Studio bbq

Voices Lapsed

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:08:00 +0000

A new work for the exhibition White Walls Have Ears

It is about the voice of the present of the past, translated and transformed. Two interviewees from my previous project Domestica Invisibile have already passed away. One mid-career American arts writer, who witnessed the development of Asian contemporary art, and one young Japanese multi-media artist from the snow country talk about their home. And we listen and ponder over the words voiced for the people who once uttered. Specially dedicated to cmbb.

Original interviewees:
Jonathan Napack (1967-2007) was a correspondent for The Art Newspaper and official representative for Art Basel. He started his writing career for a number of publications in New York including New York Observer and Spy, before moving to Hong Kong in 1997 where he became increasingly involved in the Chinese contemporary art world.
Hiroaki Muragishi 村岸宏昭 (1984-2006) was a philosophy student and a self-taught musician and artist in Sapporo. He wrote and played experimental music; and exhibited multi-media installations. He also took the lead role in Singaporean filmmaker Royston Tan’s short film Monkey Love.

New recording by:
Mimi Brown is the founder of the new non-profit art centre Spring Workshop and a board member of the Asia Art Archive.
Robin Peckham is an art critic, curator and the founding director of Saamlung, commercial gallery and project office in Hong Kong.
Ko Hasegawa is a hair stylist and founding artistic director of Voi Voi Rakkaus in Hong Kong.
Hitomi Hasegawa is a researcher, curator and the founder of the Moving Image Archive of Contemporary Art in Tokyo.

Aston Webb's prophecy

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:54:00 +0000

construct - destroy

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:49:00 +0000

“We must construct as well as destroy”
- Webb, Sir Aston (Ed.) & The London Society, London of the Future. London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1921, p.21.

Szeto Keung (1948-2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:51:00 +0000

Photo: ©Travis Price

Szeto Keung, a mentor and a good friend passed away last week. One of the most popular figures in the Chinese artist community in New York in the last 30 some years, Szeto entered into the mainstream art world well before Chinese contemporary art was recognized. Represented by OK Harris as an artist for his own merit and not because of his ethnicity, he has been well respected by fellows of his generation and the younger. He was befriended with many Chinese artists and curators from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, no matter well-known or unknown, for his very helpful and open-minded character. His studio in Spring Street was a meeting place and point of contacts for friends and acquaintance. Curious in different knowledges and Chinese cultures, Szeto was generous for conversations with elders or youngers.
I first met him in 1996 when he was the artist-in-residence in the Chinese University of Hong Kong where I was doing my MFA. Although he was very famous for his superrealist painting, I was impressed with his knowledge of Barthes and his insight in photography. As a student only, I was feeling so much encouraged by such a conversation in which you were fully respected as a mature artist. It was a brief encounter but impressing. Three years later I got an opportunity to reside in New York for 18 months. It was the time that I could really enjoy his humour and wisdom at the same time. As a walking dictionary for artists in New York City, his presence would always make you feel secure and easy. He could also exchange on many technical issues of art as well. Basically, I learnt how to operate a large format camera from him. I still use the camera that he used before.
With him, many nights in the diner round the corner of his studio where we had unlimited barely-drinkable watery coffee at 50 cents would just become joyful. He would also extend his social network for you, so you can survive many otherwise lonesome moments.
He might not want a label of Hong Kong artist on him but his importance in the Hong Kong contemporary art is unquestionable. He is always a good artist with substance and integrity. He is always missed.

A memorial will be held in the Eric Hotung Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre on Sunday, September 18 at 7pm.

ENEMY BOMBING

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:21:00 +0000

Bomb damage on the exhibition road facade of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Stop useless resistance

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:14:00 +0000

Propaganda leaflet dropped by the Japanese over Hong Kong.

时间紧迫

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:09:00 +0000

时间紧迫，两天扫遍香港购物街

第二天行程：建议到达：11：00am

立法会大楼：立法会大楼在皇后像广场与遮打花园中间，立法会大楼外形雄伟，建有大圆顶，并由一系列花岗石石柱支撑。大楼采用新古典主义的建筑风格，设计揉合中国、英国与希腊建筑特色。法会大楼令人印象最深刻的，必定是位于顶部中央，象征法律公正无私的希腊泰美思女神雕像。雕像屹立在三角形山墙的顶部，她左手拿着天秤，右手拿剑，蒙上双眼，表示法律精神不偏不倚，公正严明。
建议逗留：30分钟

Like we were in Europe, it was lovely☆

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:02:00 +0000

http://www.ida-watch.com/blog/?p=1001

さて、中環（セントラル）もあまり来たことがなかったので、散策することにしました。

まず向かったのは、スタチュースクエアに行ってみることに。。。

地図を見ながらキョロキョロしていると、親切な白人の方に助けられて、到着しました！1965年、マーガレット王女の香港来訪を記念して造られた公園だそうです。

香港は、イギリス領土だった為、道の名前や建物は、英語の名前などイギリス色が濃く残っています。

公園の隣に立っている英国式の建物が、『レジスラティブ・カウンシル・ビルディング』です。建物の上部には、ドームと彫刻が厳かな雰囲気を漂わせていました。
ヴィクトリア様式のドーム型の建物は香港のシンボルとして親しまれているそうです。回廊もヨーロッパにいるような感覚の雰囲気でステキでした☆

Aston Webb imagined a city in the south.

