pumpkin sauce

Chinoiserie fabrics

2011-01-01T14:59:00.000-05:00

The Alexander Henry design studio's "Indochine" collection includes Sumie, a print based on traditional Chinese/Japanese ink paintings of landscapes, complete with mountains, trees, waterfalls, rivers, fishermen, boats, and pavilions. I just ordered 14 m of the fabric for one of my installations, Opium Den, which will be presented at the V&A's next Late Friday event, "China Through The Looking Glass," curated by Eliza Gluckman.

While hunting down fruitlessly fabric in London that was similar to the micro-suede toile de jouy I had used for my Canadian Opium Den mattresses and neckrolls, I found some classic and more recent Chinese-esque designs.

Michael Miller's retro and kitsch designs, like Chinese Lanterns, are fun and colorful. China Doll and Chinese Kids (top: left to right) reminds me of the fabric that Montréal artist, Mary Sui Yee Wong had used in her Yellow Apparel clothing line/performance piece.

Of course, Schumacher's Chiang Mai Dragon....(more on Schumacher in another post). The following designs, I came across on Chinoiserie Chic's blog:

Silhouetted designs like Waverly's Canton Bazaar

or Thomas Paul's Robin, based on traditional Chinese paper-cutting designs

Pagodas or garden follies...

Thomas Paul's design

And Michael Devine's Garden Folly

Winter Wonderland playlist

2010-12-31T21:36:00.000-05:00

A winter playlist I compiled a few weeks ago...which is a bit late for some of the more Christmassy songs.

1. Eskasoni Trio- "Huron Carol"
2. Fleet Foxes- "White Winter Hymnal"
3. Cocteau Twins- "Winter Wonderland"
4. DJ/Rupture- "Winter Buds - Atki2"
5. Misteur Valaire- "Lillehammer"
6. Iron and Wine- "Faded From The Winter"
7. Debussy- "Children's Corner: The Snow is Dancing"
8. Balmorhea- "And I Can Hear The Soft Rustling Of My Blood (As If Snow Were Sliding Down The Mountains)?"
9. Gordon Lightfoot- "Song For A Winter's Night"
10. Chinese version of "Jingle Bells"
11. Vanilla Ice- "Ice Ice Baby"
12. Glenn Gould hour-long radio documentary, "The Idea of North"
13. Malajube- "Montréal -40ºC"
14. Sleigh Bells- "Rill Rill"
15. Peter, Bjorn and John- "The Chills"
16. Inuit throat singing, performed by Maggie Grey and Jessie Tomassie of Kangirsuk (Payne Bay) and recorded by Denise Harvey in 1975, on Inuit Games and Songs (UNESCO, 1991)
17. Tanya Tagaq- "Fox-Tiriganiak"
18. Sufjan Stevens- "Majesty, Snowbird"
19. The Slew- "You Turn Me Cold"
20. The White Stripes- "In The Cold, Cold Night"
21. Au Revoir Simone- "Fallen Snow"
22. Janelle Monáe- "Wondaland"
23. Run D.M.C.- "Christmas in Hollis"
24. The Knife- "New Year's Eve"
25. Ratatat- "Lapland"
26. Sigur Rós- "Svefn-g-englar"
27. Le Loup- "Shenandoah"
28. Anne Murray- "Snowbird"
29. Dengue Fever- "New Year's Eve"
30. 張帆 (Zhang Fan)- "賀新年- Happy New Year"
31. Bon Iver- "Wisconsin"
32. Brooklyn Rider's interpretation of John Cage's "In a Landscape"

Happy Gregorian New Year!!

Put your hip into it!

2010-05-28T03:40:00.002-04:00

Awesome fight scene with Bruce Lee, in the dining area and at the back of 上海, a Chinese restaurant in "Way of the Dragon" (1972). Starred and directed by Lee, who also provided some of the soundtrack (whistling and drums), the film pits Lee against baddie, Chuck Norris in Rome's Colisseum.

Supping Chinese

2010-03-09T16:16:00.001-05:00

Sidney D. Gamble photograph (Item Number: 292-1673), circa 1917-1919, of a group of foreigners eating Chinese food in Beijing. From the Sidney D. Gamble Photographs Collection at Duke University.

I spy with my little eye...

2010-03-09T15:33:00.001-05:00

Like Wim Delvoye, British artist Susan Collis uses traditional craft techniques and processes (eg. marquetry and embroidery) to create seemingly mundane objects out of precious materials like diamonds, pearls, gold, and exotic wood. Meticulously working by hand, Collis stitches paint splatters on dust sheets, transforms screws and wallplugs into art objects out of precious metal.

Collis: 'I have always wanted my work to bring together two different opposing terms, like tidy and untidy, clean and dirty - to bring them together and see what happens. I think this ties into my feelings about craft. Craft in my mind, has that 'good' label and that's what draws me to it. To make something look bad, dirty or stained using these processes that are usually deemed to be good and worthy, to jumble up the two.'

Collis' trompe l'oeil work are playful takes on visual perception, the readymade, the divide between art & craft, and labour. "The Oyster's Our World" (2004) at first glance appears to be a step ladder left behind by a janitor, but on closer inspection, the paint drips and splatters are actually inlaid mother-of-pearl, coral, pearls, opal, and diamond. "Better Days" (2006) appears to be a paint drop cloth on the floor, but the splatters and drips are in fact embroidery.

As good as it gets (Detail) (2008), 18 carat white gold (hallmarked), white sapphire, turquoise, onyx

Although Collis uses precious materials in her works, she organized a team of workers for her exhibition 'SWEAT' in 2008 to craft laundry bags from large sheets of paper, painstakingly drawn with biro pens.

Links:

Seventeen Gallery

'Out of The Ordinary: Spectacular Craft' 2007 exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Rug rug vs marbling

2010-03-09T12:47:00.001-05:00

Artist Carolyn Salas' "Rug Project" (2009) where she attempts to elevate the carpet to fine art by creating a rug made of carpet foam padding. Link

via Craftzine

VERSUS

Belgian artist, Wim Delvoye's "Marble Floors" (1999) where salami and other cold-cuts (with their own marbling) make up intricate marble floors. Actually, these are photographic reproductions of the meat texture. Known for his transformations of images and objects using techniques in wood-carving, stained glass, tattoo, cast-iron, Delvoye arranged "charcuterie" meats in geometric patterns based on Baroque and Islamic motifs.

