A Random Update: The World Mountain Documentary Festival, a Film Festival without films+The promise of more to come

Ya, So it's been a super long time since I've made it back to the bloglines. A lot has happened, especially as it concerns the contemporary arts of China... and the world for that matter, now helplessly mired in an economic mud bath that is sure to eliminate art from most people's shopping lists and god willing send art's focus from the market back towards its own elusive core ...
Anyway. Before the shit hit the fan I went to Qinghai for a film festival or so it seemed...
(*This is also posted on DART soon... like tomorrow)

Qinghai is located between Gansu Province and the Tibetan Autonomous Zone in the mid-west of China. It is home to several minorities including, at over 20% of the population, Tibetans. It is an area that sits at an average elevation of 3000 meters above sea level. It is a place, one might argue, that is very close to heaven, a spiritual place indeed. So spiritual in fact that even the film festivals there don’t show films.

In late September myself, along with a group of 25 filmmakers and enthusiasts from Beijing were invited to Xining, Qinghai’s capital for the Sanjiangyuan International Photography Festival and the World Mountain Documentary Festival. It was a four day event chock full of sight seeing, feasting, singing, ceremonies… but oddly, no films. The Xining city government, who organized and sponsored the event, generously hosted a total of 1000 plus visitors from as far away as Brazil, Australia and the United States. Films or no films, we were treated to an entertaining time, yet throughout remained slightly perplexed by the context of it all. Pitching the affair as a film festival was not only a little misleading but slightly surreal.

On the first day while the rest of the bunch visited the famous Ta Er Temple, where a living Buddha blessed my six-month-old son, I stayed in with altitude sickness. That night we dined on local home cooking and had a singing contest at the Tu Minority Village. The next morning we visited the stupendous, crystal blue Qinghai Lake, China’s largest saltwater lake, at 3600meters above sea level. It is a truly amazing, even godly, sight that the photographers in the group feasted their lenses upon. We rushed back for the festival’s grand opening dinner ceremony that evening at which delegates from the local government and foreign VIPs commended each other’s efforts to produce such an interesting and ambitious festival. Karaoke followed dinner and lasted deep into the night.

The next day at the grand opening ceremony it seemed that we were actually going to begin the film part of the festival, but as one visitor noted while meandering around the colossal exhibition hall where we were brought “I feel like we’re all part of a large Ai Weiwei experiment”. This was the actual manifestation of the photography part of the festival. It was a venue that also hosted the glitter saturated opening ceremony (again full of simultaneously translated congratulatory speeches), the film market and oddly, a fashion show. In the exhibition hall rows and rows of mostly landscape photographs were being re-photographed by enthusiasts and what appeared to be soldiers. The market’s unmanned booths eventually led visitors towards the fashion show where models sauntered up and down the runway to the beat of some strange carnival techno tune wearing the same clothes for about twenty minutes and then disappeared. It was here that a local TV crew interviewed me about how I felt about the film festival. Needless to say, I was stumped. Later that same day there was some developments in the direction of a film festival. A forum was held where speaker’s topics included “Introduction to the Creation Status Quo of Chinese Western Mountain Documentary” and “What do viewers expect of a documentary on mountains and climbers?” In the given context these questions took on existential dimensions.

The festival had printed several catalogs for the event that, along with fruit baskets were left in the hotel rooms each day. Some of these publications discussed the history of jade while others listed the films in the festival. There seemed to be interesting films indeed: a film about polyandry in a minority tribe in China, a Dutch film made in North Korea, and a work by Rick Widmer, a filmmaker now living in Beijing, whose film about a Massachusetts’s county fair ended up winning the Jade Kunlun Prize - the Special Jury Prize for Best Social Documentary. There were works from a slew of local stations in China who produced other “mountain” films, basically films about non-Han Chinese minorities and/or actual mountains. There were films from Russia, India, and Germany on topics like goats, agriculture, the environment, man against nature, love, death, and mountains of course. But where were these films? Even Rick didn’t have a copy of his own film for us to watch at the hotel. It wasn’t until the live television awards ceremony that evening (mind you this is the same day that the festival official opened - no need to waste any time) that some films actually made it to the viewers. Before every awards presentation the first 30 seconds to minute of the corresponding film was shown. It wasn’t really enough time to get past the opening credits, or get a gist of the film, but it was a refreshing dose of film, indeed. As we said our sad goodbyes at the airport the next morning we reminded each other of the Buddhist maxim about abandoning expectations. Who said there needed to films at a film festival anyway? We all had a fine time either way. I’ll definitely return next year.

