very lucky & prosperous

loss of history..

2008-10-05T14:32:00.002-04:00

so i had my ipod stolen along with other important items in a suitcase.

it was one of the 2nd or 3rd generation ipods and pretty much all my music collected from 2003-06 are gone..

of course it's only data, but also a history of music collected from individuals and personal music interests then.

to me, it reflects a past and particular moment in time.. and to re-collect would be meaningless and also impossible. one can say the quality of the files from that time could have some form of collectable value in the future. it is a relic forever lost.

// DENOUEMENT \\

2008-09-15T17:50:00.012-04:00

Like many things, the meat of the stories always comes at the beginning and the end. So like the beginning of my writings, I will have a series of posts illuminating certain points and aspects of these past two years. So please excuse the silence for the past 9 months. It was a slow process of breaking out and being born again in a world that should seem familiar, but is not .. entirely.

Please bear with me, it may take some time to gather my words. Highlights may include: Year of Glory 2008 - China & Olympics, chinatown phenomenon, Chinese appreciation: 'brotherhood', secret pop stars, Hong Kong art struggles and future?, the effects of noise: tinnitus, Vast global change: the world I don't know anymore, Anglo privilege, the return and re-entering of a Western society...

stay on your balls.

AW

2pi festival 07, hangzhou, 25 November

2007-12-13T03:14:00.000-05:00

This festival almost didn't happen this year. Only a couple weeks before was the information released and the festival was confirmed.

I booked my flight and flew out to Shanghai a few days later and then bussed to Hangzhou not more than 2 hours away. I was not about to miss it again this year.entering the room with Torturing Nurse - Shanghai's makers of Noishanghai. She nominally prefers to perform naked with candles in her ass.

Walnut Room (beijing). combination of two saxophone and guitar musicans. free jazz sax + ravaged guitar. one of my personal highlights.

solo set by member of local noise band D!O!D!OD!O! though laptop performances are never the most thrilling, this performance was short sweet and dynamic in sound.
This is a band called 10, a Japanese/Korean duo. They came to Hangzhou with no money to return. With no knowledge of Chinese and minimal knowledge of English, they hope to hangout until they find the cash to go home. how punk.

more to come soon..

SOUND FROM TAIWAN

2007-11-20T01:54:00.000-05:00

white noise / videotage / loudspkr presents

SOUND FROM TAIWAN
張惠笙 Hui-Sheng Chang (TAIWAN) / 姚仲涵 Chung-Han Yao (TAIWAN)
Nigel Brown (Australia) / 王仲堃 Wang, Chung-Kun (TAIWAN)

Date : 22th Nov 2007
Time : 8:00p.m.
Venue : KLUUBB
Address: 14/F, Footak Building, 367 Hennessy Road, WanChai, Hong Kong
香港灣仔軒尼詩道367號富德樓14樓 t. +852 8171 7211
HKD$ 70 DOOR ONLY (Incl. one drink)
Enquiries : 25910499, 95706617 or whitenoise@netvigator.com, info@loudspkr.org

Artists Information:

張惠笙 Hui-Sheng Chang (TAIWAN)

人聲延伸技巧即興表演
用一種說話及唱歌以外的語言，陌生卻熟悉。

Extended Vocal Technique improvisation.

In a language other than speaking or singing, the voice present itself with strange yet intimate sound.

www.huishengchang.com | www.myspace.com/12dogcycle

姚仲涵 Chung-Han Yao (TAIWAN)

離開起點

到達終點

的空隙。

The gap between the points of departure and destination.
www.yaolouk.com

Nigel Brown (Australia)

這場演出Nigel將運用手風琴及筆電，將手風琴氣與音轉換成有空間的旋律及長回音。

For the performance at KLUUBB Nigel will be in accordion and laptop mode, processing the instrument's breath and tone to create sparse rhythms and drones.

www.myspace.com/12dogcycle | www.mimicmass.com

王仲堃 Wang, Chung-Kun (TAIWAN)

Sound of Bottles 07’

Motor, pip, bottles, water, air compressor, laptop

這是一個名為「Big Bang」- 一百個發聲的理由的計畫。試圖逆向行走在數位化的電子聲響的路上，找尋存在物理間的聲響製造。

Sound of Bottle 即此計畫的第一件作品。

‘Big Bang’ is a series of work that investigate 100 reasons to create sound. Trying to find physical methods for sounding in existing objects in response to the digitalised electronic sound.

‘Sound of Bottle’ is the first work of this series.

http://wangchungkun.blogspot.com | http://lsf-tw.blogspot.com/2006/09/blog-post_7643.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Organized by White Noise
Venue Sponsored by Kluubb
Supported by Loudspkr and Videotage

whitenoiserecords.org | www.myspace.com/whitenoiserecordshk | loudspkr.org | kluubb.tk | videotage.org.hk

neu noise @ Epöch :: SAT 13 OCT

2007-10-11T23:48:00.000-04:00

This month's guest is Digilick from Hong Kong's micro-party night HeadRoom who will be spinning electro-rock and DJ Thelonica spinning funk&hiphop.

HeadRoom: www.myspace.com/headroomhk

Music provided by:

Kawaki (White Noise Records)
Elle Est ChiNoise (LOUDSPKR)

special guests:

Digilick
DJ Thelonica

Saturday October 13, 2007
Epöch : 12-14 Wing Fung Street, Star Street Precinct, Wan Chai (Admiralty MTR exit F)
** free entrance

8pm - close

RSVP: info(@)loudspkr.org

Sounds Like Suomi in CN

2007-09-13T00:54:00.000-04:00

Sounds Like Suomi - Finnish Electronic Music Tour

NO+CH festival - China

NO+CH = NO(RDIC)+CH(INA)
Festival of Nordic artists in China
organized by State of the Art promotions

Started in 2006, Sounds Like Suomi brings Scandinavian music to China through the NOTCH festival, creating a platform for the gathering of Nordic and Chinese artists in China. The festival aims to help bring Scandinavian artists to China as well as introduce the emerging community to new Scandinavian music.

2007 festival highlights include: finnish folk queen Islaja (fonal), Susanna & the Magical Orchestra, electronic/minimal acts Luomo, Vladislav Delay and MI NI MA.

Islaja will be coming to Hong Kong as a side track of the tour on Oct 3rd @ Le Rideau. (brought to you by: White Noise Records)

NOTCH will be in Guangzhou Oct4, Beijing Oct5, Shanghai Oct6/7.

for festival details: www.soundslikesuomi.com
- schedule -

--

This is another example of the increasing international curiosity in China in not only their market, but their cultural developments.

Here is an interview with Jon Campbell, promoter in Beijing, that I happened to meet once before over a year ago, discussing the music and cultural scene in China.

Interview w/ Jon

The cultural scene in China still very premature, but the growing economy and international assistance that China is recieving is giving the country great exposure and leverage in its development. It is becoming a place that attracts people as a place for its culture.

This is a bold move to step into China with such new musics, especially from a narrow genre as Finnish electronic music. The musical acts are great, the festival seems well organized and funded, but is there an audience for it in China? Is China ready?

Another example of foreign cultural interest is - Berlin-China-Bridges presented by DMY - Internationale Design Ausstellung who came by Hong Kong not too long ago. "What Makes Shanghai Addictive?" is a recent expo in Berlin that features new and upcoming artists and designers from China.

Despite the world's eagerness, it seems that China is not at the point culturally that many may expect. Perhaps everyone is anticipating too much a little too soon.

neu noise > adhoc event w/ performance by Samson Young + Chris Lau

2007-09-06T05:02:00.000-04:00

This month's adhoc/guerrilla event brings a performance by artist, composer and media artist SAMSON YOUNG & CHRIS LAU.

SY+CL
2 laptops, no hands, intensely poetic multi-media.

www.samsonyoung.com
www.emergencylab.hk

Music provided by djs: KAWAKI (White Noise Records) and ELLE EST CHINOISE playing post-punk/funk, neu wave, no wave, electro, noisepop, psych/prog..

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 08, 2007
Epöch : 12-14 Wing Fung Street, Star Street Precinct, Wan Chai
(Admiralty MTR exit F)
** free entrance

8pm - close

CATARACT //

dj : KAWAKI (White Noise) + ELLE EST CHINOISE
performance (video + sound) : SAMSON YOUNG + CHRIS LAU

RSVP : info@loudspkr.org

--

_bio_

SAMSON YOUNG's expressive palette often involves music in combination with such diverse media as installation art, video art, poetry and prose. He is completing a Ph.D in music at Princeton University.

SAMSON YOUNG's music received performances from Bang on a Can, City Chamber Orchestra, Coruscations Ensemble, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Network for New Music, New Millennium Ensemble, NOW Ensemble, NEWSPEAK, Sydney Song Company and TACTUS. Recent festival participations include the 11th Sydney Springs International Music Festival, Young Composers' Salon (2000); Cattle Depot Arts Festival, Hong Kong (2003); Le French May Arts Festival of Hong Kong (2004); Bowdoin International Music Festival (2004); Microwave International New Media Festival (2004); Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, USA (2005); Musicarama Contemporary Music Festival, Hong Kong (2005); Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (2006).

SAMSON YOUNG has also been a composition fellow at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Atlantic Centre for the Arts. In 2007, he became the first/ Bloomberg Emerging Artist/, along with his long term collaborator Christopher Lau.

CHRISTOPHER LAU completed his degree in Mathematics from Brock University of St. Catherine, Canada, and later on returned to Hong Kong where he completed his Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. He mostly works with moving images, human-computer interfaces, and in cross-disciplinary collaborative situations.

CHRISTOPHER LAU's independent and collaborative projects have been presented locally at the Microwave International Media Art Festival (2002 & 2004, HK), New Vision Art Festival (2004, HK), Jumping Frames and Our Voices, Le French May (1004 & 2007, HK). Overseas presentations include Sydney Film Festival (2003, AUS), Island Art Film & Video

Festival (2005, UK), FRAME International Dance-Vídeo Festival (2005, Portugal), Asolo Art Festival (2005, Italy), (Festival Internacional de Videodanza, Uruguay, 2005), and video work at the Central Museum
Utrecht (2007).

new music night @ ēpöch - 11.08.07

2007-08-02T01:42:00.000-04:00

Located next to Agnes B. Gallery in Wan Chai, ēpöch introduces a night of new noises brought to you in collaboration with White Noise Records and LOUDSPKR. From 8pm onwards, experience music you won't hear played in any club or bar or venue in Hong Kong. From New York No Wave, French New Wave, Neue Deutsche, electropop, post-punk & funk, psych, prog and new folk, CATARACT brings an evening of casual time-squandering and latent shit-kicking. Join us Saturday August 11th for the first installment.

Saturday August 11th, 2007
ēpöch : 12-14 Wing Fung Street, Star Street Precinct, Wan Chai
(Admiralty MTR exit F)
** free entrance

8pm - close

Cataract // dj&music : Kawaki (White Noise) & Elle Est ChiNoise + Guests
post-punk & funk, neu wave, no wave, electro, noisepop, psych/prog

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

WHITE NOISE RECORDS & LOUDSPKR

www.whitenoiserecords.org
www.loudspkr.org

Sonatrope Film Festival

2007-07-27T07:31:00.000-04:00

17 - 25 August 2007 @ KLUUBB

KLUUBB
14/F, Foo Tak Building
367 Hennessy Road
Wanchai, HK

Sonatrope is an independent film festival in Hong Kong featuring recent films related to contemporary musical practices. With selections that traverse global, regional and local communities, alternative histories and multiple issues, Sonatrope aims to provide a platform for divergent and compelling films that focus on the various social, political and cultural dimensions of musical genres motivated by youth.

The festival’s emphasis on punk and hip-hop seeks to highlight the significant communities that are formed around the love of music in an increasingly globalized era, revealing the influence, interpretation, and critical re-imagining of commercial culture. Providing a glimpse into underground cultures, commercialized ethos, global hip-hop and punk movements, alternative community building and performance, the films further explore the redeployment of these genres into new social spaces, serving as platforms for multiple voices and for the challenging of how these genres have become defined.

opening:

Friday, 17 August 2007
9pm, $40 at the door
Screening: Squatterpunk (Dir: Khavn, 2007, Philippines)
Music: Spermatic Chord, ST, Elle Est ChiNOISE, New Pony, Kawaki

www.sonatrope.com

Get It Louder

2007-07-08T02:49:00.000-04:00

GET IT LOUDER 07 - Hong Kong Homeshow (07 ëÂ„ﬂìW - çÅç`©@ñâèG)
The Diplomat Project: Dialogue with the Ghosts àŸËÀõîòb

Get It Louder is a touring festival of design and art by young local and International creatives of Chinese background. Started in China in 2005, the festival hosts a wide range of exhibitions (video, print, photography, fashion, web), sound/music performances, and talks with internationally renowned artists and designers. Get It Louder provides a dynamic platform for the creative work of Chinese talent across the globe. This year the festival visited Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu. Embassy Projects and Lona Records now brings the spirit to Hong Kong in the form of a ghostly evening of sound art.

www.getitlouder.com

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interview w/ Yang Yeung curator of 'In Midair'

2007-06-30T07:04:00.000-04:00

Sound Works Hong Kong

L'echo - Su Mei Tse

Since sound is invisible we may not notice it, but it surrounds us and affects us on an unconscious level. In a city with such a powerful and distinctive sound, many people have become impervious to sounds and noises. Sound contains no physical or material object beyond vibrations in the air. It relies on experience and requires sensitivity to perception. In Midair is a unique festival that centres upon this ethereal element that often goes unnoticed.

We had a few words with organizer and curator Yang Yeung:

With In Midair what do you hope to inspire about sound in Hong Kong?

I hope that In Midair first, refreshes our sensory experience, recalls those senses we use so often, but may have still forgotten, second, reminds us that listening isn’t about amplification; it doesn’t have to be about suffocating each other; listening could be about making peace with oneself, listening to oneself, listening to what one is listening, how one is listening; and third, that there are so many sound designs in our city, good ones and bad ones, and it’s sheer fun just to think about them and generate ideas from them.

Sound is often a very secondary element to sight or visual arts. What interests you about sound? How does sound inspire or communicate to you?

I don’t think sound is secondary, but as of now, the way our society has chosen to present itself, yes, sound has been sidelined. And yet it is not- sound is always used, but as if always just to ‘illustrate’ the visual. And there is this whole historical-political regime of how seeing is believing. Sound is as if one doesn’t have to care too much about it. It can take care of itself, as long as there is something. Let the cd play, let the background music play... I guess there is a lot more care that could be with sound.

Our home needs to care more about our sonic experience. Listen to all these public announcements- on the ferry (welcoming you on board), in the MTR, the background music played in shopping malls...all of them mediated by technology. I don’t have anything against sound technology itself, but I find myself asking, are we listening to technology or are we Listening? This kind of use of technology is alienating. There are other kinds, other ways of use, other artistic appropriations that are not. But this, yes.

Who are some of the artists involved in In Midair?

Some works I chose based on the way the artists approach their own work - Cedric (for his often tireless trials and errors, and the discipline he has always applied to even just what is known as improvisation), Anson (for her way of gathering ideas, going around, being open to her surroundings); Su-Mei (I just couldn’t forget her work since I first encountered it in the 50th Venice Biennale, 2003), Anthony and Kawai (for their systems relating to sound engineering, and the spatial qualities these seemingly very technical systems can create, that give us spatial experiences that everyone can connect to), Cheuk Wa (for his research-based approach to creating works- this one generated from many listening experiences he has had in the HK Island Central harbor front, and his research into the map of HK since the 19th century, which showed how the coastline has changed), and Robert (who composed this audio work that was his experience of Hong Kong 1997). And last but not least, Felix Hess - I don’t know how to describe it. I first encountered his works on paper. The way he writes is like someone slowly whispering to you an old-time story. Over and over again, whispering.

All the works share the commonalities of - first, listening as an introspective experience AND an experience of the external world simultaneously; listening as not only to content and meaning, but space and time.
-

In Midair opens Saturday June 16th @ Kapok in Tin Hau and is exhibiting at various locations in the city. For more info: www.soundworkshongkong.net

the priviledged illiterate / the non-definitive Canadian / the returning generation

2007-05-19T00:09:00.000-04:00

another 3 in 1, triple post:

ONE: Priviledged Illiteracy

- the encounter in local restaurants and claiming illiteracy. (unable to read Chinese)
- to me: i feel stupid for being illiterate
- to the restaurant worker: i am priviledged - (have money and education from foreign lands), which also indicates a moderate chance to rip me off.