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 07:43:00 +0000

“He would like to see a new city grow up on the south of the river, a city in which the gray streets should be opened up and the gloomy tenements swept away, in which light and air and beauty would be led into those parts of the city.”

Proposition 2

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Thank you

Proposition 1

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:41:00 +0000

Really sorry

Freedom of speech

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Sat, 21 May 2011 02:18:00 +0000

I know we have freedom of speech because someone's loss of freedom of speech is celebrated with our freedom of speech.

No love with heart in bad country

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:41:00 +0000

Installation in progress

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Sun, 15 May 2011 17:43:00 +0000

Finally the work There From Here is being installed - a 36 panel-window of colour prints in vinyl sticker and a wall of text and small video screens (not seen here). It's supposed to be public art, or art installed in kind of "public space" - the entrance lobby of the Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices. But anyhow you wouldn't feel you're in public space as it's highly monitored and controlled. You even need to apply for permission to take photos there.

These look quite banal but I'm happy with them.

Roger McDonald

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 04:21:00 +0000

As to prepare the Work Space series for Other Possible Worlds in NGBK, I had to update the info of the art spaces that I visited for the project 3 years ago and re-read the original text. The one provided by Roger McDonald of AIT also includes a written reply to my questions drafted for the interview. It still reads well and I share it here.

What’s the name of your organization?
Arts Initiative Tokyo or AIT for short.

Where, when and who founded it?
Began MAD, our school in 2001. Became a registered non profit organization in 2002.

What’s the story behind this name?
It says most succinctly what we do and what we aim to do – create initiatives related to art from Tokyo.

How many people were involved when it began and how many now? Who were/are they?
Six people at the start. Three of us are full time. Four work in other positions and plug in when necessary.

How did it start? What was the social/cultural background then?
Talking over beers in bars about what we thought Tokyo lacked/ needed/could do with improving. Many of us had spent time outside Japan studying. We had all returned to live and work. We began by spending about six months talking to various people, doing research and field work on what the Tokyo art situation was like – mapping it out to see what may be needed and how things could be different/ better.

Did the location of your first space matter? Did you ever move? Why/ why not?
For the first 2 years we ‘squatted’ the library/ meeting room of Nanjo & Associates curatorial offices. We moved into our current premises in 2004. We have remained in the Daikanyama area of Tokyo because it is near Shibuya (a major train hub), has a certain village feel about it and seems attractive to the people who sign up for our courses.

What was the management model in the beginning? Any change in the structure of organization? Why/ why not? Are you steering it to an unprecedented model, or you do have some examples as reference?
Director, two Deputy Directors. Practically speaking we each do multiple things. Each project may be led by one member with assistance from the others. Finances and general strategy is co-ordinated by the Director. Its rather shared and equal. Being small, we have tried to keep things compact, sustainable and tight.

What kind of activities did you do in early years and what’s the change and development? How do you see the relationship between your change and the development of local art scene?
The first initiative was MAD, our school. It is independent of academic institutions and works more like evening classes. We offer Japan’s first curatorial studies courses, as well as courses on reading texts in English, contemporary art history and artists presentation skills – all aspects which art schools seem rather weak at. We began the artist in residence in 2003 because Tokyo lacked a proper residency – the city or state was not interested. Our efforts have hopefully encouraged others to follow suit, and now the City of Tokyo operates a residency. We continue to curate experimental exhibitions and events, and organize artists and curators talks. If someone interesting is passing through Tokyo we can organize something fast, without bureaucratic paper work. There is a large, eager constituency for contemporary art in Tokyo and beyond, which we try to tap into and expand. We are interested in creating discursive, layered spaces, rather than privilege exhibition or display.

How do you position your institution in relation with other establishments, organizations and artists in the hierarchy (if any) of the art world?
We try to read and map the situation, to see what could be improved and maintain an independent attitude. Being an independent school offers a sense of difference to being a gallery or museum or art university. We seem to attract many people who want to learn more about art, but who are not students. Working people, house-wives, businessmen and students seem to be able to connect with what we offer and do – perhaps because we are not a ‘traditional’ framework like a commercial gallery or museum. This sense of broad appeal and molding a space wherein people can come together to think and discuss art and related issues at length is important to us.