Very little information about the Qinghai 2008世界山地纪录片节 film festival is on line here

The Inevitable Olympics as Cultural Mutiny, Dennis Oppenheim-No free rides to Beijing, and LEARNING at STOREFRONT, a site specific masterpiece

SO
I’m sure you were all watching as China after much anticipation, frustration and climate control blitzkrieg, skyrocketed into 21st history last night. Funny how much the ceremony, steeped in obsolete and irrelevant traditionalism, owed so much to contemporary art (Xu Bing and Gu Wenda in particular); Funny how “official” Chinese contemporary culture in general is inevitably mixed up with its antiheroes – Ai Weiwei as the reluctant king of the bird’s nest, Zhang Yimo as 6th generation cultural minister, Cai Guoqiang as national pyromaniac, etc.... Funny watching as the foreign press still diligently sniffs out anything that resembles infractions of human rights, often at the expense of mistaking Chinese incompetency for repression... Funny though, how competent China actually appears to be, shoving its 41Billion dollar Olympic face at the world while even Kobe Bryant is willing to cut Beijing a little slack for not scrubbing every atmospheric inch free of smog.

Funny how all of this comes on the heels of Kung Fu Panda’s box office domination and China intellectual flagellation “how could we let Hollywood feed us our own culture and how come it tastes and looks soo good?” Funny that pres Bush (would you get out of there already) talking religious freedom and Taiwan cloaked as “Chinese Taipei” is allowed into the spotlight if only for a moment.

Funny that we’re finally here, alive and well! after all those damned numbers clocked themselves into eternity on Tiananmen Square.

Enjoy the games! Dennis Oppenheim will.

He came to my opening at Storefront for Art and Architecture in NYC where, after weeks of postponement and Adobe Illustrator hell, I finally got the Hangzhou (see previous entries) piece up in one piece. Dennis, still shaggy haired and wearing a black t-shirt after all these years, will go to Beijing to see his 18ft high safety cone sculptures which are installed in the Olympic Village… he’s paying his own fare because no one invited him to see it- The powers that be obviously don’t know a VIP when they see one. He’ll probably watch Kung Fu Panda on the plane and eat fusion fare just like us after our splendid month in NYC where we were fed a daily dose of China bashing ala NYTimes and a lot of scary pollution statistics that made us think about changing our flight more than once.

Anyway please click here and then here for a look at LEARNING FROM HANGZHOU in an exceptional site-specific manifestation (Storefront is renovating its facade and the piece –which is all about the relationship between advertising and construction/architecture/urbanization is mounted as a billboard on the construction blind around Storefront. The opening was held inside the blind, literally in a construction site… very nice site specificity… not to mention another aspect mentioned by Peggy Roalf in DART “It's as if New York has been presented with a public reading wall, much like the public newspaper reading walls that can still found in China.”) Yep I’m still my favorite artist.

Now back to women’s weightlifting … and I thought women were smarter than that.

Beijing Week Part 3: Wang Qingsong (Earthquaked into another plan), Caution at PKM