TWO: Canada's loose/borderless national identity
- Canada's "mosaic" and non-patriotic identity can also be said to be a lack of identity.. void of nationalism
- this 'looseness' allows for one to explore and perhaps take on other identities much easier or embodie multiple identities
- this freedom allows one to define the self as they please
- it also allows a particular openness to understanding other cultures or taking on other cultures as part of their own.
- double / multiple consciousness

THREE : The Returning Generation
- the 2nd generation foreign born individuals moving back to their 'homelands'
- what will this generation do ? how will they change things ? what will they bring back?
- increasing development of third world countries, this returning generation will play a large role in the modernization - stepping up of developing countries
- increasing diversity, mixing of culture, increasing complexity of diaspora.
- modernization / globalization
- the alien-non-alien

Africa KRUNKD

2007-04-19T07:39:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when I'm bored, I like to randomly search words or images to see what I get. After mindlessly and casually searching and coming upon various myspace pages and further research on Wiki, I discovered Africa's new culture is young and krunked. Interestingly, Africa is in a similar state of development as parts of China and is growing quickly. With half of the country under the age of 25, and emerging out of times of the apartheid, the many young people are finding outlets in their new freedom and developments.

In a recent news broadcast on BBC World, Africans are becoming top users of cellphones. New plans are in development, where banking can be dealt with through phone transfers - making money from relatives working abroad, more accessible. Cellphones are the first widely used tool to help bring Africa up to speed technologically and economically.

Google "Cell phones, Africa" and find some articles. Here is one:
NY Times "Cellphones Catapult Rural Africa to 21st Century"

What sparked me on this random search was a network of young neonglo hiphop kids from South Africa. All inspired by American hiphop/electro/indie/punk, the graphics, beats, fashion, aesthetics are right on par, but with obvious African sounds (instruments i.e percussive), references, motifs and patterns..

After further searches, turns out I'm not the only one discovering the krunk (hip hop/grime) in Africa. Montreal's nu-hiphop 'spokesperson' GHISLAIN POIRIER also has been hyping it.

African crunk/grime mix by GHISLAIN POIRIER on the BBC

People gotta struggle a bit to make good art, or perhaps new sounds from developing places are more interesting than constant ego waving, rehash and incest happening in big cities.

China has not caught on to the Grime so much probably because Hip Hop has history and roots in Africa. However, hip hop is HUGE in China in marketable sense. It will be what the country will devour the most in terms of contemporary music. The underground however, in terms of production/passion remains more electronic and experimental.

SPOEK

NUEVOS RICOS

2007-04-15T13:04:00.000-04:00

China's own universe

2007-03-22T05:03:00.000-04:00

it seems one of China's strengths is having been so insular for so long, the only ones who truly understand the culture (and the market) are those on the inside. foreign investors trying to tap into the Chinese market have failed time after time.

it seems on International news more and more there are stories related to China and its economy.

this NY Time Article: Internet Boom In China is Built on Virtual Fun

Describes the failure of Google to tap the Asian market in terms on Internet usage and trends. QQ.com has surpassed Google in size and deals supremely with the Chinese market.

Other issues deals with the social issues of workers and population control and aging demographic. There seems to be increasing pressure especially on the young people of China of the current generation to build up the new country and cater to the old.

NY Times: China Scrambles for Stability as Its Workers Age

The popularity of art coming from this generation of people in China is exploding because of the global attention that the world is taking to the issues.

Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang Ke is receiving acclaimed success as his films touch upon the experiences of young people in rural China.

His movie the Platform : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258885/
illustrates the developments amongst a group of friends during those preeminent years in the 80's. The film looks more at the cultural changes as China opened up and as popular culture first from Hong Kong and Japan, US flooded in, influencing the young people. Already the cultural has caught up embracing at full-speed TV, Internet and popular media.

That was already 2-decades ago. (weird as I am seeing these long-term changes for the first time within my lifetime).. Now this film represents the next step.

*note "one of the most important director's today" and he's Chinese.. I never thought I'd see the day - growing up almost resenting my seemingly "overly practical, non-creative and studious" roots.

coming...

2007-03-16T02:01:00.000-04:00

manifested from flames.

Osage Gallery - Beyond Beijing

2007-01-09T03:11:00.000-05:00

[click for larger]

Poster Art Extraordinaire

2007-01-08T23:57:00.000-05:00

Ka-Pok G/F. 9 Dragon Road. Tin Hau, Hong Kong / www.ka-pok.com
January 29 – Feb 8, 2007
Opening: Saturday Feb 3, 2007

Screen-printing design duo Seripop (Montreal), makes show posters that abuse colour, disembowel type, and contort the mind. This exhibition features some of their many hand-printed posters and exclusive art prints that are representative of a technique and style unique the noise rock movement that emerged across North America.

Seripop’s visual aesthetic has become an expression of a music culture and attitude that is not so prominent in Hong Kong. DIY ethics, independent culture, and punk lie at the crux of their work. Fittingly, the two are also a part of noise rock band Aids Wolf, and have toured their music and art extensively across US and Europe.

In June 2006, Seripop was invited to do the poster new experimental music festival in Hong Kong: Sand Fest that took place at Para/site Art Space in co-production with White Noise Records.

Continuing the link between art and music, White Noise Records will be inviting Runar Magnusson (Iceland) to perform. His experimental sounds share an attitude towards music that compliments the aesthetic and drive of Seripop.
A raucous DJ set by Elle est Chi_NOISE who will be spinning anything from feedback to gangsta rap, will follow.

For more info: LOUDSPKR / www.loudspkr.org
info@loudspkr.org / +852 9570 6617

New York Times: In China's New Revolution, Art Greets Capitalism

2007-01-04T07:03:00.000-05:00

Link to Article

new objects of life

2006-12-16T07:05:00.000-05:00

Chinese have a long history of folk traditions that don't necessarily follow religious purpose. For instance, many Chinese still give grace to the three gods sometimes seen presented in the back of stores. Each represents prosperity, luck and longevity respectively. [there is further history and tale to the different gods that I am not so keen on].

Incense are often seen burned at shrines placed on doorsteps that are believed to feed the dead (acting almost as a means of remembrance). If incense are not burned, the world of the dead becomes cold and unlucky things may happen. The smoke is believed to be food for those loved-ones who have passed on to keep them happy and fed.

From time to time, usually on significant days (to each family is different), paper items are burned for it to be used by the dead in the afterlife. Often paper (fake) money is burned for them to spend, food (lucky oranges, bread, chicken) are left out for them to eat. Even paper clothes and other items of life are burnt to give to them to use.

In recent times, paper items such as cellphones, laptops, cars, air conditioners can be found selling in stores to be burned to give to those who have passed on. Everything from slippers, life size hot plates, to six-packs of beer, life-size servants and McDonald Happy Meals are made to the last detail (logos and all) out of paper to be burned in metal tins for the dead. It shows a shift in the values of the society and the materiality that has taken over in modern times.

These crafty paper items are made with remarkable detail and are often life-size (or larger). They are brilliantly made and are amazing as objects of craft, however, it would be difficult to take it out of context since it serves such a serious and morbid purpose.

Pictures coming soon... (I totally have my eye on that gold trim black boom box).

who the hell is Dashan?

2006-12-16T06:54:00.000-05:00

why don't Canadians know who Dashan (meaning "Big Mountain" in Chinese) is? he's apparently one of the most recognized media figures in China..and he's Canadian.

<<
Dashan, AKA Mark Rowswell, has been called the most famous foreigner in China. He has become a regular fixture on Chinese television and a cultural icon across the nation. Ask anyone in China -- 8 out of 10 will be able to tell you who Dashan is.

Born and raised in Canada, Rowswell began studying Chinese in the mid 1980s, first at the University of Toronto and later at Beijing University. While in Beijing, Rowswell became interested in traditional Chinese performing arts, particularly xiangsheng, a popular form of comic dialogue. A chance opportunity to perform on television soon followed. What Rowswell didn't realize is that this program would be broadcast nationally to an audience of 550 million television viewers, and that his stage name "Dashan" would become a household name literally overnight.

Almost 20 years later, Dashan is still going strong. Having diversified and developed into a multi-faceted performer and television host, Dashan is now considered a cultural ambassador between China and the West, having found a common ground between the two cultures. To many Chinese, Dashan is an international role model and a prominent symbol of "East-meets-West".

Today, Dashan is involved in a wide variety of activities, from hosting television programs and live events, to dramatic acting, public speaking, publishing, education and celebrity endorsement. For more information about Dashan's work, please see Projects.

When he's not working in China, Dashan lives quietly and anonymously with his wife and two children in Toronto, Canada.
>>

www.dashan.com

Christmas Kitsch - HK scale

2006-11-27T01:55:00.000-05:00

It is interesting to see this city go through an unusual transformation for the season. Though traditionally in Canada, the Christmas season is marked by the changing weather, the falling of leaves and the approaching of frosty mornings and eventual flurries. Bundles of winter jacks, scarves, darker tones take on the season. A merry feeling takes over as people prepare for holiday festivities by decorating their lawns, houses and doorsteps with lights, and Christmas ornaments.

In Hong Kong, Christmas is not nearly as celebrated as a time to be with family and enjoy the colder weather next to a fireplace after a big feast. What takes more significance is the Chinese New Year holiday in February, where it is the only time of year people takes the time off to be with family.

Though all over the world Christmas has become an excuse to accelerate shopping habits and spend the year's earnings on loved ones. It is especially true for Hong Kong where holiday, religious, or family celebrations are not so much the concern. As an epic metropolis, it seems to fully embrace the kitchy appearance in all commercial areas, which is essentially the entire core of HK.

Massive 40-story skyscrapers lined in a row, slated by animated lights the whole length of the buildings, the entire city hall transformed into a massive paper-mache village and church, giant trees and elaborate displays outside shopping centres... in such a architecturally impressive city it is bizarre to see such equally epic ornament and decoration.

It is obvious these ventures are supported more by those wealthy expats owing those buildings and those shopping centres hoping to motivate the spirit to shop.

It is just bizarre to see festivities on such a large scale, in a city that doesn't whole-heartedly embrace the season.

Hints of punk in China

2006-11-21T21:28:00.000-05:00

My discoveries through interviewing Cang Xin did not come from his explanations of his art or practice, but his life story and attitude.

Reigning from the exuberant Beijing's East Village, Cang appears to tell the story of someone who has his roots in Western punk philosophies, but interestingly drawing entirely from Chinese reference points.

Cang Xin is amongst the most renowned Chinese contemporary performance artists today. He is best known for his 'licking performances' where he believes in a shamanistic manner to communicate with various people and objects he comes in contact with. He is also known for his performances where he experiments with his identity and role in society.

Generally music in China is criticized to be largely imitation of Western trends without a real understanding of its history and developments. Though there is a lot of imitation there is still movement that stems from the core of the society.

One criticism of many media saturated ‘punk’ icons is that they pretend to act troubled and poor for the sake of image. They appear to have something to say, but in reality have no genuine understanding of the life they go on about.

For Cang, the motivations for his artwork began with very dire moments of his life. At the age of 5 Cang's parents were forced to divorce. During the Cultural Revolution, the government separated those with land and those without land. Cang’s Mother was left to raise Cang and his older brother on her own. She was deeply affected by the divorce and since their Father was not around, she would beat them. Cang ended up leaving home at the age of 12. From this experience, Cang felt he had something to say.

Later on, Cang began studying Chinese oil painting, music and philosophy. He became heavy into "rock and roll music" even played in a band in 1998 called Pangolin (Chuan Shan Jiâ) (an animal forbidden to be eaten in China). He believes music and philosophy were the two things that sparked him on his in his artistic practice.

In 1989 another event took place that Cang said was a major influence on him. During the June 4th Incident at Tiananmen Square, Cang was imprisoned for two months. Cang suffered a lot during this time. After getting out of prison, he had trouble talking about his struggles and the things that happened. He began his licking communication to help cope with the feelings trapped inside. He says his performances helped him find his true self and to express himself to correct these problems.

In 1993 Cang moved to the East village in Beijing and began working with artists like Ma Lieuming, Zhang Huan, and Ai Wei Wei who now make very recognized work.

Though Cang no longer plays in bands nor did he mention that it was a particular large part of his career, it was the way he described his life and motivations that drew me to think that he seemed somehow innately punk. His desire to say something about his experiences and act out and find expression through alternative means is something that resonates with the punk movement. His interest in “rock and roll” music only confirms the influence. Curiously enough, Cang also draws entirely from very significant and uniquely Chinese politics, history and events. It is these events and attitudes that have become the underlying current for his work.

Though Cang agrees there is still a lot of imitation in Chinese music that tends to dominate the scene, there are still a lot of bands that speak from the roots of the society and culture.

Some Chinese bands of note from Cang:

Èr Shôu Méi Gùi – Second Hand Rose Band
“Zi Ri”
Mêi Hâo Tào Diàn - Glorious Pharmacy
No

Events like the Cultural Revolution and the June 4th Incident have become major influences on some of the music and art perpetuating out of China. It is this deeper understanding of life and struggle that goes far beyond mere copying of image, lifestyle, and trend.

www.rockinchina.com

i am contemporary art

2006-10-25T03:17:00.000-04:00

2 upcoming exhibitions in Montreal
_______________________________________
[1]
Solo (presenting a survey of work)
CHRISTOF MIGONE. TROU
Galerie de l'UQAM
20 octobre au 25 novembre 2006
Vernissage : jeudi le 19 octobre
Commissaire : Nicole Gingras
1400, rue Berri, Montréal
Téléphone : (514) 987-6150
Mardi à samedi 12 h à 18 h
www.galerie.uqam.ca
A catalogue will be launched towards the end of the exhibition run.
_______________________________________
[2]
Group Show
CUT
Raymond Gervais, Christof Migone, Jocelyn Robert
Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery
18 Octobre – 25 November
Vernissage : Wednesday October 18
Curator: Michèle Thériault
1400 blvd. de Maisonneuve West, Montréal
Tuesday to Friday: noon to 6 pm. Saturday: noon to 5 pm
ellengallery.concordia.ca

www.christofmigone.com

Maywa Denki’s fish machines

2006-10-19T23:12:00.000-04:00

A book of reoccurring nightmare fish that were seen swimming inside the brain of Nobumichi Tosa is only a part of the process of the most recent series presented by electric art ‘company’ Maywa Denki. Reigning out of Japan first by Sakaichi Tosa in 1969 as an electrical parts company, Maywa Denki closed down 10 years later only to be revived by sons Masamichi and Nobumichi in 1993 as an art unit. In 2001 Masamichi retired leaving Nobumichi to take over the role of President.

Maywa Denki’s most recent product is a series of 26 fish-motif nonsense machines and instruments. The name Naki means fish (na-), machine (-ki). These fish swam out from the dreams of Nobumichi who feels is a symbol of his brain. The company also produces books, CDs an array of gadgets that are sometimes accompanied by silly and entertaining concerts that they call “product demonstrations” that nondescriptly sold out a month in advance.

Through their products, presentation, and exhibitions Maywa Denki becomes an elaborate and multifaceted art project. With a background in media arts, Nobumichi Tosa holds tribute to avant-gardist Marcel Duchamp. Similarly to Duchamp, Maywa Denki draws every part of the process into the art. Every individual piece serves its own function and story for the sake of a larger whole. That is what each fish and module represents for whole machine of the Naki Series… that is the brain of Nobumichi Tosa.

Maywa Denki “Nonsense Machines: Naki” Exhibition 23.9.06-13.01.07 is presented by agnès b.’s LIBRARIE GALERIE - 1/F, 18 Wing Fung Street, Wan Chai

www.maywadenki.com

Sotheby’s Hong Kong Autumn 2006 Sales

2006-10-17T04:49:00.000-04:00

Sotheby’s one of the world’s leading art auction companies reached 7 records in this season’ sales. The highest record for a Chinese work of art and highest ever paid at any art auction in Hong Kong went to the ‘Gilt-Bronze Figure of Shakyamuni’ at HK$116.6 million. Other records include contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang’s Big Family Series: No 15 which sold for HK$8,744,000 and Zhu Ming’s bronze sculpture at HK$8,296,000 both reached a record for the artist while the Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art sections represented record sales in the category for the fifth successive time. The auction also featured for the first time video art.

