for me, the film was too conceptual. Don't get me wrong, I adore the conceptual, but having read the blurb beforehand, I felt that I just spent too long trying to tie the pieces of the puzzle together, hazarding guesses on the meaning and ended up feeling that it was just too much on the verge of airy-fairy-arty-farty. However, my friend (who shared the same sentiment) re-visited the screening, and ended up really appreciating it. Perhaps I just over-thought it. I must say though, I did feel like the way in which it was shown was substandard. As only 60 people were allowed into the screening at a time - you were very lucky if you managed to nab a place, as all showings were filled faster than you can say STEVE MCQUEEN. Considering the space that they could have used to get people into, I can't really understand it. I'm sure there must have been some curatorial strategy, so fair 'nuff.

A quick fly by the other pavilions which to me deserve a big nod, goes a bit like this:

The Thai Pavilion was transformed into a tourist office the: 'Gondola al Paradiso,' which with the right amount of irony and wit - took a stab at the myths behind the heavily increasing tourist sector. The show, although heavily lined with humour - had a much darker political undercurrent; with the sex-trade and Thai-brides being very much at the centre. For me, it also raised questions of the notion of 'racist-love,' the idea that Western-tourists assume a 'sweet and beautiful' identity upon South-East Asian population. The artists involved were Michael Shaowanasai, Sakarin Krue-on, Sudsiri Pui-ock, Suport Shoosongdej and Wantanee Siripattananuntakul. Definately artists which I'm going to be keeping an eye out for.

Germany's Pavilion was another feat. The artist which they chose being Liam Gillick was perhaps the most significant part of the exhibition. I really felt like it was extremely forward thinking of Germany to pick a British artist. I mean it's not even as if he is of decent, he really is proper-full-on British, he simply does the large majority of his artistic practice in Germany. This is absolutely wonderful to me - and proves that the world really is starting to take steps closer to loosing the constraints of borders and the long-and-tiresome-suffering restrictions of the idea of national identity. Anyway, without going off on too much of a tangent, his work was also unsurprisingly fantastic. I am a big advocate of his works, and for me it is always difficult for him to disappoint. For now, please look at the link for a full explanation of his works:: LINK
Not only was the concept behind his work incredibly interesting, the way in which he had worked with the building was aesthetically very clean, simple, minimal and functional. It also seemed to function with the building in the sense of the grandiose, yet without seeming empowering.

Liam Gillick, Deutscher Pavillon, 2009

A Satellite exhibition by Robert Gligorov proved very popular between the group. Most significantly this piece shown below. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost my notes about this work - so I can't find the title or what our exact thoughts at the time were. The most talked about piece is the one below, which featured a fairly large-ish bird cage, attached on top of a piano with bird roosts connected to piano keys, and when one of the (live) birds flew onto a roost - it would subsequently play the appropriate key. Our assumption also lay in the fact that the keys which Gligorov had chosen were those of a more 'sinister' cord. The work was really quite disturbing, sad and I'm sure not 100% ethical, but our final conclusion was that it got us all into quite a heated debate - and provoked many questions, which for me - identifies itself as a compelling art work.

Robert Gligorov

The Chinese Pavilion actually proved to be slightly disappointing for me. Again, they used artists which are quite old and big-named within the Chinese art circle, and although obviously I am aware that Chinese artists are not as well-known as many Western artists, I still thought that they could have done something a little more interesting. The space which they had, however, was very interesting, but I imagine very difficult to curate. It was extremely industrial with pipes sticking out everywhere, although, I think that this style is very symptomatic of many of the art spaces used in China (just take the 798 Art Area in Beijing which is built within former factories), so I think that the works and curator could have been more imaginative. The most impressive was Liu Ding, who had built sort of fridges containing different themes of a utopia, as according to different cultures, critiquing the low / high brow culture. It was interesting, but I felt I needed more blurb, (this was also probably due to the fact that by now it was the end of a week of being heavily saturated in art...)

Liu Ding, Liu Ding's Store: The Utopian Future of Art, Our Reality

(To be honest, I didn't even go into this pavilion - but there was so much hype around this piece that I thought I would jump on the band-wagon and take a photo....)

The dead collector Mr B, by the artist-curators Elmgreen and Dragset (Danish and Norwegian)

The Australian Pavilion was another big hit. Shaun Gladwell's video, although extremely macho was beautifully filmed as a long-shot, showing a sparce, open and stereotypically Australian road. A motorbike, with rider dressed head-to-toe in black biking leathers, pulls up to the side of the road and picks up a kangeroo road-kill and picking it up, he walks around stroking it in a sort of paternal / maternal 'goodbye.' The performance was poignant and surprisingly (given from my brief description) not as contrived as I may have made it sound.

