Posts tagged “art”

Reflections on 10 Months in Shenzhen

Posted on July 1st, 2009

Tonight I will be returning to the UK for a short break from China but fear not I’ll be retuning in two weeks time. My flight goes from Hong Kong via Amsterdam meaning it’ll be a rather long journey (17 hours) which I never look forward to but hopefully should lessen the jet lag as I basically fly through the night of 8 time zones. It’s been 10 months since I moved to Shenzhen and so far it’s been a great experience. Although I have developed somewhat of a love-hate relationship with the country it continues to fascinate me and I’ve managed to see and learn a lot more since my previous shorter trips as well as met some interesting people. Shenzhen might not be the…

Planet Samsung

Posted on March 17th, 2009

With North Korea increasingly sabre rattling and relations with the south breaking down under South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s conservative hard-line approach things are becoming increasingly tense along the 38th parallel, the most heavily fortified border in the world. Combined with the north effectively being allied with China and the south being allied with the US things could get messy very quickly if there is any further escalation. Whilst there is propaganda on both sides it’s only in the north that you will still find the same type of turgid Soviet-esq Socialist Realism that one might expect from such a repressive regime. No clearer is this illustrated than in the advertisements which permeate everyday life in one of the only forms of artistic expression…

Dafen Oil Painting Village

Posted on February 16th, 2009

China is well known for all manor of fakery – be it consumer electronics, clothing, pharmaceuticals, DVDs, food and just about anything else you can imagine. They even have a word for these products; shanzhai (山寨). Last weekend I took a trip to see Dafen Oil Painting Village whose sole purpose is basically to mass produce copies of western art to be sold to shops, restaurants, hotels, galleries, and tasteless consumers across the world. Located in Longgang District, Shenzhen the village boasts over 5,000 artists working in 600+ galleries who churn out over 5 million paintings each year. Needless to say that’s a lot of paintings! Masquerading as an artistic community of sorts the endeavour is clearly one of a business rather than anything remotely artistic…

Art 798 District

Posted on May 9th, 2008

One of the last things you would expect to find in a former military factory zone on the north-eastern fringe of Beijing is a thriving contemporary art community but that’s exactly that case in the 798 Art District in Dashanzi. Having been recommended to visit by a friend I managed to find the sprawling complex of workshops, galleries and cafes scattered within a rabbit warren of semi-derelict factory buildings some still in active use with Communist propaganda slogans adorning a few untouched walls and the sounds of industry emanating from within. It’s a rather surreal mix, yet at the same time the perfect setting for the “co-existence of avant-garde consciousness and traditional sentiment” (or so to speak!). The state-owned factories were constructed during the…

GO! GO! PiKAPiKA!!

Posted on April 8th, 2008

We interrupt our usual coverage to bring you one of most unique short animated films I’ve seen in a long time from some very creative folks in Japan (all made without a single drop of CG): PiKAPiKA THE MOVIE Using stop-motion animation and time-lapse photography techniques the film was shot in Tokyo over a period of 10 nights, using 77 people, different coloured flashlights, and a digital camera with a long exposure to capture over 16,000 frames (behind the scenes). It’s no small feat for a semi-amateur production and the end result certainly has the wow factor. A group in Germany called Lichtfaktor do something similar for a living and have made some seriously cool tv ads which you can find on their website.…

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