What’s the focus of your programme? Do you specialize in certain area of art & artists? Are you also engaged in international/regional exchange? Could you elaborate your ideas on this issue?
Our main initiative is running a school, and all this entails. We invite speakers from different fields to come and speak, we put together curriculums and try to create a comfortable space to discuss issues related to art, society, politics, religion. We do have a particular penchant for thinking about contemporary art as one activity within the wider social field, so we are interested in relations between what artists do and the various ways we can understand this. We try to maintain an international outlook – all our public mailings are bi-lingual and talks are consecutively translated. Many foreign curators and artists come to visit us. But this is time-consuming and often expensive. I notice that in recent years the subject of education or learning and contemporary art has received a fair bit of attention. I like to think that since 2001 we have tried to practice and initiate another way that an arts organization can operate. We are interested in nurturing audiences for contemporary art in Japan, and so are very open to offering courses which take an introductory or beginner’s level approach, right up to post-graduate level sessions on art theory or aesthetics. We are also interested in thinking how larger theoretical concerns such as ‘post-colonialism’ or ‘globalisation’ can be thought through in Japan – to connect them to local histories and issues rather than simply being exotic concepts which are expounded in big exhibitions in Europe. I suppose you can say that we are constantly involved in processes of translation and mis-understanding. It seems that this kind of experience is something that cannot be so easily generated in commercial galleries or even museum shows which tend to be about explicating clear narratives and understandings. I hope that what MAD enables is some space for dissonance and un-learning to occur – to be able to question what canons have passed down, to think imaginatively.

Where is your funding from? Is it related, or does it affect your programme? How do you see commercial sponsorship? How do you maintain your independence in programming?
Amost all of our funding is self generated – we developed a business model from the beginning and this has continued. The school generates most of our annual income. The courses are fee paying and of different duration. The artist in residency generates income through management fees from various foreign arts partners, like IASPIS, FRAME and Asialink. Project funding is generated from individual grant applications to Japanese Foundations. In these cases, the content of projects may be broadly tuned into the particular directions of Foundations or Companies. But basically we are rather independent in terms of funding. We must generate our salaries, running costs, rent etc by ourselves.

Is there any legacy in your organization?
We are in our eighth year. I hope that some legacy may begin to emerge after ten years or so.

What are the weak point and the strength of your organizations?
Weaknesses – we tend to be rather ‘invisible’, because much of what we do involves discursive events rather than exhibitions. Strengths – Our ‘invisibility’ enables us to remain focused on issues and nurture longer durational projects or interests.

Has it ever have any crisis? How did it get over it?
When visitors enter our space without taking their shoes off – we ask them politely to do so and all is well.

What’s your plan/idea/dream for the next five years (shorter or longer)?
To develop new layers to what we have built up so far – to create a more complex and self generating situation which continues to build on what we have achieved. Small steps, to slowly generate new potentials – e.g. AIT book publications series, work with artists to realize limited editions, create a small exhibition area in our classroom space etc.

My top 10 exhibitions in Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 09:40:00 +0000

These days how do you rank exhibitions? I always found much easier to ask myself how much I remember of those shows by end of the year. So I also post my top 10 memorable shows in Hong Kong. (*Obviously there is a personal interest as those that I participated I would remember better!)

1. Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Works by Chu Hing Wah (HKU)
2. Culture(s) of Copy* (Goethe)
3. An Unexpected Turn of Events: Chen Shaoxiong and Tsuyoshi Ozawa (Osage)
4. Hong Kong Diary: Pak Sheung Chuen (HKMA)
5. Spectral Evidence (1a)
6. Tempestade/ Unwetter/ Tempest (Goethe)
7. Ho Sin-tung : Don't Shoot the Messenger (Hanart)
8. Runscape: Map Office (10Chancery)
9. Jompet.Third Realm (Para/Site)
10. Nadim Abbas: Cataract (Exit/Experimenta)

I might remember a couple more but it wouldn't be far away from that.

Monopol

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:13:00 +0000

Monopol is a Berlin-based art magazine. Culture(s) of Copy where I took part with Sara in Edith-Ruß-Haus für Medienkunst in Oldenburg got featured in it.

Reference 1978-1994-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 06:05:00 +0000

A new collaborative work by Leung Chi Wo + Sara Wong as our contribution to "Lui Chun Kwong. You Are Here, I Am Not. From Ho Siu Kee to Kong Chun Hei", opening next Saturday at Osage Kwun Tong.

Lui Chun Kwong, Back Shadowing, oil on canvas, 130x96cm, 1978

The second piece of work Lui had produced ever since he returned from London in 1994, untitled and never exhibited.

The back of the 1994 piece. He signed on it again recently before we took it to "collaborate". We added the inner angled- and exterior frames, ribbon and stamp with reference to the 1978 piece.

