a digression

This blog mainly focuses on contemporary art and culture.
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Today, let's digress a bit. Here is a link to my first published short story. Enjoy!
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http://www.writersblocmag.org/archives_06/kendzulak_never.html

Shaquille O'Neill: Art Curator

Basketball icon Shaquille O'Neill is curating an exhibition at the FLAG Art Foundation in NYC titled Size Does Matter and includes work by Ron Mueck, Andreas Gursky and Charles Ray with a catalog essay by controversial author James Frey.
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Many blogs and news sites are covering this story as the crossover of a sports figure to the arts field is noteworthy. Hopefully, this can create more interest in merging sports and art. For example, a sports stadium has a huge and captive audience. What a great condition to project art videos, sound art pieces and perhaps even performance type works at intermission to thousands of spectators.
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Read funny comments here:

http://www.artreview.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1474022%3ABlogPost%3A930561

Taipei Artists Rally for Rights

Organized by conceptual artist Tang Huang-chen, a mass demonstration by artists took place in Taipei on Oct. 31 in which they demanded a trade union for artists be set up.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2009/11/01/230956/Local-artists.htm

Art and Torture: Vinegar and Oil

What is the purpose of art?

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Surely, it's not made for torture.

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It seems like a no brainer: Art and torture really do not go together. And that's what many of today's artists are saying.

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Artists, in this case, musicians, are rallying together to demand the US government to release the names of the songs used as torture at Guatanamo Bay.

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As Roseanne Cash stated in the Washington Post's provocative article: "It seems so obvious. Music should never be used as torture."

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It is truly disgusting to think that an artist's work was used to torture another human being.

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Read the compelling article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/21/AR2009102103743.html?hpid=topnews

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Image courtesy of www.rso.cornell.edu/progressive/articles.php?id=59

R.I.P. Nancy Spero (1926-2009)

http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/09spring/joanna-walker.shtm

Age is just a number

There is an imperceptible line between conceptual art and creative writing.
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Conceptual art drips with metaphor and is soaked in narrative.
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But the best thing about being a writer instead of an artist is that your birthdate is not published in a catalog!

blah, blah, blah

Please accept my apologies for not blogging lately: too busy harvesting crops.

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Anyways, who needs art critics? Now there is a site that generates verbose critiques. Just type in a 5 digit number and instantly get a paragraph of text like this:

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"With regard to the issue of content, the disjunctive perturbation of the spatial relationships brings within the realm of discourse the distinctive formal relationships."

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Sounds fun, huh? Okay, try it now. The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator at http://www.pixmaven.com/phrase_generator.html

Chinese Censorship

The following was sent to me by a Taiwanese curator. I can't believe Melbourne would kowtow to Beijing. Oh, I forgot, Rudd.
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"Withdrawal of “Miao Miao” screening from the MIFF
28/07/2009
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The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia (TECO) is very surprised and regretful to hear that the distributing company of the film entitled “Miao Miao”, namely Fortissimo Films, which is based in Hong Kong, has decided to withdraw the screening of “Miao Miao”, directed by Taiwanese Cheng Hsiao-Tse.
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The withdrawal is due to the recent boycott made by the authorities of the Chinese People’s Republic which controls Hong Kong, against the Melbourne International Film Festival. This has nothing to do with Taiwan which is in support of the continuous participation of the film and the freedom of expression and human rights.
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The TECO regards that the arts is a special medium that should be above politics and free from political dictation. The TECO firmly believes that it is wrong to boycott this international cultural event because of political differences. The TECO feels very disappointed that the Australian public will be unable to have the opportunity to enjoy viewing “Miao Miao”.
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However, there are two Taiwan short films, namely “Joyce Agape” and “The Pursuit of What Was”, that will still be participating in the Melbourne International Film Festival. The TECO will continue to give their full support to the Melbourne International Film Festival, and hopes to introduce more Taiwan films to this event in the future."

dangerous art

The Guardian has an article about the Robert Morris Bodyspacemotionthings exhibition at the Tate Modern and how this interactive work, which was made in the seventies, is still hurting people.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jul/12/tate-modern-robert-morris-injuries

Robert Colescott (1925-2009) RIP

George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware painted by Robert Colescott.