Shaun Gladwell

Speed up // bullet points...:

Russia's pavilion really trumped above many others. Most particularly Pavel Pepperstein whose illustrations resonated in cynism and wit:

Pavel Pepperstein

I'm a huge sucker for all things neon, so I really fell for the Chile Pavilion artist Ivan Navarro's works. This was one of the last pavilions that I managed to get a look in to before the day was up, so I was feeling on my last legs, hence the lack of further description. Also, disappointingly, when I asked for further reading, the invigilator told me that they didn't have any left - so I just decided to read the works purely for their aesthetic. Although, I suppose it says it all in the suggestive titles.

Ivan Navarro, Death Row, 2006

Ivan Navarro, Death Row (Installation View), 2006

This piece Bed was hard to photograph; one had to look down a sort of well and these large neon lights sunk down and down into the well.

Ivan Navarro, Bed, 2009

A hard to capture photo - but this work was fantastic. Spanning inside a large pitch black space, full of modern day technological operators (i.e. microwaves / computers / alarm clocks / fridges etc) all on stand-by; Chu Yun's humourous title Constellation No.3 drives home a more serious message; as we stand in our own artificial micro-constellation, the extent of our electrical consumption more than apparent, but I liked this non-preachy way of driving home a point.

Chu Yun, Constallation No.3, 2009

Last but in no way least is the Czech and Slovak Pavilion, this yeah hosting the Slovakian artist Roman Ondak. Ondak had quite literally moved the outside in. After studying the flora in and around the Czech / Slovak Pavilion, Ondak planted the same specimen's inside the space, raising the floor by a foot. What I thought was most interesting about this piece, was from watching people, it became apparent that not many people had even realised that they had entered and left a pavilion at all. The work leads people straight from one door to another and there is no obvious sign which points out that this is, in fact, an art work. I asked the invigilator, and she said that many people do walk straight through, and then return to ask her where the pavilion is.
Once the biennale is finished, Ondak is re-planting the works outside of the pavilion, so the work really has an engaging durational feel to it. I adored this work, I found it to be reflective, contemplative and very calming. More about this artist can be found HERE.

Roman Ondak, 53rd Venice Biennale Czech and Slovak Pavilion, 2009
(Photograph courtesy the Guardian Website)

I hope I haven't garbled on for too long, although I suspect I have... congratulations (!?) for getting this far...

// La Biennale di Venezia è un organismo non-profit sostenuto dallo stato italiano. //

2009-05-29T04:02:00.007+02:00

As an impoverished-inbetweener-trying-to-get-a-job-post student-in-the-midst-of-an-economic-crisis-which-is-just-become-boring-by-now; a very close friend of mine has just bought me a flight to Venice to join them for the Biennale for my birthday present! What a wonderful friend eh.

So now, instead of being green-eyed from receiving countless e-flux pavilion email updates; I am slowly making my way back through them and getting more and more excited. As I am only going for a couple of days, it will have to be a mad dash around everything from Bruce Nauman to Krzysztof Wodiczko, to name a couple, (as well as taking time to explore Venice - it's my first time...)

What I find interesting in the director Daniel Birnbaum's theme 'Making Worlds,' is that it is not a direct design towards the theme of globalisation (which in my eyes is becoming close to turning into a cliché at the moment). But rather, his thought:

“The title of the exhibition, Fare Mondi // Making Worlds, expresses my wish to emphasize the process of creation. A work of art represents a vision of the world and if taken seriously it can be seen as a way of making a world. The strength of the vision is not dependent on the kind or complexity of the tools brought into play. Hence all forms of artistic expression are present: installation art, video and film, sculpture, performance, painting and drawing, and a live parade. Taking 'worldmaking' as a starting point, also allows the exhibition to highlight the fundamental importance of certain key artists for the creativity of successive generations, just as much as exploring new spaces for art to unfold outside the institutional context and beyond the expectations of the art market. Fare Mondi // Making Worlds is an exhibition driven by the aspiration to explore worlds around us as well as worlds ahead. It is about possible new beginnings—this is what I would like to share with the visitors of the Biennale.” (Courtesy http://www.labiennale.org/en/news/art/en/80730.html )

I am very interested to see how the artists will respond to this title, by producing something that I hope and expect, to be both an original and thought-provoking artistic approach to the subject.

My thoughts will follow over the next few weeks...

http://www.labiennale.org/en/

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born February 24, 1942)

2009-05-21T15:50:00.003+02:00

Courtesy of Clare Solomon.

:: Gayatri Spivak speaking at Goldsmiths (University of London) :: 11th May 2009 ::
"Old Women"
(more analysis to come later....)

