Kategorie: Allgemein

Trying to find a chunking mansion express character ending up in Felix bar on the rooftop of Peninsula. Taking night shots

STANDING LIKE A POST

Performance on Friday 20/11/2016 in front of Connecting space, North point, HK

 

 

 

 

 

Outdoor Video Installation

Saturday 21/11/2015, Kai Tak Baptist University Campus

 

 

BLOOM ROOM-BY AnaBruceCimon

Hong Kong is probably the worst place for inter- or multicultural romanticism. Whoever believes that cultures, for instance Western and Far Eastern ones, are necessarily distinct entities will be disappointed here. HK rather suggests that singularity and similarity might as well be the two sides of the same coin. Exoticizing and othering tendencies have a hard time in HK, notwithstanding the persistence of difference. Especially HK island is a genuine transcultural place. The „inter“ in interculturality presupposes that there are still at least two distinct cultures and a void between them. The prefix „trans“ refers to „beyond“ and „through“, hence „transcultural“ suggests that we can go beyond given understandings of culture, that we can move through cultures.

Colonial history, globalization, financial capitalism, and tourism have turned HK, using Homi Bhabha’s term, into a „third space“ beyond oppositional pairs such as „familiar and exotic“, „known and unknown“, „new and old“. What Kim Gordon writes bout HK in her autobiography Girld in a Band certainly still holds true: „Hong Kong was like nothing I had ever experienced before. […] I felt so overwhelmed by Hong Kong’s heat, chaos, clamor, and odors that I was convinced I would never—never—survive there a year.“ However, this experience is mitigated in manifold ways. At the airport, you get your Octopus Card which allows for fast and smooth payment anywhere in the city. You don’t get any stares in the streets as a white guy, you’re not being harassed. You float through the city easily via MTR. You always find someone who speaks English, globalization’s lingua franca. You discover some strange, but much more often strangely unstrange things: Ovaltine is one of them. (image 1) Or take this muscle car in Lockhart Road – a Ferrari just like any other Ferrari. With the slight difference that it seems to be a vegetarian or a Muslim one. (image 2). And how about this fountain on Statue Square? (image 3) It’s definitely a fountain, but the usual flow of water is inversed

If transculturality means – and I subscribe to this – that „the differences no longer come about through a juxtaposition of clearly delineated cultures …, but result between transcultural networks, which have some things in common while differing in others, showing overlaps and distinctions at the same time“ (Wolfgang Welsch), then HK is indeed the genius loci for our program „Transcultural Collaboration“. HK is not about a (friendly) „clash of civilizations“ (Samuel P. Huntington). Instead, it has developed into a hybrid in the sense of Nikos Papastergiadis – „not confined to a cataloguing of difference. […] Hybridity is both the assemblage that occurs whenever two ore more elements meet, and the initiation of a process of change.“ Papastergiadi’s definition of hybridity as an „energy field of different forces“ is at the same time a suitable definition of HK.

That said, in my lectures in the Connecting Space during my two-week stay, I stressed that we need to transcend the narrative „Asia meets Europe“ and that we should leave behind the focus on ethnicity which has sneaked into the contemporary biennalized art system „through an unspoken policy of integrated casting“ (Kobena Mercer). Instead of focusing on cataloguing and trying to overcome alleged or factual cultural differences, we might also explore transcultural aspects in that which appears to be monocultural.

For instance Christianity. The Catholic church is inherently transcultural since, in the course of its development, it has incorporated a broad range of heterogeneous elements. If you compare Jesus Christ, a jobless, long-haired Hippie savior, with former Pope Benedict, a spooky head of state wearing Prada shoes, you get what I mean. (image 4)

Or think of Motörhead. (image 5) At first glance, this is the monocultural band per se. In fact, however, it is a fascinating hybrid of the interconnected but highly different (sub)cultures of blues, rock’n’roll, punk rock and heavy metal. Learning from HK means becoming aware that even while listening to „Ace of Spades“, one embarks on a journey across an archipelago of singularity and similarity, interconnectedness and difference. Thus, transculturality precedes and transcends the revival of ethnicity in globalization.

---

Jörg Scheller, art historian and head of BA Photography, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland was lecture guest at the Lecture Series on Transculturality.

Read more about his lecture Cosmopolitan Rhapsody – Transcultural Tendencies in the Music Video Genre here

 

exploited_by AnaBruceCimon

Made by AnaBruceCimon.

Mission Statement

Starring: Sergeant Dick Ta Tour

Private  Ban Ana

Private Finix

Private Lee Liu

the Sergeant only shouts, never speaks or lowers his voice

the three Privates have no real tension in their bodies, they only wake up/fight this when they speak,

when the sergeant is on they seem bored or kind of numb

the scene has to take place in Hong Kong or Zürich,

otherwise the transcultural aspect could be endangered

also if the Sergeants parents could be ethnically mixed the gods would be pleased

Sergeant Dick Ta Tour (S): Company! State your name, nationality and major discipline.

