FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Arthub Asia at Tate Modern, NO SOUL FOR SALE
5/14/10 - 5/16/10
14 and 15 May 2010, 10:00 – Midnight
16 May 2010, 10:00 – 18:00
To celebrate Tate Modern’s 10th anniversary, the gallery will host No Soul For Sale – A Festival of Independents. For this free art festival, Tate Modern has invited Arthub Asia to be part of these celebration of creativity and independent contemporary art initiatives.
Arthub Asia will present two new projects.
The Making of the New Silk Roads, a film work by the Singaporean film-maker Ho Tzu Nyen. Arthub Asia directors Defne Ayas and Davide Quadrio invited Ho Tzu Nyen to react to and visualize the pioneering symposium The Making of the New Silk Roads, which took place in Bangkok in August 2009.
More than thirty renowned scholars, artists, and practitioners in visual arts, performance, and other cultural fields from around the world gathered in Bangkok to discuss and reflect on the dynamic, ongoing echoes of the ancient trading routes and their multiple dimensions in a four-day symposium titled “The Making Of the New Silk Roads” from Thursday, August 27th, through Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Hosted and organized by ArtHub, a Hong Kong based non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting art creation in China and the rest of Asia, the symposium aimed to reassess the complex interconnections within Asia’s cultural and artistic spectrum at the beginning of the 21st century.
Being part of the ‘documentary’ team of the symposium turned out to be a fascinating experience, a kind of being inside and outside at the same time. Freed from the anxiety of participation, Ho Tzu Nyen was somewhat plugged into the skin of the event, without being pulled into its pool of words. Through the lens of the cameras, Ho could feel the intangible, but nevertheless concrete dimensions of every symposium – its atmosphere, its moments of heaviness, those of lightness. Ho thinks of this video as a documentation of the symposium from a physiological dimension. It is a narrative of faces, gestures, energies.
The film will be on in Arthub Asia’s dedicated space on 14th May 2010. A special screening will be also held in the Tate Auditorium. Time of screening: 13.00 to 13.15 on 16th May 2010.
Crazy English is a performance by the Shanghai-based Chinese artist Zhou Xiaohu. The artist is concerned with Chinese social behaviors that mis-translate and misinterpret western marketing concepts and tools. In this performance, conceived especially for the Tate festival No Soul for Sale, Zhou Xiaohu has invited one of the teachers of Crazy English, a company specialized in teaching English language to large Chinese audiences, in football stadiums and other similar locations. Crazy English is a performance itself and a technique that makes standard American English an invented interpretation of English itself. Zhou’s aim, through the simple action of bringing Crazy English to London, is to show how something familiar, the English language, can instantly be transformed into something alien and foreign (English for foreigners), thus raising questions of legitimacy and the distorted effects of cultural imperialism.
The performance will last for 30 min. and will take place in Arthub’s dedicated No-space, 16.00pm on 15th May 2010. The video recording of the video will be on display on 16th May 2010.
Zhou Xiaohu’s performance is made possible with the support of Far East Far West Ltd., Hong Kong.
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Other interventions by Arthub Asia:
“Arthub Asia Keywords” talk by Dr. Francesca Tarocco, Head of Research and Special Projects at Arthub Asia and lecturer at the University of Manchester.
Time of presentation: 13.00 to 13.30 on 16th May 2010 at the Auditorium.
Information:
Francesca@arthubasia.org , press@arthubasia.org
Notes to editors
The first edition of No Soul For Sale – A Festival of Independents was spearheaded by Cecilia Alemani, Maurizio Cattelan, and Massimiliano Gioni, and took place in June 2009 at X initiative in the former Dia Center for the Arts in New York. The idea for the festival was devised to celebrate and foster a spirit of independence and diversity in the art world.
As part of No Soul for Sale, Tate Modern is opening late on the 14 and 15 May 2010, tying-in with the nationwide project Museums at Night. Museums at Night is the annual after-hours celebration of UK culture, history and heritage that sees museums and galleries all over the UK staying open late and putting on special events to get people to do something different with their evening – and enjoy the history and heritage on their doorstep.
—Upcoming—
- Preparation visits in Shanghai and Netherlands continue for upcoming ShanghaiExpo-related activities.