Jan Němec (July 12, 1936, Prague) // Jan Němec (12. července 1936, Praha) // The Party and the Guests // O slavnosti a hostech

2009-04-17T18:06:00.009+02:00

The Party and The Guests by Jan Němec (and written by Ester Krumbachová) is a tour-de-force of cinema. Notoriously distinguished for being banned 'forever' in its native country Czechoslovakia as Peter Hames states:

"It was one of four films that was listed as being banned forever... some were politically subversive, or seen to be critical of the system, others were simply banned because they were considered to be elitist or incomprehensible and yet others were banned simply because the film makers were not approved of. And in the case of the party and the guests it came under all three categories." (from the Party and The Guests special features section)

Although Němec denies that the film was supposed to be critical of the communist regime (even up till this day), rather it is about the 'kind of mafia' (Hames) that exist in every society. In my eyes - there are unequivocal analogies towards the communistic / dictatorship Czechoslovakian society. For instance; the 'thugs,' operate in the same vein as the secret police - even so far as when everyone sits down for the banquet - we see the thugs scattering themselves in-between the guests, no further explanation necessary... or even down to the party's host and his newly adopted and devoted son (the son is clearly the leader of the thugs - ordering them to beat-up one of the guests in what is supposedly a joke....) - as while not in the communist style - but it does allude to a authoritarian regime of passing the reigning baton down as it were: think North Korea Kim II-Sung and Kim Jong-II or Iraq Saddam and Uday Hussein.

The style and writing of the film is incredibly clever; the plot has no obvious protagonist - rather follows a group of people who are on their way to attend a banquet. On the way they are captured by the Host's adopted son (who they are unaware of at this stage) and his band of thugs - divided and forced into standing in a drawn-out-mock-pen and subjected into a bizarre interrogation. When one of the guests has enough of this situation and leaves the pen, he is set-upon by the adopted son's henchmen the second his foot crosses the line. All of this transpires to be some sort of practical joke by the son when the host walks into what is happening. Understandably, the guests are shaken - but all is forgiven (the adopted son puts it down to the fact that he is an actor) and they proceed to the banquet. The henchmen assume their places amongst the guests - when it transpires that one of our original guests has gone and his wife discovers she is sitting in the wrong seat (which eventuates into a musical chairs farce). The Host, irritated, is calmed by the son when he suggests going to find the missing guest, as it is assumed that he left because he was so upset with the earlier practical joke. Everyone agrees, and the men set off on what, we as viewers are to assume, a man hunt - complete with a dog, with a known taste for blood. The women are left behind, and the film ends when the last candle is snuffed out and we hear the dog viciously barking in the background.

This short overview does not do the film justice in the slightest; Němec's piece has much much more to be read into, and it should also not be forgotten that stylistically, he has drawn many influences from the earlier surrealist film makers such as Buñuel and the rest.

The Party and the Guests, is an important piece of film which stands firm in the canon and I would highly recommend it.

China // Beijing (help·info) (pronounced /beɪˈdʒɪŋ/ or /beɪˈʒɪŋ/ in English; Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng; IPA: [pèitɕíŋ]; Wade-Giles: Peiching or Pei

2009-04-17T18:06:00.008+02:00

The time has eventually come and I am off to Beijing on Monday!

As the first time that I will be visiting Mainland China, I am exceptionally excited and am planning on considering it a research trip for future work and writings. During my six month internship in Berlin (at a Chinese art gallery) I was fortunate enough to meet Chen Yang who is at the beginnings of her enterprise WiE Kultur: A research platform for the promotion of Chinese arts and culture, and who I will be going back to work with in Berlin this coming summer. With both of us being in Beijing at the same time, I am incredibly looking forward to making this an extremely productive and interesting trip.

Not only this, but my trip will also coincide with the opening of Art Beijing - and while I am not particularly fond on art fairs (at all really) what this will mean is a whole heap of satellite exhibitions / interventions (one can hope anyway...) and just a general exhilarating time to be in the city.

If anyone can suggest some must-do's / see's etc, particularly stuff which I wouldn't find in a guide book, I would much appreciate some direction, as I want to fit as much as is feasibly possible into the week.

(Both) Ai Weiwei - series "Fingers"
- I will admit I am not sure when these were taken, they are poached off the internet.... A Very obvious choice of Chinese artist to post in my excitement, I know - but I am a big fan of this series.

The Wayward Cloud (traditional Chinese: 天邊一朵雲; pinyin: Tianbian yiduoyun) // Tsai Ming-liang

2009-04-17T17:06:00.003+02:00

I eventually watched The Wayward Cloud by Tsai Ming Liang, and was quite surprised by it. Although I knew that that the plot is founded between a water shortage crisis (again a popular theme of Tsai's - and reminiscent of Sontag's Illness as Metaphor theory) in Taiwan and a couple who are at the beginning of their courting phase (and un-beknown to her - until the final scene - he works as a porn-star), but I have to admit I was shocked by how explicit the film really goes. [This was probably rather exaggerated as I watched the film with my Mum, cue a lot of awkward squirming and blushing....]