From the China Post:

“Sotheby's Hong Kong deputy director Evelyn Lin said they were delighted with the sale which reflected the increase in international interest in Chinese contemporary art over the last decade.”

http://chinapost.com.tw/art/detail.asp?onNews=&GRP=H&id=92547

Cang Xin: hints of punk

2006-10-16T00:56:00.000-04:00

interview with Chinese Performance Artist Cang Xin

coming...

Futurism

2006-10-04T09:25:00.000-04:00

Futurism is a term that was first used to refer to the artistic movement that spawned out of Europe at the dawn of 20th century. The First World War spear headed a movement of mass industrial revolution and arms race that pushed the world out of creative and economical recession. Groups of artists particularly in Italy and Russia became obsessed with the rapid change and movement in hopes that it would bring a new and brighter future. They despised anything to do with tradition or the past.

The Futurists adorned the speed, rapid development of technology, the new noises of machinery and the rise of large urban centres as people migrated to cities for hopes of work and a future. It was an exciting era that sparked the first of modern living. To some extent, it is similar to what is happening in China now 100 years later.

I doubt, however, there are many contemporary Chinese Futurists in China due to their nature. I somehow feel the Futurists in China are the ones from abroad.

ASIA an egoless society

It seems new China is unaware of its potential. The young people wandering out of rural villages are finding themselves in unbelievable success in big cities. However, it is more of an occurance to them that they very modestly appreciate and are grateful for since they are now able to support their parents and family back home who have never imagined such affluence.

It is unsure whether this egolessness is a result of philosophical tradition (Confucianism, Buddhism etc) or general morality of the people, but it is a respectable trait that will bring them on top.

Chinese people are very grounded. They don't flaunt nor are they particularly assertive or individual go-getters. They often fear veering too far from the norm. The Western world particularly America promotes freedom and individuality, something that Chinese people don't quite get. China is a bundle of potential that does not realize it. It is the World that is realizing it and launching it's ego into the air.

Perhaps once China realizes its own creative, intellectual, political potential, there will be no stopping it. Regardless, everyone else is realizing it for them.

sooooooooo......

2006-10-04T07:57:00.000-04:00

a lot has been happening. but i am unable to report.

too distracted to write anything concrete. not exactly a time for a reflective existance, though there is constant thoughts and material.. non is materializing.

desolé.

demandez-moi ici ashley.leee(a)gmail

Brainwashed / Keith Fullerton Whitman

2006-10-03T13:17:00.000-04:00

be sure to check out in my absence:

Pop Montreal October 4-8th 2006
Brainwashed showcase:

Keith Fullerton Whitman (Kranky) - www.keithfullertonwhitman.com

KFW is a composer/performer obsessed with electronic music; from its mid-century origins in Europe through its contemporary worldwide incarnation as "digital music."

Currently he is working towards implementing a complete system for live performance of improvised electronic music that incorporates elements from nearly every era: a reel-to-reel tape machine, a selection of small "jerry-rigged" / "circuit-bent" battery-powered sound-producing boxes, an analog modular synthesizer, an early "consumer" home-computer, and at the core; a contemporary computer running a custom-built Max-MSP based modular system that both controls these elements and acts as a central conduit into which their sounds are captured/collected, processed, then diffused to up to eight separate channels/speakers/amplifiers.

He is also, at present, composing an as-of-yet untitled piece for Egyptian Oud, Serge and Doepfer Analog Modular Synthesizers, and computer control/processing. It is his first through-composed long-form work.

Keith, 33, lives in Somerville, MA, USA with Robyn "Petra-Pixm" Belair and their child; a Korat named "Dribcots." He has been known to dabble in "virtuoso" "dance music" under many stage names/pseudonyms, most notably Hrvatski.

mp3: http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/keith_fullerton_whitman-farfisa.mp3
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/keith_fullerton_whitman-lisbon_1.mp3

Sybarite (4AD) - www.brainwashed.com/sybarite

From THE BIG TAKEOVER

Xian Hawkins is the man behind Sybarite. He was asked by Simeon to join the legendary Silver Apples when the group reformed a few years back and continued with his own band when the Apples disbanded. Sybarite's music sounds like the inner workings for the human body. Electrical impulses shoot through wavering tones while subatomic bass notes work their way through the lower intestines, all of it tied together by the throbbing beat of a heart. It's body rock, though on a very abstract level. To create these sounds, Sybarite uses processed guitars and many different synthesizers and electronic devices. This soundtrack establishes moods from tense and jangling to slow and glacial. Sybarite's music flows somewhere between the ambient work of Eno, the sonic experiments of Coil, and the post-rock stylings of To Rococo Rot.

mp3: http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/sybarite-scene_of_the_crime.mp3
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/sybarite-the_mast.mp3

Jesicca Bailiff (Kranky) - www.brainwashed.com/jb

In early 1995, after being in a few unfruitful band situations, the Toledo-based Jessica Bailiff borrowed a friend's 4-track cassette recorder and experimented with sounds and songs. After a few months, an obsession with creating on tape developed, and she bought one of her own. She sent a demo, upon the suggestion of a friend and mentor, Alan Sparhawk of Low, to the Chicago label, Kranky, who had just released Low's Songs For a Dead Pilot EP. Soon after, Jessica received a call from someone at Kranky, and the label released her album about eight months later.

Jessica's first album, Even in Silence, was released in June, 1998; its contents were recorded both on 4-track cassette and at low's studio, 20 Below, in Duluth, Minnesota. A second album, Hour of the Trace, was also released by Kranky (again, recorded and produced with Alan Sparhawk of Low) in October, 1999. A third, eponymous record, described by Bailiff as being about "...stagefright, dreams, loss of creative energy/desire, love & time, living in the same place all your life, ghosts, near-death experiences, etc...," was released in October of 2002.

In addition to her three solo albums, singles and compilation appearances have been realeased from 1999-present. Jessica has also recorded with friend Jesse Edwards (of Red Morning Chorus and the.dithering.effect) as Northern Song Dynasty, David Pearce (of Flying Saucer Attack) as Clear Horizon, and Rachel Goldstar as Eau Claire. She has appeared on recordings by Rivulets, Red Morning Chorus, Saturday Looks Good to Me, and the Elegy Radio Ensemble, and has toured with Charles Atlas, Yellow6, Drekka, Rivulets, and Low.
mp3: http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/jessica_bailiff-shadow.mp3
http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/jessica_bailiff-we_were_once.mp3

Brainwashed has served as a not-for-profit online music publication and archive for eclectic music for 10 years. Through The Brain (providing weekly reviews, features, new releases and concert news).. The Eye (providing dowloadable video interviews and clips, as well as weekly podcasts and fulltime radio stream), produced by a wide range of notable voluntary contributors, Brainwashed has built a reputation as a reliable resources for open content on finely selected music. Brainwashed also provides hosting for a range of bands, artists and record labels and has also released records on their own Brainwashed Recordings. This year, Pop Montreal welcomes a showcase finely curated by Brainwashed.

Friday, October 6th 2006
La Sala Rossa
4848 St Laurent

------

www.popmontreal.com
www.brainwashed.com

Interview w/ Jon Whitney from Brainwashed:

http://www.popmontreal.com/site/en/node/332

shake it off..

2006-09-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

ok time to shake off the general malaise and mind fog that people generally feel as the weather gets colder. winter is no longer approaching (since winter is no longer happening for me this year) and i am flung back into summer vibes and modes. time to embrace the reality that i am in rather than floating through days with my head in a bag.

in spirit of a period of feeling rather blazé (and i know i am not the only one) i havn't been listening to any music, nor have any desire to. i guess it's not such a strange thing... a lot of people have no concept of music.

there is just too much out there. its good to just close your eyes and shut your ears from the world for a bit. and then coming back with a clearer mind.

a real post is coming shortly...

i am so sorry..

2006-09-27T09:49:00.000-04:00

i'm terribly sorry for the near month long abandonment.

i have indeed travelled a half day in the future. slightly longing for a not-so-distant past that seems to exist simultaneously, but in a dimension beyond myself.

i've been losing myself in a state of limbo and forgetting any sense of time only to occupy my mind with games and puzzles.. played to the eternity until i indeed became a...

there needs to be changes on this site for me to continue writing.

i've lost the GUNG in the GUNGHO! knowing that i've already GUNGHOed onto a boat that will occupy me for the next little while.. so i've been laying it low, playing it slow before continuing where i left off..

back to the Future?

2006-09-05T22:02:00.000-04:00

after a disorienting summer in Montreal, i've decided to travel back to the East to complete ventures i was only beginning to delve into when i left.

in all technicality.. it is currently Wednesday afternoon over there.. making them a good half day in the future.

not only that, but i am somehow convinced they are the future and currently functioning to represent the future - hovering within anxiety, forth coming potential and possibility.. being in this country (CAN) and environment my entire life, i feel i have learned as much as i can from this place at the moment.

going away in all curiosity, i hope to discover and learn from the emerging Contemporary Chinese Culture and at the same time recognize a sense of hybridity and identity in our globalizing world of Internet and technology.

what role the Arts will take in the vastly modernizing and rapid speed economy? what will the kids do? how will they approach life, how will they deal..? how will the world deal? how will i deal..? in a place where independent endeavors and creativity just starting to be given more openness to.. the new freedom will be liberating for the people now able to build their own world and identity.

please feel free to send me material to share and exchange with people over there.. to perhaps inspire the new emerging generation of artists in a country where the youth are rapidly discovering a new world of contemporary creative freedom and thought.

e-mail me: ashley.leee(@)gmail.com

catch me before im gone!

(please read back to older posts from January onwards to understand where this is all coming from - recent posts have been lulled since coming back to Montreal to documentation of events and fragments of discover.)

VIDEOARTEVOM

2006-08-14T16:58:00.000-04:00

I'm working on setting up a YOUTUBE account for video art.

I'm also working on a separate blog to post the videos and artist links and information (bios/features). It is going to be a project joint with LOUDSPKR & Warrior Magazine.

A platform for dissemination and exposition of video art online through free resources and mediums.

Some videos featured from the INDIAN SUMMER event last month are up.. videos will be added periodically.

video are up by: (first edition)

Nicolas Chausseau
Nicolas Ceccaldi
Brendan Reed
Vinh Truong

VIDEOARTEwwwVOMITUS

Maxime de la Rochefoucauld: Automates Ki

2006-07-31T14:25:00.000-04:00

_Red Bird Studio, Montreal

July 29, 2006 the specially added third day due to the success of the previous two days, Maxime de la Rochefoucauld featured his Automates Ki for the release of his cd Orchestraki (made with his homemade automatons).

Maxime's Automates Ki are mini loudspeakers that are sent varying low frequencies that cause the speaker to vibrate. Springs, sticks, bells and things are attatched to the vibrating membrane that are adjusted to play various often homemade string and percussive instruments.

The sound is tribal, meditative and discordantly rhythmic, and often minimal and delicate. The Automates Ki are a coming together of digital and analog - Analog sounds through digital means. It is robotic in its playing, digitally controlled yet purely physical and mechanical.. it can be said to be hi-tech primitivism.

Recordings combine sounds of free jazz, world music/new age, but for this, the performance (seeing/hearing the automatons in action) is what matters over the music that can be produced. Compositions can be arranged live or pre-programmed. Performances are accompanied by live improv and instrumental collaborations.

Maxime will be travelling his Automates Ki that he has been working on for over 10 years to San Francisco next and has already been around to Africa and other parts of the world. He integrates his work in the environment by inviting people to bring their own country's instruments to be played by his automatons - creating noises that belong to the environmental context and culture.

Permorphance: changing landscape of performance and electronic music

2006-07-30T17:00:00.000-04:00

Here is a brief cut of a documentary we were working on last year/summer, but failed to ever complete. There are many ideas that were not covered in the cut.. but just to give you a taste..

Explores the changing platform of performance for electronic musicians/artists.

featuring interviews with:

David Kristan, Christof Migone, Et Sans (Alex St-Onge, Roger Tellier-Craig), Naw (Neil Wiernik), Tim Hecker.

<< << INDIAN SUMMER >> >>

2006-07-15T15:42:00.000-04:00

wavering heat waves...delirium, eternal youth & summer bliss.... trypptikks sykadelliks terrifying hilarity and euphoria

a night of psychedelic video, art, noise, and polarity

Thursday July 20th 2006
Blizzarts 3956A boul Saint Laurent

6pm - 10:30pm

VIDEO:
Brendan Reed
Nicolas Chausseau
Nicolas Ceccaldi
Vinh Truong (below)

ILLUSTRATION:
Sinbad Richardson
Tyler Rauman

PHOTO:
Patrick Dyer (below)

Shawn Kuruneru

MUSIC:
Metis Yeti (nnnoisseee....fred.)
Ray Dark (Nicolas Chausseau) - www.myspace.com/raydark (casio composition genius.. Master in music composition at UdeM)

mp3: bad banana breakdance

DJ Flying Buttress & KVLT 666

$$PWYC or $5 w/ a copy of Warrior

brought to you by: Warrior Magazine & )))(((LOUDSPKR)))((((

www.warriormagazine.org

ashley@warriormagazine.org for more details.

COVERAGE:

videos...
arttt....
music...
noooise to bring the night to a close.

thanks for a good night.

MidiFest

2006-06-30T14:20:00.000-04:00

http://www.midifestival.com/

merci beaucoup to Jon from MiniFest for showing me things about Beijing. I know I didn't write much on my trip.

names of areas and streets are too long to remember..

trop rad.

2006-06-30T14:19:00.000-04:00

http://noishanghai.org/

Torturing Nurse et al.

um.. i think i'm gonna have to go

2006-06-30T14:01:00.000-04:00

I have to be back in Asia by the end of this year. North America/Montreal moves too slow esp. in the winter.

Noise Asia Festival

Noise Asia 10 years festival, Sound Factory 17 years party…coming soon

artists
Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, Yoshimitsu Ichiraku, I.S.O, Filament, Djdee, Li Chin Sung, Wang Young, Zenlu, Turtoring Nurse, Zbigniew Karkowski, Wang Fan, Park Je Chun, Miyeon…..more coming

date
24th Dec 06 - 4th Jan 07 in 4 cities

http://www.noiseasia.com/dick/?page_id=111

ARTiT: new issue

2006-06-23T14:10:00.000-04:00

New issue of ARTiT is: Art in China II!

Picked up Art in China I while I was in Japan. I was surprised to find a part II.

Time to mail order this one.

ARTiT

Japan's bilingual quarterly art mag.

previous post on Art in China part I

more festivals..ONTARIO experimental music _ resurgence - melding of the old and new

2006-06-19T16:27:00.000-04:00

Electric Eclectics

Festival of Modern Music and Irritainment taking place in Meaford Ontario August 4th-6th.

I stumbled upon this festival.. surprising to see something like this happening in Meaford Ontario.. it seems there are a number of experimental music festivals popping up all around .. or are simply getting more attention.

Though the line up in general does not peak my interest at all, I thought the general idea was interesting especially coming from small-town Ontario. It seems there is an emergence of small-town of bedroom experimental artists. There is a grass-roots hippie vibe to of an older generation that seems to meld and inspire a new generation of experimental/noise artists that are bored with overly processed sounds and media. One example of the older generation London Ontario’s Nihilist Spasm Band.

The festival includes a range of international and local artists including Alexander Hack from famed German early industrial group Einstürzende Neubauten, as well as longer standing sound, light and media installations.

Peter Venuto and partner Jimmy Green (Toronto) will also be featuring their Rainbow Lites or Electric Rainbow Machine (‘primitive synaesthesia’, diy light display) and musical project Very Venuto.

Video below:

Very Venuto

The new generation of experimental is emerging throughout. A new festival Bummer in the Summer in Toronto taking place Aug 4,5,6 at Tranzac brings new experimental, folk, psych, noise with a surprising number of new, young artists from all around Toronto as well as support from larger American artists in the genre. It has a similar appeal of Terrastock and Suoni Il Per Popolo, but with a good amount of local content to build and support the community.

Local line up includes: Polmo Polpo, Awesome, Picastro, Mortimercy, Rozasia, Creeping Nobodies, Deep Dark United, Nadja, Montreal’s Cousins of Reggae and many others.

Much anticipated appearance by psych rock group Oneida, who will also be swinging through Montreal around that time.

