Tag Archives: Artists

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Reading: Joan Slonszewski – Brain Plague

I’ve already finished it.

Joan Slonczewski I discovered through Charles Stross, when she guest-blogged there, and her The Highest Frontier was my fiction book of the year this year. Getting hold of Brain Plague took longer than expected – much longer than reading it. I stopped in a café on the way home last night and began two hours there, devouring another third when I arrived in bed, and finishing it off in bits and pieces over the course of today.

A comparison with China Mievillé’s Embassytown comes to mind. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hold off before ordering en masse the remainder of her books.

Joan Slonczewski – Brain Plague Joan Slonczewski – Brain Plague
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taipei art-punk squats

One of my favourite blogs from Taiwan is Anarchy in Taiwan or gotmahmojo who recently wrote a big piece on a new squat in Ximen, and the artists, musicians and others who are turning an abandoned building into something beautiful in The Taiwan DIY Ethic. I have a real soft spot for artist squats, having spent a particularly memorable time of my life living in warehouses across Wellington and Auckland, and especially going through an anarchist phase again now.

I was really excited to see something positive and creative going on in the city, since its been years since the “renaissance” of underground music and art that took hold in Taipei during the post-martial law 90s. I’ve often heard kids lament that they hadn’t come of age during that time when the local art scene was young and exciting (now it’s still young and about as exciting as a turnip). It was during the 90′s that the first livehouses opened (and were shortly shut-down) and art bands like LTK and Clippers first started playing wild shows filled with lovely displays of destructive performance art. One show which has become a sort of legend in the indie scene was the “Broken Life” festival held out at a condemned Taiwan Beer brewery in Banchiao back in 1995. As the story goes, LTK set fire to the stage during their set before tossing their instruments on the blaze. The noise band, Zero and the Sound Liberty Organization, ended their set with a spectacular finale – throwing a vial concoction of what was reported to be vomit, spit and piss, on the audience. The appalled crowd promptly attacked the band with chairs

— gotmahmojo

cleaning up cleaning up

film night film night

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guangzhou art and blogs

A few days ago a friend of mine who used to work at Park19 emailed me with a link to Guangzhou artist 欧宁 Ou Ning’s blog. Actually the point of the email was the post about the art space Ou Ning is opening up (with bookshop and cafe) in the next month, 广州的新空间 – Guangzhou’s new space. The space is right in the middle of the new city in Tian He on Tiyu Xi Lu, and since Solo closed down a while ago that side of town’s been a bit slim for venues. Ou Ning’s blog is hosted by 别馆 Alternative Archive, which was founded by Ou Ning and COS Player artist 曹斐Cao Fei, between them they’re doing alot for art in the town, and I’ve been reading the news archives of their projects from end to end.

广州的新空间 - guangzhou new space 广州的新空间 – guangzhou new space

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in the mountains

I spent the weekend in Taizhong with Shang-ping, one of the artists in residence at the Taipei Artist Village. His house on the outskirts of town with a backyard that became bush as it crawled up the hills reminded me of the villas around Salzburg. We spent Saturday night with a house-full of old friends and their children, eating and drinking, and yesterday drove into the hills, first up into the mountains above Bihu, a long jade-green lake, and then back down to Sun Moon Lake, the Monaco of Taiwan. But the best thing was sitting in sheep-filled fields above Bihu, the sky clear blue, and the mountains dusted in snow.

above bihu lake above bihu lake

bihu lake bihu lake

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making art in china

What’s it like to be a foreign artist in residence in China? Last night, three of us from the Taipei Artist Village went out for dinner with a friend who is a poet and his family which turned into something of a kids party, somewhere way past Mirimar, home to the world’s second largest ferriswheel. Later that night we were talking about why Australia even bothers having one-hit wonder residencies, and then mostly failing to support any further projects. For all the amazing experiences and chances to meet with and work with local artists, if there isn’t some conscious and strategic plan to take advantage of the first residency within the following 18 months, it’s basically just a crazy holiday, and does nothing for Australian and Asian arts communities. But as I’ve been told, “We funded you to China two for AsiaLink (2 years ago), we won’t be funding you again any time soon.”

So while in the centre of Asia, it becomes very apparent how artists from all Asian countries regularly work together. Artists travel from Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, all over just like artists in Europe travel from Berlin to Brussels, to Vienna. But Australia, clueless to the last just doesn’t seem to get it that all it takes is a little concerted effort, some planning that goes beyond three months and artists from there could be a real part of the Asian scene, instead of tourists, which is mostly what they are now.

