http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOy3H4yyocQ

For my brothers Carl and [Johann] Beethoven

O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me, you do not know the secret causes of my seeming, from childhood my heart and mind were disposed to the gentle feelings of good will, I was even ever eager to accomplish great deeds, but reflect now that for six years I have been a hopeless case, aggravated by senseless physicians, cheated year after year in the hope of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady (whose cure will take years or, perhaps, be impossible), born with an ardent and lively temperament, even susceptible to the diversions of society, I was compelled early to isolate myself, to live in loneliness, when I at times tried to forget all this, O how harshly was I repulsed by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing, and yet it was impossible for me to say to men speak louder, shout, for I am deaf. Ah how could I possibly admit such an infirmity in the one sense which should have been more perfect in me than in others, a sense which I once possessed in highest perfection, a perfection such as few surely in my profession enjoy or have enjoyed - O I cannot do it, therefore forgive me when you see me draw back when I would gladly mingle with you, my misfortune is doubly painful because it must lead to my being misunderstood, for me there can be no recreations in society of my fellows, refined intercourse, mutual exchange of thought, only just as little as the greatest needs command disposition, although I sometimes ran counter to it yielding to my inclination for society, but what a humiliation when one stood beside me and heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone heard the shepherd singing and again I heard nothing, such incidents brought me to the verge of despair, but little more and I would have put an end to my life - only art it was that withheld me, ah it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon me to produce, and so I endured this wretched existence - truly wretched, an excitable body which a sudden change can throw from the best into the worst state - Patience - it is said that I must now choose for my guide, I have done so, I hope my determination will remain firm to endure until it please the inexorable parcae to break the thread, perhaps I shall get better, perhaps not, I am prepared. Forced already in my 28th year to become a philosopher, O it is not easy, less easy for the artist than for anyone else - Divine One thou lookest into my inmost soul, thou knowest it, thou knowest that love of man and desire to do good live therein. O men, when some day you read these words, reflect that you did me wrong and let the unfortunate one comfort himself and find one of his kind who despite all obstacles of nature yet did all that was in his power to be accepted among worthy artists and men. You my brothers Carl and [Johann] as soon as I am dead if Dr. Schmid is still alive ask him in my name to describe my malady and attach this document to the history of my illness so that so far as possible at least the world may become reconciled with me after my death. At the same time I declare you two to be the heirs to my small fortune (if so it can be called), divide it fairly, bear with and help each other, what injury you have done me you know was long ago forgiven. To you brother Carl I give special thanks for the attachment you have displayed towards me of late. It is my wish that your lives be better and freer from care than I have had, recommend virtue to your children, it alone can give happiness, not money, I speak from experience, it was virtue that upheld me in misery, to it next to my art I owe the fact that I did not end my life with suicide. - Farewell and love each other - I thank all my friends, particularly Prince Lichnowsky and Professor Schmid - I desire that the instruments from Prince L. be preserved by one of you but let no quarrel result from this, so soon as they can serve you better purpose sell them, how glad will I be if I can still be helpful to you in my grave - with joy I hasten towards death - if it comes before I shall have had an opportunity to show all my artistic capacities it will still come too early for me despite my hard fate and I shall probably wish it had come later - but even then I am satisfied, will it not free me from my state of endless suffering? Come when thou will I shall meet thee bravely. - Farewell and do not wholly forget me when I am dead, I deserve this of you in having often in life thought of you how to make you happy, be so -

Heiligenstadt October 6,1802 Ludwig van Beethoven

For my brothers Carl and [Johann] to be read and executed after my death.