I'm not really sure of where it leaves you, the viewer, positioned at the end of it. But I suppose that this is a common feature of Tsai Ming-Liang's films (to mention The River et al). In the last scene, our female protagonist (Shiang-Chyi) uncovers the truth, as she nearly walks into the porn set, while her 'man' (Hsiao-Kang) is having arduous sex with an un-concious / dead (we're not entirely sure) woman. Shiang-Chyi becomes the voyeur through the window, Hsiao-Kang sees her and then holding eye contact with her, starts really fucking the limp body (obviously - he's really fucking Shiang-Chyi)... it seems to me that Shiang-Chyi is enjoying this experience - but them just as Hsiao-Kang is about to ejaculate he jumps up - and shoves his dick down Shiang-Chyi's mouth. She chokes and gags a little bit - but doesn't move away.

So where does this leave us as the viewer? Especially as a female viewer? Thinking out loud and with Sontag's theory in mind: Is porn the illness, and is the water shortage causing this 'disease'? Is Tsai saying that pornography is a 'disease'? (N.B. porn as 'disease' is not my sentiment)

What does interest me, is that this film is largely considered a 'fun' film. Of course it is, but I think that people concentrate on Tsai's usual campy interlude's (a couple of which I have posted here). Sure, I will be the first to admit - that these clips are composed incredibly, in terms of cinematography / music etc - and really are an excellent and integral part to the film. I think without which, the film would become far too self-serious and would probably leave the viewer quite disturbed (if it only consisted on Tsai's long shots and unsettling scene's such as the one mentioned). But in my opinion, people have a habit of focusing largely on these scenes and 'forgetting' the real dark message which lurks beneath.

Tsai Ming-Liang really has pushed the boundaries with The Wayward Cloud and subsequently has produced a film which opens up a huge dialogue. It is a film which should be watched by all, as it really is fantastic and in places fantastical....

The last youtube that I have posted here may not want to be watched by people who are easily offended by sexuality....

// G20 Meltdown //

2009-04-17T16:38:00.003+02:00

Here's a couple of my photographs from the G20 Meltdown protest. More can be found here !

Slavoj Žižek

2009-03-22T15:00:00.003+01:00

Slavoj Žižek talk: 'Why Todestrieb is a Philosophical Concept' 6th of March, at the ICI Berlin.
Photo, Lydia Skawinski-Shearer
(Taken with a Minox 35 GT)

//// News flash \\\

2009-03-04T12:58:00.006+01:00

I have just received some very very exciting news... Slavoj Žižek is to be holding a public talk for FREE on the subject of 'Why Todestrieb is a Philosophical Concept' on the 6th of March (in Berlin)... details:

The lecture will be held in English and will begin at 16:00.
ICI Berlin, Christinenstr. 18/19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin
Doors open at 15:30

Click this link to find out more.

It'll be like going to see Madonna of the (living (!)) psychoanalyst world...

/// MacBook FlickBook \\\

2009-03-03T13:05:00.004+01:00

I have this idea that anyone who has a Mac and / or Photo Booth or something of that nature - that they should upload their photo 'collage' as it were onto a website - so it would form some sort of flick book. The idea is obviously flawed as I haven't worked out how to film Photo Booth other than using my mobile... I looked into programmes on the internet (with my super geeeky computer friend), but nothing was quite right. So if anyone has any ideas, do share. It may be a bit of a tacky (!) idea - but I also quite like the idea for none of the photo's (on Photo Booth) to be culled before putting it on. However, if anyone who is on my little film and does have a problem with seeing themselves, then of course I will edit it.

Please add yours here too!

....

2009-03-02T22:44:00.002+01:00

----->>

2009-03-02T22:38:00.001+01:00

/// Chinese New Year / London 2008 ///

2009-03-02T22:28:00.003+01:00

From an old film I recently got developed...

/// Tsai Ming-liang (Chinese: 蔡明亮; pinyin: Cài Míngliàng) (born 1957) PART I ///

2009-03-01T21:57:00.004+01:00

I recently watched Tsai Ming Liang's 'The Hole' again (thanks to The Auteurs ), and I had forgotten how wonderful it is. 'The Hole' is mostly comprised of long takes, is fairly slow, grey, dark and depressing - however, Tsai places short, camp, projected phantasy and surreal scenes locked between (such as the youtube clip posted above), which works in constructing a truly inspired film.

The plot revolves around a weird virus which has spread around Taipei; subsequently the narrative centres around an upstairs neighbour who watches the woman downstairs in their separate quarantined spaces, through a hole in the floor. Obviously voyeurism plays a large role in the film, along with narcissism (from the camp clips, it seems clear that the woman creates these sexualised phantasies along with her watcher). Water is also used as an important allegory throughout the film, alluding to Susan Sontag's 'Illness as Metaphor' theory, and it also works in adding to the imposing and dispairing situation which our protagonists are faced with.