- Cao Fei RMB city Opera world tour
- Opening Dutch Art Center for Expo 2010 in collaboration with Van Abbe Museum
- Moon Academy (Alicia Framis) a Public Art Project in Collaboration with Skor, The Netherlands and China
- Gwanju Biennale, Korea 2010 (Arthub is appointed Asian research institution by Massimiliano Gioni)
- International performative symposium in Cini Foundation, Venice
- Olivo Barbieri project in Bangkok, Thailand
—Seasons—
Many of you collaborated/ participated on/in Arthub’s various projects across Asia over the past year; and we want to thank you for being such a support in all these endeavors. It is only with the continued enthusiasm of our generous peers that Arthub can continue to generate these experiences. We look forward to seeing you through 2010.
With warm holiday wishes.
Arthub Asia Directors:
Davide Quadrio, Defne Ayas, Qiu Zhijie
—Winter news—
Arthub - a non-profit contemporary art foundation serving China and the rest of Asia is delighted to announce RMB City Opera, a live stage performance by Cao Fei to be presented at Astra Theatre on November 7 as part of ARTISSIMA 16/The Theater Project in Turin.
Arthub team has invited visual artist Cao Fei to create a special live performance based on her RMB City project, an experimental city and community in the internet-based virtual world of Second Life. For this new live work, Cao Fei embarks on the challenge of not only creating new chapter of RMB City, but also working with avatar-actors and various staging elements to create a new drama based on Yang Ban Xi, the model dramas of the Cultural Revolution period. Yang Ban Xi were a series of propaganda productions (movie musicals, ballets, operas) that were later adapted to cinematic form, therefore becoming entrenched into the visual and symbolic imagination of a certain era of Chinese history.
Ms. China Tracy, Cao Fei’s avatar, will play the lead role in the performance, accompanied by other actor-avatars on the screen and on stage. You can read more about the project here:
The RMB City Opera is produced by Depart Foundation, Rome, in collaboration with Arthub ((Davide Quadrio & Defne Ayas) and Artissima, in co-production with Far East Far West., Hong Kong. Artissima’s The Theater Project / Blinding The Ears will feature world-premiere events – from plays to performances and concerts – featuring an extraordinary list of artists, will take place in five major city theaters. Tickets online at Artissima website.
To find out more about the project, please email davide at arthubasia.org or defne at arthubasia.org.
To learn more about the ARTISSIMA 16 please go to artissima.it
—Fall news.——————
Thirty Plus Renowned International Arts Practitioners & Scholars to Examine Asia’s Latest Cultural Development Trends in ARTHUB’s 4-Day Bangkok Symposium
More than thirty renowned scholars, artists, and practitioners in visual arts, performance, and other cultural fields from around the world will gather in Bangkok to discuss and reflect on the dynamic, ongoing echoes of the ancient trading route Silk Road and its multiple dimensions in a four-day symposium titled “The Making Of the New Silk Roads” from Thursday, August 27th, through Sunday, August 30th. Hosted and organized by ArtHub, a Hong Kong based non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting art creation in China and the rest of Asia, the symposium aims to reassess the complex interconnections within Asia’s cultural and artistic spectrum at the beginning of the 21st century. To take place at the Bangkok University Gallery (BUG), in collaboration with the Prince Claus Fund, Bangkok University, National Research Center of the Kingdom of Thailand, with additional support from Mondriaan Foundation and ANA (Singapore), the summit will feature Arthub’s “collaborative intelligence” participants from across Asia including China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey, Georgia, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and beyond, along with additional participants from the prestigious Prince Claus Fund Network Partnership Program.
This four-day program will not only feature lively discussions of shared experiences among peers, examining the recent rapid developments in Asia, and among its cast of characters, issues, and mediums, but also provide an exciting forum, reflecting on the dynamic, ongoing echoes of the ancient trading route of the Silk Road in its multiple dimensions. Proposing the Silk Road as a variable metaphor for instable connections and uncertain achievements, and taking it as a departure point for continued reflections upon Asia’s cultural landscape, Arthub aims to carry this out by inviting artists, curators, and cultural thinkers from a wide array of viewpoints to go beyond a recitation of ideas or positions, and instead to bring presenters, participants, and audiences together as they explore, challenge, articulate, or nourish the possibilities of performative responses to Silk Road’s highly constructed symbolisms. Each artist and/or scholar will present a specific artwork/presentation/installation that not only implies a possible story-telling about a specific condition from his/her respective, particular context such as issues of cultural circulation, social/political activism, and the marketplace) but also that tests the idea of Silk Road’s potency for cultural hybridity across Asia in general.