Artist, age 100, unveils new work

As they say, age is just a number.
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Here is artist Hans Enri, who was born 100 years ago, unveiling a new art work for the UN.
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If this isn't inspiring, then I don't know what is.
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Read here for the details and photo info:


http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2009/06/06/100_year_old_swiss_artist_unveils_mural_at_un/?comments=all

Taiwan's gender equality

The Venice Biennale recently opened and Taiwan has had its own pavilion since 2001. Since its inception the Taiwan Pavilion has exhibited a fair representation of female artists. But unfortunately, not this time around.
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The unintentional humorous title Foreign Affairs, a subject which the organizers are well versed in, had me chuckling.
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The four male artists representing Taiwan this year are HSIEH Ying-Chun, CHEN Chieh-Jen, Chien-Chi CHANG, and Cheng-Ta YU.
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For more info:http://www.tfam.museum/

53rd Venice Biennale 2009 - Internet Pavilion

It's that time of year again, for the opening of the prestigious Venice Biennale, the granddaddy of international art exhibitions. However, the nationalism of the Venice Biennale is a bit irksome to me. Art should be able to transcend national borders, shouldn't it?
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One pavilion that doesn't represent a nation is the Internet Pavilion, initiated by artist Miltos Manetas, curated by Jan Aman and produced by Art Production Fund.
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http://www.PadiglioneInternet.com and http://www.Biennale.net

First figurative sculpture found

A newly discovered sculpture is said to be the oldest figurative work (36,000 years old) in existence. But that is not the marvel.

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Scientists think this sculpture shows a shift in the early human brain and perhaps coincided with complex language. Since there is no audio from that time period, there is only the visual image to make such deductions.

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Read here for more info:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/05/oldestsculpture/
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Some reader comments refer to this sculpture as early porn, while art historical texts often refer to these prehistoric fecund females as a relic of fertility or goddess worship. What do you think?

Zaha Hadid's Guangzhou Opera House

What's going on with well-known architects' projects in China?

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Here Zaha Hadid's Opera House in Guangzhou is in flames.

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Read here for the details:

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/zaha-hadids-guangzhou-opera-house-goes-up-in-flames/5201855.article

The 7th Taishin Arts Awards

The 7th Taishin Arts Awards:
The Best Visual & Performing Arts in Taiwan 2008

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W i n n e r s A n n o u n c e d

Photo courtesy Jun-Jieh WANG

Photo courtesy Capital Ballet Taipei

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The 7th Taishin Arts Awards was awarded to the best visual and performing arts in Taiwan for the year 2008. The award ceremony took place on May 2, 2009 at the Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture.
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The international jury included: Tai-Song CHEN Art Critic (Taiwan); Du HUANG Senior curator, Beijing Today Art Museum (China); Christiane PAUL Adjunct curator, New Media Arts of Whitney Museum of American Art (USA); Yu-Pin LIN Associate Professor of Drama Department of Taipei National University of the Arts (Taiwan); Liuyi LI Director/Playwright, Beijing People’s Art Theatre (China); 如果看起來會讓人頭昏, 還請妳不吝給我建議Joseph SEELIG Director, London International Mime Festival (UK); Hiroko NISHIMURA Producer, Tiny Alice Theatre / The Asia Little Theatre Exchange Network (Japan); and Anita MATHIEU Director, Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales, Seine-Saint-Denis (France).
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The prestigious annual prize recognizes the best of Taiwanese visual art and performing arts. Besides the Performing Arts Award and the Visual Arts Award, each worth NT $1 million, there is the Jury’s Special Award for NT $300,000.

