SidebySide Studio : Criticality / Network / Exchange about Value and Crisis

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I-WEI LI — 2010-09-07T19:36:56Z

Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 11

24.09.2010
20:00 - 23:00

Rumbalotte
MetzerStraße 9
10405, Berlin

"No Soul For Sale" was printed on Tate Modern's invitation for its 10th anniversary. Perhaps we are not selling our ‘immaterial labour' (Maurizio Lazzarato) so easily yet we often treat our life as creative projects (Luc Boltanski). Chris Dercon, next director of Tate Modern, describes creative practitioners today as zambies and vampires due to the precarious working conditions we face and endless free services we are willing to offer.

When self-exploitation seems to be the norm as a survival strategy, how is it possible for cultural workers to say ‘no'?
Without existential security, what about our ability to challenge?
Has contemporary art been completely absorbed by the thought of political correctness?

Together with Maas Media, we have invited the founder of Artout – professional artist escort service and editor of Luxemburg Journal – Social Analysis and Left Practices for the discussion. In the same evening, Artout will lunch its first e-book edition.

http://www.maasmedia.net
http://www.artout.org/
http://www.rosalux.de

SideBySide Studio Newsletter 4

I-WEI LI — 2010-09-06T13:50:45Z

Hello from Berlin, Lisbon, Dortmund, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro!

This summer, besides unearthing the contemporary art scene in Lisbon, I witnessed the ISEA (International Symposium of Electronic Arts) in Dortmund. Starting this week, I will publish various interviews about ISEA on 2010LabTV

Best proposal I heard this summer: Portugal will no longer be the edge of Europe if it becomes a colony of Brazil.
Many Europeans laugh when I told them this remark, in fact, this is not really an understatement if one recognizes the economic potential and political influence in Latin America. Their response also motivates me to initiate a dialogue about the current state in Latin America in future Kunst Apotheke Salon sessions. I am looking for proposals for this topic, please forward this open call to your contacts who are interested in sharing their insights.

Content:

Kunst Apotheke Salon Special Edition: Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? Video documentation is now available online
Bambi Hunter, multi-meida installation, in "d'abord les forêts... / opus 1", Maison Laurentine, Aubepierre-sur-Aube.
Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 11, 24.09, Rumbalotte, Berlin.
Politique 0, 1-3.10, Espace Niemeyer, Paris.
“Creative Incubator” workshop, November, Rio de Janiero.

Kunst Apotheke Salon Special Edition: Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? Video documentation is now available online.
http://www.sidebysidestudio.net/spip.php?article63

Special thanks to MMX Open Art Venue e.V. and Upgrade! Berlin for their generous support. Chaos Y. Chen, Tao Wang, Vienne Chan, Pauline Doutreluingne, Edward Sanderson, and Stefan Richter for their critical input and openness to make such exchange possible.
Also Thomas Pigache, Cuini Amelio Ortiz, Eker, and Jonathan Gröger for their patience and technical support, it was really a pleasure to work with each of you.
Last but not least, Pablo M. Zerm for sharing his China media headline collection and creating this dynamic debate with me.

Bambi Hunter, multi-media installation, in “d'abord les forêts... / opus 1”, Maison Laurentine , 4.07 – 3.10, Aubepierre-sur-Aube
http://www.laurentine.net/evenement-19/exposition-2010-d-abord-les-forets/article/bambi-hunter-de-i-wei-li

Bambi, Disney symbol of innocent wildlife, is presented in front of the image of freshly killed deer. Simulacrum of innocent childhood and simulacrum of modern savage are two sides of the same story. Just as Disney is a caricature of childhood, so is hunting as a caricature of wild adventure. Some dare to hunt the real deer but who dares to kill Bambi?

Bambi symbole universel de l'innocence inventé par Disney et présenté à côté d'une image de cerf stués et éviscérés quelque part dans les fôrets d'Arc-en Barois. Simulacre de l'enfance innocente et simulacre de l'aventure sauvage contemporaine sont les deux faces d'une même histoire. Il y a des chasseurs pour tuer les cerfs mais qui oserait tuer Bambi?

Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 11, 20-23h, 24.09, Rumbalotte, Berlin.

When self-exploitation seems to be the norm as a survival strategy, how is it possible for us to say ‘no'?
Without existential security, what about our ability to challenge?
Has contemporary art been completely absorbed by the thought of political correctness?

http://www.maasmedia.net
http://www.artout.org/
http://www.rosalux.de

Rumbalotte
MetzerStraße 9
10405, Berlin

Politique 0, 1-3.10, Espace Niemeyer, Paris.
http://incident.net/theupgrade/politique0/programme/index.php

Conferences / performances by Franco Bifo Berardi, Luc Boltanski, Roland Cayrol, Yves Citton, Ivana Dragsic, Dominic Gagnon, Sophie Gosselin and David G Bartoli, Jodi, Katharina Klotz, I-Wei Li and Pierre Bongiovanni, Matteo Lucchetti, Jean-Marc Manach, Anne Morelli, Antoni Muntadas and Marshall Reese, Fédéric Neyrat, Béatrice Rettig, Timothée Nay and Omnes Efflam, Société Réaliste, Samon Takahashi, Tzuchien Tho, UBERMORGEN, Olivier Voirol, Paul Willemsen, Wunderlitzer. Streamed on selfworld.net room#44.