Beginning of these rural festivals seemed to be sparked by a bold venture of Blake Hargreaves of Dreamcatcher/Cousins of Reggae with the EARTH UNDER festival that took place last summer 2005. It was a weekend noise fest in the forests of rural Ontario that brought for the first time some major noise bands from the eastern townships of the US into Canada.

neglect. & over saturation & festivals

2006-06-19T02:40:00.000-04:00

sorry for the neglect.

when consumed by a particular subject for example music, one becomes slightly adverse to music over time. industry kills the passion.

---------

Montreal's experimental community cannot be expressed better than through the barrage of festivals that take place throughout the year.

In May just outside of Montreal is infamous International Festival Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville. For over 20 years the festival has been bringing in the brink of contemporary music from around the world from improv, free jazz, experimental electronic, to noise...

This years highlights include Japan's Keiji Haino and experimental doom metalists SUNN 0)))

www.fimav.qc.ca/

Also in May is Elektra Festival - a Digital Arts festival featuring an array of media arts, and digital culture from music, video, design, gaming, and interactive/sound installations.

http://www.elektrafestival.ca

Similarly, the infamous MUTEK festival at the beginning of June, features and epic showcase of music, sound and new technologies. Electronic musicians, sound artists alike congregate with head to head collaboration showcases, big shows like Pierre Bastien, Placards (30 min sets by dozens of artists, mats & headphones all day)

The traveling festival has also been hosted in Mexico, and China.

www.mutek.ca

And finally, this year, Suoni Il Per Popolo offers and monstrous month long festival (more along the lines of Victoriaville) at the city's two main rock venues La Sala Rosa and Casa Del Popolo, where programming for the span of the entire month of June is dedicated to free jazz, noise, avant-rock and experimental music. From acts like Jack Rose, Pengo, Mouthus, Tetuzi Akiyama, Excepter, Sun Ra Arkestra and many many more...

SUONI il per popolo Sounds for the People

Along with mammoth indie-rock extravaganza Pop Montreal and MEG Montreal festival following only weeks after in October as well as Franco Folies and the Jazz Festival in the summer, it can't be denied that the city isn't over-saturated with culture (even in terms of only music). Especially with such a small population and general lack of money in the city to really support culture, it is quite impressive to see so much happening.

It's sometimes troubling to see festivals slowly deminishing, and down sizing events due to lack of funds.

Generally cultural development occurs after a city has substantial financial means to support it (ie. a strong market economy). It is surprising to see so little in Hong Kong, where the population is too concerned about work to even bother going out and further developing culture (though culture is generally expressed differently through more traditional means).

To work as a cultural pioneer and settler in newly developed modern economies might be a thrilling adventure on its own.

lllliikkkjjjhhhhggbbbjjjjnnbbmmkkiii

2006-05-30T16:36:00.000-04:00

Wind Up Bird

concentrated delivery pitch bending and beating of a sine wave. - joe grimm moves sound with his mind. actually more with controlled singing of tones that throw a static sine wave off into and around the room and people. flute, singing, sampling, delays and digital degradation of samples over time. gradual, meditative.. complex shattering of sound.

Lucky Dragons

tender dancing, bobbing, concentrated movement, invented gesture, delicate, conscious, symbolic. Luke Fischbeck dancing mockingly mouths prerecorded samples. Playfully tampers with the mic possibly recording elements. puts new meaning to performance (actually singing?, lip syncing, not singing..). implied movements. tenderly engages the audience before they themselves become part of the performance. skin contact, wire diodes. fingers, touching. touch two people holding the wire diodes and the sound will flutter into magical bliss. figuring out who's touch is making what sound is the engaging mystery.

both Joe and Luke have MFAs in Music Composition and are aspiring PHds in their field.

the Toronto show.

Tikiroom @ Tranzac
not normally used for shows. fireplace, carpet, candle light, glowing. close, intimate. drawn in and magical. bonds were formed with everyone in the room.

Wyrd Visions aka Colin Bergh

repetitive notes, concentrated changes, flow and improv w/ guest guitarist Paul Mortimercy. lulled singing.

Montreal:

Esperanza.

unfortunate breaking in to Lucky Dragon's car prior to the show. glass, shatter, heart panic. assholes.

the show goes on.

Magali Babin, electro noise acoustic performance. click, scratch and abrasion. flood and wash of noise.

documentation minimal.

moments will be remembered as a feeling.

Toronto

Montreal

car rides, snacks, new friends, canadian landscapes (epic luminous rain clouds, mist, and falling rain, light dispersal), slumber parties.

posi diy creativity.

SANDfest HK

2006-05-19T14:36:00.000-04:00

SANDfest HK website is finally up. Details announced.
www.sandfesthk.com

Soon kicking it into high gear.

June 24th, 2006
Para/site Artspace
G/F, 4 Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Ang Song Ming (Singapore)
Cedric Maridet (Hong Kong)
Fathmount (Hong Kong)
Li Chin Sung (Hong Kong)
Nanahara Shuya (Hong Kong)
new fairfield parks and recreation (Hong Kong)
Pei (Taiwan)
Peter Scherr (Hong Kong)
Sylvain Holtermann (Hong Kong)
Yeoh Yin Pin (Malaysia)
Zen Lu (China)

"The festival aims at presenting contemporary music such as drone, noise, sound art and free jazz by artists with different cultural backgrounds. By combining different acts on one night, we wish to present the diffusion of this art form across different geographical areas.

SAND will continue in presenting challenging music from all around the world to Hong Kong audience in the future."

LOUDSPKR... TEST GRNDS for EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC

2006-05-14T19:53:00.000-04:00

LOUDSPKR is a temporal housing unit for sound art/experimental music, live media art and performance.

LOUDSPKR seeks to explore sound within the world - providing artists with mobility and the exploration spaces and contexts within the city and the world.

LOUDSPKR provides a testing ground for experimental arts and performance and encourages collaboration. It strives to bring together people in the world and community, while attempting to blur the lines between artist and viewer.

Like sound, like media and technology.. LDSPKR is everywhere and nowhere.

Saturday, May 20th 2006
Tikiroom @ Tranzac – 292 Brunswick Ave (@ Bloor)
Toronto, ON

LUCKY DRAGONS (Providence RI)
THE WINDUP BIRD (Providence RI)
w/ Wyrd Visions (Toronto, members of Awesome)

Dimanche le 21 Mai 2006
La Pharmacie Esperanza – 5490 boul Saint-Laurent (@ St-Viateur)
Montreal, QC

LUCKY DRAGONS (Providence RI)
THE WINDUP BIRD (Providence RI)
w/ Magali Babin (Montreal, No Type)

LOUDSPKR .... presents:

LUCKY DRAGONS – Providence RI www.hawksandsparrows.org

Glitch/folk -- sensor skin contact dancefreakout performance

...formed in 1999. The cut and paste digital derivative of musique concrete, melodic memory, splintery soft glitches, anxious dada, dirty indie, beautytronics. Lucky dragons is Luke Fischbeck, who edits it like a magazine to make sure it stays going. There are so many others to share the light, though: singing, drawing, dancing, touching, plucking and spinning or sewing with sound files or just listening really well. We are a diy sound branding and sound breaking collective. Records are densely knit collages of ecstatic language, folk melodies, and AM radio rave ups. Live shows are convulsive celebrations of sounds from hard drives and gentle skin contact. Our aesthetic is handmade. Contributing members currently live in Providence RI, Philadelphia PA, coastal Southern California and New York City.

...Lucky Dragons have performed in such festivals as Versionfest (Chicago), SINfest (NYC), Boston Cyberarts and RHfest (Boston, MA), Listening in the Sound Kitchen (Princeton University) etc…

The last I saw them in NYC in December they gave a wire for the audience to hold and every time someone touched another person the sound would change. Basically the wire was connected to a patch they developed on the computer that would generate a sound according to the change in energy going through the wire. They would then improvise with the sound produced. Electronic, organic, interactive…

MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/luckydragons

Lucky Dragons in NYC in Dec

WINDUP BIRD aka Joseph Grimm – Providence, RI www.thewindupbird.com

Drawing inspiration from 60's composers like Terry Riley and Gyorgy Ligeti, Joseph Grimm is an emerging composer and performer whose works straddle the line between electroacoustic new music composition and underground experimental noise. Working under the name The Wind-Up Bird, Grimm's music often explores polyrhythm by juxtaposing many simultaneous tempos and periodicities. Oceanic, subliminal drones vibrate below clouds of warm digital pinpricks. Using delay networks, distortions, and other modulations, Grimm performs gradual but drastic transformations of input from live sound sources, emphasizing real-time creation, metamorphosis, and improvisation. His work is often realized with the aid of custom software programmed in the max|msp environment. He has used violin, pedal steel guitar, horns, marimba, and other instruments; but recent work uses only the singing voice as a sound source for hallucinogenic, surround-sound drone improvisations.

WYRD VISIONS – (Members of Awesome, Bluefog) Toronto
www.myspace.com/wyrdvisions www.bluefogrecordings.com

Wyrd Visions takes inspiration from his Nordic black metal roots, with special attention paid to bands like Ulver, Burzum, and Thorns. The cryptic lyrics implicitly reference themes common within this genre. Fantastic settings and creatures emerge into the mind as he strums and picks at his guitar. The movements seem to take on a life of their own: breathing and surging forward, like a mass devoid of form, comprised of countless individual cells, all working in unison to push-on through a field of damp magic. There is never any hint of where the music might go. It flows from song to song effortlessly, sliding through the fog, ultimately delivering the listener to a place inside of themselves that they never thought existed – a place where magic exists and dreams are real. Wyrd Visions' surreal eye of worlds lost to the ebb of time are eerily re-awakened here to remind us that we are never far away from eternal night and a place where the marvelous is beautiful.

MAGALI BABIN – Montreal
Label: No Type – www.notype.com

audio art

apple, bee, caviar, disk, echo, friends, gum, hockey, icicle, jeans, kleenex, light, money, nature, orange, plates, quire, rice, slat, television, umbrella, vomit, walkie-talkie, xerox, young men, zoom distortion/p>

abat-jour, braise, cap de roue, dents, eau, filles, grenouilles, housse, ipéca, jambes, k7, lave-glace, marche, neige, os, peau, quincaillerie, radio, salive, tissus, utérus, viande, watt, xylophone, yeuse, zinc

…………………………………………………
\\\\\///\\\\/\////\\/\\/\/\\//\\/\\/\\/\\\\\\\\\\/////////\/\\\\///\/\\\\///\/\\/\//\/\//
senseless sweat, with celestial soot

LOUDSPKR.

loudspkr@gmail.com

+ Providing a platform for experimental music, sound art, live media and performance
+ Exploring temporality and mobility in an ethereal world of technology
+ Promoting experimentation/exploration/discovery/freedom & life

exotic fuck you

2006-05-09T12:09:00.000-04:00

I've become more aware of being constantly reminded of my ethnicity in North America. It is kind of disturbing the ideas the West has of China and Asia as a whole.

Anecdote 1:

I spent an entire train ride next to a man that seemed a little bit too eager to sit next to me and help me with my luggage. I spent 12 hours trying to explain to him where I was from and where my family was from. Though I generally hate talking about these things at length, I had a long train ride ahead of me and needed at some means of entertainment.

He seemed to ignore the fact that I was born in North America and continually insisted that it must be hard as an immigrant and learning the language and being in a new land. It was rather frustrating talking to him. He was a middle-aged man working in Finance in NY. I struggled to relate to him on any level since he spoke a lot of business Finance jargon. He kept on somehow exoticizing me, despite what I tell him. He then continued to talk about is ex-girlfriend who was Japanese and then about Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon/Memoirs of a Geisha. I mentioned that the Geisha was played by a Chinese girl and he didn't see anything wrong with it, instead he said it was better since Chinese girls are hotter regardless of what people say about the Japanese.

Again for the sake of my own entertainment, I went along with it as he bought me drinks and snacks for the ride. He even pulled out the movies above so that I could watch and make the ride shorter.

As we parted, he gave me his card and continually glanced back at me. His last remarks were along the lines of "It is not everyday that you get to sit next to a beautiful blue-eyed Geisha" .. WTF!?

Anecdote 2:

I needed time to sit and write so I went down to a local coffee shop and bought a drink. It was one of the first nice days out so I sat on the terrace admidst groups of people. I happened to sit next to a group of french-speaking middle-aged men who play chess at the spot every weekend. They are known to harass everyone around them, or at least try to talk to them. Again the topic of my ethinicity was the first on their list and again the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was pulled out on the spot and debated. This time, however, they understood that I was Canadian. They said I was not shy in the same way newly-landed Chinese are.

Despite my usual dislike of discussing topics of my ethnicity, I will be understanding of their curiosity and perhaps learn something about myself and people in the process.

It seems ideas of China fed to the public are horribly disjointed. Chinese people are exoticized, and eroticized. We are seen as docile, delicate, quiet, innocent creatures. Ha.

Anecdote 3:

A drunk half Cambodian on the streets at night with friends asks me if I'm Japanese. I get these questions a lot and I say I'm Canadian. He tries to rephrase his questions, and I continue to give him a hard time to get to the answer he's looking for. He takes offence and admits he's half-Asian and some of his friends are Asian as well, but are Canadian as well.

I guess I've learned to accept these questions as a part of being a visible minority. To strangers it is an obvious topic for discussion at the same time I don't want my ethnicity to be completely ignored, since (I hope) it is still a part of me.

Terrastock 6

2006-05-01T12:30:00.000-04:00

Terrastock 6, Providence RI
People of the Forest
April 21/22/23, 2006

Ashley Wong
photos: Wilson Lee

Terrastock is a festival that explores the horizons of the weird, nomadic, and obscure - climbing through bizarre landscapes to bring an array of improv, experimental, noise, psychedelic, and folk.

Started as a means to bring together music and sounds from territories explored in the well-respected Ptolemaic Terrascope Magazine, the festival has returned to Providence after traveling from San Francisco, London England, Seattle, and Washington over the span of 9 years.

Something that sets Terrastock apart from major music festivals is that it is not industry-oriented. At Terrastock 6, there is no media frenzy, hype, or celebrity gossip - just people getting together to listen to psychfolk in small town Providence. There is a definite hippie vibe to everything, but the festival is now taking on new light as a new generation of folk admirers and artists begin to emerge - a wave of artists unofficially coined as "New Weird America". The festival is like a silent call to the people of the forest, creatures and folklore (old and the new) to congregate and come together to listen closely to mystical sounds, stories, and experiences.

This year’s festival invites artists from the dark forests of Finland, to the frosted mountains of Japan, to the rocky plains of Scotland to the murky seas of Australian to artists from all across the tundra of New Weird America.

Avoiding some of the major spotlight artists of the movement like CocoRosie, Devendra Banhart, Sufjan Stevens etc.. Terrastock's line up included: Avarus (Finland), Black Forest / Black Sea, Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood (Australia), Fursaxa, Kemialliset Ystävät (Finland), Kinski, Marissa Nadler, P.G. Six, Thought Forms (England), Ghost (Japan), local favorite Lightning Bolt and many others.

The events of the three-day festival took place in downtown Providence at AS220 community art centre and gallery. The main stage a few doors down was in Pelle Chafee Performance Centre, a large auditorium majestic high arching ceilings. Artists were alternated between the two stages, so it was possible to catch all the performers. Tequeria Pacifica cafe located inside AS220 provided amazing tacos and burritos for festival watchers. The mellow atmosphere and folk music made for a perfect indoor rainy day event for the weather during the festival. Providence's small-town vibe, and vibrant diy art and music community provided an appropriate atmosphere and context for the events.

The music took people to far away worlds with long improvisations, winding acoustics, screeching stringed instruments, fuzzy guitar pedals, psychedelic guitar noise, cymbals and bells, frightening vocals, long hair, wavering dresses and beards. Video projections illuminated suggestive forms and figures blurring into each other. Over all the vibe was relaxed and people were nice. For the most part, audience members sat in close listening intently as performers seemed to offer something special for them.

Highlights were the Finnish folk act Avarus and Kemialliset Ystävät with a unique sound that runs through the country. They serenaded the audience with bells, grunting Finnish vocals, delicate mysterious melodies, and careful pacing and rhythm. Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood and Cul De Sac appeased the noise, psych rock and drone audience. Fursaxa performed brilliantly with intricate sampling, looping and layering of vocals, bells and whistles. Two others joined her on stage adding howling vocals and strings. Japanese psych band Ghost played a rare and possibly the last North American show.