Wang Qingsong lives and works in a complex in Cao Changdi that Ai Weiwei designed. Ai designed the whole area basically and if there are buildings that he didn’t design, someone else designed the buildings to look like his – a poor man’s Ai Weiwei as Pauline Yao calls it. Wang Qingsong makes photos like one makes movies… The CC Demille of the static image he often employs hundreds and even thousands of hired extras… sometimes they all take off their clothes … it must feel nice to be around so many naked bodies in a big film studio… with the cold and dampness seeking through the floor..
Anyway Wang Qingsong has a great space where he’s carving a bunch of prohibition signs (the circular signs witha diagnol line through it that means NO: spitting, walking on the grass, noise making, fireworks, pooping) into his wall because he had this idea and he has some folks hanging around that can execute it. It’s part home decoration, part art … a little experimental relief from the epic images. He’s also having a BIG show at the BIG PKM Gallery around the block from his studio . The complex where PKM is housed is one of the aforementioned poor man Ai Weiwei’s but quite impressive nonetheless as is most every gallery and studio space that one finds in China these days.
Wang Qingsong was originally going to modify the gallery to look like it was poised midway in a state of demolition- broken beams, concrete carnage, reinforcement rod, etc. But after the Earthquake hit he decided it’d be plain wrong. So he changed gears and came up with the idea of wrapping the entire space in the ubiquitous and multipurpose red, white and blue plastic tarp that seems to cloak much of China’s urban centers. Used for construction blinds, makeshift roofs, protective covering the material has also played a big part in Sichuan’s earthquake relief. As much as Wang Qingsong wanted to avoid the earthquake he essentially walked right back into it. The material used to cover the near 1000sqm surface area of PKM gallery proved difficult in gathering – instead of having one type of the material the artist had to patch together a few different types- due to efforts to move the stuff out to Sichuan for the millions of homeless.
On the walls the artist printed some classical works of art from both China and the west extra large, effectually converting the space into a makeshift museum. The reproduced works of Van Gogh, Rembrant, Qi Baishi, Munch and Xu Beihong become a foreground in the backdrop of Wang Qingsong’s photographic work. Upstairs the resulting mural size prints were displayed and sold as a set of three in an edition of three for about 50,000USD. In the backroom a direct feed from the gallery’s surveillance cameras were projected. “Caution”, as the piece is titled is wide open to interpretation … but somehow, in this earthquake saturated media zone, never ends up getting too far from the tremor.

Some things not worth mentioning worth mentioning: CIGE, Idolotry killed the cat, Cui Jian at SHGA

The full title of this post is "Some things not worth mentioning worth mentioning: CIGE art fair/more auctions and why you can't say contemporary art without saying market; Putuoshan- Buddhist Buds big time and/or Idolatry killed the cat; and Cui Jian plays The Shanghai Gallery of Art" The buggers just don't give me enough space for my meandering titles. Once again I'm trying to catch up on what seems like years of cluttered blog notes stuffed gently into the corners of my brain, harddrive, camera cards and realizing while you can't mention everything there is merit in things not worth mentioning.

Contemporary Art (Market)
Hong Kong Christies- need I say more?
Ok so I'll say a little more: I went to Beijing again for CIGE (China International Gallery Exposition 2007 (4th Edition) and a host of other art chores. I admit that I would accomplish more if I could manage my time better. I spent three days chasing my tail between endless cab rides, meetings, rice wine and spicy meals. Oddly enough the first thing I did when I got off the plane was dine with a bunch of Shanghai art compatriots The two Liu's; Liu Jianhua, a conceptual ceramicist and beyond, with his 12 year old son, seeing the capital for the first time and Liu Yingmei, smooth operator of 140sqm Gallery, in town for the fair were stewing in alcohol and lamb's legs with my old buddy Zhuang Hui and his extended family of artists and friends from Lanzhou. CIGE was all the buzz for that brief weekend in Beijing. It is yet another art fair epitomized by the first booth that you encounter as you pass through the well secured entrance. Looking more like an Ikea display complete with beds, tables, and fancy scrims, this booth carried an array of famous Chinese artist home products. Wine bottles, carpets, clocks, plates and lampshades all emblazond with those funny pink faces of Fang Lijun or the mask men of Zheng Fangzhi or the cross eyed girls of Feng Zhengjie, or Yue Minjun's big teethed smiles or... well you get the picture. The truth is the rest of the fair was just the redundancy of these products, echoed in other forms across many other booths ... '13,000 square meters showing 120 outstanding galleries from all over the world' selling more or less the same dozen "famous" Chinese brands. It was re-sale central with everyone toting their auction house darlings. The same names were scattered throughout the house. All the galleries seemed to be playing the same hand of cards, each betting on the same win. In between there was some other stuff... but the over cramped conditions just made it look like Stuff. Contemporary Art stuff. The truth is with fairs- the artistic experience is annihilated by the super market. On the upper echelons of this super-art-market there were some famous brand curators who did "projects" with international name brand artists that were not-worth-mentioning. Li Zhenhua, an ambitious youngish curator, put together an extensive, international new-media forum whose strong academic bend got lost between the Ikea art aisles and the VIP coffee lounge which made it not worth mentioning.