Installations / screenings / workshop / documentation by Benoît Durandin and Alexandre Xanthakis, Dominic Gagnon, Harun Farocki and Andrei Ujica, Jodi, Jorge Luis Marzo and Arturo “Fito” Rodríguez, Ricardo Mbarkho, Antoni Muntadas and Marshall Reese, Société Réaliste, Le Dispositif (Pacôme Thiellement and Thomas Bertay), Samon Takahashi, UBERMORGEN, Argos selection: Charley Case, Tzu Nyen Ho, Gert Verhoeven.

Politique Zero is organized by Upgrade! Paris, MF editions and RYBN.ORG

Espace Niemeyer - French Communist Party headquarter
2, Place du Colonel Fabien - 75019 Paris
M° Colonel Fabien
Free Entrance

“Creative Incubator” workshop, November, Rio de Janiero. Invited by A.M.I., Alliance Française, and Oï Kabum, I will conduct 2 week workshop on developing critical and digital platforms in Rio de janiero for emerging artists.

Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 10

I-WEI LI — 2010-07-29T19:21:47Z

In this session, we will tap into the confluence of art, science and biotechnology, in particular, the current bio-politics in relation to the global bio-industry. Also, we will carefully examine the perception of knowledge and its connections with technology and collective memory.

Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 10

18.08.2010
20:00 - 23:00

Altes Finanzamt
Schönstedtstraße 7 - EG, 12043 Neukölln - Berlin
Access through the yard U7 Rathaus Neukölln (Exit Schönstedtstraße)
http://altesfinanzamt.blogspot.com/

Altes Finanzamt is located in the former Neukölln Finanzamt building, started in 2010 by 9 different artistic practitioners. It aims to be an independent space for both local and international artists to showcase their work and share their experiences and ideas. In particular, through social networks and adventurous experimentation of visual, sound and site specific performances.

We are proud to announce the following presentations:

Soft Power - Art and Technologies in The Biopolitical Age
Maria Ptqk – cultural producer/curator/researcher – Bilbao/Berlin
http://ptqkblogzine.blogspot.com

Today, the myth of the cyborg returns in the form of commodities supplied by the bio-industry global market. Research centers stock biological resources like cells, seeds, sperm, ovules, organs and tissues; intellectual property laws exclude them from the public domain; and the pharmaceutical and agro-industrial complex patents manipulates and distributes them in health centers and supermarket shelves. In the biotech age, we/cyborgs are not only the result of a set of technologies and scientific protocols but a compilation of cultural codes, as well as social and economic relations playing on a global ground. It is not a surprise that arts also play in the biopolitical narrative in the last decade.

Soft Power is a research project on biotechnology, at the crossroads of artistic practices and the language of biopolitics. It explores the interdisciplinary crossing of art and science, but also the real conditions of scientific research today: its impact on the lifestyles and the categories of imagination that are put into work by it and the international network of bio-industry.

www.amarika.org/softpower

Nouvelle Science Vague Fiction
Regina de Miguel - artist - Málaga/Berlin
www.reginademiguel.net

Nouvelle Science Vague Fiction examines the current relationships between construction and analysis of human ecologies and how their historical specificity in connection with technology. In particular, referring to how image creation in both the physical and virtual space modify our concept of domination of nature and the configuration of our conscience. It also proposes connections between analytic situations and scientific perception as objective knowledge (verisimilitude scales), non-experimental learning derived from technological imaginary (estrangement and projection) and levels of configuration of ideal and critical conscience (new orientation forms).

In the framework of collective memory, the new ideas of time and space generated by communications have transformed perception of things in a way that they are not anymore directly experienced, but they are represented. Landscape, as we discover it on the screens, from high-speed trains or planes, doesn't exist either, not as a place where people relate, only as an image for the spectator.

Regina's work includes drawing, installations, animation, photography and writing. She has worked on following projects: "Estancias Injuve" (Ministry of Social Affairs), the Avam Procesos 2008, and Laboratorio 987 MUSAC. Her latest project, Nouvelle Science Vague Fiction is produced in Holland and Slovenia with the support from Cam, Caja Mediterraneo.

Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 9

I-WEI LI — 2010-07-09T16:16:32Z

Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 9

22.07.2010
20:00 - 23:00

Mindpirates
Schlesische Str. 38
10997, Berlin
www.mindpirates.org
Mindpirates, a Berlin-based group who create and show films, art and scenarios with the intention of injecting awareness and free thinking into the minds of the people and into the “public mind”.

In this session, we will investigate the paradox of documenting a live performance and how such documentation will be received or evaluated in relation to film and photography. We will also examine the coexistence of language and performance, either spoken or written, the im/materiality of words abides ambivalent tension for both spectators and performers.