MV/EE & bummer road

Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood

Fursaxa + guests

Larkin Grimm w/ Lara Polangco

Terrastock brings together the strangest of the strange from hidden crevices around the world, creating a unique atmosphere for music lovers of psychedelic, rock, folk, experimental, avant-garde, kraut-rock and free jazz.

Check out Terrascope Online – online community and resource for weird music.

Terrastock 6

Pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/as220/sets/72057594115998897/

Contrast of life

2006-04-28T14:19:00.000-04:00

North America feels like it is in a lull. The pace is so slow (particularily in Canada). People seem somewhat too comfortable in their established ways. Prolonged establishment will eventually lead to change (for instance the current state of France). Walking through the cities in North America, buildings look dated, cold/dirty and bland. Half of the storefronts are vacant and entire buildings remain abandoned. Subway systems rattle and screech with rust. The place feels hollow. Random pedestrians wander the streets. There is no bustle of life - just routine.

In major cities in Asia, the rumble of the city can be heard from space. People flood the streets from dawn and movement does not stop until late in evening. Market places bicker noisily, information travels, money is exchanged and deals are made. The movement is something that can be felt and it resonates. Just being in Asia there is a feeling that things are happening - information flowing, and capital flowing - People making it rich and crashing to the floor. Buildings torn down, massive sky scrappers popping up, new highways built… it is constant.

CHINA RISES

There is a really great 4 part documentary put out by the CBC called China Rises. It covers issues of rapid modernization, advancing technology, loss of tradition/food/culture, pollution, production (counterfeit), the youth culture and the new generation attitudes and politics.

If you’d like any further information on any of the content in my blog, please feel free to contact me: ashley.leee(@)gmail.com

I am willing to share material and content. Publications or DVDs.

China folk vs Terrastock folk

2006-04-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

I'm talking interms of folk music.

Chinese folk that I saw present in Beijing is routed partially in religion/philosophy/spiritualism (buddism/confusionism/taoism) and sometimes includes the use of traditional instruments and sounds. Chinese folk enjoy acoustic jamming, improvising - they are influenced by jazz as well as blues and tends to be a bit funky. Electronic artists and folk musicians dominate the close-knit Chinese experimental community. The two often collaborate and play amongst each other. One of the major folk labels in China is River Music. Beijing being a more laid back tradition large city, emits a more rustic vibe - A vibe similar to small town America folk scene. People gather in small and somewhat isolated communities to share and create music.

Terrastock (neofolk/noise/psych/drone festival) is a strange phenomenon, this year congregating in Providence RI. This years festival brought together a range of artists from Finland/Europe, Japan and rural America including Avarus (Finland),Black Forest / Black Sea, Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood (Australia), Cul de Sac, Damon and Naomi, Fursaxa, Ghost (Japan), Kemialliset Ystävät (Finland), Kinski, Larkin Grimm, MV&EE with the Bummer Road, P.G. Six, Jack Rose, St Joan (England), Spacious Mind (Sweden) etc..

The festival attracted old followers of folk from the 60s to a new generation of folk and psychedelic listeners from today. Improvisations, intimacy, close listening, and story telling was a strong element that created a unique atmosphere. People listened to each other on stage as well as with the audience. The new generation of folk artists experiment with electronics - loop pedals, guitar pedals as well as various bizarre stringed instruments, bells, cymbals and objects... several young audience members were obviously on psychedelics, but not in the wavering blissful summer rave of the 60's, but a simple isolated mellow pleasure. People were well behaved and rather non-offensive. It seems folk thrives within small communities and within intimate atmospheres. Video projections blended abstractly together in real-time suggesting a kind of eerie mood psychedelic mood.

PS1 new york city _ THE THIRTEEN: CHINESE VIDEO NOW

2006-04-25T18:44:00.000-04:00

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre in Queens, New York this season is featuring an entire section dedicated to Chinese Contemporary art (particularily video, probably due to easy travel and exhibition).

Though interest in China is all the rage right now for forward-thinking business workers and the global avant-garde, the world remains largely skeptical or ignorant of the rapid fire modernization that is happening.

This exhibit marks only the beginning of China's activity as the forefront of the world's future in modern living, thinking, and culture. A new young generation of citizens are taking on the world introducing new vitality to the world stage.

The exhibit demonstrates art that is distinctly Chinese that is not heavily weighed down by tradition or obscure exoticism (that maybe alienating to foreign viewers). It addressed many issues surrounding modern Chinese living and society including works by Guangzhou artist Cao Fei and a video featuring coy fish (a Chinese symbol of prosperity) being tossed about in a modern-day washing machine.

<<

PS1 : 22-25 Jackson Ave., Queens, NY 11101
February 26, 2006 through May 1, 2006

(Long Island City, New York – February 10, 2006) P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now, an exhibition featuring a young generation of Chinese artists working with new media and responding to the great socio-economic changes that are taking place in the country. The thirteen emerging artists and artist teams—most of them born in the 1960s and 1970s—will show twenty-three video works. The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now is on view from February 26 through May 1, 2006.

Their choice to work with video—a relatively cheap medium that produces rapid results—underscores the heady times they face. Unlike the earlier generation of Chinese artists who gained recognition in the 1990s, the majority of these young artists choose to remain in China, living and working in major urban centers like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. In these cities they experience first-hand the growing consumer culture and rapid urban development.

Though most of these artists have presented their work internationally, many of them have not exhibited in the United States. This exhibition will present, and in many cases introduce, some of the most exciting work produced in China today.

Artists in The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now are: 8gg (multimedia duo Jiang Haiqing and Fu Yu, based in Beijing); Cui Xiuwen (b. 1970 in Heilongjiang, lives and works in Beijing); Dong Wensheng (b. 1970 in Jiangsu province, lives in Changzhou); Cao Fei (b. 1978 in Guangzhou, lives in Guangzhou); Hu Jieming (b. 1957 in China, lives and works in Shanghai); Huang Xiaopeng (b. 1960 in Shanxi, lives and works in Guangzhou); Li Songhua (b. 1969 in Beijing, lives and works in Beijing); Liang Yue (b. 1979 in Shanghai, lives and works in Beijing and Shanghai); Lu Chunsheng (b. 1968 in Changchun, lives and works in Shanghai); Ma Yongfeng (b. 1971 in Shanxi, lives and works in Beijing); Meng Jin (b. 1973 in Chong Qing); Xu Tan (b. 1957 in Wuhan; lives and works in Shanghai and Guangzhou); and Xu Zhen (b. 1977 in Shanghai, lives and works in Shanghai).

The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now is co-curated by David Thorp and Sun Ning, Director of Platform China in Beijing.

>>

Japan revisited 1

2006-04-12T21:56:00.000-04:00

ATAK night 2 @ Space Force - w/ mega collaborations ; Tetuzi Akiyama , Thomas Korber, Gunter Muller, Toshimaru Nakamura, Jason Kahn just to name a few
(video/pics to come) ATAK

Tetuzi Akiyama playing his guitar w/ a sword!

Tomas Korber

Tetuzi Akiyama

Unit - Tokyo >> a bunch of local bands: DJ pica pica pica, Shhhh, Pap@rapper, Abraham Cross, Butthed sunglass.. etc
insane noise rocknrooll, electrorockpsychenoiserave - these people know how to do it up

DJ pica pica pica >> EYE from the Boredoms

aaaaaah!

Gendai Heights - Hibari Music
record store\gallery\cafe - shimokitazawa

Harajuku/Yoyogi Park Sundays

street food

NECK FACE!! owns the world.

pop culture in contemporary art

2006-04-03T01:37:00.000-04:00

It seems popular culture has been increasingly a part of contemporary art since the pop art movement in the 60's. This generation (TV and Internet generation) grew up on and is highly influenced by trends and images from the media. It is inevitable that the art created by these people is going to include elements of popular culture.

Does popular culture in contemporary art make the art somehow, less artful..? In some ways, yes.. the meaning of artwork is streamed down to a simple obsession with a particular image/lifestyle or trendy aesthetic. The avant-garde strives to provoke people of the current space and time (zeitgeist).

Often other justification for the work can be made other than that it's "cool" or happens to be the current trend. However, it also depends on how things are used and whether something more is being done with it.

e.g. Cao Fei’s COSplayers, MOCCA (Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art Rock ‘n Roll Drums in Contemporary Art Exhibit featuring performances by Flo Mounier of metal band Cryptopsy (June 3-July 3 2005) review and Videodrome 2 w/ artists like Eclectic Method doing a video mash-up of favorite hiphop and pop songs (not so justified in this case).

youtube: Madame Chao @ Videodrome

The thing is popular culture must be a part of some of the art being created by our young people today, just as certain cultural elements must be a part of some Asian art.

[This topic could also lead into the cyclical discussion of the relationship between popular culture and avant-garde (possibly more easily analyzed through music).]

SAND fest HK

2006-04-02T05:05:00.000-04:00

In the works - mini experimental music festival. One day, numberous artists, gallery venue, art, avant/noise/experimental music. I don't feel right to annouce details before they are confirmed, but.. it's a bit exciting to see such an organized effort to make things happen for the first time in the city. The festival is going to be featuring artists from Sweden, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong - international collaborations and exchange. Money going into this is from the pocket. no doubt will be awesome..

soon-to-be-webdomain SandfestHK

silence

2006-03-28T22:26:00.000-05:00

here's a short anecdote i was going to add in a post somewhere, but forgot..

when i first met Gary at White Noise i remember i would always go there and be the only one there for hours. i remember asking him "so all you do is sit here all day and listen to music..? that's pretty nice." making a comment on what an easy job he has.

he slightly mistook my comment and said, paraphrased "No, sometimes when there are no customers, i turn off the music and just sit and think." i remember really liking what he said. something Cagean and Zen about it. when there is music constantly playing it leaves no room for one to think. perhaps i can admit to using it as an escapist distraction from my thoughts.

ART iT

2006-03-28T13:20:00.000-05:00

ART iT is Japan's first Bilingual (English and Japanese) Art quarterly magazine. Picked one up when I was in Japan.

This issue winter/spring 2006 happens to be on Art in China. The issue features 12 Chinese contemporary artists, and article on the Shanghai art scene and much more. Previous issues covered topics of "is graffiti art?", Korean art and media arts.

ART iT

bio:
<<
ART iT is a visually oriented, fully bilingual (Japanese and English) quarterly magazine introducing the latest trends in the contemporary art scenes of Japan and the rest of Asia. ART iT features extensive interviews with and dialogues between leading artists, in-depth articles on current art-related topics, and detailed information on exhibitions at top museums and galleries throughout Asia. The launch of ART iT marks the birth of a truly innovative Japanese magazine.
>>

FM3 boxing match

2006-03-28T12:36:00.000-05:00

pics by G Chuk

@ White Noise HK, March 25th 06

boomkat video and interview on FM3

We had a rather amusing discussion on FM3 prior to the show. Their main criticism remains that they are capitalizing so much on a single idea - the Buddha Machine. Previously they remained unknown for their ambient electronic music and now they’ve hit it huge with this one idea, they seem to be riding the wave to its fullest. The Buddha Machine has still yet to hit Japan. Certain people were weary of their performance since they knew they were just going to play the Buddha Machine. They have, however, adapted their performance to a “boxing match”, improvising with a number of the machines in an intense game. Videos of a match can be seen at the link above.

quote from luke : "what next? they're going to put breakbeats in it and have the Buddha BOOMBOX?!?"

Kapok!

2006-03-28T06:07:00.000-05:00

blast from the imaginary - displaced American psychedelic fantasy
pictures/drawings/posters installation from the Providence scene

"Sleepover Psychedelia": April 1st - May 5th

featuring artwork from artists: Brian Chippendale (Fort Thunder/Lightning Bolt), Thomas Galloway, Matt Lock, Devon Varmega, Brent Wadden

At the new KaPok Gallery Space and store
Opening April 1st, 7pm
g/f 9 Dragon Rd, Tin Hau, Hong Kong

curators: Samantha Culp, Adrian Wong

ka-pok blog

surreal and picture-esque moments

2006-03-27T04:21:00.000-05:00

Photo escapades across town..w/ Nicolas. Industrial recycle zone and remnants of forgotten modern fishing villages.

junkyard dogs

yesterday's recycling

it's nice to finally have someone completely ignore us on an exploration or shoot. this man and his forklift drove around this outdoor warehouse carrying and stacking enormous blocks of recycled material, not caring if we had a way of getting down from on top or not.

still waters, airplanes and boats. as dusk fell white tube neon lights flickered on, on each boat. on shore was rubble and construction of new condos.

----

Two nights before my leave.
Surreal hotel wanderings – filmic moments – time space and placid environment

Explorations with corporate art worker Jehan.

Our goal was to sit and experience every floor of this hotel just outside the elevators. The surreal thing was there were no windows, no people coming or going, and every floor was arranged the same, but slightly different (same decorations/design but maybe different placement of chairs and lamps and different giant floor number sign). Every moment melted into a bizarre feeling of deja-vu, but not, eternity and reality. We only managed three floors. Sterile, clean, and strangely still as smoke circles up. We own. Mafia style.

----

It seems in Hong Kong people don't exploit their freedom the same way as in other parts of the world. People are obedient, complacent and well... boring. People simply do as expected. Everyone’s simple desire is to go to school, work and get married. And that’s normal. There is no push to be unique or individual and in a lot of ways the society is more egalitarian (which is nice esp. coming from a subculture that constantly thrives to be unique, competitive and annoying). Rather than a concern for fame (lime light success), beauty and fortune, people simply want success on their own terms – a career in law, business, accounting, medicine, a good marriage and no family or health problems. Everyone (other than the triads, which is Asia’s form of crime) walks between the lines. In some ways it makes Asia and Hong Kong especially interesting to explore - Explore and discover spaces that havn’t already been marked by graffiti kids, which is virtually everywhere since graffiti culture doesn’t exist in the city. Spaces are left unexplored. It is not in the cultures mentality to do ‘unusual’ or unexpected things. Nor is it expected by authority or the general public.

In some ways it makes HK an exciting place to excavate and be the first to develop an arts culture. You get to be the one breaking open the kids’ minds and seeing what they do with it. There needs to be some sort of modern revolution for people here - A 60’s revolution.

Triads/Crime

Triads are Asia’s form of crime. It seems somehow an accepted form of crime – something that lies much deeper in the system than individual murders or petty crimes.

Someone told me that Hong Kong is one of the cities with the highest suicide rate. Apparently a man threw themselves over the rail on the 7th floor in Time Square shopping mall on a very busy Sunday (if anyone knows Causeway Bay on a weekend – it’s crazy). The guy got into serious debt and went for it. It seems people are so wrapped up in life and money that they kill themselves rather than finding fulfillment in other ways. People kill themselves more than each other. Which is worse? I’m not sure.

Double Stacked – City and Transportation

2006-03-16T05:02:00.000-05:00

Kind of like the cookies...

Since Asian cities are so densely populated, the city starts to be built upwards. People are stacked on top of the other, creating a multi-layered society - one with an intricate underground, bustling street level and winding above-ground level.

Since Hong Kong is built on a small mountainous island, the city is virtually built into the side of it, with roads breaching around, winding up and curving down. Huge 40 story tall buildings can be seen at mid-level eye-to-eye with people within. An outdoor escalator (covered of course) even runs up the mid-levels in Central.

Hong Kong has a history of stacking things. One notable trait, much like San Francisco’s street cars is Hong Kong’s double-decker trams. Hong Kong has kept most of this classic mode of transportation running through the city as a cheap, but a bit slow and crammed option. At 2$HKD less than 25cents a trip, short rides across town are easy.

Quickly modernizing HK has developed numerous modes of transportation to move its high population around the city. The newly developed MTR subway system (about 10yrs old compared to North America where many systems are over 40 years old) is highly efficient and technologically advanced, the red taxis (decent at price), the mini buses (developed apparently because of regular transportation strikes) that run through hard to get to areas around the mountain or in Kowloon, and the modern re-interpretation of the double-decker trans – the double-decker buses.