-brief break to Phil Tanari and Lulu Huang's new office, paid in part by Art Forum, in part by blood sweat and tears.


Back in Shanghai, East Link Gallery, once host of the famous "FUCK OFF" exhibition curated by Ai Weiwei and Feng Boyi as a way offset the pretentious Shanghai Biennial of 2000,now has decided to get its auction license and hold an "affordable" auction. The first painting that you see when you step off the elevator, with a base price of 10G USD (not exactly affordable for us starving blogger types) is basically the greatest hits of Chinese contemporary painting rolled onto one canvas: There's Zhang Xiaogang's Bloodlines, Liu Wei's drunken Generals, Fang Lijun's floating heads, Guo Wei's pen stripped blue bodies, Yue Minjun's smile of course (don't you just want to punch one of those guys teeth out?) and other greats all coll aged together in cheery oils. This (not so famous) painter takes all these famous painters' licks and presents it to the ill informed consumer. Why have just one of these silly Chinese contemporary souvenirs when you get all these guys (and they are all guys) paintings on one canvas.. and for the bargain basement price of 10G.. I mean do you know what just one of these paintings go for? My God . It's sort of the leatherman or hotpot of Chinese contemporary. It is something that, ironically enough, confounds the auction house with it's logic of negating name brand worship by wearing them all at once. Not one of these signature styles emerges from the mass. It would also be worth mentioning here that all around China's large cities one can find renditions of Zhang Xiaogang, Zhen Fangzhi, Wang Guangyi, etc. in little road side stalls, second hand markets, shopping malls, etc. These guys are already a pastiche of themselves - by default of being in an environment where copyright infringement runs wild.

Cui Jian
Which brings me to Cui Jian (proclaimed father of Chinese Rock n Roll), whom I met for the first time doing a news story for ZDF (German TV2) back in '95 or 6 on copy right infringement. Cui Jian who at the time was China's staple entertainer (banned of course from ever playing again in the motherland for his politically provocative lyrics and punk attitude) suffered considerably in the financial dept. because his records were continually pirated. While he celebrated the democratic aspect of pirating he still had to complain... a little Metallica syndrome. Anyway last night he performed "unplugged" (though I saw some plugs in those acoustic guitars and keyboards) at the Shanghai Gallery of Art. SGA located in the prestigious Three on the Bund building hosts a very fine view of Pudong, especially at night when you can have 40 story video screens and a host of other neon dance advertisements merrily merrily across your brain. The gallery, which has put on some very ambitious installation projects (most recently Gu Dexin's 2007.4.17 - where the artist altered the architecture of the space with literally tons of concrete slabs and manholes- see video) was turned into an installation again- this time a Rock Club complete with light show, video projections and a PHAT Cui Jian performance. I've heard CJ and band many many times in both NY and China but he has never sounded better. He's been compared to Bob Dylan for his lyrics and Bruce Springsteen for his soul but for his musical creativity he stands alone with his unique blend of traditional Chinese, free-jazz, rap-rock, ska, folk, and some other indescribable elements .