For associated reading, we recommend "Sentence, Image, History" by Jacques Ranciere in his book "The Future of the Image"/ "Le destin des images”

We are proud to announce the following presentations:

The Obsession of Language
Stephan Weitzel - artist - Berlin

In his drawings, sculptures and public interventions, Stephan uses language as signifier in his work titles to create tension between text and image or text and object. To him, language is the source of any mental construction. He also writes fiction and essays, and presents his texts - in German, English and French - through reading performances.

In Kunst Apotheke Salon, Stephan will read a selection of his work and present his visual work to reflect on his need of words for various purposes and in different cultural and linguistic contexts.
Can language work across those borders?
What about the permanent request for translation and contextualization?

Born in Germany, Stephan has lived in Paris, London, Marseille, New York and Québec and worked as a language teacher, translator, radio producer, public speaker, and art director in film. He has also received various grants and exhibited his artwork in Cuba, Ireland, Austria, Germany and India. Currently working on a series of large-scale drawings of fictitious film posters on German history.
www.stephanweitzel.com/

Supposing the Medium
Mischa Twitchin – funder-member of Shunt Lounge/lecturer at Goldsmiths College and School of Speech and Drama – London

The spectre of “the present” haunts the discourse of performance, as though for both the performer “being in the moment” and for the audience “being there” defined the performance event as a temporal medium. If “performance's only life is in the present”, as Peggy Phelan insists (whilst nonetheless discussing photographs), the film version of a performed work is supposed to be secondary, derivative, or simply “documentation”. In a typical elision, following so-called “indexical” thinking about stills photography, it is as if the film substituted for the presence of an “original” audience, eliding the temporal structure of the film itself with what was enacted before the camera.

In Kunst Apotheke Salon, Mischa wants to reflect on what he has learnt from transposing a live performance into the showing of a film. In simply asking “why show a film rather than do the live performance?”, he wants to consider how the techniques of image making in each visual medium makes possible the time particular to such reflection itself. Where a performance has not been made “for” the camera - although a film has been made “with” the material of the filmed performance.
How might one think of this relation between mediums, without supposing the priority of the one before the other?
What is it “of” a performance that becomes visible (and, indeed, thinkable) in a film, as framing a relation between word and image?

The work referred to in this presentation is a diptych called “The Children's Emperor and The Pianist” which can be viewed at: http://shunt.co.uk/mischa_twitchin/childrens.html. It will also be shown in the “Mart” exhibition at Stattbad Wedding, 21-28.07,www.mart.ie

Mischa Twitchin is a founder-member of the London-based performance collective, Shunt. Besides his own performance projects and work as a freelance lighting designer, he teaches at Goldsmiths College and at Central School of Speech and Drama, while also researching his PhD project at Queen Mary College, University of London.
shunt.co.uk/mischa_twitchin/index.html

SideBySide Studio Newsletter 3

I-WEI LI — 2010-06-24T12:10:28Z

Hallo from Berlin!

Special thanks to MMX Open Art Venue e.V., Upgrade! Berlin, and each panelists in Kunst Apotheke Salon Special Edition: Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? We had good turnout, solid discussion and lots interest and feedback, the video documentation will be posted online in near future.

Content:

1. 48 Stunden Neukölln - Message in a Bag, 25.06, Körnerpark Kreativraum, Berlin
2. Art Gets to the People! on 2010LabTV
3. Contexterin in Anti-Jargon online publication

1. 48 Stunden Neukölln - Message in a Bag, 25.06, Körnerpark Kreativraum, Berlin

The project 'Message in a bag' of ara Berlin-Madrid/Emily Pütter is an art investigation of the situations of visual artists in cities. Some of the questions are: How much art does a society need? Under what conditions do the artists live and work now? The answers are on the bags. Further we see film documentations with statements of the artists and hear poetry by A. Bueno, W. Spyra and I.Frischeisen, on Saturday 26th June, 19.30 h.

At the opening on Friday at 20:00 h, I-Wei Li will lead the discussion about the value of art today in relation to the precarious working conditions with participating artists. The discussion will be in English.

For more information,
www.48-stunden-neukoelln.de/2010/highlights.html
www.ara-association.org

2. Art Gets to the People! on 2010LabTV
48 STUNDEN NEUKÖLLN 2010 - "Komplex650"

In this interview, Dr. Martin Steffens, director of 48 Stunden Neukölln, tells us why it makes sense to organize over 700 events in nearly 340 venues within a 48 hour period this year! From 25-27.06, Friday to Sunday (7 pm - 7 pm), everyone who comes to Neukölln in Berlin will be confronted with an array of visual arts, theatre, dance and performance art, readings, guided tours and parties held at nearly every corner.

Here are some key topics we discussed in this interview:

* Started in 1999 with only 25 venues, how did 48 Stunden Neukölln become Berlin's largest art festival today?

* More importantly, why is such non-commercial art festival significant for the district of Neukölln?

* Besides artists' studios, galleries, theaters, and public squares and streets, unusual venues such as parking lot, boat, private apartment, beer brewery, even public toilet have been used for 48 Stunden Neukölln, why and how is this possible for this festival?