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The winner for the Visual Arts Award is Jun-Jieh WANG (王俊傑) for his installation David Project III: David’s Paradise “whose sophisticated visual language does not just pursue an aesthetic of technology, but rather emphasizes the service of technological methods to the needs of the concepts of art.”
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The winner for the Performing Arts Award is Capital Ballet Taipei’s Surround, (台北首督芭蕾舞團 ) “a powerful, contemporary, high quality dance production. It explores the reality of life in today’s world, the place of the individual in society, his isolation, self-doubt and need to communicate.”
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The Jury’s Special Award went to Tien-Chang WU’s Shock˙Shot (吳 天章) where “perfection and imperfection, as well as, classical and kitsch, reflect on each other in interesting ways. His affecting work reintroduces an element of humor that seems to have vanished in today’s Taiwan.”
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The Taishin Arts Award exhibition opened April 25, 2009 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei and features the work of all the 15 finalists who were shortlisted by a local jury. A published catalogue is available.
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The Taishin Art Foundation nurtures the arts and works within both the local and art communities to build greater understanding for the arts.
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Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture
15 F, No. 118, Sec 4, Ren-ai Rd., Taipei 106, Taiwan
Tel:+886-2-3707-6955　Fax:+886-2-3707-6958　
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http://www.taishinart.org.tw/
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For Further Info on the Winners:
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王俊傑 Wang Jun-Jieh Project David III : David’s Paradise
Bio
Award-winning media artist Jun-Jieh WANG is a pioneer of video art in Taiwan. A graduate from the HdK Art Academy in Berlin, Wang has exhibited in prestigious shows such as the Venice Biennale, and the Asian Art Triennale. Wang is also accomplished as a curator, exhibition and stage designer. He gained acclaim as Staging Visual Director for the National Symphony Orchestra’s Taiwan premiere of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Wang’s notable curated and designed exhibitions include "Navigator: Digital Art in the Making" (National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2004), "Vivienne Westwood" (Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2005), and "2006 Taipei Biennial: Dirty Yoga" (Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2006).
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Project
Jun-Jieh WANG’S David Project III: David’s Paradise is a large-scale video installation shown at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (Sep 27- Nov 16, 2008) and is the third part of a trilogy created in memory of Wang’s deceased friend that includes Untitled 200256 (two-screen synchronous installation, 2004) and Condition Project II (three-screen interactive installation, 2005).
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David’s Paradise consists of a video projected synchronously on five huge screens (390 x 219 cm), with a 12 second delay on each successive screen. Installed in a blue painted room, the screens allude to a folding screen, while the installation itself strays away from the conventional ‘black box’ viewing of video works.
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Shot in high-definition digital video, the work included lengthy post-production work to create digital special effects. The non-narrative projection depicts a man, or a specter of a man, walking across a lawn and through various rooms in a home. Certain objects like a chair float effortlessly in space. The film-like quality and slow-moving imagery creates an artificial world that evokes alienation in contemporary urban life, while the combination of real and illusory images conveys the ambiguity and the mystery of the co-existence of body and soul in the lived environment.
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The technical tasks created by Wang, along with a team that included digital effects, sound, and 3D animation designers, act as the bridge to turn real-life experience into art, thus allowing viewers to contemplate spiritual meanings in everyday life. Memory, desire, time and space are also some of the themes evoked in the work.
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台北首督芭蕾舞團Capital Ballet, Taipei Surround
Bio
Capital Ballet, Taipei was founded in March 1990 by Chin-Fong HSU and Shu-Hui LEE who are now the Troupe Principal and Artistic Director. The company has produced over 30 ballet works, danced close to 400 performances, and in recent years have included modern dances into their repertoire.

In Taiwan, it was the tradition of dancers to perform from the canon of western classical ballet. Therefore Capital Ballet, Taipei thought it imperative that Taiwan has its own ballet. So in order to create a unique Taiwanese ballet, the company choreographs their own dances; some of their outstanding works combine traditional ballet with Taiwanese Aboriginal dance.
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Project
Capital Ballet, Taipei performed Surround at the Experimental Theater on October 10, 2008. Surround is a new modern ballet work that explores the concept of space and time, while specifically referring to the various stages of one’s life.
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Surround is based on a clear theme, while a simple movement or a series of movements connects the dancer to the various locations, both to the physical site such as the stage set and to the metaphorical stages of life. These connections of theme and movement are strengthened by the use of furniture, specifically, tables in the set design. A table is a common-place object but in Surround symbolizes much more. Not only are tables used to create an architecture of the stage, they are also used to convey emotion. The dancers move, up-end and assemble the four wooden tables, transforming them into various manifestations such as a room, a bed, an island, a wall, a train and then back to the original form as table.