Delvoye's website is quite fun to navigate in a SimCity kind of way (WimCity)!

Birdsongs: Céleste Boursier-Mougenot & Olivier Messiaen

2010-03-06T10:35:00.001-05:00

A new commission for the Barbican, French artist and composer Céleste Boursier-Mougenot has transformed the Curve into a walk-through aviary inhabited by 40 zebra finches as well as electric guitars and other musical instruments and objects. A live soundscape is created by the birds' activities, either perching on or feeding from the guitars and cymbals. Boursier-Mougenot experiments with the acoustic and musical potential of everyday objects and daily life. In his created situations and work he merges ideas of language, translation, technology and chance operations. The exhibition runs from February 27 - May 23, 2010.

John Cage is one of the first names that comes to mind when chance operations is discussed, and I'll be writing about his work and influence in a future post. For now, I just wanted to mention another French composer, Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) whose work was inspired among other things, Indonesian gamelan, Japanese music, his Catholic faith, and birdsong. An ornithologist as well, Messiaen notated birdsongs worldwide and incorporated many of his transcriptions into his music, including his immense Catalogue d'oiseaux for solo piano, orchestral work Réveil des oiseaux, and his most famous work, Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time). From All Manner of Thing blog: "He was serious about birds. “They are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant songs,” he said, and he believed that their calls were a music that manifested the music inherent in creation."

From Wikipedia: "Messiaen experienced a mild form of synaesthesia manifested as a perception of colours when he heard certain harmonies, particularly harmonies built from his modes, and he used combinations of these colours in his compositions. His innovative use of colour, his personal conception of the relationship between time and music, his use of birdsong, and his intent to express religious ideas all combine to make Messiaen's musical style notably distinctive."

All Manner of Thing has an informative post giving an introductory background to Messiaen's use of birdsong. There's a few YouTube clips, including the above that compares the call of a song thrush with Messiaen's version.

Butterfly Dance

2010-03-05T16:39:00.008-05:00

A 1954 vintage Northwest Airline's Orient Express— proclaiming to give one a happy holiday "package" by discovering "America's exciting new vacationland! A day away on the "Orient Express" " and where one could take in a butterfly dance, the "ancient sacred ritual dance of the Orient." From Duke University's Ad*Access Project, a database of over 7 000 ads printed in U.S. and Canadian media between 1911 and 1955.

Link

VERSUS

This second Opera Coat Project design by fibre artist, Anna Hergert, was based on Puccini's Madame Butterfly. It reminded me of the above butterfly dance image (which I had used in my 2008 piece, Mr. Panda's Sleepover). The softness of Hergert's coat looks like it has been multi-layered with large transparent sequins or some sort of diaphanous fabric.
Link

Wearable Art: Opera Coat Project

2010-03-05T15:44:00.000-05:00

The Alberta Craft Council and Edmonton Opera partnered on the Opera Coat Project exhibition in 2006. A collaboration between professional designers, visual artists, craftspersons and artisans from across Alberta, the artists created 16 coats/costumes inspired by one of the great operas and used a variety of techniques and materials. This coat, inspired by Puccini's Turandot was designed by Manola Borrajo-Giner and Inger Lorsignol.

Project website

Turandot Costume Designs

2010-03-05T08:16:00.000-05:00

Umberto Brunelleschi's costume design for the premiere of Turandot at La Scala, Milan in 1926.

And Cecil Beaton's 1963 design for the Covent Garden Opera Company, currently housed at the Royal Opera House Collection. The ROHC website has more images of the cloak and headdress along with audio commentaries by Corinne Jones-Lord (Head of Costumes and Wigs, Costume Support) with Francesca Franchi (Head of ROH Collections).

Look at the colours used, the patterns created by appliqué and stonework with no printing.

Anna May Wong's Tea Cakes

2010-03-05T07:21:00.005-05:00

Wong as 'Shosho' and King Hou Chang as 'Jim' in Piccadilly (1929)

TEA CAKES
¼ cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

½ cup milk

1 ¼ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar and add egg beaten very lightly. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add alternately with milk to mixture. Add vanilla last and beat all until smooth. Bake in oven at about 375 degrees. Ice when cool, if desired.

– Anna May Wong

Wong's recipe for tea cakes, found on the 'Celebrity Recipes' page of Allan Ellenberger's blog.

Daughter of the Dragon

2010-03-04T18:55:00.004-05:00

Amazing tinted photo of Anna May Wong in "Daughter of the Dragon," in a beaded dress and headdress. Compare with the image of Maria Callas as Turandot in an earlier post. An adaptation of Sax Rohmer's novel, Daughter of Fu Manchu, "Daughter of the Dragon" (1931) was directed by Lloyd Corrigan, and featured Anna May Wong as Princess Ling Moy, Warner Oland as Dr. Fu Manchu, and Sessue Hayakawa as Ah Kee. Princess Ling Moy lives next door to Dr. Fu Manchu, and is romantically involved with Ah Kee, a secret agent determined to thwart Fu Manchu. It is later revealed that Fu Manchu is Ling Moy's father.

Thunderbirds in China: Friendship first

2010-02-28T15:05:00.004-05:00

Thunderbirds in China (1974). By Les Rose. 57 min

The National Film Board of Canada produced this 1974 documentary that followed The Thunderbirds, the University of British Columbia hockey team, as they traveled to China in 1973 to showcase the sport to the Chinese and to play against local teams as well as the Chinese National team. Two of the games were televised throughout China and 18 000 people attended each game at the People's Sports Palace. This film gives us a glimpse what China was like in the 1970s as well as how the Chinese played hockey. While the Chinese teams were outscored 56-5, the UBC players and coaches were impressed by the Chinese players' courage and determination. Some felt though that the Chinese team's emphasis on friendship before winning was a weakness in a such competitive sport. A playing of two cultures and ways of life on an ice rink.