* Neukölln is the most culturally diversifed district in Berlin, with over 160 countries migrants, what are the challenges 48 Stunden Neukölln face when working with such culturally diversified inhabitants?

* What is the position of 48 Stunden Neukölln when dealing with the parasitical relationship between culture and regentrification? In other words, what kind of achievements can culture gain or supply in the process of regentrification?

* What is the attitude of the local inhabitants in Neukölln towards the influx of foreigners, especially foreign artists and cultural workers?

* How is current cultural policy related to 48 Stunden Neukölln's founding strategy?

To listen to the interview, www.2010lab.tv/en/podcast/art-gets-people

3. Contexterin in Anti-Jargon online publication

Anti-Jargon is an online publication of the self-educational group 'notions-terms' of Deschooling Classroom project (o^o). Terms such as Procedure, Artistic Immunity Potentiality, Contextual Art...etc are being re-defined and discussed by contemporary cultural workers at this platform.

Contexterin = context + er + in, meaning a female person who aims to generate new context each time in her art practice. I use contexterin as my work title as a strategy to provoke other cultural workers to reflect why we create or produce art. For more details, www.antijargon.tkh-generator.net/category/eng/

SideBySide Studio Newsletter 2

I-WEI LI — 2010-05-13T15:24:39Z

Hallo from Berlin, Paris, Shanghai, and cosmos!

In April, VALU€S performance was invited by Festival Internacional de la Imagen, Manizales, Colombia. We also participated at the IETM (International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts) Spring Planeary meeting in Berlin last month.

Content:

1. Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 7, 20.05.10 at SideBySide Studio
2. What Is Your Plan C? On 2010LabTV
3. Shared Factory/ La Fabrique du commun, 26-28.05.10 at Le Centquatre, Paris
4. Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow?, 16.06.10 at MMX Open Art Venue e.V., Berlin

1. Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 7

20.05.2010, 20h - 23h
SideBySide Studio
Wildenbruchstr 4, 12045 Berlin

In this session, we will explore the spatial and technological landscape of urban mobility. The impact of influx of international cultural workers on urban development is often coincided with gentrification, how is it possible to find other alternatives to co-exist with the local inhabitants? Also, the relationship between mobility, elasticity, and flexibility - the capability to be transplantable for work is often demanded without saying on cultural workers, how to cope with such loss as a Diaspora?

We are proud to announce the following presentations:

Urban Mobility of Cultural Workers
Camille Boichot – urban geography researcher/PhD student at Paris La Sorbonne University and Viadrina Frankfurter University – Paris/Berlin

Camille Boichot writes about urban organizations and how artists and artistic practices can contribute to change them. She concentrates her work on how to take structural and conjectural urban mobilities of the cultural workers into account and asks about the ways to represent it between an artistic an a scientific way.

MISS
Chun-chi Wang – multimedia artist/lecturer – Taipei/New York/Berlin
www.chunchiwang.de

Since 1997, Chun-chi has created virtual reality environments as an exploration into the perceptual and emotional aspects of real-time 3d technology. In 2000, she created the virtual actor, Hiakru, whose first assignment was to broadcast the latest art news from digital database. She is the recipient of Grand Prize Winner of Taipei Digital Art Festival 2007. Her work was also selected in Taipei Fine Arts Award 2008 and shown widely on the Net and in international exhibitions throughout Europe, USA and Asia. Besides teaching at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei and BIFT Fast-track Culture Curriculum, Bei-Jing, China, she has published two books, the Futurists Guide to the Web (2002) and Softimage Design Guide.

Eunice Maurice and Chun- Chi Wang have both worked and lived in a variety of countries. Drawing from their experiences as women "in-between cultures" whose biographies bridge Asia and the West, their project - Miss investigates how cultural origin shapes and influences collective memories, ideals and desires and the consequent feeling of loss that derive from those experiences. Utilizing visuals, sound, text and spatial movement, Miss is a multilayered performance piece based on the narratives from worldwide participants submitted to the MISS website and also on interviews with women in Germany, the Netherlands and Taiwan, who moved away from their home-countries at different stages of their lives. The participants were involved in creating the performances by sharing ideas, directions, and lines of dialogue that the performances could use and improvise on. This project will not be realized without the assistance of Pei-Wen Liu and I-Fen Tung.

2. What is your Plan C? On 2010LabTV
In April, 2010, IETM (International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts) invited more than 500 cultural operators and performing artists from over 50 countries to find new ways of dealing with crucial conflicts and challenges in our world.

The invitation says: “Having tried Plans A and B, from Capitalism to Communism,... we are now searching for a third way... A Plan C to turn the crisis of this new century into a chance for culture. It is not a contradiction – chaos and creation are close comrades and between cooperation and competition we have to find the right centre.” (Creative Crisis Economy by Dirk Pilz).

Having a long term interest in creating new economic models for sustaining creative practices, I was invited by IETM to participate in their meeting and encouraged to lead a session during the ‘Open Camp'. On 2010LabTV, I have posted four personal interviews with the following people and will conclude with an article – What is my Plan C? about the concept of Plan C in relation to the value chain of artistic thinking and creative process later this month.

