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

Alle Systeme

I-WEI LI — 2009-11-14T17:36:56Z

Being a foreigner in Berlin since 2009, Alle Systeme (music video, 4:31) is a collaboration between Francesca Duca and me, as a quick sketch of Berlin. I am glad to have the opportunity to work with 'option weg' who is open to have their music interpreted by two 'outsiders' who also aim to live in option weg.

Alle Systeme

Music Video, (4:31)

option weg TRÜMMER – TRÄUME – TRASH

option weg makes music with bass, drumms, guitar, violin, Quetsche, ukulele, their voices and their thoughts. They sing about everything that moves and what could possibly be moved. Their attitude is against all kinds of discrimination.

‘option weg' is a musical department store, sometimes with ballads, almost folky, and then punky and danceable again.

Without fun is out of the question.
Without brains, too.

Anja, Hella Steffen and Yok come from Berlin and from all areas of leftist subcultures, from circus to theatre, from punk bank to street music, from Revolte Springen and TUM to Daisy Chain and Flexicute.

It's time to move!

http://pocketpunk.so36.net

option weg TRÜMMER – TRÄUME – TRASH

option weg machen Musik mit Bass, Schlagzeug, Gitarre, Geige, Quetsche, Ukulele, ihren Stimmen und ihren Gedanken. Sie singen über alles was bewegt und was eventuell noch bewegt werden könnte. Ihre Haltung richtet sich gegen jegliche Art der Diskriminierung.

option weg ist ein musikalischer Gemischtwarenladen, mal balladenhaft, fast folkig, dann wieder punkig und tanzbar.
Ohne Spaß geht gar nichts.
Ohne Hirn auch nicht.

Anja, Hella, Steffen und Yok kommen aus Berlin und außerdem aus allen Bereichen der linken Subkultur von Zirkus bis Theater, von Punkband bis Strassenmusik, von Revolte Springen und TUM bis hin zu Daisy Chain und Flexicute.

Still time to move!

http://pocketpunk.so36.net

Option Weg Upcoming Concerts:
6.12.09, 21:00, Supamolly, Jessenerstr.41 in Berlin /Friedrichshain, together with "Rut Randale.
2.12. Halle - VL
3.12. Braunschweig - Nexus
4.12. Kiel - Alte Meierei
5.12. Hamburg - Rote Flora

UNE CRISE SINON RIEN

I-WEI LI — 2009-11-09T22:39:39Z

UNE CRISE SINON RIEN/ de quoi avez-vous peur?
Crisis or Nothing/ What are you afraid of?
film, (22:03)
By Pierre Bongiovanni & I-Wei Li
For Théâtre Forum Meyrin, Geneva

UNE CRISE SINON RIEN

UNE CRISE SINON RIEN Trailer

UNE CRISE SINON RIEN/ de quoi avez-vous peur?
Film Screening & Discussion: November 9, 10, 11 / 2009
Théâtre Forum Meyrin / Place des Cinq-Continents 1 Case Postale 250 / CH-1217 Meyrin 1
www.forum-meyrin.ch

Merline

I-WEI LI — 2009-03-01T14:56:00Z

Merline project aims to encourage contemporary youth to express their originality through media technology. This 26 minute film documents the 4 month (10.08 - 01.09) artistic interventions with 5 different youth groups in Lille, France. Most dialogues are in French without English subtitles.

Screenings, followed by discussions are scheduled to take place in Lille and Paris in 03.09.

Exile

I-WEI LI — 2009-02-02T23:36:00Z

Exile (1:23) is an extract from the documentary L'Escale. The documentary is made with the residents at the FARE social reintegration center in Lille during 2008 Christmas.

Crisis

I-WEI LI — 2009-01-02T23:14:00Z

This short film (2:57) is commissioned as part of the Merline project in 2008. It is used to provoke discussions about Crisis with five different youth groups in Lille.

Crisis reminds me of Hannah Arendt's comment on the former Nazi commender Eichmann's trial: the Banality of Evil —the tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without critically thinking about the results of their action or inaction.

La Maison

I-WEI LI — 2008-12-02T23:22:00Z

This short film (2:25) is commissioned as part of the Merline project in 2008. It is used to provoke discussions about home with five different youth groups in Lille.

To think about home is like debating which comes first, chicken or egg?

We leave home so we can come back. We come back home because we have left.

Revolution?

I-WEI LI — 2008-09-27T21:51:00Z

During la fête de l'humanité, PCF invited both Pierre Bongiovanni and me to take part of the artist residency in the stand of the PCF National Council.

We met and interviewed many people in their desire for revolution.

The film was shot in high definition, about 35 min, it's in French without English subtitles.

Revolution?

The word "revolution" refers to ways to create, think, live. It becomes a force and incredible potential in the mind and hearts of millions.

Screening schedule for Revolution?:

Friday 17 October 2008: 26 ROCKBROWN
Rochebrune 26 Street, 93100 Montreuil
20h, 20h40, 21h30

Saturday 18 October: Galerie du Buisson
4 rue du Buisson Saint Louis 75010
15h, 17h, 19h

Making of A Martial Arts Film

I-WEI LI — 2008-06-01T22:48:00Z

“Superman is a myth, Bruce Lee was real. He was the closest to a Superman in real life.”

It all started with my desire of wanting to be able to do cartwheels. Against all the odds, I tried and tried. I never succeeded but came close. I want to be able to experience the sensation of superhuman power and extraordinary robustness by physically reconstructing myself as a martial artist. I choose film to remodel myself, to offer a sense of my capabilities.

In this short film (9:04), my identity is taken into fantasy. In reality, I am often marginalized or subjected to a stereotypical view because of my ‘foreign' appearance. This often restricts the possibility of an intimate relationship. This is why I expose myself. I am trying to achieve what might be an unattainable goal.

The inherent failures within this process (Making of a Martial Arts Film) are documented and interwoven to create a symbiosis, a dialectic between experience and expression. The film highlights the ground between the possibility and impossibility of fulfilling an aspiration. At each moment, there is a dialogue between process, concept, and result.

United Nations

I-WEI LI — 2007-04-01T23:02:00Z

United Nations

Revealability

I-WEI LI — 2006-12-01T23:22:00Z

The veil is a "visible statement of separation and of difference."
Jack Straw, UK ex-foreign secretary, 2006.

Revealability

After reading about Straw's comment, although not a practising Muslim, I decided to wear the niqab in London for 1 week in November, 2006.

This short film (2:55) aims to ferment the borders of tolerance. I want to use identity - veil - to agitate generic notions of cultural ‘authenticity' or ‘assimilation', especially when political correctness risks becoming another static doctrine.