To be presented in the form of a series of newly commissioned works including installations, lecture-performances, TV shows, radio interviews and publications, this collaborative symposium will put a special emphasis on process-oriented, and research-, dialogue-based artistic positions across Asia. Through the means of commissioning new responses, establishing dialogue months prior to the symposium, and enabling an alternative live context for investigation of dynamic cultural issues by its very own very actors, Arthub is committed to inspiring new forms of artistic and aesthetic experiments in China and rest of Asia. Arthub also aims to re-examine the contested idea of the cultural encounter with the “other,” and turn these peer-to-peer encounters into a generator of new impulses for the analysis of complex historical processes within the cultural systems in Asia. The symposium will be video recorded, and a film + catalogue will be produced. The outcome will be geared towards touring as an exhibition later in 2010. Yet as with the symposium’s multiplicity of strategies, the resulting exhibition will be open for constant negotiation and reformulation.
Participants include:
Agung Kurniawan, artist/curator, Indonesia
Alexander Ugay, artist, Kazakhstan
David Cotterrell, artist, UK
Els Silvrants, curator, Theatre in Motion, Belgium/China
Gary Pastrana, artist, Philippines
Ho Tzu Nyen, artist, Singapore
Howard Chan, artist/curator, Hong Kong
Iani Arahmaiani, artist, Indonesia
Jiang Jun, editor, Urban China, Beijing, China
Kyong Park, architect, University of California, USA/Korea
Lina Saneh, artist, Lebanon
Mu Qian, ethnomusicologist, China
Nikusha Chkhaidze (Nika), artist, Georgia
Onno Dirker, artist/researcher, The Netherlands
Pratchaya Phinthong, artist, Thailand
Rahraw Omarzad, curator/artist, Afghanistan
Samah Hijawi, artist, Space Makan, Jordan
Shaarbek Amankul, artist, bArt Center, Kyrgyzstan
Stefan Rusu, artist/curator, Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau , Moldavia
Hakan Topal, artist, xurban collective, Turkey/USA
Zoe Butt, curator, Long March Project, Beijing/Southeast Asia (sharing work by artists Erin Gleeson, Rattana Vandy, Nguyen Trinh Thi)
Seph Rodney, Ph.D. candidate, University of London- Birkbeck College, UK
Veronica Sekules, Head of Education at the Sainsbury Centre, UK
Adeline Ooi, curator/writer, RogueArt, Malaysia
Agung Hujatnikajennong, artist, Indonesia
Le Huy Hoang, artist, Vietnam/Cambodia
Supersudaca, architects/artists collective, South America/The Netherlands
Edwin Zwakman and Liu Gang, artists, the Netherlands/China
Speedism, artist collective, Belgium/Germany
And more !
The symposium is organized by Arthub’s Davide Quadrio, Defne Ayas, and Ark Fongsmut, with coordination support from Monvilai Rojanatanti.
—Summer news cont. ——————
Contemporary Art Foundation ARTHUB
Announces Appointment of New Directors
(Hong Kong/Shanghai/Bangkok, June 2, 2009) — Arthub, a non-profit contemporary art foundation serving China and the rest of Asia, has announced the appointment of new leadership.
Qiu Zhijie was named a Director to the Foundation, following the recent appointment of Defne Ayas to the same post. “Bringing together Qiu Zhijie’s and Defne Ayas’ gifts is a wonderful affirmation of Arthub’s passionate commitment to Asia-wide contemporary art creation” Executive Director and Co-Founder Davide Quadrio said, who is also the Founder of the experimental Bizart Center in Shanghai, the non-for-profit that shaped the careers of many Chinese contemporary artists well-known in the world today. “Combining Qiu Zhijie’s broad mastery of language, history, and region with Ayas’ global knowledge of contemporary art practice and management gives Arthub Foundation capacity to reach out to a global network that puts Asia at the centre of artistic practices for artists from all the world”.
Bizart was the non-profit in the country that created a unique model of co-operation and creation among artists and professionals in Shanghai since 1998 and which reached out to the rest of Asia and the world. Arthub, similarly, was created to enlarge the scope of BizArt and make it truly pan-Asian. Arthub founded in 2007 is an ambitious cultural initiative to support Asia- wide productions and artistic based researches all around the region. Artists and arts organizations affliated with Arthub produced much of the basic literature in contemporary art field in China and rest of Asia.
Arthub’s three Directors are based across Asia, complementing a decade of intensive research on Asia-wide grass root activities: Davide Quadrio is based in Bangkok, Defne Ayas in Shanghai and Qiu Zhijie in Beijing. The three directors are committed to push critical discourse in China and Asia, challenging the current status of artistic discourse in the region and supporting vital artistic projects that are truly based on commitment and research.
