Regine October 24, 2007 ars electronica, art from china, events

Meanwhile in Shanghai….

This month Shanghai is hosting a huge eArts (read digital arts) Festival. The organizers teamed up with Fabrica, the Centre Pompidou, MIT, Ars Electronica and ZKM.

Andy Cameron, director of Fabrica Interactive, just informed me that Fabrica is keeping a video diary of the event.

Click To Play

There’s already some good content such as an interview of Andy with Gerfried Stocker of ars electronica about the background to the Shanghai interest in media arts, the meeting of communism culture with Creative Commons, some trends in digital arts in China, etc. There’s also a peak inside the ars electronica pavilion which i recommend if you haven’t been to ars this year, they seem to have selected (mostly) the pieces i didn’t like and won’t therefore blog about.

The festival runs until November 11th.

Related entries: Reports from Fabrica – Gli Occhi Aperti in Milan.

6Comments

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1

vincent on October 25, 2007 at 11:29 am

j’aime beaucoup l’expression ‘communism culture’…
quand on connaît la censure que le gouvernement chinois impose online. Sans parler la magnifique démocratie que la Chine met en place, à travers un système ultra libéral.
Je vois que la communauté new média bla bla bla à travers Ars Electronica ou V2 poursuit la voie tracée par Google ou Yahoo en son temps, c’est-à-dire jouer à fond dans le politiquement correct et surtout s’introduire doucement mais surement leur influence en Chine.
C’est attristant. Voire pathétique.
Il n’y a pas deux manières de faire du culturel en Chine. C’est où la dénoncer ou promouvoir les artistes chinois non occidentalisés à s’exprimer au delà de la masse de plomb étatique.
Et bon dieu avec les nouveau média, y’aurait à faire…
enfin ce que j’en dis. moi ça me choque profondément.
Il faudrait que je pense à faire une update du contenu vidéo de sho(u)t pour aller dans le sens de ce sentiment. Pour Elektra, je ferai ça.
baisser son froc tjrs et tjrs même quand on a un look d’étudiant rêvant de la RAF…
la perversion habituelle…
salut à toi Régine. On est rarement d’accord. Mais au moins tu fais bien ton travail et je t’en remercie.
vincent.
2

regine on October 25, 2007 at 11:43 am

dear Vincent, i think that your message would have more strength if you wrote in english but i know as well as you do that it is sometimes hard to be very eloquent when using a foreign language. i was in beijing a few months ago, spoke to many artists who were suffering from the censorship and found out that many of them had found a subtle and smart way to resist without looking like someone who does open resistance (although they did). result was that they were not censored and could still get their message through. i’m not sure we know how to do that very well in the occident.
i haven t seen the exhibition (did you?) so it is hard for me to judge its content and say that v2, ars electronica or who ever else are acting like accomplices of the government or trying to sneak into the country (it certainly didn’t appear as such from the video interview with Gerfried). i feel very uncomfortable to talk about that subject anyway because i am not an expert and have only a limited knowledge of the china subject but i do welcome any event that have chinese artists mix up with european and american ones, it gives everyone a great opportunity to dialogue and devise new ways of expressing themselves, whether against the current government or not.
3

vincent on October 25, 2007 at 12:12 pm

ok.. that’s true .. my english is not fluent enough to express clearly my opinion about this democracy problem in China.
I won’t try to explain each ideas behind this opinion.
I did not visit this exhibition but i know Shangaï. My brother is acutually there and i will ask him to visit the xhibition.
However I have seen the selected pieces by V2 or Ars Electronica. I don’t see any chinese pieces.
Are we talking about in situ installations.
In ‘chinese’ situ ?
I have noticed any chinese versions of the previous installations, as seen in Linz.
I understand your point of view about the artists you have met in China. But i think that could be definitely more interesting for Ars Electronica, to forget their contest, and just invite Chinese Artists in Linz, and let them express all their reaction against what we can call a dictatorship.
Without any subtility then.
China politics are far to be very subtle… if you see what i mean… Very very far.
Anyway…
Subtle… like Tarkovski in Russia, or Shostakovitch with music ?
Ok ok if the chinese state let an artist to produce ‘the Mirror’, i shut my mouth. (a little joke)
As an artist, I won’t never accept an invitation in China. Or Russia. Just never.
Hong Kong is a bit different but finally…
Money money money. Fat money.
Anyway, it gave me a new inspiration.
bye bye.
v
4

regine on October 25, 2007 at 12:45 pm

i do not know how the shanghai exhibition has been curated so i am quite wary of any fast judgment. maybe the europeans were asked to focus on western works? i do know for certain that ars electronica is looking for meaningful chinese (or indian and korean for that matter) artworks to exhibit and i do know what happens. again, i do not like to speak on their behalf but i don’t find it fair not to defend them. i’ve witnessed several panels organized by v2 where chinese politics and censorship were harshly slashed and criticized but where there was also a space left for dialogue and the quest for solution or what could stand for the word solution. i respect your position never to accept any invitation to china, but i would and i did. i think it is more useful to go there, say what you think, talk with people, dialog, inquire and come back with facts and ideas and projects than stay in europe, point the finger and complain from far away. did i ever say that chinese politics was subtle or far from subtle? i only wrote that given the circumstances artists do not have much choice than adopt prudent tactics. i feel like we are heaving un dialogue de sourds you and i.
5

vincent on October 25, 2007 at 1:24 pm

aucun dialogue de sourd.
no deaf dialogue.
tu crois encore que l’art va sauver le monde ?you still believe in the fact that art could save the world ?
je joue simplement de l’ellipse. et je rebondis sur ce que tu me réponds.
i am just elliptic and…i don’t know.
believe i am definitely more involved in action than a geek protected behind the screen of his monitor and living with algorithms. Trust me on that point.
But sometimes i am a geek too…working with ultimate cyco geeks.
je te comprends. Il y a aucun problème.
Niet problemo.
Nous n’avons pas la même vision de l’action sociale ou artistique. Point barre.
Pas de quoi foutter un chat. Ni un chinois d’ailleurs.
Même si à l’heure on l’on parle, on a déjà du en exécuter une dizaine.
ciao !
v
6

Art on October 27, 2007 at 1:58 am

You give artists too much credit in what influence they can have over change. Artists only express feelings and it’s up to the people to interpret those feelings. Only the people of china can improve their lot in life. No one else, forcibly or otherwise. If they want change then change will come.

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