Check out the blue hockey mask that one of the Chinese players sported!

"Turandot doesn't exist..."

2010-02-28T12:03:00.009-05:00

The original poster for the 1926 performance of Puccini's last and unfinished opera, Turandot, two years after his death. It was later completed by his contemporary Franco Alfano, based on Puccini's notes. The 1926 premiere was held at La Scala and conducted by Arturo Toscanini who ended the performance toward the end of Act III with the explanation that this was where the opera ended because the composer had died.

Maria Callas as Turandot.

And singing, "In questa reggia" in a 1954 recording.

In the 1998 Forbidden Palace production of 'Turandot' with Zubin Mehta conducting, and Zhang Yimou directing, the three ministers, Ping, Pang, and Pong, reminisce over their carefree youth in their hometowns. Mehta conceived the idea of bringing the production to China, in search of authenticity. But isn't Puccini's version of 'Turandot' the ultimate exercise in Western fantasy of the Orient? Is this a case of self-exoticism for Zhang Yimou and a pandering to Western stereotypes of the Chinese? The production process was filmed for a documentary, "The Turandot Project."

Food is Heaven

2010-02-17T12:05:00.003-05:00

The four-part documentary series, "China Rises"
"This episode explores the history of Chinese cuisine. The story of China is the story of food. From the master chef seeking the ultimate meal to the student who defies his father to follow his heart, in this booming nation nothing rocks like a wok. But some can barely fill theirs as drought and desert stalk the country. A rebel lawyer fights the factories and filth, chewing up precious farmland. An old saying proclaims food is heaven, but in its rush to riches is China devouring its ability to feed its own people?"

One reviewer on Amazon quoted from the documentary:
"One Chinese restaurant mogul and celebrity cook says, "...as long as its back is facing the sky, you can eat it." These include goose web, fish lips, and a variety of bugs. A market is growing where "food sensations" are replacing "food necessities." However, one person out of every 8 Chinese still lives in absolute poverty. 60% of the rivers and lakes are heavily polluted. China must feed 20% of the world's population with only 7% of the world's arable land. And that land is diminishing by even further industrialization. Over the last 10 years, development has swallowed up 10% of China's arable land. 66 million peasants have been forced off their land by development. But China has become the world's largest producer of fish and seafood."

Watch this episode on Babelgum

Logomania: Chen Hang Feng

2010-02-17T10:32:00.006-05:00

Cool Hunting's video of Shanghai-based artist and designer, Chen Hang Feng, films him in the studio and the street, where he talks about his work, paper-cutting. He mixes and manipulates both traditional Chinese imagery with corporate logos such as McDonald's, Gucci, Adidas and Puma, in a way to modernize the craft and to comment on branding and the effects of globalization. Since he began his paper-cutting projects in 2006, he's branched out to working with film, video, temporary tattoos, carpets, textile, sculpture and installations.
Links:
Chen Hang Feng's website (doesn't appear to be working)
CreativeHunt's profile

Videos:
The Last Supper (Fast Food) (2008)

Chen writes: "Almost 30 chickens in the Braziers International Artist Workshop (London, UK), they were suppose to be slaughtered the next day to feed the artists, I fed them the last supper with rice by drawing the head of Colonel Sanders on the ground... "

You can get them / 会有的 (2009)

In this video, there are 16 hands behind Chen, holding various items purchased in a Luxembourg market, all made in China. The set-up is a reference to the Thousand-Arm Guanyin dance, performed by deaf dancers from The China Disabled People’s Performing Arts Troupe.

Deliciousness Discovered!

2010-02-16T18:25:00.004-05:00

Another Daily Mail article, on bottled 'deliciousness,' a secret ingredient, until now, only known in Japanese as umami and in Michelin-starred restaurants. A 'fifth taste' in addition to the four known in the West as salty, bitter, sweet, and sour, it is known to make anything taste terrific:

"And pretty soon you will be able to add it to absolute everything as tubes of the wonder stuff go on sale in 197 branches of Waitrose for £2.99 a tube.

Named Taste No 5, evoking the added allure of a high-class perfume, it triggers the sensation of delight in the brain when at least one of the primary tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and salty is also present.

Food writer Laura Santtini, who developed the purée, said: 'I wanted to get away from the notion that umami is something of interest to scientists that no one else can really understand.

'The truth is that umami should be of interest to anyone who has a tongue.

'Umami is part of our everyday eating lives, it is just that many of us don't know what to call it. It is what gives depth of flavour to food."

I think we also know 'deliciousness' as MSG. The article continues:

"The umami revolution began in 1908 when Tokyo chemist Kikunae Ikeda identified it as a flavour present in foods high in glutamate.

He had first been alerted by the distinctive taste of seaweed, or kombu, which itself is high in the chemical.

His work led him to crystallise monosodium glutamate (MSG), the controversial flavour enhancer which has since become famous all over the world.

Then in 2000 researchers at the University of Miami discovered the tongue had taste receptors dedicated to sensing glutamate, which signals the presence of proteins in food that the body needs.

The opportunities presented by umami have since been exploited by the restaurant world and celebrity chefs including Heston Blumenthal who purposefully plates up dishes brimming with umami at his Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire."

So I guess Chinese-Restaurant-Syndrome (CRS) isn't necessarily restricted to Chinese restaurants and cuisine. Deliciousness is everywhere!

As British as Chinese Food...

2010-02-16T18:10:00.007-05:00

A recent article in the Daily Mail (yes, I read it on a daily basis, to keep up with their 'unbiased' takes on Chinese-related news) states that a study by Sharwood's revealed that Chinese has overtaken Indian cuisine as Brit's favourite food:

"The poll of 3,000 people by Sharwood's, to mark the Chinese New Year weekend, showed that Britons had become more adventurous in the kitchen, with two thirds saying they regularly cooked 'exotic' food.

One in ten claimed to be completely confident in their ability to cook foreign dishes without any difficulty, while a third said they were more likely to make their own ethnic meals at home instead of heading to a restaurant.