The simplicity of the stage design and emotional quality of the music and lighting allows for the dancers, whose fluid movements create diverse shapes, textures and directions, to allude to our passages of life, in other words, our movements through time and space. Most importantly is that the theme, expression and dance movements are easily accessible to the general audience.
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吳 天 章 Wu Tien Chang SHOCK.SHOT
Bio
Tien-Chang WU received his BFA from Chinese Culture University in 1980. Wu has exhibited widely around the world, including prestigious group exhibitions such as the Taipei and Venice Biennales and a solo exhibition titled Tien-Chang WU: The Introduction of Taiwan’s Contemporary Art Vol. 2 at MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan in 1997.
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Over the past decade, Wu who was trained as a painter, changed his creative form and method from composite media to a combination of photography and computer design. Even though Wu adopts the tools of the new digital age, he strives to maintain a balance with creativity and aesthetics.
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Project
Tien-Chang WU’s solo exhibition SHOCK.SHOT took place at the Main Trend Gallery from November 15 to December 13, 2008. On display were eight large digital images (240 x 343 cm) with retro settings, garish color and costumed heavily made-up actors that conjured up a gloomy atmosphere of performance in a theater of the mind.
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Among the eight pieces of works, Day A Good That Is All Right, Never Relax Morning and Night, and The Blind Men and The Street were on display for the first time. Day A Good That Is All Right shows twin dwarf female scouts who carry an injured fat woman on a stretcher. Facing the camera, these three women smile. Such a situation seems true, but paradoxical.
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Wu uses staged photography in his work. During the process, he is no longer the painter working in solitude, but becomes a director organizing a group of people, arranging details such as costumes, props, settings, and actors. The work also entails a combination of photography and computer manipulation. Each work begins with 50-70 snapshots and then these shots are digitally broken into small pieces, deformed, and then reshaped. In order for the imagery to look seamless, Wu uses his painterly concepts, plus his computer mouse, to connect these shots seamlessly and precisely.
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Taipei Performing Arts Centre - OMA

Image © OMA

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Taiwan's performing arts is lively and encompassing as the recent Taishin Arts Awards show. And Taipei could really benefit from another venue, so it is timely for a new one to be built.

The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is slated to build the Taipei Performing Arts Centre which is located in the frantically busy nightmarket area of Shilin.

The Centre will be 40,000 square meters and includes a 1,500 seat theater and two 800 seat theaters that can be connected or separated. It is expected to be completed in 2014.

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One word to the wise: please no fireworks for the opening ceremony!

Louvre Museum in Japan

Today I visited a quirky little museum in the countryside of Japan, something unexpected in the rice and tea fields nestled in the mountains.

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The Louvre Sculpture Museum in Mie Prefecture exhibits replicas of famous sculptures that can be seen in its Parisian museum. The replicas number about 1300 and include Venus de Milo, Napolean's death mask, and Michelangelo's slaves.

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Guess who painted this?

I'll post the answer later.

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Hint: This is done by a historical figure.

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Please post your answers in the comments. Thanks.

Wage Rage

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There seems to be this overall assumption that artists and writers, and possibly musicians and performers, will work for free. Some rationalizations include: since the work they do is part of their natural talents and/or they are so passionate about their work they will do it gladly without pay.
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We never assume the dentist, plumber or accountant would work for free. How insulting to expect a creative person to work for free.
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Here's an art group that addresses this annoying issue.
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W.A.G.E. MEETING
Working Artists and the Greater Economy, invites you to an open meeting.
Come One Come All Come Two Come Two By Two
http://www.wageforwork.com/
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ABOUT W.A.G.E.:
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DEAR ARTIST,
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SO, I HAVE TO TELL YOU THE CRAZIEST STORY...
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A MUSEUM HIRED ME TO PUT ON A SHOW.

SO I WENT TO WORK AT MY STUDIO.
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AFTER LABORING FOR 6 MONTHS,
AFTER TWO WEEKS OF INSTALLATION,
AFTER COUNTLESS MEETINGS WITH THE MUSEUM,
I PUT ON A SHOW.
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A GREAT SHOW!
I SENT THE MUSEUM MY INVOICE.

THEY SENT ME A CHECK MADE OUT FOR A TON OF EXPOSURE.
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MY LANDLORD KEEPS ASKING FOR A RENT.

I SIGNED OVER MY EXPOSURE.
TURNS OUT I DON'T HAVE A STUDIO ANYMORE.
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MISSING YOU,
W.A.G.E.