Heiligenstadt, October 10, 1802, thus do I take my farewell of thee - and indeed sadly - yes that beloved hope - which I brought with me when I came here to be cured at least in a degree - I must wholly abandon, as the leaves of autumn fall and are withered so hope has been blighted, almost as I came - I go away - even the high courage - which often inspired me in the beautiful days of summer - has disappeared - O Providence - grant me at least but one day of pure joy - it is so long since real joy echoed in my heart - O when - O when, O Divine One - shall I find it again in the temple of nature and of men - Never? no - O that would be too hard.

dimanche 1 juin 2008

Tathata / sur Chin-Chin Wu

” Pour désigner la réalité, le bouddhisme dit sunya, le vide ; mais encore mieux : tathata, le fait d’être tel, d’être ainsi, d’être cela ; tat veut dire en sanskrit cela et ferait penser au geste du petit enfant qui désigne une chose du doigt et dit : ta, da, ça ! Une photographie se trouve toujours au bout de ce geste. Elle dit : ça, c’est ça, c’est tel ! […] La photographie n’est jamais qu’un chant alterné de “voyez”, “vois”, “voici” ; elle pointe du doigt un certain vis-à-vis, et ne peut se sortir de ce pur langage déïctique.”

Barthes, Roland, La chambre claire, Paris, Cahiers du cinéma, Gallimard, 1980, p.15-16

Extrait de la série “Vis à vis”, Chin-Chin Wu, 2007

Mon amie Chin-Chin Wu est l’auteur d’une série de photographies qu’elle a rebaptisé récemment “Vis à vis”. Je m’interrogeais jusqu’à ce matin sur ce nouveau titre sans trouver de réponse particulière. Connaissant le grand soin qu’apporte cette artiste à fonder son propos sur une série de photographies qui rencontre, j’en suis certain, des réactions très variées, je déduis que ce titre fonctionne comme une petite annexe, une note de bas de page. Sans chercher à l’enfermer dans un sens particulier, ce qui serait de mon point de vue réducteur pour la série, le titre “Vis à vis” me semble être néanmoins un indice donné par Chin Chin sur les spécificités photographiques de son travail. Car il s’agit bien d’un pur travail photographique ; inscrit dans son histoire, conscient de ses codes, malmenant une tradition picturale, et jouant avec ce que l’outil photographie peut faire de mieux : brouiller les pistes, faire se superposer les grilles d’analyse du spectateur. L’érotique (la pulsion libidinale au centre de l’acte photographique), le pornographique (la tristesse de la chair offerte dans un éclairage uniforme, morcelée, défigurée), le médical (le point de vue clinique sur la femme et son appareil génital) et le politique (la connaissance des femmes de leur sexe, dans une approche féministe) dialoguent pour une fois dans un travail qui n’exclue aucun de ces champs, qui au contraire s’appuie sur la force polysémique de la photographie et s’enrichie par tous les discours qui y cohabitent.

 

Vis à vis, donc, est un terme qui suppose un échange, un dialogue, fait intervenir la notion du spectateur, du regardé-regardant plus précisément. On dit d’une vue qu’elle est sans vis-à-vis pour marquer l’abscence d’un regard de l’extérieur vers l’intérieur, mais aussi pour signifier l’impossibilité de notre regard (puisque supposé voyeuriste) à pénétrer chez l’autre. Le vis à vis est un pacte silencieux du regard.

 

Et c’est précisément le regard, plus que le sexe, qui est au centre de cette oeuvre “Vis à vis”.

Currently listening :
Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Pianoforte & Cello
Peter Wispelwey, Paul Komen
Release date: 1993-08-17

When I lied silent on the table, the doctor said to me, “don’t move.” I still tilted my head to watch the tiny machine output my cardiogram, so intrigued was I by its ability to captures the heart’s most minute movements, in curves and hieroglyphs - the secret codes of my heart’s crimes.

The 29th is my 4th wedding anniversary. We went to a tiny restaurant along the canal for dinner. The cold war was declared over, all grievances forgotten. It was very romantic, maybe the most romantic ever. I’m never sure if we are lovers desperately trying to be best friends or best friends desperately trying to be lovers, maybe all of those things and everything in between. 8 years is a long time to be together and unsure. Now we are friends again.

The heart has its own reasons that the reason cannot comprehend…

Currently re-reading :

Symposium
By Plato

I was selected based on my female genitalia project - Vis-à-vis. I really had trouble finding a space to exhibit this work in Paris. I will be exhibiting it in Arles, along with other more recent work. I also have a ongoing book project with a German editor near Berlin. Does anybody have any advice?