A spokesman for Sharwood's said: 'Traditional English dishes will always have a place in our hearts, but they will never be able to excite the tastes buds like a Chinese meal can.

'After a while, it's easy to get bored of fish and chips or roast dinners, so it's nice to enjoy something slightly more exotic.

'Chinese cuisine has a wide variety of dishes which mean there is pretty much something for everyone, even if you aren't usually that brave when it comes to trying new food.'"

Happy CNY! Roar loud this year!!

2010-02-14T15:23:00.003-05:00

Adapted one of my lantern cut-outs for 2010 Chinese New Year's greeting card.

Mae West- Occidental Woman (in an Oriental Mood for Love)

2009-11-30T10:11:00.003-05:00

Mae West orientalizes herself in "Klondike Annie (1936) while singing the blues.

In The Poem About Love You Don't Write The Word Love

2009-11-30T09:34:00.002-05:00

by Tanya Leighton (Editor)

Features Gareth James

"In The Poem About Love You Don't Write The Word Love takes the distinction that French critic Serge Daney made between the "image" and the "visual" as a starting point for a selection of artworks, films, and discussions. Daney's distinction refers to an "image" that can critically challenge and destabilize predominant models of information, resisting the "purely technical," that which is nothing other than the verification that something functions. Through various strategies of dislocation or slippage contemporary artists and filmmakers stage unsettling tensions that challenge visual conventions in an increasingly mediated culture. The aim of this book is to provide a theoretical and critical framework for examining how contemporary art and cinema can still hold out against an experience of vision and of the "visual". Contributions include philosophers, theorists and novelists Giorgio Agamben, Serge Daney, Gilles Deleuze, Thomas Keenan, Ernesto Laclau, Haruki Murakami, and Jean-Luc Nancy, to art historians George Baker and Jonathan Crary, and to artists and filmmakers including Ayreen Anastas, Francois Bucher, Jean-Luc Godard, Gareth James, John Menick, Mai Thu Perret and Keith Sanborn."

Paperback: 276 pages
Publisher: Sternberg Press (January 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1933128194
ISBN-13: 978-1933128191
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches

Adrian Piper. Out of Order, Out of Sight: 2-volume set

2009-11-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

by Adrian Piper

"Adrian Piper joins the ranks of writer-artists who have provided much of the basic and most reliable literature on modern and contemporary art. Out of Order, Out of Sight is an artistic and intellectual autobiography and an (occasionally scathing) commentary on mainstream art, art criticism, and American culture of the last twenty-five years.

Piper is an internationally recognized conceptual artist and the only African American in the early conceptual art movement of the 1960s. The writings in Out of Order, Out of Sight trace the development of her thinking about her artwork and the art world, and her evolving awareness of herself as a creative, racial, and gendered subject situated in an often limiting and always absurd cultural and social context."

Paperback: 776 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press; New Ed edition (February 12, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262661543
ISBN-13: 978-0262661546

Transmissions: Asian Artists in Motion (Printed Matter)

2009-11-30T07:47:00.009-05:00

from the Printed Matter curated list:

"An alternate history of East and West might go beyond conceptual oppositions to uncover a mutual (though not always mutually beneficial) relationship of East-West exchange and the circulation of goods, labor, talent, and culture. This process has become more personalized as conditions now allow for increased travel, immigration, and overseas study. The titles below represent a number of Asian and Asian-American artists using artists’ books to create records of that experience, at times, as with Morimura Yasumasa’s Self-Portrait as Art History, through the camp interpretation of cultural canon. Other books, such as Cities on the Move (Kim Soo Ja) are critically aware of movement through space and time, suggesting also that urban flux mimics a greater global circulation. Many artists take foreignness and travel as their starting point; these include members of the residency program at Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, Japan: Chen Zhen, Transexperiences; Huang Yong Ping, Travel Guide for 2000—2046; Ken Lum, In Search of Wabi-Sabi; and Rirkrit Tiravanija, Passage Cosmo to Fishy Travels. Hysteric Seven (Dean Sameshima) replicates this on a metaphorical level, as the photos composing its visual poetry invoke cruising and gay trade as testimony to a process of blurred borders and transitory boundaries. Collectively, these books manifest a new image of communication: objects—whether people, books, Fine China (Ho Tam), or in the case of So Takahashi’s Transmissions, faxed images—going back and forth from one side to another. Just remember to bring a Passport (Zhang Yu)."

The Yellow Pag es
Ho Tam
Toronto, Canada: Ho Tam. 1993

The Yellow Pages looks at the relationship between imagery and text in the context of the Asian experience within North America and beyond. In a playful and satirical manner, the book roams through iconography taken from popular American cinema and tv, international media, and "Chinese" menus. Both simplistic and complex. the presentation is ultimately a forceful rejoinder to prevalent prejudices and stereotypes, addressing as well the complicit role subjected races or cultures play in continuing those stereotypes. Ho Tam has also made a video version of The Yellow Pages, 1996.

Tsang Kin-wah : Interior
Tsang Kin-wah
Hong Kong, China: Tsang Kin-wah. 2003

Interior takes the room sized installation of patterned text that Tsang Kin-wah created at the Camberwell College of Arts London Institute and turns it into a hand held reading experience. Taking inspiration from the floral wallpaper patterns of William Morris, Tsang Kin-wah covered an entire room in hand silk-screened swirling, intricately laid out black and white text. The book zooms in on portions of the pattern, revealing it to be made up entirely of strings of obscenities. Shots of the artist at work and of the finished installation are interspersed throughout the book and are accompanied by an essay from the artist entitled "Image Text and Foul Language."

Fine China
Ho Tam
New York, NY: H. Tam. 1998

In a consideration of the complex ideology of popular representations of China, Tam has redesigned the traditional blue and white chinaware that became one of China's most popular exports to the West during the rise of modern global trade. Images of plates, vases, and bowls integrate scenes of presidential handshakes, colonial land reclamation announcements, cartoon movie stars, and other icons associated with Chinese culture into the familiar patterns. Printed on a folded-down blueprint.