Arthub is now one of the 12 worldwide network partners of Prince Claus Fund (the Netherlands) for South East Asia (2008-2010)
——————-Summer news cont. ——————
In the meantime, Speedism duo wrapped up their residence in Shanghai, where they spent their two weeks working with computer graphics giant Crystal CG, and presented a lecture-performance at PERFORMA’s Futurism study seminar on architecture, speed, and motion along with Shanghai Expo2010 Dutch Pavilion architect and artist John Körmeling; visual artist Alicia Framis; and architect Koon Wee. Soon after, Supersudaca duo is expected to arrive to Mainland to investigate the traces of living communism. Arthub will pilot them through both Shanghai and Bangkok, organizing meetings and proposing themes/directions of analysis. In the meantime, artists Aaajiao, B6 and Alizia Borsari are off to their [ars]numerica Residency in south of France!
Having concluded the second edition of Asia Art Forum in Hong Kong, Arthub now extends its wings to Kuala Lumpur in June to present two lectures at ‘Where Art Happens’ Community Discussions. This month, Arthub will also participate in ‘No Soul for Sale – A Festival of Independents,’ at X, New York, that “brings together some of the most exciting, innovative and respected not-for-profit centers, alternative institutions, artists’ collectives and independent enterprises from around the world,” according to the invite.
Last but not least, Arthub Summit Symposium is scheduled and programmed to take place in Bangkok: ‘The Making of the New Silk Roads’ - all in full gears. Hope to see you there!
See you in the New Ox Year! We are now on Twitter!
Winter’08 Update!
>>Arthub is pleased to welcome Speedism to Shanghai this month and to support their project in China. As visual artists and architects, the duo behind Speedism develop visual universes, theoretical landscapes, denkraume, narratives and scenarios, using different forms of input, ranging from wikipedia, mythology, urban theory, geopolitical analysis, technical restrictions, music, and photography. A selection of the digital images produced by Speedism in China will be published in the Urban China magazine in January 2009, in an issue guest-edited by Neville Mars. Their project is organized and made possible by Theater in Motion. (TIM)
>>We are also happy to tell you that Shanghai-based new media artist Aaajiao is starting his residency at Tokyo Wonder Site next month, while visual artist Kan Xuan just wrapped up hers in London. Kan Xuan spent three weeks in the city and shot a series of videos of Buddhist sculptures at the site of a private collection- courtesy of ArtHub.
>>Past month, Arthub programmed Not Only China!, an exhibition of short animations at Artissima Cinema in Turin, presenting two diverse yet congruent programs surveying Chinese and Indonesian moving image. For a .pdf click hereMoving Animation or Animate Illusion, produced by Davide Quadrio in collaboration with Indonesian artist Agung Kurniwan, presented a review of Javanese shorts that interpret the process of “animated” creation from the “wayang” (puppet Theatre) through to animation shorts of the present day ending with a documentary on a divinatory tribal rite that illustrates one possible proto-idea of “animated illusion.” Artists included: Agus Suwage, Eko Nugroho, Tera Brajakhosa, Popok Tri Wahyudi, Yudha Sandy, Indie Guerrillas, Marzuki, and Aramaiani. The two video programs, both complex and playful, explore consonance in their traditional and historical derivates, illuminating genuine, refreshing images from Asia.
An Unforgettable Tour, curated by Defne Ayas, explored the medium’s myriad forms and applications, while giving a fascinating tour of an imaginary China. Facilitating a deeper examination of animated space in relation to the cultural and visual conventions found in China today, this program featured the work of Chinese artists Sun Xun, Qiu Anxiong, Chen Shaoxiong, Feng Mengbo, Tang Maohong, Bu Hua, Wu Junyong, Guo Yuanyuan / Peng Penghua, and Eric Siu.
>> Arthub is pleased to share photos and videos ( Part I, II, and III)
from Final Cut-Processing New Media in Public Space - a five-day program of live performances, site-specific installations and video screenings in Xujiahui District organized by Arthub’s Davide Quadrio and Defne Ayas and presented as part of the Shanghai eArts Festival 2008. Enjoy!
>> In the meantime, Asia Art Forum’s series of talks on Chinese contemporary art surpassed the expectations with the high caliber of speakers and participants attending, providing a dynamic forum for learning and discussion. Attending were academics, enthusiasts and collectors, all of whom brought their own specialist knowledge and experience to the table. Speakers included: Karen Smith, Binghui Huangfu, Michelle Blumenthal, Philip Tinari, Davide Quadrio, William Hanbury-Tenison, Jeremy Wingfield, and Defne Ayas. The program is organized by Pippa Dennis, in consultation with Defne Ayas and Davide Quadrio.
