BLAST! Visions and Sounds 2016
After the success of its first edition in 2015 and international presentations in Paris at Asia Now and at Caffe Internazionale in Palermo (Italy), BLAST! is again on show for Art In The City Festival from September 9th to October 9th at K11, as well as five additional venues across Shanghai. TAKE ME OUT – the theme of this year’s show at chi K11 art museum – will address how art, design and technology can be portable extensions of our bodies. These creative expressions are key elements in defining our perception of identity.
BLAST! is an open call addressed to anyone over the age of 18, disseminated through a variety of platforms and social media. The project provides a stage for artists, creatives and free thinkers to promote their new media works. It is a space for all to discover the emerging creativity of Asia.
BLAST! Visions is dedicated to moving image, animation, cartoons, computer-generated videos, interactivity, and beyond. BLAST! Sounds – launched this year – seeks new music, including acoustic, electronic, experimental, noise, pop, rock, found or environmental… anything goes. The project hopes to increase international awareness about the multiplicity of sound and image production.
WINNING ARTISTS
The winners of the 2016 edition of BLAST! Visions are:
1. Lin Wanshan (China)
2. Wang Huagang (China)
3. Chen Xi (China)
4. Andrew Stooke (Great Britain)
5. Lu Su (China)
6. Wei Qi and Wang Shiying (China)
7. Weng Xuyan (China)
8. Tiger Chengliang Cai (China)
The winners of the 2016 edition of BLAST! Sounds are:
1. Ma Shengzhe (China)
2. Andrew Stooke (Great Britain)
3. Li Huihui (China)
4. Huang Cheng (China)
5. Zhao Shinuan (China)
6. Riar Rizaldi (Indonesia)
7. Johanes M.H. Handjono (Indonesia)
8. Xinniang(China)
BLAST! is organized by Arthub in collaboration with Art In The City and Flatmind.
For BLAST! Visions participants were asked to submit one video with a maximum length of 30 seconds and no subject restriction. For BLAST! Sounds creatives were asked to submit one audio file with a minimum length of 30 seconds and a maximum length of 3 minutes, with no other restrictions.
Find out more about the 2016 open call here.
The best submissions – 8 for Visions & 8 for Sounds – will be presented at the following venues around town:
– MoCA Pavilion: A brand new art space of Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai. By presenting a series of artistic projects MoCA Pavilion attempts to support young artists and focus on new trends to encourage innovation within contemporary art.
– HU BAR & LOUNGE: This venue will host the BLAST! Party and artist performances. One of Shanghai’s newest nightlife destinations – HU Bar is located on the 64th, 65th and 66th floors of Le Royal Méridien hotel and provides a 360° view of the city’s skyline. HU was built to reflect the glories of the city.
– MIX PLACE: Located on Hengshan Road, MIX is a must visit venue for those who love the latest trends in fashion and the arts. A complex of four buildings, it contains a large multi-brand boutique, a bookstore and a café.
– CREATER SPACE: An open-style collaborative workspace and a series of exhibition spaces in the heart of the Changning District, where Art In The City partner ARTHUB is based. It is a place where Shanghai’s new creative communities congregate.
– CITIC PLAZA: Located on West Nanjing Road, opposite the Shanghai Exhibition Center, it is a high-end shopping complex for international brands. The 8 finalists selected for BLAST! Visions 2016 will be displayed on its signature mega screens.
In addition to these places, this year’s Visions finalists will be featured on the prestigious platforms NOWNESS and Arthub’s Screening Program – online channels that provide temporary access to videos outside of physical exhibiting spaces.
One of the winners of BLAST! Visions will be commissioned to design a limited edition label for Viola’s brand signature bottle. Thus creating another channel to support and promote emerging artists. Birra Viola was founded in 2010 with the intention of elevating the image of beer. The company has helped craft an image that can be connected to sparkles, elegance, glamour, lifestyle, and design.
Arthub and Art In The City will present a series of talks in conjunction with BLAST! and TAKE ME OUT at various locations across Shanghai throughout the month of September.
Location: B3, chi K11 art museum
Date: Saturday, September 10th, 2016 from 17:30 – 19:00 PM
Speakers: Xu Cheng, Andrew Stooke, Li Huihui
Moderator: Massimo Torrigiani
Language: English-Chinese Intertranslation
Date: Sunday, September 11th, 2016 from 17:30 – 19:00 PM
Speakers: Fritz Huang, Magda Danysz, Zhang Yuan
Moderator: Chao Jiaxing
Language: Chinese
Location: CREATER Space, 888 Huashan Road, near Wukang Road, Shanghai
Date: Sunday, September 11th, 2016 from 14:30 – 16:00 PM
Speakers: Miltos Manetas, Ying Shao, Andrew Stooke
Moderator: Davide Quadrio
Language: English-Chinese Intertranslation
The talk will be followed by a special presentation by Miltos Manetas and his new media work related to Pokémon, an ongoing series the artist started in 2000. The work will also present on Arthub’s Screening Program at the end of September, with an interview and text by Videotage’s Ellen Pau and Phoebe Wong.
Find out more about the jury of professionals from the fields of digital and contemporary art that selected this year’s BLAST! finalists.
BLAST! VISIONS
Davide Quadrio (chair of the jury) is curator and Artistic Director of Art In The City, Founder and Director of Arthub.
aaajiao is the online handle of Xu Wenkai, a Shanghai-based new media artist, avid blogger and free thinker. The perfect alignment between the vivid SciTech-driven imagination and the sometimes-poetic sophistication is frequently seen as the main theme of aaajiao’s work.
Lisa Garrison is Director of the Lumen Prize Exhibition, an international touring exhibition for emerging digital artists, responsible for worldwide partnerships and serving on the International Selection Committee. With a strong focus on contemporary photography, she is a member of the Tate Photography Committee, on the Advisory Board of Photo London and affiliated with The Photographers’ Gallery, London.
Roberto Gianstefani is the founder and director of FLATMIND Video Productions. Roberto has 13 years of experience in filmmaking and multimedia contents, having curated a huge variety of corporate and creative projects for different companies and institutions.
Miltos Manetas is a multimedia artist currently living a nomadic life. Manetas has created internet art, as well as paintings of contemporary artifacts like cables, computers, videogames and Internet websites.
Shaway Yeh is Group Style Editorial Director of publishing company Modern Media Group and Editorial Director of Modern Weekly, China’s most influential lifestyle publication. She launched iFASHION, the first video-based fashion mobile app in China. Listed as Business of Fashion’s 500, she is recognized as a key person shaping the global fashion industry.
Ying Shao is the China Manager of NOWNESS, the global video channel screening the best in culture. She leads the NOWNESS China team in content curation and collaborations.
BLAST! SOUNDS
Massimo Torrigiani (chair of the jury) is creative director and curator of Art In The City.
Ho Tzu Nyen makes films, videos and theatrical performances that re-construct and re-imagine philosophical and historical texts and artifacts. He has presented his artworks and performances internationally in many important museums, including Guggenheim Bilbao, Mori Art Museum, Moscow Biennale, Shanghai Biennale, Kunsten Festivaldes Arts, Cannes Film Festival, and Venice Film Festival.
Wok The Rock is an artist and cultural activist, working across the fields of contemporary art, design and music.
Samson Young is a sound artist and composer. He trained in music, philosophy and gender studies at the University of Sydney, Australia.
Zhou Zihan is a performance and audiovisual artist. He started his creative career as a photographer and later engaged in comprehensive visual art projects, live music performances, and theatrical works.
For more information about BLAST! open call please contact: info@arthubasia.org