Tsai Ming Liang, still from 'The Hole', 1998

'The Hole,' manages to embody an utterly surrealist charm to it, whilst remaining thoroughly pragmatic, which for me, proves Tsai's status of being one of the most innovative directors of our time.

Tsai Ming Liang, Still from 'The Hole', 1998
(and I want this dress...)

--->> e-f l u x video rental (EVR) // the building <<---

2009-02-21T13:46:00.010+01:00

(courtesy of eflux website)

The building can be found hidden behind a supermarket at the Platz Der Vereinten Nationen (Berlin.) Once tracked, it offers an excellent selection of videos chosen by a group of 'local artists, curators and writers' (eflux website), which can either be watched in the building itself, or can be rented. [NB, if you are interested in renting the films, that they are only offered on VHS.] I haven't had much of a chance to delve into the reading room that is offered, but from a quick scan, it appears to present a vast range of literature all contributing towards one of those home libraries that you always wish you had.... Screenings and talks are also held.

Only open until August 2009! (Thursday - Saturday 12-18 o'clock). Check out the website for more contact information:

http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/5803

/// Paul Michel Foucault, né le 15 octobre 1926 ///

2009-02-21T13:19:00.004+01:00

Michel Foucault discussing the problem of desire vs pleasure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNcQA3MSdIE

(unfortunately the Embedding has been disabled...)

/// :: Mad For Real :: Questioning art & society ::: ///

2009-02-10T19:46:00.015+01:00

Cai Yuan and JJ Xi (collectively known as ‘Mad For Real’) are Chinese performance artists working between the UK and China. Their work is often used to address and challenge the exclusivity of the West-centric art institutions. The performances for which they are best known are: Two Artists Jump On Tracey Emin’s Bed (1999) and Two Artists Piss on Duchamp’s Urinal (2000).

Mad For Real, 'Two Artists Piss on Duchamp's Urinal' (2000)

Mad For Real, 'Two Artists Jump On Tracy Emin's Bed', (1999)

Mad For Real [MFR] recognised that they literally had to ‘break’ into the airtight Western art canon if they were to get its attention.
In light of this, in MFR's performance: Two Artists Jump On Tracey Emin’s Bed (1999), they physically broke the established Western code. Here, without a word of warning, they jumped onto Tracey Emin’s Turner prize exhibit, My Bed (1999), and in doing so challenged the way in which art institutions see themselves. We can suggest that the act alluded to Pierre Bourdieu’s social critique of the gallery. For instance, Bourdieu’s important text Aristocracy of Culture postulates that in order to fully engage with a work of art, one is required to have relevant educational or cultural capital and that it is the dominant social class which determines the criteria of high art. I also see this work as an example of Foucault's theory of the West's need to assert dominance over the East, particularly reinforced by the Tate's refusal to acknowledge their intervention as a work of art and subsequently MFR being arrested and escorted off the premises. MFR's performance piece was not a violent act upon themselves or another person, but it was the metaphorical violation of the cultural code which hit hard at the established institutions that mattered.

MFR’s other tongue-in-cheek performance Two Artists Piss on Duchamp’s Urinal was designed to lampoon the exclusivity of a purportedly progressive gallery, such as Tate Modern. In the course of their performance, the artists urinated on Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 work Fountain. Cai and Xi said that they had specifically chosen Fountain to urinate over, due to the: ‘controversy which erupted when Duchamp first exhibited the urinal as a work of art although he had merely found it.’ [Tom Sykes, Performance art takes the…, from Mad For Real ] Mad For Real's performance piece acted in a way of broadening the context of Duchamp's original work, exactly in the same spirit in which it was made. Cai and Xi reiterate in an interview with Nick Paton Walsh: ‘Modern British art is getting worse and worse. They haven’t taken any risks. The mainstream are caught in a circle, and we are outside that circle – pissing in.’ [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,330551,00.html ]

In a discussion I had with Cai Yuan, he told me that the Tate’s stated reason for not recognising their performances was that they were considered not ‘conceptual enough’ and that they could not produce works which were aesthetically sufficient for their tastes.

With both of the interventions taking place at the Tate, it resulted in MFR being issued with the following statement (and were subsequently banned from setting foot on any of Tate's premises):

"The Pleasure of our visitors has twice been disrupted by two artists who have threatened works of art and our staff. Tate will be taking action to protect the interests of visitors, the safety of the works of art in the collection and its employees." (citing Nick Paton Walsh, It’s a new Cultural Revolution, from http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,330551,00.html )

Ironically, it is this fax which stands as testimony to what Mad For Real were trying to eradicate. It is a proof that Western society has not offered Cai and Xi the artistic freedom that it had purported to extend to one and all.