>> On the publication news front, the English translation of Zhao Chuan’s book The Art of Nalai has now been completed, and BAG in Bangkok will start the translation of the same book into Thai later this month. The Art of Nalai focuses on how modern and contemporary arts in Shanghai originated and developed, placing the changes in avant-garde art in the context of social transformation in Shanghai as well as in China.
>> And last but not least, Arthub director Davide Quadrio participated in the World Art Forum hosted by the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, an inspirational public art museum at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. He led two discussions concerning “The Construction of Identity and Status in Late Antiquity” and “Curating: What can you contribute to a Concept of World Art?” World Art Forum is a new initiative designed to explore major questions and issues in world art and to experiment with ways of sharing the process of learning through encounters with world art leaders.
Fall’08 Update!
// October 2008, Arthub will be curating “Xuhui”, a highly visited neighborhood of Shanghai (October 17-22, 08), upon the invitation of the Shanghai eArts Festival 2008. Titled Final Cut- Processing New Media in Public Space in China, the program is developed in close collaboration with visual artists, musicians, architects, programmers, dancers and designers and curated by Arthub’s Davide Quadrio and Defne Ayas. Included will be projects such as 40 + 4 and Hipic.org as well as videos and performances by emerging and established artists, mostly from Asia, including Aaajiao with Nunu, Ling Xi, B6 and Alizia Borsari, Christian Marclay with Elliott Sharp, Wu Na, Wang Li Chuan 王力川, Ben Houge, Bruce Gremo, Yan Jun 颜峻, and Top Floor Circus顶楼的马戏团,, Dead DJ+Chen Xiongwei, Feng Mengbo, Wang Yuyang, Zhou Xiaohu, Shih Chieh Huang, Terra Bajraghosa, and Takeshi Murata.
// Arthub has recently launched its new website, featuring all its projects and publications to-date, along with profiles of all its regional partners in Asia as well as all the PCF Network Partners from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
// Summer 08, Arthub has collaborated with B’Art: Bishkek Art Center to create the first international public art workshop in Bishkek, bringing together artists and curators from Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, China, and Turkey, varying in age, contemporary art styles, media and experience. The works were exhibited at the heart of Bishkek in the space in front of the State Museum of Fine Arts. Arthub recommended Li Zhenhua from China and Hakan Topal of xurban.net from Turkey as participants and presenters in this workshop. Arthub Curatorial Consultant Defne Ayas was also on site, giving feedback to the artists, as well as presenting a lecture on new media and performance in public space with case studies from China and rest of the world. In synch with Arthub’s mission to support art creation in China and rest of Asia, through this project, the goal was to both promote contemporary art creation across the borders and stimulate an artistic dialogue between artists from different countries in the region.
// For September 08, Arthub/Bizart has jump-started Shanghai Detour 上海游艺图, a non-profit art map and free shuttle ride project, for the distinguished guests of Shanghai Biennial and ShContemporary, bringing together all the disconnected parties of Shanghai art scene, including museums, galleries, and independent art spaces- an initiative undertaken for the first time. Watch out for signs with Shanghai Detour logo first week of September!
// During the same time, Arthub/Bizart will be on site at ShContemporary art fair with a booth, where its most recent projects and publications including by artist collective Birdhead, art critic Zhao Chuan, and independent curator Biljana Ciric will be presented. Pippa Dennis will also introduce AAF (Asia Art Forum), an educational initiative for young collectors, art professionals and enthusiasts.
// Strategies from Within, an exhibition of Vietnamese and Cambodian contemporary art practices, will be installed at Ke Art Center this Fall, curated by Biljana Ciric. The exhibition is the result of research conducted in Saigon, Phnom Penh and Hanoi and received support from Arthub for artist travel. Participating Artists include Hoang Duong Cam, Richard Streitmatter-Tran, Tiffany Chung, Sopheap Pich, Vandy Rattana, Chan Dany，Leang Seckon, Dinh Q.Le, Truong Tan, Tran Luong, Nguyen Manh Hung,Nguyen Trinh Thi, Tuan Andrew Nguyen in collaboration with Wowy, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, and Phe Sophon.
//Starting from September 2008, Arthub will also co-operate with Open Academy through the seminars conducted by artist Qiu Zhijie and Arthub’s Defne Ayas in Autumn 2008 and April/May, 2009, also providing in part structural funding for Blue Sun art space. The Open academy is a resource development programme to meet the needs to connect to contemporary art practices of the art communities Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, planned as a result of a research trip arranged in 2006, with Arthub’s Davide Quadrio, Chu Yuan and Jay Koh as part of Compass project, upon the invitation of Arts Council Mongolia (originally initiated through SOROS fund).