Part 1: Mary Ann DeVlieg, IETM Secretary General, Brussels
Part 2: Phelim McDermott, Improbable Theater, London
Part 3: Jochen Sandig, Folkert Uhde, Bettna Sluzalek, Radialsystem V, Berlin
Part 4: Bernhard Vierling, Consulting Arts and Friends, Berlin

3. Shared Factory/ La Fabrique du commun, 26-28.05.10 at Le Centquatre, Paris
I will participate at the Shared Factory/ La Fabrique du commun from 26-28.05 at Le Centquatre, Paris.

4. Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow?, 16.06.10 at MMX Open Art Venue e.V., Berlin
Kunst Apotheke Salon Special Edition - Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow?
16.06.2010, 20h – 23h
MMX Open Art Venue e.V.
Linienstr. 142/ 143, 10115 Berlin-Mitte

After the fever of World Expo in Shanghai, everything about China seems to be associated with ‘ the biggest', ‘the tallest', or ‘the largest' in the world. Besides reading about China's massive urban development and unstoppable economic growth in the media, when is the last time you have the chance to be in real conversation with the Chinese?

Continuing with the critical spirit of Kunst Apotheke Salon, we will explore the love - hate relationship between the Occident and China at MMX Open Art Venue e.V. in Berlin. We have invited Chinese journalist, economist, and cultural activists to tell us what they want us to know about modern China. The dialogue will extend with stories, debates, and questions from European experts and cultural operators who have worked in China , to further investigate the possibility for China to shift its economic force from consumer production to immaterial value system.

Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? is initiated and produced by SideBySide Studio, in collaboration with Transmediale and MMX. Special thanks to Up Grade Berlin! and Tao Wang for their generous support.

For more details about the programme, visit Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow?

Kunst Apotheke Salon Special Edition: Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? 明天每個人都是中國人？

I-WEI LI — 2010-05-13T13:53:11Z

After the media fever of Olympic in Beijing and World Expo in Shanghai, everything about China seems to be associated with ‘ the biggest', ‘the tallest', or ‘the fastest' in the world. Besides reading about China's massive urban development and unstoppable economic growth in the media, when is the last time you have the chance to be in real conversation with the Chinese?

Continuing with the critical spirit of Kunst Apotheke Salon, we will explore the love - hate relationship between the Occident and China. First, Chinese economist and Chinese cultural activists will tell us what they want us to know about modern China. The dialogue will then extend with stories, debates, and questions from European experts and cultural operators who have worked extensively in China. Together, to further investigate the possibility for China to shift its economic force from consumer production to immaterial value system.

Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? is initiated and produced by SideBySide Studio, in collaboration with MMX Open Art Venue e.V. Special thanks to Upgrade! Berlin for its generous support.

自北京奧運會和上海世博會在媒體發燒後，中國的一切似乎是同“最大”，“最高”，或“最快” 畫上等號。除了在媒體上閱讀有關中國大規模的城市發展和經濟增長外，何時你有真正的機會與中國人深入交談？

繼續Kunst Apotheke Salon的批判精神，我們將于6月16日在柏林MMX畫廊探討中國與西方愛恨交加複雜的關係。到場的中國記者、經濟學家和文化工作者將描繪中國人想要世界了解的中國。此次對話更將和歐洲文化工作者辯論探討：中國能否一改所謂的“世界工廠”和經濟大國的形象，轉而輸出成熟和系統的文化價值觀。

明天每個人都是中國人？由SideBySide工作室發起，與 MMX Open Art Venue e.V. 合作。特別感謝Upgrade Berlin!的慷慨支持。

On 16.06.2010, we had the following program at MMX Open Art Venue e.V.
One month after our session, The Economist published the article Fear of a Chinese Planet, which indicated even more why such dialogue is necessary. Thanks to Lars Kremkow for pointing out this recent analysis on China's growing power.

Part I: What Does China Want the World to Know about China?
Panel: Chaos Y. Chen, Tao Wang, and Vienne Chan
Moderated by Pablo M. Zerm and I-Wei Li

Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? Part I: What Does China Want the World to Know about China?

Part II: Love, Hate, or Rock'n'Roll? – New Partnerships between the Occident and China
Panel: Chaos Y. Chen, Tao Wang, Vienne Chan, Pauline Doutreluingne, Edward Sanderson, and Stefan Richter
Moderated by Pablo M. Zerm and I-Wei Li

Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? Part II: Love, Hate, or Rock'n'Roll? – New Partnerships between the Occident and China

Part III: Q&A

Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? Part III: Q&A

Biography
Chaos Y. Chen
Chaos is the cofounder & director of WiE Kultur - a new platform in Berlin for dialogue and collaboration through art between the East and West. Prior to this, in Beijing she founded CHAOSPROJECTS |VisualThinking in 2005. She was Head of the Curatorial Department at the Millennium Art Museum (Beijing, 2002 2004), where she founded the “Open Forum”. She received the RAVE Stipendium (Germany, 2001) and worked at Kunst-Werke Berlin and later with the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. She served as jury member for CENTRAL Contemporary Art Award (Köln,Germany, 2004) and REAL Photography Award (Rotterdam, 2008). She holds a Master's Degree in Art History & Theory from the Nanjing Academy of Arts.