These buses, however, are not regular buses. They are large roaring dual-level coach buses that run on complicated routes and schedules all around town. These beasts barge through town at high speeds looking as if it could mow down everyone in its path, leaving survivors in its dusty/smoggy path. It was a bit strange to see such a phenomenon (and in such numbers) in a tight inner city. They are however, highly functional and efficient. Just watch out when standing on the side of the road. They leave in an unpleasant breeze.

to come:

The Octapus card. super handy invention and payment system. Transportation systems are always interesting..

[this was an unposted post returned to from the earlier half of my trip – too much to say – not enough time to write.]

Asia sound exploration 2

2006-03-16T02:54:00.000-05:00

Drifting: with MFA Creative Media student Nicolas from France.

Drifting I've done unintentionally throughout my past in numerous situations.

In high school bored in suburbia: driving aimlessly into interesting industrial outskirts. Partially inspired by Infiltration magazine. and later influence discovery of Situationists, which put theory to what we were doing.

Gafitti: Accompanying friends in their ventures - Aimless wandering, quality time and life - Exploration of interesting urban areas, rooftops, train tracks and bridges.

Now: Sound walks - exploring sounds of urban spaces. The new sounds, the city noise, the hum of architecture and industry. Deciphering meaning from sound, above and below city lines, and discovering new spaces.

Asia is really not accustomed to people exploring and pushing traditional uses of spaces and things. People follow rules strictly and expect everyone else to do so as well - for the greater good of the people. People don't litter, don't jaywalk, and do simply as they are told by the signs and intercom warnings surrounding you telling you - no littering, do not enter, wash your hands!, don't flush objects down the toilet, watch your belongings, no hawking... When someone is seen breaking such commonly known rules, you are shunned by the public. Perhaps the society functions better that way. Large cities are surprisingly clean and efficient. People follow rules so strictly that often security does not know how to react when people do break them.

In North America and other places, uses of places and things are often put to the extreme by curious youth. Thus the police are always hard on their backs. People are also not understanding of the activities of “art students” in Hong Kong. Some places if you are seen exploring strange places or doing something not expected, people will ignore you if you aren’t doing anything bad. People can be understanding and kind if you simply want to record the sounds for a minute within a paid area. But in Hong Kong it is utterly unacceptable. The “art student” excuse does not fly even if activities are utterly harmless.

Asia noise experiment 1

2006-03-16T01:48:00.000-05:00

(rewind/rewrite)

Karaoke Noise

After the Cao Fei's opening, Thai food, and drinks at a quiet spot in SOHO, we had the choice of either going home or finding something else to do.

For such a big city, Hong Kong really doesn't have much going on in terms of nightlife and culture. People don't go out much. Seems like all they do is work. Bar/club district Lan Kwai Fong is full of Western-washed Chinese, foreigners and expats. It is not in the Chinese culture to drink a lot, party and socialize in a club context. Chinese people enjoy food - Lots and lots of food and talking loudly… or yelling.

So is there a Chinese youth culture? What do Chinese young people do for fun? Is there such thing as Chinese youth culture like the ever so vibrant Harajuku kids etc? Cao Fei explores this in her work, but COSplayers also originally began as a Japanese trend.

One distinct modern Asian phenomenon and youth passed-time is Karaoke. This is not talking small trashy Brasseries with old local drunks singing their favorite French country western song; this is talking serious karaoke - Private booths, ultra reverberated mics, flashy TV screens, Asian pop songs..

I don’t think any of us were really there for the Karaoke. We just wanted something to do and experience at least once. Wilson, Enoch (the locals), Luke (Providence, RI) and me all went to kick the shit – the real deal at Causeway Bay.

Art & Play

Put 4 art kids in a room with 4 mics, and pa and what is there to come?
Karaoke noise. Feedback, ultra-reverb haunting vocals, noise beat pulses, in contrast to Pop star Kary’s heartfelt wailing in the background.

Video to come.

Play: is about exploring. Exploring materials, mediums, boundaries of the world given to you. It is about discover and finding all possibilities within freedom.

hero-of-the-town

2006-03-10T00:31:00.000-05:00

Beijing's apparent "hero" of the town in the music and art scene is experimental/electronic duo FM3 - A group most known for their production of the Budda Machine. Criticised for it's commerical value and craze amongst hipsters (and fm3's growing commercial interest as a result), the budda machine is a device appropriated from tape boxes sold outside of Buddist temples with monk chanting loops. FM3 took these box inventions and put their own loops inside for your own use and easy listening. These boxes have sold nearly 10,000 around the world at about 25$US.

FM3 will be performing at White Noise Records in Hong Kong March 25 2006 with New Fairfield Parks and Recreation - $80HK

budda machine diagram

FM3 also had an appearance at last years Montreal's Mutek festival.

China Muzak

2006-03-10T00:02:00.000-05:00

Amongst the minority that listens to music and follows pop-culture, and amongst the minority of that minority that don't listen to Asian pop, American imitation bands or even more the minority that don't listen to old skool Chinese punk rock or *nu-metal(!?)/raunchy metal or jam bands, the Chinese underground is surprisingly experimental and avant-garde.

"CHINESE ROCKS"(CHINA　Punk　-　from the Discorder - Vancouver indie webrag)

Unlike in North America where the independent music scene has been strongly driven by various genres of post-punk, indie rock for the past few years, China seems to either be wallowing in old-school punk rock (Rancid style） or forging ahead into experimental electronic, improv/experimental, minimal/ambient, noise, as well as folk.

It seems China skipped an entire step that the rest of the world seems to be embracing. There are still people here producing indie pop rock, but it is mostly a mish-mash minority influence from expats.

Reconfiguration Records – experimental, electronic
2pi - noise/experimental
Sub Jam / Kwanyin - experimental /electronic / sound art
Shan-Shui Records (Landscape in English..) - electronic
River Music - folk/rock
Modern Sky - rock/pop big indie label kinda like China's Subpop
Mam – old rock label from the 80’s
Scream Records - metal

thanks to Jon from MidiFestival for showing me some things about Beijing. As well as the friendly people at Sugar Jar - record store who battled through broken english to show me music.

Expat Culture:

Modern culture (music and art industry) in Asian cities are developed and dominated by expats. Often industry heads are expatriates from the West or western educated locals.

As expats settle, expats create a community similar to their own back home. As a result, bars, clubs, taverns, sprout up in districts providing a place for socializing and entertainment for these businessmen on their evenings and weekends. Expats influence a lot of local culture introducing music trends and bar/club culture. But since expats come from all over the world, they create a rather sporadic and disjunctive local community that seems to lack a distinct cohesiveness and quality. Businessmen are often not pros in culture. They will virtually soak up anything that is thrown at them even if it is a cheap rip-off of London parties. Most clubs and bars are filled with globally-minded locals and expatriates’ trying to make it seem like it’s the rest of the world.

* aside: China has a bizarre fascination with nu-metal I have yet to understand

in the moment.

2006-03-08T05:45:00.000-05:00

i swear i will put some real content here again soon.. not just pictures and names to entertain.

no time to reflect these days.

Beijing

2006-03-06T04:07:00.000-05:00

Beijing makes me feel that China really does have 20-30 years before it's global take over. It's a baffling and fascinating city. Amongst low crumbling traditional housing are bars, dj clubs and thrift stores.

Cao Fei opening results+

2006-02-27T20:38:00.000-05:00

Cao Fei's opening at Para/site was a hit.

**update added pictures

from the outside

video "hip hop" - featuring different people - chef, constuction worker, old lady, business men - in everyday environment expressing themselves through hip hop

performances by Notorious MSG (Guangzhou)

pop culture, chinese hip hop thug lyfe - neon green pool mattresses, video, spastic costumes/COSplayers, hanging mannequins, neon lights, hanging shoes, video cameras.. in China's mass development often the youth are forgotten. COSplayers is an example that the youth have a desire to express. China still need to work on developing the arts and supporting the arts in school. how the Chinese youth will develop their own unique expression and subculture will be interesting. Cao Fei's work is an example of contempoary and distinctly chinese art.

Cao Fei Artist Talk the next day: Cao Fei and curator Tobias Berger

my work as sound person on the traslation device

for now off to Beijing.. at the airport now.

"Art and Play" forum Shanghai Street Artspace

2006-02-27T04:29:00.000-05:00

Shanghai Street Artspace - 404 Shanghai Street (Yaumatei, Kowloon)
forum "Art and Play" Saturday March 4th 2006, 3pm

Performance by experimental drone duo(!!!)straight outta HK, New Fairfield Parks and Recreation (releasing soon on www.digitalisindustries.com - US)

Noise/experimental music often involves a lot of improvisation, which is an element of play. It allows for discovery, spontaneity, feeding off each others ideas, and exploration of boundaries (in this case of sound).

Exhibition: "Absolute Low Tech" March 2nd-23rd

Talk with:

Chu Kai Man from The John F. Kennedy Centre school for disabled children about the work that he is doing with the children, which will be exhibited in the gallery. His teaching methods and his experience with the children encourages open-ended play, which is much freer and less regimented than the teaching of the arts in Hong Kong in other schools. Play encourages free flow creativity rather than technical ability.

Art collective Green Pillow will also be present to discuss their previous exhibit in the space, a interactive installation called "Go Go Oral Ranger" that invited audience members to play and experience their art work.

Host: Ashley Wong

PS27

2006-02-24T02:17:00.000-05:00

PS is a quarterly publication put out by Para/site addressing various issues revolving around contemporary art, curating, the gallery, and the HK art community. Unfortunately PS27 is going to be its last issue for various reasons.

This issue covered in the first half various readings and essays on sound art. From sound walks, deep listening, sound in urban society, to a fairly extensive review of sound art must reads.. this issue was right up my alley.

The last section of the issue addresses curating, and the changing role of curators in contemporary art. It looks at the still awkwardly forming structure of the HK art community - which is based around collectives and councils of artists and intellectuals rather than having a single curator (which is how the international art world functions).

One part of this issue that was of particular interest to me was the emergence of Chinese contemporary art in the International scene (which is primarily western-dominated). Chinese artists lately have been trying to define the modern Chinese identity – trying to move away from being marginalized in the global contemporary art world as being heavily weighted in history and tradition e.g. Mao, calligraphy, landscapes. It will be interesting the in the coming years to see what the modern Chinese identity will become and what art will come from it.

updates on events past

2006-02-23T05:06:00.000-05:00

Checked out the East Kowloon industrial artist building where they organized various exhibits with artists in the building.

Despite the fact that it was a bit out of the way, it was still a high traffic and commerical area. I guess in Asia everywhere is incredibly dense and high traffic.

I tend to admire interesting urban industrial spaces. What is sometime even more interesting is how the space is used. Amongst piles of rubble, rusty cement and drupping ceilings, there were clean tiled/marble/glass doorways to peoples strangly located but pristine apartments and/or office.

The exhibits covered a number of mediums, and ideas. from the standard painting, sculpture to video, interactive art - ideas of play and 'liveness'- it was a diverse show of work from students to more established artists.

HK Art School students' studio space

in such a great building as this, one can't help but explore.
did a soundwalk/survey of the rooftop.

Para/site - chinese noooise.

O-man, HK

oh man..
was the show loud.
havn't been that deaf since hearing Francisco Lopez at Sala.

Dickson Dee (Noise Asia), Zbigniew Karkowski and O-MAN

China tour 2006: Zbigniew Karkowski and LI Chin-sung (Dickson Dee)
tour plan

no time for elaboration. a more comprehensive look on everything later...

COSplayers

2006-02-23T03:48:00.000-05:00

Para/site - 4 Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan

opening: Feb25/06 - 6pm

<< Para/Site Art Space is excited to present the solo exhibition of Guangzhou artist Cao Fei, one of China’s most acclaimed young artists, whose work has been widely exhibited in various Biennials, solo and group exhibitions around the globe. In the recent ARTFORUM, Hans Ulrich Obrist calls her work “both critical and spectacular, using pop culture as a bridge rather than as a simple reference in the ubiquitous orgy of appropriation and revival” .

Her conceptual, earnest and humorously imaginative oeuvre spans from videos, photography, sound pieces to theatre productions. Cao’s art bridges into visual arts with the use of popular culture and shifts through different subcultures and phenomenon to create the surreal landscapes that she is most known for – actors incased in Burberry behaving like dogs reenact a hysteric day in the office, ordinary people dancing to hip-hop on the street, people dressed in Chinese shopping bags and a stage production incorporating Guangzhou’s street youths are just a few examples of using the city’s everyday life to analyze and render the current social situation where traditions and new influences are constantly in conflict.

Her exhibition in the Para/Site Art Space will feature her most successful work to date - COSplayers, a film and installation project.

Cosplayers (Costume players) are fans of Japanese Manga-comix who dress up and act as their favorite characters. The group of Cosplayers featured in her video work is emblematical of the generation of youngsters growing up during the last two decades amidst China’s rapid development. Cao Fei presents a real subculture suffused in illusions through her work and reflects the dilemma of youth existence and ennui emerging in the face of Chinese urban and economic transformations. These players navigate in-between worlds of fantasy sword fights and mundane reality and by juxtaposing them against the domestic and urban backdrops, the parallel realities in play in COSplayers reveal the life attitudes of China’s modern-day youth as alienated urban superheroes trying to deal with the urgent reality and the unease of populations left out of economic miracles. >>

documentaries of Chinese performance art

2006-02-20T00:51:00.000-05:00

I was lucky to have caught the last day of an exhibition at the Macau Museum of Art. It was a last minute, spur-of-the-moment venture. Macau is a one hour ferry ride away from Hong Kong and was formerly colonized by Portuguese, so all the street names and its second official language is Portuguese. It has separate administation from Hong Kong as well as China, so bring your passport. One of the first things I noticed was all the motorbikes. Parked along every alley, it is a major mode of transportation on the island. Macau known as a place of tourism and casinos - every major city has its 'Atlantic City'.

The exhibition at the Macua Museum of Art was called 'Inward Gazes'. Ranging from documentations of body art, site specific installations, public interventionist art.. the exhibit was a epic show of the work by Chinese artists and performance groups all around Asia and the world. It is interesting to see how in 'less developed' countries/areas, contemporary art seems to thrive and is somehow way more interesting than art coming out of bigger cities. Taiwan is apparently brimming with interesting work.

The exhibit was a bit of a marathon since the pieces were all either a few photographs, or video with a brief description one-after-another like paintings on a wall. With performance art there is always the issue of documentation and preservation (how one wants their work to be remembered). Often times work is produced for the product of the documentation, other times; it's simply about the performance, in which case, documentation is often a series of snapshots, home video, and descriptions. It was none-the-less a good and rare opportunity to see what people are doing.

link

prawjekts

2006-02-16T01:56:00.000-05:00

I've added some links to the links section.

I maybe working on something with the Shanghai Street Artspace (details coming soon...)

http://www.ssa06.org/

and I will be assisting Para/site (contempoary artspace in HK) with their next opening Sat Feb 25th.

http://www.para-site.org.hk/ 4 Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

There is an event there this Saturday Feb 18 featuring Zbigniew Karkowski + Li Chin Sung (noise), 8pm 80$HK

Li Chin Sung aka DickensonDee: http://www.noiseasia.com/dick/

On the 18th as well there is an opening in East Kowloon in the industrial areas in Kwun Tong. The exhibition runs Feb 17-19th.

<< The art and cultural exhibition "LEAP - Local East-Kowloon Art in Progress" features a group of proactive artists from six studio workshops in a factory building located in Kwun Tong industrial area. They will open their workshops as part of the exhibition and some of their artworks will jump from the studios to the public area of the building. The audience will share experience with the artists in their daily lives, for example, living, studying, playing and experimenting. The event and the process of making this exhibition will build up a communication platform for the community and the artists in this building. There is no boundary between art and daily lives. >>

link

/////
added belated post: it had been sitting as a draft (scroll down a few or click) - huh?

playing ketchup

2006-02-14T04:08:00.000-05:00

I mean catch-up...

(as my engrish degenerates everytime I learn a new language)

China is the world capital of bootleg!
Every possible colour variation, pattern, style of nike, converse (hi/low even made up styles), adidas, le coq sportif, keds etc etc imaginable is here. requests can be made at: size/colour/style or brand in the comments.