Untitled 1998 (On the road with Jiew Jeaw Jieb Sri and Moo)
Rirkrit Tiravanija
Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art. 1999

After Kerouac, and in the style of a "typical American family vacation," Tiravanija and five Thai students from Chiang Mai University took to the road in a vintage motor home for a month-long drive from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Continuing his investigation into the cultural dialogues between the East and the West, Tiravanija conceived this trip for his 1998 project at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This publication was created to give the background for preparations made for the trip, comprised of three passport-styled booklets showing photographs, maps, and texts, and housing a CD-ROM of the website that tracked the travelers’ daily progress. The CD contains biographies of the students and Tiravanija, a journal, and includes video clips taken along the way.

link

Jambalaya 觀眾點唱 (1958)

2009-10-30T09:22:00.003-04:00

Cheng Kwan-min (1917-1995) was a Hong Kong actor and also did Cantonese cover versions of American songs.

The Killing of a Chinese Cookie

2009-10-11T12:47:00.002-04:00

Just came across this off angryasianman, Derek Shimoda's documentary "The Killing of a Chinese Cookie" which looks at the origins of a staple of the chop suey house experience.

More info: website
You can view it at SnagFilms, or buy the DVD from Amazon.com

via angryasianman

Tchang Tchou-ing avec Pierre Lapointe

2009-10-10T06:53:00.006-04:00

You can see part of my installation, "Tchang Tchou Karaoke Lounge" in the background (the neon sign in the window of the MACM)!!

For a better quality version: Mange ta ville

Sugar Sammy- Show Raisonnable

2009-10-09T15:38:00.002-04:00

I had seen Sugar Sammy a few years ago at a Club Soda gig with my friend Angelica LeMinh, and thought and still think he's hilarious in French.

Chongqing Residency- Day 30, September 1

2009-09-06T01:47:00.002-04:00

I think we were too excited on leaving for Hong Kong, that we woke up super early (5:30am), but managed to get some beautiful sunrise photos and videos. We killed time by Skyping all morning. Honestly, when we got into Hong Kong, I felt simultaneously like being released from prison and like a country bumpkin in the city for the first time. Would I repeat this experience again? I'm not sure. I am happy with the work I produced during the residency, that my Mandarin improved tremendously, and that I met some really nice artists the past few days. I believe though that there is much to improve and change for 501 Artspace/Contemporary Art Center's residency program to be successful and truly beneficial for all parties involved.

Chongqing Residency- Day 29, August 31

2009-09-06T01:47:00.001-04:00

We made another trip out of Huangjueping, this time to Jiefangbei. More shopping. When we got back to the studio, we Skyped with my dad and my aunt Cindie who was in Montreal for the week. I hung out with Huang Lin, Xiao Hu, and Shen Hua in the afternoon at the 108 building, chatting and Internet-surfing.

Chongqing Residency- Day 28, August 30

2009-09-06T01:46:00.000-04:00

Feeling much more relaxed, my mom and I decided to have a nice outing to Yangjiaping in the morning, for (surprise!) congee breakfast at KFC, then some shopping. We hit up Yishion for tee-shirts for my aunt, and picked up several cotton dresses, and Peking-style embroidered shoes. In the afternoon, a local musician Li Bo came by for a chat and to perform several songs he wrote about Chongqing life. It was too bad that YanYan didn't arrange the meeting earlier in my residency, as it would have been helpful for one of my projects.

Chongqing Residency- Day 27, August 29

2009-09-06T01:28:00.003-04:00

I met up with Huang Lin, Shen Hua, and Hu Pinchun (Xiao Hu) at the bookstore in the afternoon to have a chat, lunch at Orange Colored Kitchen, and visiting the 102 Warehouse studios. It was great to finally make friends here- but a pity that we didn't meet sooner, as they were all in Chongqing the past month. My mom and I had dinner with Xiao Hu, his girlfriend Xiao Yeen Jee (my phonetic spelling), and Li Cui, who had gone to my talk as well.

Huang Lin phoned us later to meet up and to introduce us to Organhaus' new resident artist from Germany, Neringa Naujokaite, as well as a few more artists at the bookstore. The bookstore is owned by Liu Jinghuo, a sculpture professor at the Sichuan Fine Art Institute, who generously lets students and local artists peruse books, drink tea, enjoy A/C, and eat snacks.

Chongqing Residency- Day 26, August 28

2009-09-05T11:21:00.002-04:00

We finally finished the cut-out in the morning, yeah! Totally on time before the artist talk, at which I quite a number of young artists. (You can see Xiao Hu, Xiao Yeen Jee (my spelling), Huang Lin in the left image, and Wan Jia Ming, Wang-jun, Mao Yan Yang, Li Cui, YanYan, Shen Hua, Pang Xuen in the right image).

Chongqing Residency- Day 25, August 27

2009-09-05T11:19:00.001-04:00

I met with Yang Shu, a friend of Gu Xiong, who showed me around Organhaus' gallery, his studio and the other artists in his building, and the Organhaus office. It was very cool to ride in a red, convertible, sports car (BMW). I enjoyed looking at the work (mostly painting) of the young artists in his building, and especially Yang Shu's own paintings.

I was worried that I'd be late in catching my mom's friend's phone call, letting us know he was on his way to pick us up for dinner at The Soup Dragon in Yangjiaping. It was the nicest meal we've had all month, and we got to meet his family and his friends who were all university professors. Afterwards, they took us to view Chongqing's skyline at night.

Chongqing Residency- Day 24, August 26

2009-09-05T11:16:00.001-04:00

Working on the last metre of the cut-out, very excited to finish! We went into Yangjiaping with Wang-jun, Yoyo, YanYan, and Ting-ting for dinner at a Western-inspired restaurant where bats, butterflies, and birds flew in and out. This was the only restaurant where the staff was unwilling to be interviewed- bummer! There was a dancing class taking place in a nearby square. Wang-jun and I kept taking photos and videos, to the extent where the dancing instructor was suspicious and kept asking if we were reporters.