www.rhiz.eu/person-43001-en.html

Tao Wang
Tao joined socialdesignsite/Segroup (Systemic Excellence Group) in 2009 as a researcher. He's responsible for strategic development and controlling of the project. He studied history, social sciences and strategic management and gained experiences in consulting industry in both China and Europe. Tao Wang is interested in business development international political economy and global history.

www.SEgroup.de

Vienne Chan
Vienne was born in Hong Kong and studied the philosophy of religion in Canada. She began making experimental videos independently in 2007 and has been screening internationally since then. Her works vary in subject matter but all strive towards an independence from the social constructs of natural language - and in a similar vein, the ruination of identity. With a somewhat nomadic background, the concept of indeterminacy is of special interest to Vienne.

www.artreview.com/video/video/listForContributor?screenName=1zg129wbnlbt1

Pauline Doutreluingne
Pauline is an independent curator, writer, researcher and Sinologist who went to Beijing in 2004 to do a master in art management and art critique at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. She is the founder of the Borderline Moving Images Festival, which is one of the first festivals in China to create a context for live audiovisual performance and video art. Since 2006, she was also a curator/assistant director at the Platform China Contemporary Art Institute in Beijing, whose profile has risen sharply for their shows of emerging artists. In 2008, after moving back to Europe, she continued to promote cultural exchange between Berlin and the creative cities of China as a curator of shows like 'There is no I in team' in New Castle (UK), a Night on Earth (Helsinki) through Berlin China Cultural Bridges. BCCB also initiates and organizes discussion forums, lectures, exchange programs and collaborative projects.

Besides writing catalogues for FRAC Nord-pas de Calais, she also works as a video researcher and film curator for the Mindpirates, a Berlin-based group who create and show films, art and scenarios with the intention of injecting awareness and free thinking into the minds of the people and into the “public mind”.

www.borderlinefestival.org www.berlin-china-bridge.com www.mindpirates.org

Edward Sanderson
Edward Sanderson is a curator and writer living and working in Beijing. Originally from the United Kingdom, Edward has lived in China since 2007. After graduating with a postgraduate degree in Contemporary Art History from Goldsmiths College in London, he moved to Beijing to open the gallery CPU:798 in the famous 798 Art District. CPU:798 showcased young Chinese photographers and new media artists.

Edward is now a partner at CPU:PRO, an arts consultancy created to provide support and services to artists and the art world. CPU:PRO represents five Chinese and one Australian artist, and works with galleries, institutions and collections on projects. As well as writing about contemporary art and music in China, Edward is currently curating the first solo show of the Chinese artist Cheng Ran, opening on the 3 July 2010 at White Box Museum of Art in Beijing.

www.cpu798.com

Stefan Richter
Since 2000 at Triad Berlin, Stefan oversees the project content development for Deutsche Börse AG, Toyota Europe, Bertelsmann AG, bpb, Hilti, Springer AG, AHG, M:AI, IBA Hamburg, create berlin, Expo Shanghai. Prior to this, he was the managing editor in various publishing houses: Reclam Verlag Leipzig, Remmert&Richter art edition, Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, Berlin, Wien, Correspondent in New York, and visiting Professor in Chicago.

Founded in 1994, Triad Berlin is one of Germany's most successful communication agencies of today. Its international and interdisciplinary teams create emotionally intelligent communication formats in spaces — from showrooms for small and medium-sized businesses, grand productions and brand center for global players to virtual communication rooms. Its award-winning exhibitions, Expo pavilions, trade fair presentations, experience center, and events can be found all over the world.

www.triad.de

Pablo M. Zerm
Originally from Dortmund, Pablo has resided in Buenos Aires, Moscow, Shanghai and Berlin. He holds a master degree in social science and currently, a doctoral candidate at Humboldt-University of Berlin. He has participated in Berlin (Daimler) and Shanghai (Linya Intl.) in qualitative research projects and is now working for WELT Online.

I-Wei Li
Born in Taiwan, grew up in Canada, I-Wei's first Commerce Degree had lead her to work as a banker in Kenya. In 2008, she graduated with first class honour in art from Goldsmiths College in London. Since 2009, she leads SideBySide Studio in Berlin.

I-Wei positions herself as a ‘contexterin' – a female person who aims to generate new context each time in her art practice. The artistic experience for her is an overall experience that queries all aspects of life. Solidarity within cultural sector is I-Wei's current research focus. Besides the theoretical framework, she also tackles this topic with animated events such as Kunst Apotheke Salon and The WAVE.

www.sidebysidestudio.net

Concept
Like many passionate encounters, it is possible to love or hate for the wrong reasons.

It is indeed, much rare to love or hate for good reasons.

These principles apply to the relations between the West (capitalist, democratic, internationalist) and China (communist, authoritarian, nationalist).