Consuming Buddhism
So after two very tiring exhibition openings within weeks of one another. (see next post- PastForward (excuse the shitty website) and Three Unities) we decided to go away from this sweaty, polluted, concrete jungle and get back to our Buddhist roots in Putuoshan. Putuoshan is a little island a few hours (though it took 17 because of fog) away from Shanghai that has been a destination for Buddhist pilgrims since before the Qing dynasty. It's a beautifully preserved slice of heaven (after the megalopolis of Shanghai) dotted with what seems like a zillion temples, some old some new, all beautifully maintained and complimented with beautifully manicured gardens. The architecture and images of these edifices are trippy. Marble slabs from which frog men on waves carrying spears and snakes emerge, hermaphrodites and devils abound under bell top rooves and bright red counter cleavered frames. There's a 100ft tall Guanyin (a female Buddhist saint of mercy) who looks out over the ocean from a small mountain perch with a smiling face made from a ton of 14K gold. There's cedar walkways that tie the island's temples together through lots of wild life, flowers, frogs, and a bunch of "farmer" restaurants that charge NYC prices. Every few feet there's another stall selling incense, Buddha paraphernalia and beads to rub away your sins. Once in a while someone slinks along the ground prostrating themselves on the way to another temple. There's a bunch yellow baseball capped, middle class Chinese kowtowing, throwing money and taking cell phone pictures. It's basically a tourist trap for the Buddha inclined. But somehow it remains untouched- I mean this is a country well known for religious intolerance and here off the coast of Shanghai - nothing but religion... and well endowed religion. Tons of RMB has gone into the preservation and maintenance of such an elaborate system of temples. It seems that now that China has $ - people need to feel good about themselves and so- give it to the temple. Here in Putuoshan one can receive a special ceremony intended to bring them good luck, longevity, and whatever floats your boat for a 1000RMB fee. Monks with MP3 players hanging from their necks compare cell phones while on breaks from tourist minding... Buddhism reemerges again ala Chinese contemporary style.

Life, a series or events or time soup: The 3 Shadows Photography Center and the overdue era of cultural philanthropy

So it's been a while and after a while life goes on and you forget that it's a series of events but instead you think of it as a soupy time conspiracy that blends traffic with sleep, dinners with getting dressed and friends visiting with remembering little work details.

Either way I was in Beijing a while ago and visited the construction site of The 3 Shadows Photography Center which was beautifully designed by the super-prolific Ai Weiwei (artist/architect/god father who has designed almost 1/2 of all the buildings in the encircling 100km) and is run by the Zen duo of Photographer Rong Rong (famous for both his early East Village performance photos of people like Zhang Huan and Ma Liuming, and then his luscious demolition site surveys, and also his later collaborations with wife Inri, where the two long haired hermaphrodites frolic, sometimes in the nude, across a range of dramatic land and city-scapes) and Zhang Li (a super sweet, soft spoken curator and critic who has been around since I was around way back when and who continues, somehow, to avoid being tinged by market frenzy ... or does he?).
Anyway The Center's $ comes almost 100% from Rong Rong who hasn't done so badly with them black and whites, and who is one altruistically minded mofo... or maybe there's moolah to be made? But somehow the dilemma of the China art market today is epitomized in the issues that the Center faces. The Center has many diverse and wonderful functions that will benefit the international shutterbug and photography admirer alike: exhibition spaces, lab/studio equipped with both digital and traditional capabilities, residency program and/or just residence for exhibiting out of towners, library, cafe, and project space for events such as concerts, lectures, etc.
It is a marvelously conceptualized Center along the lines of, but possible surpassing, NY's ICP.
So how does one fund it? Rong's pocket is only so deep... aha! They have an idea sell the work on the walls! Well why not everyone else is doing it... a big photo shop...

But doesn't this compromise the nature and choice of the works shown and the vibe of the place in general? Doesn't the neutrality of a Center- a place to educate, exchange ideas, practice, methodologies, become murky with money grubbing and financial priorities?
Can't the Chinese neauvou-riche just take some of that disposable income and be benefactors to such a marvelous place without getting a print off the wall? Can't a system of membership, ticket sales, museum shops and corporate sponsorship float this ark? For Christ's sake this is China and people are making BANK... they want a high culture of connoisseurship why not let them pay for it . Give them parties, studio visits, trips to Venice, whatever it takes... It is time China enters the era of cultural philanthropy...
yeah I know it's not that easy but to anyone listening I have one word - Development - There are so many institutions hurting because no one has figured that right way to tap into the shitload of dough that is wasted out there..