The irony of Tate's statement, became farcically apparent, as the Tate, who not only position themselves as the cornerstone of Britain's forward-thinking artistic contingent, but during their 2007 Liverpool exhibition: 'The Real Thing: Contemporary Art From China,' they invited Mad For Real to hold a talk: The Ones that Got Away: Performance Artists Cai Yuan and JJ Xi in Discussion with Simon Groom. When I posed the question to Simon Groom (who at the time was head of exhibitions and collections at Tate Liverpool), as to why, when Tate consider themselves to be at the forefront of contemporary art, they had failed to recognise Mad For Real's avant-garde contribution towards the canon, and were simply dismissed with a fax, (and thus in Tate's eyes - denied their performances an artistic status), and now, once MFR have been critically acclaimed and their interventions recognised as art in its own right, the Tate have put their authorative stamp in 'allowing' MFR to enter into 'their' canon.
Simon Groom, downright refused to answer my question... which in itself, speaks volumes.

I also find it important to mention Transfiguration (2006-2007), as it is very different to MFR's usual tongue-in-cheek intervention pieces, rather - it holds a much more sombre feel and can be considered a durational performance piece. Transfiguration acts an important work reflecting on Britain’s socio-political prejudices about of immigration. It tackles the tragic death of fifty-eight illegal immigrants who suffocated aboard a tomato truck crossing into England in June 2000. During Vital: International Chinese Live Art Festival 2006, held in Manchester, UK, Mad For Real first performed Transfiguration which consisted of Cai and Xi sitting for forty-eight hours in the back of a white van. With their faces painted in Monkey King style (as seen in the Transfiguration illustration), symbolising their ‘Journey to the West,’ they invited passers-by to come inside and join them in the drinking of tomato juice. With the passers-by on board, the Mad For Real artists closed the doors shut and commenced the blending of tomatoes.

MFR, Transfiguration, 2006, Manchester, UK

The work was exceptionally poignant, and to me, proved that MFR stand as some of the most critically important performance artists working in the UK. They address and question socio-political issues with such immediate relevance to the current Western ethos, and refuse to be ignored. Unfortunately, their website does not appear to be working at the moment, but if I hear of any forthcoming performances, I will be sure to post them here.

MFR, Transfiguration, 2007, London

/// Prof. Mgr. Věra Chytilová (* 2. února 1929 Ostrava) ///

2009-02-05T11:04:00.011+01:00

Last week at Basso, they showed the 1966 Czech film Daisies (Sedmikrásky) by Věra Chytilová, and I have to say I absolutely adored it, and would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Věra Chytilová's 'Daisies (Sedmikrásky)' is considered one of the key works of the Czechoslovakian New Wave movement, which, as I am just learning myself, can be better understood by clicking this wiki page link.

Chytilová's rejection of traditional values, both within the film's narrative (the two protagonists [female] make a pact to behave 'badly' within their patriarchal society and subsequently create whirlwinds of bizarre and humorous situations), and formally, Chytilová's experimental avant-garde methods of cinematic representation both compliment and encourage the film into the unconventional. By encompassing both of these methods, Daisies, stands for me as a dynamic film, reminiscent of the experimental formal expression of the early short surrealist films ((Len Lye // Hans Richter // Duchamp etc etc)) and the surrealist films carrying more of a narrative, such as Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon (1943).

However, for me, Chytilová's Daisies narrative, instead of focusing on the individual within identity politics, it provides a much larger comment on society. While there is no denying that Daisies has obvious roots within the feminist genre, to name but one scene: where we see the girls cutting phallic shaped food with a pair of scissors.... Rather, I am proposing that the narrative shows a desire for rebellion within the suppressive and uniform regime, which was indicative of the political situation in Czechoslovakia at the time. Of course issues of gender politics are particuarly highlighted as this was made during the feminist second-wave movement (although I am not sure how Czechoslovakia fairs within the feminist movements per se), yet it certainly also positions itself within the general counter-culture rejection of traditional values, both within the narrative and experimental forms....

The surrealist and campy humour which Chytilová portrays is utterly infectious, and I can't wait to get my hands on another one of her works.....

For a more detailed reading of Věra Chytilová's films, follow this link;
http://www.kinoeye.org/02/08/radkiewicz08.php

Watch the trailer for the film here:

(apologies to those who don't speak Czech or Spanish, I could't find a clip with Eng subs... but you can still get the idea...)

~ The Berlin Man With A Movie Camera ~

2009-02-04T13:15:00.001+01:00

There is a man who travels around the Berlin gallery openings. Pretty impossible to miss, is he, as he is always to be found sporting a construction site helmet with a video camera taped to the top. Often a flag will drape off the helmet and I have seen him more than once in a white bomber suit and let's not forget those wonderful aviators...