The wrong reason to love China: Since China is the new economic Eldorado, the Occident now can take a break and cease to be innovative as long as it is fast at forming partnerships, joint adventures and complicity with China.

The bad reason to hate China: China will be malevolent, dictatorial, or oppressive, and any research collaboration would be a priori suspect. However, the reality is much more complex and it is imperative to continue the belief that only the Occident has the strategies for innovation, technology and research.

In fact, China has the superpower to actively change the world's future. Anyone serious about this subject cannot predict what China will be in 10 years. In reality, nobody can say what will be the future for the West in 10 years either.

But one thing is certain: the challenges China and the West facing are exactly the same – cybernetic revolution, Islamic conflicts, geo-climatic challenges. With these crises, we need to invent new models of development and citizenship. We cannot do it without China.

There remains only one possibility: learn to understand and appreciate each other for good reasons. The reason is quite simple: we either invent the future together or we suffer from the disaster together, better, we arrange the ideal conditions of no disaster together.

Like any successful love stories, it is essential that both partners continue to remain autonomous with their unique differences. Such differences are fertile and necessary to explore new areas of innovation.

Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? aims to stimulate the exchange between the Occident and China with respect for their differences, more with care for the complexity we face today. Such exchange is not based on origins but references.

像許多熱烈的戀情，對於中國, 西方常常有可能因為錯誤的理由或者片面的了解去愛或恨。正確的愛或恨的理由和全面的了解卻少之又少。這些原則適用中國與於西方在媒體和坊間的表象；西方往往代表資本主義、民主、國際主義，而中國卻只是共產主義、獨裁、民族主義。

愛恨交織的中國經濟：自從改革開放以來，每年兩位數的經濟增長使得中國成為新的經濟天堂，西方積極利用中國的資源禀賦和巨大市場，迅速和中國建立更為密切的經濟和商務夥伴關係，追逐利潤。但是這並不意味著西方可以長遠的依靠中國市場，停止創新或不求進步。

實用主義的中國政治：政治上的中國是被批評為威權主義，國內的人權狀況也是飽受詬病。國際上的中國奉行的是不干涉內政的外交政策。中國在次發達國家中的影響力越來越大，使西方感受到一定的威脅。

傳統或者新的中國文化：中國的傳統文化象徵：長城、故宮、太極和中醫是固有的中國元素。然而中國繼1978年以來在文化範疇內也出現了新的變化。新新人類、多元文化、網絡世界將所謂的中國文化變得更加複雜和撲朔迷離。

事實上，中國已是國際上重要大國之一，將積極改變世界的未來。任何人認真對待這個問題都不能預測未來10年中國的轉變。但有一點是肯定的, 中國和西方面臨著相同的挑戰 : 數位革命，伊斯蘭衝突，和全球地理氣候變化。面對這些危機，中國與西方需要一同創新現有的發展模式。

西方作為中國的觀察者、競爭者和共存者應該怎樣理解中國？中國又對西方有着怎樣的想像呢？如同任何成功的愛情故事，至關重要的是雙方應該保持開放的心靈和溝通的渠道。明天每個人都是中國人？的目的是促進西方與中國之間的交流，試圖揭開神秘的面紗和錯誤的理解，讓雙方能夠更加清晰的了解對方和當今的世界。

Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 7

I-WEI LI — 2010-05-10T19:20:48Z

Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 7 took place on 20.05.2010 with the following programme:

Urban Mobility of Cultural Workers
Camille Boichot – urban geography researcher/PhD student at Paris La Sorbonne University and Viadrina Frankfurter University – Paris/Berlin

Camille Boichot writes about urban organization and how artists and artistic practices can contribute to change them, in particular, the process of gentrification. She concentrates her work on how to take structural and conjectural urban mobilities of the cultural workers into account and asks about the ways to represent it between an artistic an a scientific way.

MISS
Chun-chi Wang – multimedia artist/lecturer – Taipei/New York/Berlin

Since 1997, Chun-chi has created virtual reality environments as an exploration into the perceptual and emotional aspects of real-time 3d technology. In 2000, she created the virtual actor, Hiakru, whose first assignment was to broadcast the latest art news from digital database. She is the recipientof Grand Prize Winner of Taipei Digital Art Festival 2007. Her work was also selected in Taipei Fine Arts Award 2008 and shown widely on the Net and in international exhibitions throughout Europe, USA and Asia. Besides teaching at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei and BIFT Fast-track Culture Curriculum, Bei-Jing, China, she has published two books, the Futurists Guide to the Web (2002) and Softimage Design Guide.

Eunice Maurice and Chun- Chi Wang have both worked and lived in a variety of countries. Drawing from their experiences as women "in-between cultures" whose biographies bridge Asia and the West, their project - Miss investigates how cultural origin shapes and influences collective memories, ideals and desires and the consequent feeling of loss that derive from those experiences. Utilizing visuals, sound, text and spatial movement, Miss is a multi-layered performance piece based on the narratives from worldwide participants submitted to the MISS website and also on interviews with women in Germany, the Netherlands and Taiwan, who moved away from their home-countries at different stages of their lives. The participants were involved in creating the performances by sharing ideas, directions, and lines of dialogue that the performances could use and improvise on. This project will not be realized without the assistance of Pei-Wen Liu and I-Fen Tung.

www.chunchiwang.de

SideBySide Studio Newsletter 1

I-WEI LI — 2010-03-09T23:57:00Z

Hallo from Berlin!