Many thanks go to Franck Maindon, Claire Bras, Linda, Jean-Marc Sanchez, Didier de Faÿs, William Ropp, Maxime Lacolley, Pierre Marilly, Sandrine D., Natacha.., and all the models.

STATEMENT

Projekt Derniera is the title of a conceptual art project to be realized in the arms factory Zbrojovka Brno. Ten well-known European photographers will be invited to all work in the same space, each realizing their own concept on the site. The Derniera project procedes from the following conceptual thesis:

The world is an aggregate of monologues, dialogues, and scenes. Each of us is an actor playing a role; sometimes better and sometimes worse, we act in different roles. The Zbrojovska Brno factory is a stage on which for almost a century thousands of people played their parts. This stage, however, did not withstand the storms of time: the actors left, the scenery was sold or stolen, but the site with its incontrovertible genius loci remained.

The Derniera Project is the last staged event that will be produced in this space; afterwards, the site will be demolished and completely revitalized.

The Derniera Project seeks to be the bridge connecting the era that was and the era that will be.

The curator of the Project and the developer investing in the revitalization have concluded that it is impossible to erase, without emotion, the significance of the former industrial site, connected as it is with the fates of a thousand people. Such revision is natural; each way out is an invitation to new retrospection and fresh contemplation.

The documentary value of the project will also be far from negligible, although this is not the project’s priority.

By his support of the project, the redevlopment investor has evinced his sympathetic concern for the fates of the people so closely bound up with this space and the memory of their time there.

The participants in the project are not bound by any conditions except the requirement that each project be realized on the site of the Zrojkova Brno factory.

The opening of the project will be an exhibition of the realized concepts — presumably large-format photographs. An industrial hall from the Zbrojovska site has been chosen as the first exhibition space.

The subsequent exhibitions are also envisioned as being held in untraditional venues — in sites either before or after their revitalization.

The results of the project will be summarized in an illustrated publication.

The results of the project may be used in the investor’s revitilization activities.

Notes toward realization

–Reknowned European artists will be invited to participate
–Leading European photography galleries will cooperate in choosing the participants.
–Participants in the first phase of the project will include, among others: Galerie Vrais Reves in Lyon and Galerie Baudelaire in Antwerp.
–The organizer and technical facilitator will be the Atelier Zidlický
–The curator of the project is Vladimír Židlický.
–The organizers will defray the cost of room and board and cover the costs of production for the participating artists.
–We envision that the individual artists will realize their projects in the course of a 10-14 day residence in Brno, during which time the workspace, supplies, technical facilities and personnel of the Atelier Zidlický will be at their disposal.
–The project will be realized in the summer (June-September) of 2008.
–The participating artists will give one realized work to the project’s sponsor as well as grant reproduction rights — by mutual agreement and to a reasonable extent — for the promotional needs of the project sponsors.

Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:29:41 -0400

Subject: some other history that I was told

Ge Ming:

The following is what Nie Fan told me.

In Tang Dynasty, Wencheng Gong Zhhu was sent to Tibet to get married, and that is a fact. But it doesn’t proof anything.

The last Czar of Russia, his wife was a German Princess. So, does it mean that Germany should belong to Russia, or Russia should belong to Germany? In the 19th century, the royal family of Denmark had four daughters, and they were all married to other royal families such as Russia, England and France. Elizabeth II, her husband Phillips was the Prince of Grace. You got the point?

This article (see the attached) admits that Beijing set up an administration control in Tibet no earlier than the Yuan Dynasty. Yuan Dynasty was merely part of the Mongol Empire which controlled not just China and Tibet, it also controlled part of India, part of Russia, and most of the Central Asian countries, like Kazakhstan. Like all empires, it prospered and died. When the Empire collapsed, every part of the Empire went back to their own way. At the same time, there was an Ottoman Empire and the capital was Istanbul. It was consisted of Iran, Iraq, part of Italy, Grace, Saudi Arabia. At that time, everybody bowed to Turkish. So, can anyone from Turkey today claim that Iran or Grace is theirs?