Art for free

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:38:00 +0000

Just to re-cap something I did about Victoria a while ago, a piece of work about Victoria Moon for everybody!

We still need to fight

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:12:00 +0000

Said the representatives from the International Domestic Workers Network in front of the crowd outside the Legislative Council Building when the motion to amend the Minimum Wage Bill to cover domestic workers was just voted down in the council meeting on July 15, 2010.

Mysterious housewife

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:21:00 +0000

Now hanged in the Goethe Institut, my collaboration with Sara Wong consists of a large new photograph and a book of Tokyo of the 1950s. The very small back figure of a typical housewife at the centre of a photo from the book has become the inspiration of the large print. Both should be visually corresponding to each other.
However a friend just told me he saw that work 2 weeks ago for the first time just as seen above. But recently he went to the gallery again and looked at the work. He just couldn't find the housewife in the old photograph. We checked it today and nothing has changed. It's really mysterious....

I'm glad we have been bombed

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:01:00 +0000

“I’m glad we have been bombed” is the famous quotation from Queen Elizabeth (Queen Mother) of the UK after the Buckingham Palace was bombed by Germany’s Luftwaffe in 1940. The eastern façade of Buckingham Palace was designed by British architect Aston Webb who also designed the Supreme Court Building (now the Legislative Council Building) in Hong Kong around the same time in the early 1900's.

Time is tight 时间紧迫

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:55:00 +0000

Mainland Chinese tourist zhoubaozhoubao said "Time is tight" (时间紧迫) when introducing his 2 day-experience of visiting Hong Kong in 2008. He recommended visiting the Legislative Council Building for 30 min.

Only time can tell

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:47:00 +0000

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to the US President Jimmy Carter answered "Only time can tell" when Council Member Allen Lee asked for his perspective on One Country Two Systems, quoted in Lee's address in a Legislative Council meeting in 1984 on his uncertainty about the future of Hong Kong.

I like this style.

noreply@blogger.com (Studio bbq) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:17:00 +0000

Hank Bull, core member of the first generation of Western Front and great performance artist is like a walking dictionary of contemporary art. I first met him in Shanghai in 2000 and Centre A was just founded by him then in Vancouver. Today I still keep receiving news of its growth. Now he steps down as Founding Director and I really appreciate it. It's very interesting to see an institution to grow to this stage.

CENTRE A EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO STEP DOWN
On May 28, 2010, the executive director of Centre A announced to the board of directors his intention to leave the position at the end of the year.
As the founding director, Hank Bull has played a leading role in establishing Centre A. He makes this decision in order to open the way to renewal and growth for the organization. After working as a curator and administrator for many years, he intends to return to his own personal artistic practice.
The position of executive director will be advertised in the next few weeks and applications accepted over the summer.

From the Executive Director
To the Board of Directors of Centre A

It is with gratitude, optimism and, of course, regrets that I announce my retirement as executive director of Centre A.
Centre A has occupied a considerable portion of my professional career – fifteen years since the idea was first conceived – so it is only after careful consideration that I come to this decision.
My reasons for stepping down are both professional and personal. The long term success of any organization depends, as the word would suggest, on succession. Centre A has developed an exemplary model of succession in both board and staff. Now in its twelfth year of operation, the organization enjoys the leadership and vision of its fourth board president and its fourth curator. Furthermore, many young people have found mentorship in the organization and gone on to professional careers in the arts. The one position yet to be renewed is that of the executive director. In order to enable Centre A to thrive on the strength of its mission, and not simply on the dreams of its founders, it is essential that this key position be handed on to someone new.
Now is a good time. Centre A is in sound financial shape. It has an excellent board and a talented staff. Knowledge and experience are distributed throughout the organization. A succession planning committee has been formed and is part of a comprehensive strategic plan. All this provides the solid footing necessary to support organizational growth and change. We expect the executive director position to be advertised soon and interviews to begin in the early fall.
My reason for leaving also has a personal side. Devoting much of my time and energy to Centre A has meant that my personal life and my own research have had to take a back seat. It is time for my explorations to take a more personal direction. What I will find is still a delightful mystery, even to me, but you may be sure that it will involve, somehow, a life in art.
I would like to acknowledge my appreciation to all of Centre A’s board members past and present. It has been an honour to serve under your direction. To all the staff and volunteers with whom it has been my privilege to work I give my heartfelt thanks. I will miss you a lot and know that great achievements await you. I offer a special expression of gratitude to the donors who have not only been crucial to sustaining the centre but who have also become personal friends. And to the funders, press, peers and audience members who have helped to make Centre A the success that it is today, working with you has been a pleasure.
I intend to remain an active member and volunteer at Centre A.
Let’s keep on pushing.

Hank Bull
Executive Director