It is a real pleasure to introduce the first edition of SideBySide Studio Newsletter! Special thanks to Arscenic for sharing the technology. Feedback is always welcome.

Content:
Next Kunst Apotheke Salon 18.03.10 at SideBySide Studio
The WAVE Forum and future sessions in Paris, Ljubljana, and Reims.
VALU€S in Transmediale 10 and online interactive performance
kisskillkrisis via Facebook and Twitter

Next Kunst Apotheke Salon 18.03.10 at SideBySide Studio

In this session, we will reflect on issues related to art and environment with emphasis on the values generated in social and cultural activities:

What are the relationships between the cultural production and the business strategies of branding? What are the implications of blending or erasing the divide between the arts and the purposes of branding in private and public spaces?

We are proud to announce the following presentations:

Limbus Europae
Bernd Richter – artist / event organizer – Berlin
Etienne Allaix – artist / event organizer – Berlin

Limbus Europae was initiated in October 2009 by two artists, Bernd Richter and Etienne Allaix, who had no curatorial experiences and who would never have thought to organize such events. The idea was to show ephemeral art, that's why each episode only lasts for four hours. That is to say, the invited artists create site specific works especially for this evening: they work so much for themselves as well as for the audience. Limbus Europae has no connection with any economical purpose, nothing is to be sold, no entry fee, no advertising, nor luminous signage on the door, everything is through word of mouth.

www.limbus-europae.de

Mysterious anti-war monument
Candice Novak – Journalist – Berlin, Hawaii
Tim Pinault – photographer – Boston

Candice Novak writes about culture, history, politics and business and anything that mainstream news sources aren't covering. Born and raised in Hawaii, Candice studied art history, literature, German and journalism.

Tim Pinault manages a visual arts lab at the University of Massachussetts, Boston. Tim is braving the ridiculous weather of New England while working on the art of collodion photography – a 19th century photography process involving metal-plate negatives and lots of quasi-illegal chemicals. Tim, born and raised in New Hampshire, has his Bachelors in Fine Arts in Photography.

Tim and Candice - partners in live, art, crime and other things – recently discovered a secret anti-war monument in the no-man´s land of the once Berlin Wall-border area now under siege of condo-building contractors. They are interested in comparing the politically-endorced monuments in the history-thick area with the unofficial one they found.

www.candicenovak.com

Social Design Tao Wang – researcher / consultant – Berlin

Tao Wang joined socialdesignsite/Segroup (Systemic Excellence Group) in November 2009 as a researcher. He's responsible for strategic development and controlling of the project. He studied history and strategic management and gained experiences in consulting industry. Tao Wang is interested in business development and fundraising for social entrepreneurs.

www.SEgroup.de

Visual thinking Anna Lena Schiller – graphic artist - Berlin

After having spent three years at The KaosPilots, a Danish university for creativity and social innovation, Anna Lena Schiller started up her own business that encompasses multiple disciplines of visual thinking. She specializes in graphic recording, infographics and visual facilitation. Anna Lena has worked with companies ranging from international businesses to small start-ups, as well as freelancers and NGOs.

www.annalenaschiller.com

2. The WAVE Forum and future sessions in Paris, Ljubljana and Reims.
After receiving feedback from The WAVE Berlin panelists and great interest from the audience, we sense the need to continue our discussion. Now, the WAVE Forum has been initiated online so the discussion will not be limited by physical space and time and the questions raised in each session will echo to the next panel and circulate back to the participants. This forum will also serve as a platform to link the panelists and audience participated in different sessions.

For WAVE Forum, click here
For WAVE Berlin documentation, click here

We are in the process of finalizing the programme for The WAVE in Paris, Ljubljana and Reims in 2010.

3. VALU€S in Transmediale 10 and online interactive performance
After performing VALU€S at Transmediale 10, many cultural workers around the world are keen to experience our breakthrough technology to find out their own value as a contemporary cultural worker. Now, with our online interactive performance, you will be able to find out your value in real time!

For VALU€S documentation, click here
For VALU€S online interactive performance, click here

4. kisskillkrisis available via Facebook and Twitter
KissKillKrisis is an online initiative by SideBySide Studio to connect worldwide cultural workers who are concerned about the social and economical values generated by creative practices in the time of crisis. One can join us via Facebook or Twitter.

For kisskillkrisis on facebook, click here
For kisskillkrisis on Twitter, click here

Kiss Kill Krisis

I-WEI LI — 2010-03-05T00:14:27Z

KissKillKrisis is an online initiative by SideBySide Studio to connect worldwide cultural workers who are concerned about the social and economical values generated by creative practices in the time of crisis. One can join us via Facebook and Twitter.