What is he doing...? I have often wondered, labelling him as one of the arty farty-ies. Well, it actually turns out that (yes, of course the label can still stay on) but he is also doing quite an interesting project. His name is Konstantin Schneider (if indeed that is his real name...) and he travels around the Berlin openings in order to get a bona fida account of the event / the scene / the people etc etc, and more often than not includes an interview with the artist (habitually looking embarrassed / confused and a bit shy). I guess, his idea in theory should provide an interesting archive of a well-documented and authentic Berlin art scene, but in practice, you can see everyone becoming increasingly shifty once his presence is felt. Still a great character and his small films are interesting to watch - check out his website for more: http://www.berlinerkunstkontakter.de/

The man at work....

/// Judith Butler (* 24. Februar 1956 in Cleveland) ///

2009-02-04T10:37:00.004+01:00

Here are my notes from: Judith Butler lecture "Frames of War" at the Dahlem Humanities Center der Freien Universität Berlin.....

- What obligations, if any, do we have to preserve life?
-What are the conditions that put us under this? What lives do we consider should be preserved?
-Apprehension / heightening of violence
- Bodily Ontology - bodily persistence / desire / language etc
- Fundamental structures of being. None exist outside political and social interpretation.
- Social significances the body assumes. The body = a social ontology.
-Existential notion = departure for rethinking progressive + leftist politics // New ways of administrating precariousness.
- Ethical problem of preserving lives
- Normative productions of producing bodies, H/E Normative schemes = disrupted // power structures etc.
- Does life exceed these norms?
Construction of lives - need time... therefore job never done??
- Exercising crafting power.
- Hegel = social ontology of the body - phenomenology of spirit, an "other" appears.
- Me + I --> question of comprehension
- Localising the body - relation to space - not a fully bounded being
-Capacity to be somewhere else but this becomes a certain sense of loss - not quite bounded in space as once assumed.
- Limit of what you can call "yourself" - tension between me + I.
- Life also refers to non-persistence... trajectories // time before + after I exist - other people existing outside of our own --> as a shape. "I" am not bound to others.
- The questions that come - help us to live...
- Who is this "I" who is also substitutable?
- Non-substitutable idea = idea of conceiving existentialism // society etc. Society = trajectory of idea of maintaining and bonding of society... also = apprehension etc.
- Recognition of life only through social norms or in relation to the not normal.
- Whose lives are grievable?
- Apprehending + recognising a life
- Utterly limited in recognising through existing norms of recognition.
- What new norms are possible? Egalitarianism - democratic results?
- Shifting schemes of intelligibility, i.e. debates of abortion - what constitutes life or death? (i.e. death of heart / brain etc) or death of animals - how are they negotiated? B/C of debates = discursive models, therefore "norms" are recognised.
- Failure assumes a figurative form.
- Living figure outside the "norms" of life = the problem is that ontology cannot be secured - neither living nor dead (N.B. - like Žižek's extension of Freud's Todestrieb complex??)

- Frames feature as an editorial - frames guide the interpretation i.e. if criminal framed then their life becomes the object inside the frame. H/E the frame ignores // does not determine what was in it - within its intended context. i.e. War photography departs from its context, but takes on a new context.
- What gets out of hand is what breaks the context - frames breaking from itself. --> media phenomena.
- Conditions of reproductability in order to succeed --> Frame therefore subject to a temporal logic - therefore need to understand the frames ethically. Shifting temporal conditions.
- Movement of the image outside its confinements.
i.e. War photography - outside the context & framed - proposes worldwide horror // i.e. facilitating widespread outrage photos from Guantanamo
- Exploiting the frissure in ontological fields - frames breaking from themselves - therefore becomes possible to fuel apprehension for something that is neither living nor dead.
- The norm exists in being able to undo its being
i.e. Thinking of the recent Gaza / Israeli war - what do the numerical doings evoke? Numerical frame - what does it provide for our ethical practice (& political)?
- normal therefore based on apprehension & precariousness

-Life needs social & economic situations to be repeatedly met in order to be "normal".
- Birth of an infant = an institutional social norm and therefore the value of life will matter.
-Life exists as a condition that is grievable
-Conditions are our political & ethnical responsibility

Israel vs Palestine
- one thought - survival depends on I must attack in order to survive
- H/E politics on the left - freedom
- Precarity as a shared distribution strong notions of equality - seeks to address basic needs in order to survive.
- Frames of war produce the materiality of war
- Media representations are military operations - frames of perceptions.
- Therefore... war = ontology = bound + constrained in frames of power
- "The Enemy" = losable B/C already considered lost.
- Shields of War
- The task is to live with people that we have never known.