That is why when the Yuan Dynasty died and the Ming Dynasty came in power, the Han controlled Ming Dynasty completely cut off its relationship with Tibet. When Qing Dynasty came along, Tibet became an autonomic region of the Qing. The Qing Dynasty was an empire too. They divided their people into different classes according to their nationalities, just like what the Roman Empire did. So, Manchus were # 1, Mongols # 2, Tibetans # 3, the Hans …. Again, when the Empired died, people went back to their own ways.

Why did Tibetans bow to the Qing Dynasty so willingly? Because Manchus, Mongols and the Tibetans all believed in the same branch of the Buddhism, which was called 黄教or 喇嘛教. The Hans believed in another branch of the Buddhism such as 禅宗。

Any thoughts?

guo yuming

And here’s my reply:

Hi Yuming,

How are you?

Very interesting article! I need to sit down and read it.

I’m currently in Beijing. I think that the Chinese government is not known for being the most subtle or diplomatic; however, I believe that the main mistake that Westerners make is to support a religious leader (with all due respect to the Dalai Lama) because 1) the entire foundation of Western democracy since the French Revolution has been about the separation of the Church and the State, and Tibet under Dalai Lama’s rule was a feudal theocracy with a caste system closer to slavery/serfdom than to any notions of human rights, and 2) unfortunately, the Dalai Lama cannot speak for the recent riots and violence in Tibet, nor can he represent the radical sector of the separatist movements in Tibet, the ones who are causing problems currently.

How can we speak for human rights and support the Dalai Lama as a political leader when we know that kids are chosen and forced to go to monasteries at the age of 5 to 8 and sometimes raped by older monks? These kids will be forever left behind by modern civillization (religious freedom can only be practiced by people who have the judgment to choose for themselves, meaning when they become adults). This would be classified as a dangerous sect anywhere else in the West, and because the West has a romantic, almost nostalgic view of Tibet, this is somehow permitted and tolerated in Tibet, but at whose cost?

The violence and the way the Chinese government reacted to it will make Tibet a problem area for many decades to come I believe, just like the Basques in Spain, the Corsicans in France, the Palestinian conflict, The list is endless… It’s not about who’s right or wrong or who belongs to whom. I’m constantly amazed at the incredible incapacity of the human race to resolve problems and finding peaceful solutions to cohabit this planet instead of pointing fingers at each other. Perhaps violence and conflict are crucial components of life on this earth?

Hope you are well and say ‘hi’ to Fan Fan and Nie Nie!

xoxo, chin-chin

Tibet - Myth and Reality
by Foster Stockwell

Western concepts of Tibet embrace more myth than reality. The idea that Tibet is an oppressed nation composed of peaceful Buddhists who never did anyone any harm distorts history. In fact the belief that the Dalai Lama is the leader of world Buddhism rather than being just the leader of one sect among more than 1,700 ‘Living Buddhas’ of this unique Tibetan form of the faith displays a parochial view of world religions.

(more…)

The Chinese magazine “Hope” (希望）just published an article on the female genitalia project in its March issue. I thought it would never make it with the hypersensitive attitude of the government with the coming of the Olympics, but here is the article.

When I was in India this past winter, a 22-year old freelance journalist called Riva contacted me from Shanghai about doing an article on the project. She had read about it on a well-visited art and culture blog in China (the blog continues sending me traffic until this day even though much of the message of the project is unfortunately distorted as censorship prevents people from viewing the video in China). She explained to me that the readership of Hope is mostly cosmopolitan, independent-minded young women, and could I please talk about my artistic intentions to China’s youth? I was equally intrigued. Besides being a freelance journalist, Riva is also a successful entrepreneur and owns her own boating magazine. She is truly the exemplification of what I find so incredibly exciting and refreshing about today’s China.

In the article, I talked about growing up in Communist China in the 80’s, migration and displacement, the Chinese diasporic experience, how I arrived at the idea of the project, difficulties that I encountered, reactions of the models and the public, recent fads in plastic surgery for the vulva and my experience working with plastic surgeons, my ideas of feminism and female fulfillment… She’s even run a small advert for interested models at the end of the article. For the Chinese-literate, all of this is obviously self-explanatory.