Chongqing Residency- Day 23, August 25

2009-09-05T11:15:00.002-04:00

Gao Xiang leaves today for Fujian- good luck! Woke up really early to have congee at KFC in Yangjiaping, then we took the light rail into Jiefangbei to look for DVDs and CDs of Sichuan opera, Shadow Puppet theatre, Mongolian folk musicians such as Teng'er and Dedema. I also picked up a film, "Erma's Wedding" and some Red Cinema Classic movie for John. Then off to shoe market to get my dad his requested Army shoes, which stank so much of cheap rubber. Got back to the apartment to have a snooze, then to the studio where I was pretty much useless, since it was a hot one (40+Celsius)!

Chongqing Residency- Day 22, August 24

2009-09-05T11:14:00.000-04:00

Gao Xiang's friend, Wan Jia Ming, who is a Peking opera enthusiast, took time out of his busy schedule to stop by the studio and to perform a selection for us, and even taught me a few lines. Am quite looking forward to reviewing the video footage. Afterwards, we went back to the Mao/Revolution-themed restaurant for dinner!

Chongqing Residency- Day 21, August 23

2009-09-05T11:13:00.002-04:00

More rest, medication, water, noodles for lunch and Chongqing congee prepared by Yan Yan's housekeeper.

Chongqing Residency- Day 20, August 22

2009-09-05T11:13:00.001-04:00

Slept all morning, all day, all night. Also had to cancel getting my books printed, as the actual cost was six times the quoted price.

Chongqing Residency- Day 19, August 21

2009-09-05T10:55:00.001-04:00

Was feeling horrible in the morning, as I hadn't slept all night, my throat felt infected and my eyes were burning which I had thought was due to lack of sleep. Snoozed on the couch in the studio, almost the whole day, then decided it was useless being there (except to be cooled by the fan and A/C), and went back to the apartment. After a few hours of non-regenerative sleep, called YanYan to say that my fever was back and needed to go to the hospital. It was good that quite a few people came with, translated, and navigated around the Western-style hospital. By the time I got discharged five hours later, just before midnight, I had heated up several thermometres with my armpits, pricked and shot in the hands and bum (a couple of times, the nurses missed), put on a drip, and sent home with 6 different types of meds, H1N1 ruled out.

Chongqing Residency- Day 18, August 20

2009-09-05T10:36:00.003-04:00

Still feeling feverish and flu-ish. I finished editing my images for my colouring books, and handed a copy to Gao Xiang to get printed.

Chongqing Residency- Day 17, August 19

2009-09-05T10:36:00.001-04:00

Nothing new- just being sick...

Chongqing Residency- Day 16, August 18

2009-09-05T10:33:00.001-04:00

Gao Xiang (left), Tree (middle), me (right)

Tree, a friend of Gao Xiang, is in a punk band, and dropped by the studio to discuss the possibility of getting him to do a cover version of Patrick Bruel's "Qui a le droit".

Chongqing Residency- Day 15, August 17

2009-09-05T10:32:00.000-04:00

First signs of the flu- alert!

Having congee (pork slices with thousand-year-old-egg) at KFC in Jiefangbei, for breakfast. After which we successfully found the HSBC to exchange currency. The service there was impeccable, with the receptionist pouring tea for us while we waited on comfy couches watching HDTV on a plasma screen, and offering plenty of sweets. We then shopped a bit in the various malls before heading back to Huangjueping and the studio.

Chongqing Residency- Day 14, August 16

2009-09-05T10:31:00.001-04:00

An outing to Shibati- 18 Staircases and the Teahouse where there used to be Sichuan opera performances. I was recording our descent through the area and only realized when we reached the bottom that my camera was on pause. Gao Xiang scaled the stairs with me and I got to re-record our second descent.

We went to Nanping for dinner and to interview this young noodle-pulling chef and his assistant.

Chongqing Residency- Day 13, August 15

2009-09-05T10:28:00.001-04:00

Worked on the fabric cut-out some more as well as the colouring book images.

Chongqing Residency- Day 12, August 14

2009-09-05T10:22:00.001-04:00

Fish Hot Pot! And the grand opening of a fast food joint (not pictured)

Left: The centre pot contained fish soup for my mom and I, while the outer ring we reserved for the locals who can take hot!hot!hot! Right: Boss Lady was very chatty and showed me around the dining areas and kitchen. Seated behind her are her cousin and two chefs. Among the topics that came up during our conversation (a mix of Chonqging, Mandarin, and Cantonese dialects) was the idea of fate/destiny.

Chongqing Residency- Day 11, August 13

2009-09-05T10:20:00.003-04:00

Gao Xiang took us on a city day trip so that I could get some footage for my new karaoke videos. We took the cable car ride, snacked around the food street in Jiefangbei, visited Dai Tong Plaza (People's Square) where large groups of young and old people were doing tai chi, kung fu, dancing, playing badminton, skateboarding, etc., and ended our night by taking a river cruise down both the Jialing and Yangtze Rivers.

Chongqing Residency- Day 10, August 12

2009-09-05T10:20:00.001-04:00

Gao Xiang took us to Ciqikou, also known as Chongqing Old Town or porcelain village, as he heard that there would be musical performances. Possibly Sichuan opera. It turned out to be an ensemble which played Cantonese tunes upon request. It was wonderful to listen to the music while sipping Dragon's Well tea, and to interview some of the musicians afterwards.

At the entrance of the village was a food vendor who created animals out of hot molasses, and as we walked past various stores selling wood combs, snacks, tea, trinkets, there was also an Indian Roti stand.

Chongqing Residency- Day 9, August 11

2009-09-05T10:18:00.002-04:00

Mao Yan Yang suggested an old-style restaurant, located in Yangjiaping, for dinner. Old-style referring to the elegant decor. I managed to interview the 23-year old (!) manager.

Chongqing Residency- Day 8, August 10

2009-09-05T10:18:00.001-04:00

Gao Xiang took us into Jiefangbei in the evening where we had dinner at a food court on Food Street.