Shopping areas are often segregated in to areas of sporting goods, shoes, ladies clothing, flowers, pet supplies.. entire streets are dedicated to a single shopping item. I happened to stumble across a fake firearms area the other day that had an assortment of military gear, guns, and model cars... it was a total 'boy' zone.

en vogue!
actually, i took the picture cause i liked the sweater.. or thought it was funny/great...

like this one. triptych!

bid now!

not all of HK is a new and clean as Central district. most of the markets are in ghettos. some markets like the most popular one in Mongkok (Kowloon) can be expensive.

ps. bird flu post has been briefly updated. more pictures to come... post on transportation/muti-level society/international trade/mainland china to come...

facts learned:

- homosexuality was decriminalized in 1991
- China is seen as unfriendly, full of crime and dangerous (giant unknown mass - too many people not enough enforcement)
- a large number of Secondary schools are closing down in HK because people are too busy working and not marrying and having kids and living mostly in common law (maybe a global generational attitude).

Aliens...the tables have turned.

2006-02-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

Though it seems my environment has entirely naturalized itself to me… I don’t feel I need to comment on my surroundings anymore. Thoughts I previously had (though still entirely relevant) don’t perk me to say them, but I will anyway...

Before coming here I had a discussion with a friend interested in my reaction to being in HK as an alien "satellite kid" (and as someone who is somewhat culturally dislocated). I look like everyone, but somehow, I'm not…

Chinese are known to inhabit every corner of the planet - no matter how far or desolate. It is not uncommon for Chinese natives to come across washed people of their own kind. They will still treat you as if you are Chinese and will not look strangely upon you. They are generally glad to have someone back.

To my surprise there are a surprising amount of Canadians. Scarborough (Toronto) / Vancouver as well as San Francisco (USA) are the major satellite communities inhabited by huge numbers of Chinese. The communities are so large that CBC's and ABC's (American Born Chinese) have become a breed of their own.

Perhaps if I wandered into the mainland, I would be treated more as a foreigner. For now, though language problems are always a barrier in any new territory, HK's not so bad.

Tables have turned...

It's interesting here to see reactions to the White minority. The Chinese have similar prejudices against the visible aliens. To the Chinese they are see as clumsy, lumbering...even stupid. It shows that appearance does matter more than essence, which is a sad fact of life. Getting a job here at face-value would be easier, since I naturally fit the profile. People are more inclined to listen if they like what they see.

Part of the fun for being here for me is being in a world that is build and designed for someone like me. I am the average size and stature of an average Chinese person. I fit a size medium and 37 shoe, which gets hard during sale times since those are the first sizes to go. Even little things like the height of a door knob or eye hole, or water fountain, public chair or ceiling are all perfectly proportional to me. I can comfortably walk into any shoe store (except for the one in IFC American/European stores tend to be a bit larger) and try on a display shoe and it will fit without needing to get a new size. I can try on a pair of pants and have the length, ass, width fit perfectly snug - no hemming or altering required. Perfect pants are so hard to come by. It is a glorious feeling.

One of the first things I noticed about being here is that everything is somehow.. very "Chinese". Just little things.. Chinese are very practical and cleanly. I remember as a grade-schooler I was one of the kids who didn't like sharing straws. I thought it was gross while my friends were going around sharing gum. I also remember not liking having to change in front of everyone during gym class. It was kind of violation of privacy. After a few years, I soon lost every inhibition I ever had. One of the first things I noticed here are that almost all the public bathrooms have large and distinct coat hangers, large locks (without holes) and doors that close without gaps. Walls are also lower to the ground and there is almost always paper towel and toilet covers. Certain things my Mom always complained about in North American public bathrooms were no longer an issue. Functionality and cleanliness (in modern China) prevail.

huh?

2006-02-11T09:37:00.000-05:00

http://www.hongkongartwalk.com/

HK Artwalk - Charity event

Is an interesting concept.. However, it's not what I had originally gathered from the description.

It is an event organized by Hong Kong Commercial Galleries Association to promote art and community (and themselves). Participants pay 75-400 HK for a pass that gets you into all the galleries in an evening (March 1st) where they will serve finger foods and wine brought to you by local restaurants. All proceeds go to local charities (helping people with HIV, sick children etc.)

Initially I thought it was a big dinner and art conference, then I realized it's essentially just a venture to get people out to the main commercial galleries in the central area, only tempting them with food and "charity". Perhaps if the event had more to do with art than improving their "do-gooder" community image and an excuse to get publicity, then maybe I would think it was an interesting idea. The event can be seen as a means to promote the Arts in the city, but then it would make more sense to at least give proceeds to non-profit arts organizations in the city.

gimme five! i'm alive!

2006-02-10T02:19:00.000-05:00

Decided the first pictures I were to take (as I finally got a new memory card!) were the things in my room. Just to let you all know.. I'm alive!

paper collection..

These are the ones I found most interesting/useful. Some look awfully nice, but unfortunately are all in Chinese.

HK Magazine (english weekly), BC Magazine (english Bi-weekly) - the obvious ones.
Artlink - put out by the Art Centre - mostly in chinese but parts in English - good resource and coverage for things happening mostly related to the centre.
Artmap - map of exhibitions and galleries during the month.
Parole - French / HK art exchange. publication on HK art in French.
Am Post - all in Chinese culture mag
APO (Art Promotions Office) magazine - upcoming art news
Fringe Club - booklet on their events

Oh and of course my wallet, and notebook.

2nd from the right is my mom. things change hell of a lot in 40 yrs.

HKTV!

2006-02-09T05:35:00.000-05:00

Havn't watched a lot of TV, but it's not as flashy and seizure inducing as one might think Asian TV is. Actually HK TV is pretty international. There is a lot of British news and television, bad dramas/comedies that seem to satirize traditional Chinese emperors and court people (e.g super long beards, angry slanty eyebrows, bad acting) and the National Geographic Network.

Oh and there are also rather good movies like Good Bye Lenin and Battle Royale II (which actually sucks ass compared to the first one).

I also saw this pretty great Korean dark comedy about a family that tries to get by off life insurance fraud (after realizing they could cash in huge when their husband/dad gets hit by a truck that backed into him when he was peeing on it when he was drunk). The family continues to buy insurance, and trying to come up with ways to hurt themselves (the more serious the injury, the more money). It’s rather amusing… especially when they try to kill off a "very very very very very" distant relative that turns out to be a mafia slob that never seems to die.

I’m not sure what it is called in English.. something like making money without investing..

---

Check the links section - some added Asia/China experimental labels will discuss later.

fUSION: to bring together and consolidate a hybrid existence

2006-02-06T05:10:00.000-05:00

FUSION has such horrible connotations. It's like spaghetti and meat sauce chow mein or sticky tuna fish sweet buns. Whether its East meets West or West meets East, either side becomes somehow flat, diluted… or just plain wrong. Things can, however, be looked at in a more positive way - It can be seen as getting the best of both worlds.

Now with the Internet and globalization, FUSION is the inevitable future for the world. Influence of the East in the West is most prominent in art and avant-garde (as well as in occasional trends in pop culture such as movies or tv/anime). Influence from Eastern philosophies help the West push the (language and knowledge) boundaries it has written out for itself. The East, however, seems to adopt Western influence in business and commercialism, media and pop culture. So-called ‘modern industrialization’ seems to be a Western construction that has been, and continues to be something pushed upon “non-developed” countries by the West.

Western influence seems to pour out of Asia. It is always amusing to see what I call appropriated and 'brilliantly confused' American culture. Things are getting so mixed up that sometimes one can no longer even try to make distinctions. It's like mixing a marble cake until everything turns grey.

Separation doesn’t really need to be noted, but areas I found signs of fusion and increasing openness here were in the foods (Chinese bakeries now serving pizza buns, donuts, croissants, muffins like NYC street stands), financial/commercial areas (highly stylized malls with more Gucci, Prada, Armani (high designer) than I’ve ever seen anywhere else), and certain areas of pop culture and fashion (mimicking American hiphop/graffiti styles etc - Hip hop, in my eyes, is the furthest thing from an Asian development).

Hong Kong is already a highly hybridized state, especially since it was considered a British colony since 1996. There still remains a strong British presence. Nearly every person who speaks English, speak with a British accent. There is definately a stronger European vibe than American. (I will speak about International Trade in a bit..)

Western landed establishments like taverns/bars (Chinese don't drink a lot especially in that kind of context), yuppie cafes (Starbucks and the like), Italian Eateries etc, remain occupied mostly with white customers.

As more Asians assimilate into the business market, and learn the business language (English), these establishments will increasingly become further adopted into the Asian society and culture. “Modern industrialization” was a Western construction, but has now been adopted as the global future.

Though I’ve always considered myself as a hyphenated identity (CBC – Chinese Born Canadian), I’ve been entirely socialized as a North American. Even amongst ‘typical’ CBC’s who seem to have a more hybrid tie to their heritage, I seemed to have been allowed to assimilate my surroundings to the fullest. It came to a point where I questioned my own personal knowledge of my heritage. I often rejected being constantly reminded of my visible difference, baffled at people’s ignorance. Even amongst friends I don’t know how much they would identify me as Chinese beyond mere appearance (though appearances matter immensely in this world). Perhaps it was a bit of shame that I was taught to feel growing up. The Asia I am discovering is an increasingly hybridized Asia, which maybe why I somehow feel strangely comfortable and at home here. For one, visible difference is no longer an issue… (I will write about the glories of being in a city constructed and designed for people like me in a later post.. – i.e. CLOTHES THAT FIT!)

I think I maybe perhaps more deeply Asian than I think.
This is all in hopes to achieve a more accurate (hybrid) relationship to myself.

blah blah bla..

-aw

email me: ashley.leee(a)gmail(dot)com

PS > unfortunately, i lost my camera memory card and cannot post pictures until 1. i get a new one and 2. i take more pictures... sucks.

Bird Flu

2006-02-04T05:22:00.000-05:00

this one is a quickie..

Much like NYC during terrorist season, Asia seems similarly paranoid about the Avian Flu.

Daily reports on the news either talk about individuals quarantined after eating an infected bird, dead birds testing positive, and dead birds found taking an hour for its removal from a local park. Signs on the street and parks warn you not to touch bird shit, feed birds or get close to them and announcements on the subway tell you to wear a mask if you are exhibiting flu symptoms.

A series of rather cheerful and comical commercials were issued by the Health Council of HK enforcing rules and precautions - the commercial showed families enthusiastically washing their hands, wearing masks, and staying away from live poultry.

It is not uncommon to see people covering their face on the street or openly wearing masks in public, which in North America would seem rather suspicious. It has become almost a fashion accessory.

I saw one particular western traveler wearing rubber gloves, a mask, and covering his mouth with one hand and clutching his briefcase in the other.. obviously paranoia. In reality only a small number of people have died from the flu.

Not quite as bad as my experience in Toronto during SARS, when I also happened to be sick with the common cold. People were running from me in every direction.

Often in times like this, it is hard to see how serious the situation really is when everyone is talking about it. The virus hasn't developed into a form that can be easily passed-on amongst humans, and they don't know when and IF it will.

The global strategy has been to avoid the spread of the flu by quarantining individuals, and lessening human contact with birds.

**update: the HK government has banned the owning of any poultry livestock and have begun confiscating birds particularly backyard bred chicken even pets to avoid the spread from bird to human. There have been cases of bird flu, however, in individuals who have had no contact with birds.

artartart

2006-02-01T01:32:00.000-05:00

http://www.videotage.org.hk

I've really been meaning to take a visit to the Cattle Depot Artist Village and 1a Space out in Kowloon (the Brookyln of Hong Kong - on the mainland off the island, a bit slummier, the "dark side"). It's just a bit hard to get to..

http://www.oneaspace.org.hk/

It's an entire complex dedicated to contemporary art organizations/galleries etc. Videotage - a media art collective (above) is also there.

An example of the mass migration of people from mainland China to big cities - it was said on the news that 330 000 people came through the HK train station back from the Lunar Year holidays. Just as there was a mass exodus at the start of the holiday.

HMV

2006-02-01T00:33:00.000-05:00

A good indication (sometimes) of the music culture in larger cities is what is being sold at HMV. It gives one an idea of what people listen to and what material they have access to and what’s popular. In the long weekend here where most things where closed I spend an afternoon browsing the sections at the downtown Central HMV.

The Charts were separated into a smaller Asian chart and a broad based general chart as well as a Jazz section. It seems what’s available in HK of Western content is vastly behind on what is actually happening, which is normal for a place that is on the other side of the Earth. It’s just interesting to see what various fragments of the west does catch on, and often it is quite random. Only the big names and far few of them catch on in the various genres. Like Eminem in hiphop, The Killers in rock, Sufjan Stevens in indie rock and there is surprising still quite a bit of Alterna-rock – like Korn and System of a Down (even Chinese imitation nu-metal in clothing stores that sounds just like Linkin Park). It seems a lot of the mainstream Chinese bands imitate and mix up at lot of the various western genres. A band’s songs will swing from emo to alt-rock to country to slow jam on a single album. The HMVs here are equally divided between Visuals (DVDs) and Music.

Aside from the usual Rock pop section there is an entire section dedicated to Asia music including Japanese, Korean, Karaoke and strangely enough the only category separations for Chinese music is Male and Female and a section for Groups. In China, music revolves around the Pop Icon. Usually there is one main singer that leads every single song in a heart-felt slow jam. One face I see everywhere is this b-boy/pretty boy Justin who looks more like a clean cut hip hop guy, but turns out to be a sensitive, boy band type singing English lyrics of “Alloone..! so Alone…!” before continuing in Cantonese.

The Chinese (mass population) seem to really like their music compilations – like Dance mixes, or mega mega live hip hop party … mix or something. They don’t seem to know enough about individual artists to buy it, but instead just want something to listen to that might be catchy. In terms of artists there seems to be a lot of adult contemporary stuff on the charts. Old stuff like Enya, or Elton John, Kenny G (is EVERYWHERE!), Eurythmics etc… They also seem to dig live performances (like where they wear their headsets, with a backing band and audience participation).

I spent a good part of my time sampling their Asian pop. I found the voices dominate and control the music so much that I couldn’t get much from any of it. Some were definitely more creative musically than others, but most often I found the CD would start off really sharp and catchy (good beats) and then revert back into slow heart-felt jams that everyone does. A girl group called “She” started off with hard mean beats like the Chinese Christina Aguilera or Gwen Stefani I was really digging and then after the first few songs it just reverted back into everything else. Bian Bian Bian at least tries to do something different musically sounding more like Stereolab with the same songy girl vocals.

In terms of indie, there was a bit. It seems Montreal’s Constellations Records gets some crazy distro in HK from Monitor Records (the Chinese Monitor Records). Monitor Records is also a local label and record store. In every record store I’ve been to there has been a good supply of Do Make Say Thing, Fly Pan Am and of course Godspeed..

Chinese listen to music for face-value pleasure. They don’t care what it is as long as it’s catchy or good for the car.

In fashion on the other hand, the mainstream youth fashion is more up-to-date / stylish than North America. Much more experimental and creative.

triple whammy

2006-01-28T02:08:00.000-05:00

Since things will be closed for the next few days, and I don’t always have the time to write.. here is some more.

I finished the book China Inc. mentioned in my first HK post, which by the end turned in to an anti-communist verging on racist to inflict fear of the threat of the Chinese in the American people last ending thought. There is going to be increased prejudice and tension towards the Chinese in America if these types of attitudes continue as China rises to power. The end of the book spoke fearfully at the tightening bonds of Europe and Asia over Europe and America. America fears the decline in power and blames the Chinese, but the decline for the US is already well underway by their own means.

I am here at an interesting and exciting age for China, right before the boom. It is claimed that China has already had thousands of years of glory (and strife), but this is a new media-saturated, hi-tech age of civilization. It seems the society is really young and only starting to develop its image and place in the modern world. The young people in China are going to be the ones defining the world in the next decades of the future. I think the entire world is slowly starting to realize it. More people are taking attention to it and becoming interested in the country for business and culture.

Even in noise:
ihatemusic_msgboard post

Dog Years 2006

2006-01-28T00:39:00.000-05:00

This Sunday is the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dog. Rather than following the cycles of the sun, the Chinese follow the moon. Most of Asia will be held immobile during the days of the festival. Many businesses will shutdown from a minimum of three days to as long as two weeks. Prior to the New Year, sales in ever store are off the wall. Chinese New Year is a much bigger deal than Christmas. It is a time to eat plenty, buy plenty, give and celebrate. On my bedside I discover a lucky red envelope with coins and two Clementines (or some Chinese related fruit) for good luck.