In Beijing though, artist Charlie Hecht writes for NY Arts about his residency experiences at Picked Arts Centre, which manages to encapsulate the joy and confusion being a fly-in resident.

DAY 5

What an amazing day. What manpower and ingenuity can accomplish. Li Gang and I went off to the metal fabrication facility at approximately 10 o’clock. We took a taxi, since it would be another week until his van could be repaired. It needed extensive work, but Li decided to do it since it had been such a dependable car and he had already gotten over 100,000 miles on it without making any major repairs. Simon saw us walking out to the main road to get a taxi and said that he was going stir crazy, as he had been working very hard for two weeks on some of his new paintings. He asked what we were doing. He wanted to join us because he thought it would be a good break to see what other people are doing. The first thing we did at the metal fabrication facility was to inspect the etched calligraphy words. The steel was still flat and was being cleaned up and the scaling was being ground off. However, the etched letters looked fantastic. I realized that this was a major change for the good.

We then discussed how we wanted the flag shaped. I found a piece of copper and showed them the shape I was looking for and my concept. They then rigged up a type of jig. It consisted of two pipes with a slightly different diameter mounted on what looked like a saw horse. The pipes had an opening between them which was the width of the steel that I had purchased. Using up to 15 people, they were able to cold bend the flag to the shape I wanted. We then adjusted the shape by hand. This would have taken many months back in the United States, but with the use of the jig and up to fourteen people, the fabricator did this in less than an hour. These persons did the second flag bending in less than 20 minutes. It was remarkable. I took a number of pictures and Simon was very excited because he now knew what he would do with the woks which were rusting back at his studio. Li was excited because he could see the potential of using these types of etchings for some of his future projects. Everyone was excited.

Again, we were invited to lunch with Lao Xu and one of his foremen at the Fantasy Restaurant. From there, we took a taxi back to the Pickled Art Center; however, I got off at one of the main streets to get a cab to go into the women’s market to buy Hannah her birthday present. Getting there was no problem. My mission was accomplished. However, the taxi on the way back again got lost. The taxi driver had no idea where he was going. He didn’t speak any English. Somehow I was able to get him back to the general area, and then I recognized certain key landmarks and was able to get him back to the compound. He was as relieved as I when we arrived at the Pickled Art Center.

That night there was a gallery opening for three artists, all with the last name of Li. It was very cold, so people tended to huddle around the fire in the main room of the gallery. Outside, there was a cook making barbeque. The barbeque was very good. I thought that would be my dinner; however, at about 8 o’clock, a whole bunch of us decided to walk to the Garden Restaurant for dinner. Almost everyone there was an artist, except Lutitia, who, it turns out was French. She has been in Beijing for six years and owns a gallery. Her former lover, who was a very well known Chinese pop singer, was also there with his two-year-old son which he had fathered with Lutitia. However, neither the singer nor Lutitia spoke to each other at all during the meal. We drank a lot of rice wine and a good time was had by all, although most of the taking was in Chinese.

charlie hecht charlie hecht

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35 000 days in asia

Asialink’s book 35 000 days in asia is being launched on Thursday 22 July, celebrating 10 years of arts residencies across Asia.

The Asialink Arts Residency Program currently sends around 35 artists, performers, writers and arts managers between Asia and Australia each year. Established in 1989 by the Australia Council with three Visual Arts/Craft Residencies in Thailand and Malaysia, the residency program was devolved to Asialink in 1991. Asialink has managed the program since then, and developed it to include Performing Arts and Arts Management since 1996 and Literature from 1997 onwards. By the end of 2004, 330 residents will have travelled between Australia and Asia under the auspices of this program.

These artists, performers, writers and arts managers spend three or more months working on projects they have devised. Each resident is hosted by an arts organisation or tertiary institution and the interaction between the resident and the host is an important aspect of the program. Residents present talks, lectures and workshops or engage in formal teaching. Many also direct performances, organise events, exhibit work in solo and group exhibitions and undertake readings. The program promotes both artistic development and involvement with the local community and emphasises the importance of cultural exchange and dialogue

In 2002, I went to Guangzhou to make a work with the 广东实验现代舞团 Guangdong Modern Dance Company on and Asialink Performing Arts Residency, along with my lighting designer John Dutton. My initial 12 weeks with the company grew to over a year, and much of the last two years making art in Guangzhou. I hope in ten years from now, we’ll be celebrating at least 70 000 days in Asia, and have an amazing arts scene flourishing between Australia and the rest of Asia.

asialink - 35 000 days in asia asialink – 35 000 days in asia

asialink - phillip adams - flower kill asialink – phillip adams – flower kill