Chongqing Residency- Day 7, August 9

2009-09-05T10:16:00.000-04:00

Chongqing Residency- Day 6, August 8

2009-09-05T10:15:00.001-04:00

When we got to the studio in the morning, it was a different atmosphere. There was a fan, the A/C was on, and we were told that the lights in our living room would be repaired. I could not believe that I had to send an email to CAC in Manchester for things to change in Chongqing.

In the evening, YanYan and Mao Yan Yang (who had done a residency with Chinese Arts Centre earlier this year) took us to a Mao/Revolution-themed restaurant. After dinner, there was a song and dance performance, and I was able to interview one of the managers for my research on Chinese restaurants.

Chongqing Residency- Day 5, August 7

2009-09-05T10:10:00.000-04:00

In the morning, we met with Gao Xiang, a recent MFA graduate from the university, who took us to get fabric for my cut-out project. The first place, some sort of wholesale fabric market, was already closed by the time we got there around 2pm. The next place, also another wholesale market, specialized in vinyl, fake fur, sequined, and man-made materials, was a treasure trove. I ended up buying 16 metres of gold, silver, red, and blue glitter/sequined fabric. It was very fortunate we found Gao Xiang, otherwise I would still be unable to source out materials, and this being the end of my first week!

Chongqing Residency- Day 4, August 6

2009-09-05T10:09:00.000-04:00

The sun finally came out, and my mom and I went into Yangjiaping to look for maps and a Chongqing guidebook, as YanYan had misplaced his. We also found a Walmart. When we got back to the studio, I edited more images for my colouring book project.

Chongqing Residency- Day 3, August 5

2009-09-05T10:08:00.001-04:00

...torrential, non-stop rain....

Chongqing Residency- Day 2, August 4

2009-09-05T10:07:00.001-04:00

...and poured all day, all night....

We went to the studio for the first time- a huge space divided into 3 sections, one for the resident artist. Checked emails and got Great Firewalled when I tried to log into my blog, Facebook, and Youtube accounts. YanYan and I discussed my work plan for my residency.

Chongqing Residency- Day 1, August 3

2009-09-05T10:02:00.001-04:00

Met up with my mom and aunt at the airport in Hong Kong. Had dim sum together before checking in and flying off to Chongqing, where it poured...

La Choy Dragon

2009-07-19T12:21:00.002-04:00

Jim Henson did the voice and Frank Oz the body of the La Choy Dragon. According to the Muppet Wiki: "The La Choy Dragon appeared in TV ads for La Choy from 1965 to 1967. The dragon's full name is Delbert the La Choy Dragon. Though originally built as a full-bodied character to engage with actors in a supermarket setting, a live-hand version was used in later spots with Mert, a meek, bespectacled Muppet spokesman, as his foil."

Prince Achmed

2009-07-03T10:10:00.012-04:00

Lotte Reiniger's 1926 "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed) is the oldest surviving animation feature film which used her exquisite silhouette and cut-out skills. Along with a group of animators including Carl Koch, her future husband and working partner, she began producing short stop action films in 1919 and followed up with this masterpiece. Reiniger's version of The Arabian Nights was created using back-lit paper cut-outs, arranged in different layers for a three-dimensional look.

Some of her cut-out figures consisted of up to 50 pieces held together with thin wire. Inspired by Eastern shadow puppetry, her silhouettes have extraordinary delicacy and subtlety. She worked with animator Bertold Bartosch and background artist Walter Ruttman for three years on the film. The paper cutouts were jointed using wires and delicately arranged on top of a lightbox, where it was photographed frame by frame by Carl Koch.

Reiniger and her husband later settled in Britain where she produced films based on fables and fairy stories for her own company, Primrose Films. She continued working into her 70s, making a film for the National Film Board of Canada in 1975.

You can purchase the DVD from Amazon or BFI.

Other films of interest to me include:

1916- Die schöne Prinzessin von China (The Beautiful Chinese Princess)
Live-action silhouette film, actors only seen as shadows on screen, directed by Rochus Gliese. LR does costumes, sets, special effects, etc.

1926- Der scheintote Chinese (The Seemingly-Dead Chinaman)

Originally a 13-minute episode in Prince Achmed, cut by the German censor, as well as French and German distributors in the interest of keeping the film within the attention span of children. Released as a short in 1928.

Reiniger made another feature film, Dr. Dolittle and his Animals (1928) with music composed by Kurt Weill and Paul Hindemith.

Here is a clip of a documentary on Reiniger:

Found via, and more on Reiniger and Prince Achmed at ASIF

Who'll Chop Your Suey?

2009-07-02T18:03:00.008-04:00

Margaret Johnson was classic blues singer from the 1920s who started off as a vaudeville performer. She combined country blues singing with New Orleans jazz, and worked with musicians such as Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, and Clarence Williams. One of her recordings include "Who'll Chop Your Suey (When I'm Gone)."

Link to track on last.fm

Silhouette Rugs

2009-05-27T15:25:00.008-04:00

Catherine Martin, Academy-winning production and costume designer, presents her new line of rugs and wallpaper which remind me very much of Victorian silhouettes and paper-cutouts. Also of my vinyl floor cut-out.

found via: evie-s.com

What does he choose? The East or the West?

2009-05-11T05:12:00.004-04:00

Bruce Lee in his only television interview with Pierre Berton in 1971.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

That's my grandson!

2009-05-01T22:24:00.003-04:00

This is one of my favourite commercials ever, as it features a feel-good Chinese Canadian father-son hockey story.

Another Stanley Cup Promo

2009-05-01T22:21:00.000-04:00

Stanley Cup Commercial

2009-05-01T22:16:00.000-04:00

The Fabulous Echoes- It Won't Be Long (1965)

2009-02-08T20:44:00.011-05:00

I came across this group a few years ago, and loved the infectious tune and energetic dancing in the video. The Fabulous Echoes were based in Hong Kong in the '60s and took South East Asia by storm. They became international stars when they played Las Vegas and performed with Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sammy Davis Jr. The group changed their name to 'Society of Seven' in 1969 and has been based in Waikiki, Hawaii since.

YouTube video

Lost Horizon, or the search for Shangri-la

2009-02-03T18:14:00.004-05:00

According to IMDB, bleached corn flakes were used for the blizzard sequences in Frank Capra's 1937 film, Lost Horizon.