Every year there is the Flower Festival where a Flower Market is set up and it is much like a carnival (food stands, toys, balloons, windmills etc...) with tons of flowers for sale. Mostly orchids, cherry blossoms, lucky Clementine bushes, Chrysanthemums…. The immense crowds of people (plus the pollution) were more than I could bare.

The first two days of the New Year festivities are for gathering with friends and families. Those who are married are to give lucky red envelopes with money to the children. On the third day, everyone is supposed to stay home – for if you go out to see people it is said that you will argue, so you stay home. The 7th day of the festival is called People’s Day or everybody’s birthday. On the 7th day you are to eat the two clementines at your bedside. The New Year celebration (which does not involve a countdown) involves dragon dances, eating of New Year cake (sweet, gooey, fried), fireworks, firecrackers and celebration.

And no it does not include the opening of fortune cookies, though when I was a grade-schooler, my mother always gave me fortune cookies to share with my class to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Happy Chinese New Year 2006 Year of the Dog!

Filipino nanny culture

2006-01-28T00:26:00.000-05:00

In HK it is not uncommon to have a nanny and clean for you. For about 500$/month CND you could have someone do your laundry, wash your car, do groceries, make you dinner and take care of your children (if applicable). Most often these nannies are women from the Philippines with families back home. They come to the big city to work and send money home to their children. Sundays is every nanny’s given day off. With no real family or friends in the city, these women gather in the downtown core to make friends. Every Sunday (and sometimes, but more sparsely on Saturdays) they virtually line every public space and walkway (especially surrounding city hall). Sitting on cardboard boxes, and blankets often enclosed by umbrellas, they eat, play cards, chat/gossip, shop, and share stories. Rather than troubled, drug addicted homeless men or street kids in North America, poverty in HK are those either from the mainland (farmers coming to earn money for their families back home), or those from more impoverished countries/areas.

Class difference is not so much seen as social problem (drug addiction, abuse, crime), but as those who come from a more traditional way of life or non-industrialized society. They are seen as uneducated and somewhat more primitive (referring more to the idea of‘mainlanders’) rather than troubled and mentally unstable (“crazy”).

the secrets revealed

2006-01-24T05:43:00.001-05:00

Shit well, there is just too much to talk about. I have a wad of notes and no desire to write it out.

Been using up thoughts on email.

Record stores:

Music: the music here seems generally lacking. The local music community consists of imitation rap, Coldplay ripoff, alterna-rock bands and jam bands (e.g. The 5th Element mega showcase featuring something like 20 bands in 5 hours). The music community isn’t exactly inspired...

I did however discover an amazing record store near Causeway Bay called White Noise Records www.whitenoiserecords.org – it’s tiny and hidden up a concrete stairwell amongst small grocery stores. The store is about the size of a bedroom, but the selection is great. From obscure Finnish, German music, indie, avant-garde, noise, experimental, to electronic... surprisingly a lot of Montreal content including Fly Pan Am.

I talked a bit with the clerk about the HK noise scene and shows. He says there’s not much support for that kind of stuff. He says people will only come out to shows if they are free, but otherwise no. Bands don’t often come to HK either and people don’t like buying cds once they find out they're CDRs. I picked up this record off this apparently small Belgian noise label Audiobot, branched from www.freaksendfuture.com. All the cover art from the label is really nice - intricate drawings and designs, stitching and brightly coloured. The one I bought is by Verde and Clay Figure – beautiful noisy compositions with synths, field recordings and occasional subtle guitar melodies, a bit psychedelic.. actually pretty psychedelic.

Artwork for this was done by www.dennistyfus.tk there are a lot of really great art/music links on the website.

This is just a taste. There more on art. I don’t have time to write.

people with nice shoes:
(for vinh closest to shots of cute girls that i got)

foggy architecture - i have a lot to say about the architecture and multi-level costruction of the city. with the mountain - narrow streets winding around buildings, giant escalators through the mid-levels of the city, and above ground walkways all around the downtown... it's like a epic/hi-tech multi-layer antfarm civilization for humans. kind of fun to maneuver the city rather than to be stuck flat on the ground. driving up the mountains is also quite the experience seeing immense apartment buildings jutting up into the sky from the foliage.

street... so street.

HK

2006-01-20T04:22:00.001-05:00

The plane:

17-hour direct flight. Over the north. Hi-tech experiences with flight attendants feeding you endlessly every hour or so, coming around with drinks, snacks, rice/veggies/pork, ice cream, more drinks, sandwiches, instant noodles, even more drinks and snacks, mini-dim sum and again more drinks. If I was consuming alcohol every time they offered us a drink, I’d be passed out for the entire 17hours.

Touch-screens on the back of every head rest provided enough entertainment for the trip. With international movies, television shows, games and an interactive satellite view of the entire flight with stats, I wouldn’t mind being trapped in a cramped vessel for a day more often. Watching episodes off the BBC, to animated shorts from Australia, to avant-garde films from South America, it was like buffet of global culture and a breathe of fresh air from mono-perspective of North America.

My favorite part of the international airplane cultural experience was the film “Drink, Drank, Drunk” a Chinese romantic comedy about a girl who cannot get drunk no matter how much she drinks. The film touches upon issues of inner beauty vs superficiality, pressure to marry as one ages, pressure to be beautiful/youthful and settling down. The film provides a Chinese view of Western culture. In the movie there is a French-Chinese pretty-boy aspiring to own his own restaurant. All the girls fawned over him wondering if he has abs like Brad Pitt or is promiscuous and into casual sex like Western-washed boys are. It was also amusing to see Chinese actors grimace at the sight of gourmet French food like blue cheese and commenting on the strange textures of the food, similar to when some Westerners encounter foreign foods. It was nice for once to get the reverse perspective. I was starting to suffocate continually getting a uni-directional dialogue in North America (which is partially why I hated “Lost In Translations” – simply Westerners alienated by a culture they don’t understand – deeming the East foreign and unknown, strange and weird). This time it was the East talking back. The Western and French inclusion in the film rang to me of Montreal. It spoke to me on a number of levels. Hilarious and fun - it is the best romantic comedy I’ve seen in a long time.

Asia is modernizing at hyper-speed. It is no longer a foreign and traditional third-world country. So late to modernize, China is newer than the new, despite the civilization is amongst the oldest in the world. Though Communist rule has slowed and stifled industrial development it is now accelerating beyond control. The culture is now more open to Western influence and the newer generation is increasingly developing a style and contemporary view of their own separate from heavy Chinese tradition.

Stepping off the plane, the humidity hits you in the face. The island is beautiful with lush green foliage and sub-tropical weather similar to that of Florida. The air is different and much heavier. Even from the plane the Hong Kong skyline is filled with hundred and hundreds of 40 story high apartment buildings, identical and scattered throughout the mountain along the water. Huge, highly stylized skyscrapers decorate the downtown core. The architecture is immense, extremely modern and hi-tech like in Metropolis minus the flying cars. The city feels like a newer/cleaner Asian New York with giant Prada ads and brand new ultra-modern malls like the IFC mall. The city is booming – it makes New York look like a rusty rig. The subways are brand new and immaculate. Large glass doors slide open and shut as the subways arrive. The windows block people from the tracks entirely, only sliding open when the train arrives. The subways ring Cantonese, Mandarin and English (British with an strong accent) translations on the PA. Getting by with English in Hong Kong is like English in Montreal. The British influence makes HK feel even more like a hybrid city. I feel rather comfortable and strangely at home. Perhaps I am accustomed to being in an environment where I don’t entirely understand everything that is being spoken.

China Inc.: How the rise of the next superpower challenges America and the world by Ted C Fishman, was a gift from my father. A book on the rise of the Chinese economy and the threat it poses to the American economy (which tends to be the main concern of books like this). The note on the inside cover says:

To: Tiffany and Ashley,
Read this book and understand how China is influencing the world.
- Dad 2005

A book on business and economy (typical of my Dad) it is a thoughtful and relevant gift I can no doubt divulge something from.

The book essentially talks about how through-the-floor production costs, working wages and work standards is attracting US manufactures (taking away jobs from the States). Since corporations don’t have to spend much on wages, money can now go to improving quality of the materials. With the communist rule loosening up on the private market, millions of mainlanders are flooding into the cities to make money for their family on the farms. They are dead broke and willing to work for pennies. The west is realizing the potential and investing in the country. Workers now have money to start their own businesses, which are increasingly competitive as Chinese business owners are learning from foreign investors. They are able to make cheaper and increasingly better quality knockoffs - original marketers cannot compete. They are able to make things at low costs with better materials and they have a growing market (the population that’s migrating to the cities and making more money) to tap. There is also a growing number of high-educated young people ready and eager to work. With such leniency to economic rules, China's market (with so much power with the large population,) can indeed redefine the rules for the world. The country is building up at high speed. Nice cars, investing in new architecture, and the highest technologies. It is developing its own critical edge on the Western urban way of life. Next once the financial state and economy is fully bloomed, I believe culture and the arts will begin to develop and blossom further.

Strength in numbers.

First impressions : very new, hi-tech, modern, not foreign, booming, clean, little poverty (in the main city). Kowloon (on shore from HK island) has beautiful markets with tons of cheap knockoff goods. They have streets dedicated to types of goods – for example flower street for flowers, sports street for sporting goods. This is the market setting up shop for the day. Insanely cheap fake everything. More to come.

Article from Tiny Mix Tapes

More on art/music/less urbanized discoveries to come....

British Presence / Western presence
Filipino nanny culture / sundays
Happy Valley - the HK Beverley Hills
Chinese New Year
clothes,music,art,food,culture

embarkment

2006-01-14T03:21:00.000-05:00

DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS | SSENSUOICSNOC ELBUOD

I was born with this strange ability to see beyond a single perspective - My cultural upbringing vs. my Western environment and education. As a result, this has probably lead to my ability to subsume myself in any subculture and possibly attributes to my somewhat schizophrenic existence.

Not having lived or really experienced anything outside of North America and having pursued western education to its ends, I feel embedded as a Westerner almost to the point of denying my roots. I have developed intolerance to prejudices, knowing far well that I can function in this society that I was raised in just as well as anyone else. I even feel I have an advantage as a minority having broader knowledge and awareness of the world and providing difference and diversity.

The question is how will I fair when confronted with this alternate world that is somehow more deeply my own than the one I have lived and gotten to know so well? Will my primal knowledge of my native language flood back to me as it did when I first learned to talk? Understanding of a language at such a level is an automatic understanding of the culture.

How well do I know my own culture? Has my parents’ non-insular liberal upbringing stunted my appreciation of my family background? Am I simply another Westerner fascinated by an exotic other (even when I am myself that other)?

Alternate universes are partially what keep me sane. To be trapped in a single world would suffocate me as the suburbs did through my adolescence. I hope to discover and re-discover a world that I should know, to broaden my insight and to bring meaning to my current primary existence in Montreal.

People of hyphenated identities always have issues with never feeling quite at home anywhere - Being too Western for the East and too Eastern for the West. Canada is, however, more generous to that than other places. Trinh Minh-Ha probably speaks about that better than I do and attempts to blur distinctions between the two. I personally have no identity issues – flicking on and off various switches as I please. It’s kind of fun. (We'll see how I fair - I will also be seeking my own 'Western' interests). Double Consiousness = critical edge on both parts.

My mantra:

To be critical of everything – to be versatile and nomadic – to see multiple perspectives – to not get tied down, or trapped in ideology – to somehow find stability within temporality.

kiss it!

2006-01-14T03:10:00.000-05:00

i dare you.. kiss it.

undr constrctn

no hard feelings

2006-01-03T00:51:00.000-05:00

xmas _ the return to the 'burbs. DEC 05

the youth spent in the discovery of meaning within the vast suburban empire of nothingness. a reunion after we have all officially departed from our mutual homestead.

+ trespassing on the slushy and cool waterfront in Port Credit - Mississauga
+ wandering and exploration and discovery ... unintentional mischief and quality time

behind the icy gates we trekked over slippery rocks to attempt our goal to reach the abandoned boat off shore.

two failed attempts : one - the wrong route was taken, two : the rocks got too icy

goose littered semi-frozen landscapes

suburbs and youth yield : endless time and boredom our reaction to the environment is somehow unchanged despite our age now.

us and our unattainable goal.. not so much about reaching it, but trying..

the something in the nothing.

NYC: dec 05

2005-12-22T22:46:00.000-05:00

events :

* Sat. Dec 17th :

Hypnogoogia - Jim Drain & Ara Peterson @ Deitch
This is only a fraction of the exhibit. I forgot to take a picture of the amazing mirror kaleidoscopic vortex video sphere.

Deitch - colourful, psychedelic, mechanical and aesthetically engaging as always. There is a good interview with Jim Drain in the 49th Issue of Tokion Magazine, discussing the Rhode Island music and art community, and the aesthetic that he has in a way coined in his art.. (neons, geometry, psychedelics, scale etc..)

Tokion Magazine is a bimonthly international art, music, film, culture magazine that attempts to bridge between the American and Japanese art scenes.

The Grand St location of Deitch featured an exhibit by JD from Le Tigre - mainly photographs of herself in everyday life - as a butch lesbian bringing ideas of gay pride.

also visited:
New Museum of Contemporary Arts, Mike Kelly @ Gagosian, Bill Viola, Chelsea galleries...

Exit Art Biennial II:

Lucky Dragons :
an interactive performance using sensors that measure energy levels that are processed through a computer to create sound. every time someone touches another person holding on to the wire, the sound fluctuates. a flute and accompanying beats are played along with the sound produced.

This all took place at the ToddP holiday weekend bazar featuring art, music, djs, and La Superette art sale @ Exit Art

night : vertexList gallery in Brooklyn -opening of the Superlowrez show featuring 8-bit gameboy sets by David Kristian and Bit Shifter (Josh)as well as moving pixel display panels by invited artists

bit shifter

david kristian

* Sun. Dec 18:

Wooden Synthesizer

- ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program) at NYU end of year show - it's a two year graduate certificate - similar to the aims of the new and developing Computation Arts program at Concordia, but with 10 times more $$$ (imagine fully completed and functioning as well as conceptually thought out projects all the way around)

Sunn o))) w/ Growing and Nachtmystium @ North Six in Brooklyn

Nachtmystium - mediocre black metal band - fed up with the nyc hipster banter

The Growing played an amazing set and have really started to evolve, develop and experiment. In the past their performances have been slow, progressing wash of guitar noise (with lots of reverb) that build up into an epic and glorious wall of noise (which is interesting the first time around but rather banal to watch the slow and methodical build up). but this time they began playing with different sounds and quality of noises, from slightly melodic loops to washed out fuzz pulses, the toning down of reverb allows for breaks and the development of the distinct rise and fall of layering of sounds and structure which creates greater variety and interest. It's good to see their development and progression.

Sunn O))) (experimental/avant dooom on SouthernLord) the room filled up with thick dark fog and ominous red lighting. A low base tone paused and pulsated creating waves through the stunted audience. Darkness had fallen. People stood motionless, eyes closed feeling the bass tones reverberate through the body. Mysterious figures emerged on stage, lurking through the fog. The appeal of both the sound created by the Growing and Sunn o))) largely has to do with what is felt physically. With only guitar and bass, evil low tones waned. It was loud. and immersive - engulfed by sound and mystic fog. It was beautiful.

- Share @ Mundial: electronic media jam night __ missed woops..

* Mon. Dec 19:

PS1 : Waaaaahoo..

There is an amazing ultra-grandeur exhibit by Jon Kessler "The Palace at 4 A.M." on the third floor - expansion of a Deitch exhibit featuring a whirlwind of mechanical contraptions creating moving images for live video feeds that filter into a war zone of televisions, wires and moving cameras.

night: 37th yr anniversary of Experimental Intermedia this media space/loft in SoHO w/ a performance by o.blaat (Keiko Uenishi who also runs Share)- video featuring a local laundromat and washing cycle with accompanying multi-channel electroacoustic performance and live feed video.

* Tues. Dec 20: transit STRIKE - what a joke.........

documentation and observation

2005-11-21T16:55:00.000-05:00

events, exploration, adventure... ideas, thoughts and revelation.. moments, space and time. music, art, culture, content..

this is my dump more for me than for you.
to recollect on things past and learned & to make use of snapshot digital material that would otherwise be lost and unused until this too becomes lost and unused. to document and observe the world amidst myself and to create content for a fragment of the here and now.

to create meaning in a world that should otherwise be kept meaningless.

-aw