Go ahead and take a moment.
Henry and Matt taking a peak behind the scenes at the development in progress. (Jan 2008)
Henry's recently published feature on a new development project south of Tianmen Square, called Qianmen (front gate). It is a recreation of the neighborhood circa late 1950's, known for its colorful cultural life. The reality is that they had to erase the remnants of the past to hyper color an new version with modern international brands to take the place of local businesses and homes only the nuevo riche or foreigners can afford. The billboards of the plans that advertise its imminent opening, look like a Disney world exhibit.
And check out the multimedia piece that accompanies the story. You might find the voice of the woman's translation vaguely familiar!
Food this week:
Lotus Root
莲花
This relaxed Thai restaurant is a great find. It lies tucked away in a developed hutong on the northwest side of Di'anmen Dajie, just before the road forks into Gulouxi & Guloudong dajie. It is about midway through toward Houhai lake and just across from a sunglass store where I found two hot new shades!It had open windows toward the street with relaxing mello western tunes to set the mood. There is a house cat that roams around and welcomes the guests and flowing mesh and hookah pipes at the tables to lend to a "den" like feel. A good date place with solid food. (Just watch the heat!)
Baihe Vegetarian Restaurant
百合素食
When you walk into this restaurant, it feels like you've entered an old scholars home. Walls of books and a private dining room if you had a large party to feed. Otherwise you are scattered around the living room with a few other guests, both Chinese and foreign, enjoying a veggie version of their favorite dish. It is low key and out of the way of a lot of hustle and bustle. For a quiet night out after OD-ing on meat elsewhere.
Art this week:
Touchme by Blendid, 2004
Effectively a xerox machine of light. You can see my after image.
National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) hosts it's first major media art show! Synthetic Times opened June 11, with the help of a couple key international players, including Barbara London (MoMA). The show is impressive in scale, precedence, and content. This show is supported by the government of China, so raise your hands for that.
A couple highlights of the show:
Henrik Menné
56L (2004) consists of solid glue, a fan, iron, a heating element, and an engine. The dimensions of the work are variable (machine 180x150x150 cm).
Anthony McCall
Between You and I (2006) a ‘solid-light’ installation.
The show was accompanied by a series of panel discussions concerning how to archive media works to panels of curators & artists speaking about their work.
VARIATIONS
Experimental theatre performance
Egg Gallery, Caochangdi, Beijing
14-15/06/2008
I also attended Open Studios at Caochangdi's Art Channel and went to see a performance in the village. Chatted up the artist who was staying in the room I am hoping to stay in come mid-July. There is no air conditioner, but other than that the room is sun filled most of the day and over looks a garden. Not too bad. I'll have my private bath, so all in all, it should be a great place to work. The artist there currently is an American Sculptor, Jacob Stanley, and a Japanese Installation artist, Takeshi Ota. I headed over to a performance directed by Alessandro Rolandi being help close by at Egg Gallery with the director of Art Channel. It was a spectacle involving the three women performers, a hired cycle and wagon, experimental music, and the swarm of audience members with cameras filling the empty space the performers created. It has an air of experimentation, but the audience is so overwhelmingly accepting, it leaves you with feelings of only pleasantries. I'm hoping to make some noise while I'm there. I hope I can ignite some interesting dialog, as well as, cultivate a supportive audience. It is a little terrifying getting back on the horse, but I can only grow from putting it out there. I've just been circling start and am ready to hit the track running.
Meanwhile, I am taking it all in. All the back and forth about China and the Olympics. I'm glad to report that it is more complex and interesting than what you'll read on the surface. Tensions are running high, even within the group of friends I hang with. Everyone speculating and we will all just have to wait and see. We are all outsiders afterall. The hope is that there are enough of us left after visa crackdowns to have a good time and let the spirit of the Olympic games prevail. But anything can happen between now and then. Stay tuned. And read my friend Matt's Olympic blog. He has some good insight into what is happening leading up to the games!
Ciao for now.
XXX
Li Jing (trying a Chinese name that also means "Crystal")
aka
click here.