Mirrors, reflections, and Welles

2009-01-31T09:41:00.006-05:00

Orson Welles' "Lady from Shanghai" (1948) features himself as Michael O'Hara (also known as Black Irish) and then-wife, Rita Hayworth, Elsa Bannister, as the mysterious young wife of tough lawyer, Arthur Bannister. The Bannisters hire Michael to captain their yacht, traveling down the coast from New York, through the canal, and up to San Francisco. Later on, Michael is charged with the murder of Bannister's law partner, Grisby. He manages an escape from the courtroom, walking through Chinatown and entering a Chinese theatre where he tries to blend in with the audience. Fantas-tic sequence in the Crazy House where in the final showdown, guns go off and mirrors shatter, leading to copycat scenes in later movies, such as Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" (1973). Errol Flynn was uncredited as the man in the background outside the cantina. Wayne Wang's "Eat a Bowl of Tea" (1989) has a short clip from Welles' movie.

Deck the halls...

2009-01-06T12:56:00.004-05:00

One of the perennial winter holiday movies, "A Christmas Story" (1983) features a nine-year old Ralphie who hopes to receive a BB gun from Santa. One of the last scenes takes place at the Chop Suey Palace where a team of Chinese waiters attempt to sing "Deck the halls..." while Ralphie's family are having Christmas dinner.

Michael Lin

2008-07-26T23:08:00.005-04:00

Well-known for his large-scale transformations of architectural spaces, Michael Lin's painted walls and floors are inspired by traditional floral motifs in Taiwanese textiles. Here is Le Meridien's short interview with Lin, which can also be viewed on their website.

Uwechue Emmanuel

2008-04-11T00:12:00.004-04:00

Also known as Hao Ge (郝歌), a popular singer in China, originally from Liberia. Sing Mando-pop as well as Chinese folk songs, his album entitled 'R&B' (Red & Black). Prior to entering singing contest, he was an astro-physicist.

Chop your own canoe

2008-04-11T00:08:00.002-04:00

"A former city employee in the Fukushima prefecture town of Koriyama has built a 4-meter (13-ft) long canoe from thousands of used disposable chopsticks recovered from the city hall cafeteria. Bothered that perfectly good wood was going to waste after a single use, Shuhei Ogawara — whose job at city hall involved working with the local forestry industry — spent the last two years of his career collecting used chopsticks from the cafeteria. An experienced canoe builder, Ogawara spent over 3 months gluing 7,382 chopsticks together into strips to form the canoe shell, to which he added a polyester resin coat. The canoe weighs about 30 kilograms (66 lbs), which is a bit heavier than an ordinary cedar canoe, but Ogawara is confident it will float. A launching ceremony is planned for May at nearby Lake Inawashiro."

[Source: Asahi] via http://www.pinktentacle.com

'My Dream'

2008-04-05T19:44:00.003-04:00

Need to find out more info on the singer- according to the YouTube clip, he's blind.

Inner Mongolian folk song, 'Heaven'- Teng'er is the original singer.

Music videos

2008-03-14T15:38:00.004-04:00

Found this at The Illustration and Cartooning Blog:

"Animator Roger Wieland created this music video for the band Trenchcoat using over 10 000 cut-out figures."

And the Québec duo, Tricot Machine's new video, "Les peaux de lièvres," directed by Simon Laganière, and using over 700 knitted pieced created by Lysanne Latulippe of Majolie.

Samurai Jack Meets Wong Fei Hong

2008-01-14T03:21:00.003-05:00

You scratch, I scratch...

2008-01-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

Japanese DJs Sara and Ryusei who were 8 and 5 at the time these videos were made.

Can we help you?

2007-08-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

Last April, the Chinese government announced it would give $600m to Cambodia with no strings attached. Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, praised China, "...All Cambodians ask...“is for an equal relationship with its partners...China is a very big country...If 1.3 billion Chinese urinated all at once, they would cause a great flood..."

The Economist article

M. Ward, "Chinese Translation"

2007-08-11T21:48:00.000-04:00

Zhang Chongren & Herge

2007-08-11T21:36:00.000-04:00

Zhang Chongren (张充仁) & Hergé met when Zhang was an art student in Brussels. Upon his return to Shanghai in 1936, Zhang held exhibitions and established the Chongren Studio to teach art. They lost contact during the invasion of China by Japan and it would be more than four decades before the two friends would meet again. Zhang returned to Europe for a reunion with Hergé in 1981 upon invitation of the French government.

Tintin & Le Lotus bleu

2007-08-10T02:05:00.000-04:00

L'Ombre jaune got me thinking about Tintin, our Belgian reporter/traveller boy hero, and his adventures in China. Previous to "Le Lotus bleu," which was considered to be his first masterpiece, Hergé had never done any extensive research for the previous Tintin books. In 1934, he was introduced to Zhang Chongren (张充仁), a Chinese student at the University of Leuven, by Father Gosset who felt Hergé needed to be sensitive about what he wrote about China. The two quickly became friends and Hergé learnt about Chinese history, culture, and art. "The Blue Lotus" was quite accurate in depciting the look and feel of China in the 1930s, and dealt with political issues, Japanese imperialism, Western colonialism, and corruption. Zhang would get a part in the album as Tchang, the young Chinese orphan boy, who becomes Tintin's first friend. In the book, Tintin explains to Tchang that his view of the 'white devils' is based on prejudice, but when he recites a few Western stereotypes of the Chinese, Tchang laughs it off as crazy.

L'Ombre jaune

2007-08-10T00:46:00.000-04:00

A mysterious criminal who is known in the city as Monsieur Ming. Do we only ever see his shadow? Will he fight in the light? An unpleasant character, l'Ombre jaune is extremely intelligent and will use all his abilities to restore the ancient Asian Empire. He has created many clones of himself to succeed him, in the event of a violent death.

I heard about this Fu Manchu-type character today from someone who grew up reading the Bob Morane adventure books by Henri Vernes in the '60s & '70s. I'm curious and hopeful that the Grande Bibliothèque will have copies.