Taishin Arts Awards: The Best Visual and Performing Arts in Taiwan 2008

The Taishin Arts Awards will be awarded on May 2, 2008 by an international jury including: Tai-Song CHEN Art Critic (Taiwan); Du HUANG Senior curator, Beijing Today Art Museum (China); Christiane PAUL Adjunct curator, New Media Arts of Whitney Museum of American Art (USA); Yu-Pin LIN Associate Professor of Drama Department of Taipei National University of the Arts (Taiwan); Liuyi LI Director/Playwright, Beijing People’s Art Theatre (China); Joseph SEELIG Director, London International Mime Festival (UK); Hiroko NISHIMURA Producer, Tiny Alice Theatre / The Asia Little Theatre Exchange Network (Japan); Anita MATHIEU Director, Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales, Seine-Saint-Denis (France).

The prestigious annual prize recognizes the best of Taiwanese visual art and performing arts. Besides the Performing Arts Award and the Visual Arts Award, each worth NT $1 million, there is the Jury’s Special Award for NT $300,000.

The 5 finalists for the Visual Arts Award are Jun-Jieh WANG, Yu-Cheng CHOU, Ta-Chien PAN, Tien-Chang WU and Taiwan Field Factory.

The 10 finalists for the Performing Arts Award are the National Chinese Orchestra, Chun-Hsien WU, Capital Ballet Taipei, Shu-Yi CHOU, The Party Theatre Group, M.O.V.E. Theatre, Ju Percussion Group, Performance Workshop and Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group for 2 works.

The Taishin Arts Award exhibition opens on April 25 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei and will feature the work of all the 15 finalists who were shortlisted by a local jury. After the winners are announced, a catalogue will be published.

The Taishin Art Foundation nurtures the arts and works within both the local and art communities to build greater understanding for the arts.

Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture
http://www.taishinart.org.tw/

Hsieh Teh-Ching

Photo courtesy New York Times

Artist Hsieh Teh-Ching, who is originally from Taiwan, created original year-long performances that are finally receiving due recognition.
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The conclusion of a NY Times article about him caught my eye:

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“Maybe he was a man choosing art as a tool to demonstrate a certain philosophical set of conditions, and it served his purpose, so he doesn’t need it anymore. I think he’s bigger than art on some level. I think — I’ll be really extreme here — that he killed art so he could transcend it.”

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Perhaps. Or, perhaps, Mr. Hsieh said, with a wisp of a — sad? — smile: “I am not so creative. I don’t have many good ideas.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/arts/design/01sont.html

Biennale Fun Facts

• The year the biennial was born: The Venice Biennale in 1895


• Biennials/Triennials currently active: over 60


• Year of the first biennial in Asia: 1952 with the Tokyo Biennale


• Percentage of biennials initiated by the government vs independent: 65%: 35%


• Biggest budget for a biennial since 1990: Gwangju Biennale with an average budget of over$US12 million


• Lowest budget for a biennial since 1990: The 1st Tirana Biennale with a budget of $US 30,000


• For a hundred years from 1890s to 1980s, only 17 biennials were in existence. Today, there are over 60.

These facts about art biennales come from Art Asia Archive: http://www.aaa.org.hk/onlineprojects/bitri/en/didyouknow.aspx

Eugenio Merino at ARCO 2009

Madrid-based artist Eugenio Merino recently made headlines for his new sculpture titled "4 the Love of Gold" which depicts Damian Hirst putting a bullet through his head, which will be exhibited at ARCO 2009.

The photo is his "Still Staying Alive" courtesy of:

http://www.colectiva.tv/wordpress/lang/en-us/tag/eugenio-merino/

Oops!

everything is dangerous.

Read the story here about the fire that destroyed Beijing's Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The hotel and CCTV are designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of OMA and were just nearing completion.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1140024/Chinese-TV-station-sorry-accidentally-burning-brand-new-luxury-hotel.html

Shoe Art

First, my apologies for not blogging since December as I just made a major house move.

So to ease back into art-related themes, let's look at this public commemorative sculpture of a shoe in Iraq courtesy the Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog.

http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2009/01/middle-eastern-shoe-art-renaissance_30.html