I am going to be in Shanghai from the 11th of April. The family has opened up a gallery on Changde Rd in the Jing An District, and we will have a stand at Art Shanghai. I am bringing some of my prints, many of which are not available online. I am also bringing two artists, one Czech, one French. And then of course I’ll be stopping by in Beijing where I hope to see many people I love and miss.

Then going to the Czech Republic to work on a group conceptual art project in situe in an arms factory, about 14 days in June.

And of course I’ll be appearing in Arles with Better World under the guise of Etranges Etrangers for the opening week in July. Look forward to some new VJ sequences at Cargo de la Nuit, the place where cool people congregate.

Thank you for reading until this far. I hope that this e-mail finds you joyful and in good health and that our paths will cross again soon!

Much love,
Chin-Chin

The only thing that you can do to realize that you ARE free is if you de-hypnotize yourself from believing that somebody/thing will set you free and begin breathing the freedom that you have been depriving yourself of.

You might just like it. If not, you can always return to holding your breath in.

Currently reading picture book: Red Light: Inside the Sex Industry By Sylvia Plachy Release date: June, 1996

Spirits call upon the living, the verticality of love leaves one breathless, heart soaring to a still. Happiness is a gifted smile, accepted and returned freely. Rite of spring washes everything anew, eases the strains of last year’s sorrows. Spring morning, rainfall, hips beating down the hard of the soil, moistened by the sowing season, fertile soil, everything obeying to nature’s rhythmic calls.

Another seemingly banal morning, birds gathering, farmers rising, you and I frolicking, Columbus preparing to sail off to the wrong shore…

© 2008 Post-Modern China Doll

Currently re-reading : The Golden Days (The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Volume 1) By Cao Xueqin Release date: 30 March, 1974

The most important thing in art is The Frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively - because, without this humble appliance, you can’t know where The Art stops and The Real World begins.

You have to put a “box” around it because otherwise, what is that shit on the wall?

If John Cage, for instance, says, “I’m putting a contact microphone on my throat, and I’m going to drink carrot juice, and that’s my composition,” then his gurgling qualifies as his composition because he put a frame around it and said so. “Take it or leave it, I now will this to be music.” After that it’s a matter of taste. Without the frame-as-announced, it’s a guy swallowing carrot juice.

…

- Frank Zappa

LET’S ALL BE COMPOSERS

A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.

Want to be a composer? You don’t even have to be able to write it down. The stuff that gets written down is only a recipe, remember? - like the stuff in Ronnie Willimas’s MACHA book. If you can think design, you can execute design - it’s only a bunch of air molecules, who’s gonna check up on you?

Just Follow These Simple Instructions:

1) Declare your intention to create a “composition.”

2) Start a piece at some time.

3) Cause something to happen over a period of time (it doesn’t matter what happens in your “time hole” - we have critics to tell us whether it’s any good or not, so we won’t worry about that part).

4. End the piece at some time (or keep it going, telling the audience it is a “work in progress”).

5) Get a part-time job so you can continue to do stuff like this.

-Frank Zappa

Whatever has happened to etiquettes? People should at least have the decency to pick up the phone and call me ahead of time to ask if it’s ok, so that I’d have the opportunity to tell them “no it’s not OK”! Unless of course if it is.

Even if it is, it’s still much more pleasant to get an advanced notice. That’s the way I conceive social interactions, and I was brought up in boarding schools - the most un-private of all places. So I don’t care for your excuses. Next time, I will only let in whoever is invited, period.

And that statement is categorical.

Currently reading : Orlan: The Narrative By Lorand Hegyi Release date: 01 January, 2008

I got this because of Larry Clark’s new work “Impaled,” but the highlight of this set is really Marina Abramovic’s Balkan Erotic Epic - funny, wry, erotic, impeccable cinematography.

Unfortunately, for a group of films that is supposed to reflect on the intersect between art and pornography (what a brilliant idea!), I think it largely misses its mark, although again, Clark was the only one that managed to at least stay on topic in my opinion (I had hoped that he would push the envelope further). I guess I should have never expected to bridge the dichotomy brought on by the millennial separation between body and soul with an artsy-fartsy film project such as this.