/// Nobuyoshi Araki (jap. 荒木経惟 Araki Nobuyoshi; * 25. Mai 1940 in Minowa, Tokio) ///

2009-02-02T10:39:00.021+01:00

Nobuyoshi Araki stands as being one of the most controversial contemporary photographers who challenges our preconceived ideas of art vs pornography. Often his works depict women tied / bound and hanging half naked: naturally giving him the misogynist status amongst many feminists. It is a difficult one to shout really, does he deserve this title? And decidedly more importantly, who gives him this title? Through researching this, it is Western criticism which draws in the majority of the shots... now, this is not intended to be a post which enters into the dialectics of post-colonialism and feminism, but it is interesting to me that in watching Arakimentari (2004, Travis Klose, 85 min), however bias it may be, the queues of women - literally lining the corridors, just waiting to get one photograph taken by Araki, speaks volumes?

In an interview between Nan Goldin and Araki (read here) she writes:

‘In Japan, where women’s roles are in a period of flux and the idea of female identity in the Western sense is a new one, many young women find Araki’s images liberating. To show their bodies, to flaunt their sexuality, feels like freedom; teenagers flock to Araki to be photographed by him.'

(from Nan Goldin 'Naked City')

Perhaps there is something slightly misogynistic and perverse about Araki's work, at least it definitely makes for an easy interpretation. I can't help but feel that there is much more complexity to Araki's work and find it somehow compelling....
Despite all of his disputed works, Araki remains as one of my favourite photographers. For me, the concentrated interest in his controversial works, overlooks some of the most talented works in photography. His 'normal' photographs pay attention to the small things, the things we notice but do not notice - (yes it may well be the tried-and-tested foolproof photographers cliché) - but there is something slightly haunting about his photographs.

Two of his most wistful series of works, and the most poignant, (both series published into books) Sentimental Journey and Winter Journey (1991): Sentimental Journey is a photograph collection from their honeymoon and Winter Journey - perhaps the most deeply melancholic of the two - is this set of photographs, best described as a photo diary, portraying his wife Yoko's last days (she died from a terminal illness) through her funeral and a bit after.

I am not usually one for such a tragic romantic narrative, but maybe it's because this is not a fictional one. For me, each photograph encompasses his absolute suffering as he prepares and battles with a very real sense of loss, pain and love... it is almost desolate or devoid or perhaps almost empty, and for me it is one of the most unreserved and honest accounts of someone's isolated contemplation....

b a b y l o n k i n o b e r l i n

2009-01-31T15:05:00.004+01:00

By chance, shortly following the AFAVA talk / film screening, Babylon Kino in Berlin had a special screening of Lang's Metropolis with live-film-music from Carsten-Stephan Graf v. Bothmer. Needless to say, it was extraordinarily great... and anyone who is in / visiting Berlin soon should click here for the StummfilmKonzerte programme.

// The Berlin Christmas Tree Wrapper //

2009-01-20T22:05:00.003+01:00

<< Notes on Patty Chang >>

2008-12-16T13:04:00.023+01:00

Patty Chang is an American born video and performance artist of Chinese descent. Her work centres on deconstructing identity issues in relation to the stereotypical fetishization of the Asian female body. Her works are often best read through psychoanalytical discourses, most predominantly through the Freudian / Lacanian / Mulvey / Kristeva codes: [narcissism / auto-cannibalism / oedipal complexes /scopophilia etc].

Often challenging the viewer through placing them into a position of heightened anxiety, Chang's works test the boundaries of acceptable taste.

Shaved (At A Loss) 1998, is a key example of her work. Chang, using Laura Mulvey's argument of phallocentricism /voyeurism (Mulvey conveys that phallocentricism is the central device used, albeit often subconsciously, within film / the arts in order to maintain a dominant patriarchal sphere), she sits, blindfolded, with her skirt hitched around her waist, legs splayed, and then brings a razor to her pubic area and begins to roughly scrape away her pubic hair. By blindfolding herself, Chang is at once acknowledging and refusing the dominant gaze and through her shaving off of her pubic hair whilst wearing what looks like a bridal gown she is blatantly denying herself to be victim to the 'passive female' as outlined by Mulvey. Chang poses a threat to the age-old patriarchal values.

I like Patty Chang. I am not a fan of feminist works which seem to cry 'f*ck men!' and impose some sort of attack on the male gender, but I do like how Chang's works seem to maintain a certain amount of humour and irony through her negotiations of women's representation in art / film and popular culture. Just take, for example, Contortion (2000) where Chang puts live eels down her top (obvious phallic connotations )//

Or, in Melons (At A Loss) (1998), we see Chang cutting open her bra to reveal a melon, which she scoops out and eats in an act of auto cannibalism; ironically narcissistic - Chang, devours the female body, refusing to be the passive female body as devoured by the active male gaze, without ever loosing her ironical smile... //

The youtube posted here gives a few more examples of her works ------->>

Patty Chang

2008-12-13T17:55:00.002+01:00

Funeral Parade of Roses - Toshio Matsumoto

2008-11-17T11:28:00.001+01:00