Be aware that a possible visitor knows nothing about your process, so try to express yourself audience friendly and clearly. You maggots got me?

Ban Ana(B), Finix(F), Lee Liu(L): Sir, yes Sir!

B: Ana “Banana” Negrea. Romanian. Stage Design.

L: Xiaobin “Lee” Liu. Chinese. Fine Arts in Creative Media.

F: Simon “Finix” Dietersdorfer. Austrian. Composition for Film, Theatre and Media.

S: Bullshit! I can’t hear you. All of you are Artists.

(salutes to the sky) No boarder, no Nation – Trancultural Collaboration!

(back to the company) Apply your working method you crumbs, now!

L(very slowly): Well…sir, at first we want to try different methods of research and work. We define ‚em together on monday and develop ‚em throughout the week.

Could be a theatre scene…like this. Just messin‘ around. Food for thought, yeah. Still we want to be able to change ‚em, stay flexible you know what I am sayin‘.  Since are a group of people with very “special” needs and loads of ideas.

We’re very sensitive, also…

F(highly nervous and stressed): SiryesSiryesyesyesSIR! I need to relaaaaaax. (pauses, heavily breathing, then suddenly starts singing) I want to work.Work.Work.

Work until something comes up.

B(laughs): I am stressed, but also happy. When the others are happy I am relaxed, happy. I mean stressed. Yes. No.

S: Bullshit! I can’t hear you!

Private Liu!!! I heard you are missing two days a week, because of other “courses” you have to attend.So are you gonna lay down and cry like a little baby or how the hell are you gonna deal with this situation?

L(even slower): Easy…Sir.

(Pause)

B(shifts fast between desperate and very motivated): I.  Them. We. We figured this one out, Sir.

Finix and me will also work individually on these two cursed days.

We only bring in our ideas when all of us are united.  Then we select the best of them. Together. (laughs) Like this everyone is up to date at the same time(fast) and we have dropbox.

F(speaks without a pause): BUT!Butbutbutbutbutbutbutbuuuuuuuuuut:

we don’t understand this as a free pass to relax, right? I mean of course we wanna relax. And we will, I promise. We can also relax while working, I swear. Actually I am relaxed.

Whoa, did someone turn off the air condition, I am really hot.

L: Plus….Sir. Its not true, that I miss two whole days (long pause, he looks sequential at everyones face). For the second one we invented the idea of (raises his eyebrows) “mandatory coffee”. From 10h to 12h we will make a plaaan. An Art Plan. Like Planned Art. Ouh yeah.

F(nearly hysterical): And SirohSirohSir we want to finish our work one week before the due date. Yes I am serious one week before the final presentation. Actually that wasn’t my idea, but I am okay with it. I really am. One hundred percent.

S: Bullshit! I can’t hear you! What’s your Topic? Frame a key question! Don’t sleep on this. 

Go!Go! Go!

L(quick): Bananas! Eggplants! Bananiaran Eggplants.

F: We’re focusing on Humor, Sir!

S: Thats Bullshit!

F: Exactly, Sir.

S: Bullshit, I can’t hear you.

F: That’s right, sir(Pause) we’re focusing on-

S: -Bullshit-

F: Correct!

S: Bullshit, speak up!

F:(with a higher voice): Precisely, sir; Bullshit-

S(exploding): -WHAT?

F(increasing volume and speed): Humor, Nonsens, Absurdity, Humbug, Rubbish, Poppycock, Piffle, FlimFlam, FiddleFaddle, Malarkey, Flapdoodle, Bushwa, Tomfoolery, Bosh, Folderol.

during this listing the sergeant dies of an heart attack & so he gets reanimated by the three privates,but the scene goes on without any comment about it

S: I thought your work was gonna be about „Plants. Plants. Plants. Plants. Plants. Plants. Plants. and Personalities and Identities“.

B: Well, that was just some sort of „Topical Island“.

S:(on his knees) NOOOOOOOOOOOO! I thought you had framed your questions, narrowed down your topic. (starts to cry, still shouting).

God, how could I be so wrong. I truly believed in you. Please don’t let me down.

L: Relax!

F: I AM RELAXED!

L: Talkin‘ to the „Sergeant“ over here. We never left this. Still workin‘ on it. But we also got:

(Pause, then raised eyebrows) Empathy.

B: When and why do we start to feel empathy for something?

F: Like a plant!

L: How can we be connected to something that is not „alive“ in the first place?

F : Like a plant!

B: What defines something as „alive“? Consciousness? How do we know something is aware?

F: Like a plant!

L: Furthermore, when and why do emotions like Sadness, Happiness, Aggression and Fear kick in?

F: Plant!

B: How can we suggest, provoke and at the same time direct them? Compose them. Musically,visually.

F: P-

S(has tears in his eyes, salutes): Those(swallows) are framed questions! Sweet sweet narowed down questions. (reawakens) Enough of this Bullshit, you airheads!

Tell me straight: like the devil would knock on your mommas bedpost. Where the heck do I find Transculturality in this mess you callin‘ a group?

L(again very slow): Everywhere.(pause) I mean… Sir. Open your eyes. What do you see?

An Austrian, a Romanian and a Chinese. Doing an „Art“ project in Hong Kong. How can this not be transculturall? I think even if we tried not be transcultural we’d still end up exchanging intercontinental juices, in an intellectual way if you know what i am sayin‘.

S: Bullshit raised to the second power! I can’t hear you!

(counts in for singing)

Cultural Collaboration

2x

Feels sometimes like constipation

2x

But you just need to let it flow

2x

Narrow down the way to go

2x

And always, always keep in mind

2x

Your topic has to be defined

2x

Chorus:

stressed, relaxed, organised,

we are

3x

We are

Artists

S: Alright now! Step off!

 

Overwhelming.

Driven by the city’s setup for economy and money.

Time to look up.

Join the Net.

_

The Net[t] proposes an immersive experiment on our reflections about the topic of Human Connections.

_

by Wu Jiaru, Nicolas Müller, Li Shang-Chiao, Liu Siyuan, Isabelle Sprenger and Larissa Holaschke

_

Monologues

_

Zahlreiche schlaflose Nächte, in der in der Bar unten am Eck immer etwas los war. Von meinem Bett direkt am Fenster habe ich nach anderen Schlaflosen Ausschau gehalten. Ich habe in ihre Wohnungen gespäht, und mir vorgestellt, was sie denn machen. Wohnen Asiaten in Neonlicht? Und Expats wechseln die Glühbirnen aus zu warmem Licht?

Das Blinken der grellen Leuchtreklame. Ich starre lange in die Lichter, gefangen in meinen 8m2 inklusive Bad.

Die Stunden vergehen während ich in die Häuserschluchten schaue. Die Sonne geht auf. Der gleiche Raum, der gleiche Ablauf.

Ich habe meinen Nachbar nie zu Gesicht bekommen. Höre wie er, oder sie, jeden morgen um 8:30 die Zimmertüre hinter sich zu zieht, dann am frühen Abend kurz heim kommt, und gegen 23:30 die Türe aufschliesst und danach die Dusche aufdreht.

Am Anfang war ich noch neugierig. Jetzt, hoffe ich der Person nicht mehr zu begegnen. Ist das nicht komisch.

Im Treppenhaus grüsst man sich nicht, ein „Hallo“ ist unangebracht. Am Eingang zur Metro jedoch werde ich begrüsst: „No metallic Balloons“.

by Larissa Holaschke

_

Lecturer by Ouyang-Yu

Author, Melbourne/Shanghai

‚Migration for Good, for an Eternal Étranger‘, a topic Ouyang Yu will be talking about in which he’ll describe his experience as an Australian citizen living and teaching in China where he was born, how his writings are censored in both China and Australia, for the similar reasons of unmarketability, and how he lives as a poet and novelist writing in two languages in two countries, with English unpublishable in China and Chinese unpublishable in Australia, or only to a very limited degree.
Ouyang Yu, born in Huangzhou, Hubei, in the People’s Republic of China, completed an MA in English and Australian Literature in Shanghai and worked as an interpreter, translator and lecturer in China. He came to Australia in 1991 to complete a PhD at La Trobe University, Melbourne, on the representation of the Chinese in Australian fiction (awarded 1995). He writes in both English and Chinese. Best known for his poetry, he has also written fiction and criticism in both languages, and has translated over a dozen major Australian literary texts into Chinese.

Ouyang’s best-known works in English are his poetry collections Moon Over Melbourne and Other Poems (1995, 2nd revised edn 2005), Songs of the Last Chinese Poet (1997, short-listed for the 1999 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards) and Two Hearts, Two Tongues and Rain-Coloured Eyes (2002). His first novel, The Eastern Slope Chronicle, was published in 2002. He is the founding editor of Otherland, the first (and only) bilingual journal of Chinese-Australian writing. He has won a number of major grants for fiction, non-fiction, poetry and translation.

---

Thursday, November 12 – 7pm
Connecting Space Hong Kong

Workshop by Brandon Farnsworth, Music Curator

Through a mix of presentations and performances, the Connecting Sound Workshop offered a space for artists working in various performing arts fields to come together in a relaxed atmosphere and share practices, ideas, and experiences. It offered a space that promoted unexpected encounters while placing no emphasis on finished products, preferring rather to spill into the eternal flow of practice.

Several moments during the workshop stood out because of their surprising but somehow also inevitable nature. These intuitive moments were in retrospect inexorable, though could never have been premeditated. It was precisely this nature that lent them their significance, and which hopefully could inflect positive change in the practices of the participants.