"Archive as Method: An Interview with Chantal Wong, Hammad Nasar and Lydia Ngai" of the Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong. Final #OpenCurating interview.
Wed, May 1 2013
"Archive as Method: An interview with Chantal Wong, Hammad Nasar and Lydia Ngai" of the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, is available on ISSUU to view on screen and is also downloadable. Also available as a pdf on Latitudes' web.
…And last, but certainly not least, our #OpenCurating research concludes with an interview with three members of the amazing Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong.
Asia Art Archive (AAA) was founded in 2000 with the mission of documenting, securing and making easily available information on the history of contemporary art in Asia within an international context. Based in the Sheung Wan district of Hong Kong, the non-profit organisation holds hundreds of thousands of physical and digital items. AAA aims to stimulate dialogue and critical thinking about how the region’s art histories are told and to “facilitate understanding, research, and writing in the field, enrich existing global narratives, and re-imagine the role of the archive”. Through its website – aaa.org.hk – AAA offers access to a wealth of digital material including scanned images, correspondence, artists’ personal documents, audio and video of performance art, artist talks, lectures, and events. A broad range of initiatives including the journal Field Notes, research grants, residencies, symposia, exhibitions and teaching workshops address the core of AAA’s commitment “to create a collection belonging to the public, existing not in an enclosed space, but in a space that is open and productive, generating new ideas and works that continually reshape the Archive itself”.
Follow:
@LTTDS
#OpenCurating
@AsiaArtArchive
ABOUT #OPENCURATING
What "old rules" about art programming, production and distribution has the internet broken? What challenges, expectations, and new possibilities does digital culture and social media present to contemporary art institutions? To what degree are curators, media teams, publishers and archivists concerned with a dialogue with their audiences? #OpenCurating has investigated these questions through how new forms of culture, participation and connectivity are being developed both on site and on line.
The research was structured around three elements. Ten new interviews were produced and published as free digital editions as well as via Issuu; a Twitter thread was moderated around the hashtag #OpenCurating; and a public conversation (transcribed as interview #7) between Latitudes and Yasmil Raymond, Curator of Dia Art Foundation, New York, was held on 19 February 2013 at the Auditorium of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA).
#OpenCurating was a research project by Latitudes produced through La Capella. BCN Producció 2012 of the Institut de Cultura de Barcelona.
Content partners: Walker Art Center
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Visita de la Comisión de Programas de Hangar a los estudios de los artistas residentes, 24 Abril 2013, Barcelona
Mon, Apr 29 2013
El pasado 24 de Abril de 2013, cinco miembros de la Comisión de Programas 2010–2013 de Hangar (formado por Àlex Mitrani, Joan Vilapuig, Jordi Mitjà, Dora Garcia (ausente) y Max Andrews y Mariana Cánepa Luna de Latitudes) realizó una de las visitas periódicas a los artistas residentes en el centro de Poble Nou, en este caso a Llobet y Pons; Quim Packard; Aggtelek; Rasmus Nilausen; Marla Jacarilla, Raúl Nieves (blablabLAB) y Mireia c. Saladrigues.
A continuación un breve sumario que recoge los tuits que publicamos durante la visita (véase https://twitter.com/lttds).
Llobet y Pons (dúo formado por Jasmina Llobet y Luis Fernandez Pons) acaban de participar en la Setouchi Triennale 2013, Japón, donde han presentado la pieza "No one wins – Minibasket". Asímismo hemos visto sus últimas investigaciones con piezas realizadas con pasta dental endurecida; al pulido de diamantes que realizaron durante una residencia en Lokaal01, Amberes, o sobre la reconversión de materiales, como es el caso de 'Ex-Fork' presentada recientemente en Can Felipa.
Quim Packard actualmente está desarrollando "Historias de amor y odio", un "relato en formado dibujo que se emite diariamente, a partir del 15 de abril, vía redes sociales (véase tumblr aquí) y que finaliza en un concierto / performance en la Capsa Jove de Tarragona, el día 24 de abril a las 19h; en motivo de la presentación de la publicación 2012 del CA Tarragona Centro de Arte" (web de Hangar).
En el estudio del dúo Aggtelek (Gema Perales and Xandro Valles) vimos la serie de pinturas realizadas a partir de collages que envían a una de las fábricas de producción (prácticamente mecánica) de pintura en China para su realización. Éstas han sido recientemente presentadas en la Galería José Robles en Madrid, y próximamente se presentará un conjunto similar en 18a edición de la feria Liste en Basilea con la galería Exile de Berlin.
Marla Jacarilla fue ganadora de la reciente convocatoria BCN Producció 2013 con el proyecto "Acotaciones tras la cuarta pared" que inaugurará el próximo 15 de Mayo en el Espai Cub de La Capella en Barcelona. "'Acotaciones tras la cuarta pared' es un drama en cuatro actos cuyo tono oscila entre lo trágico, cómico, fársico y metalingüístico. Una historia en la que un presunto demiurgo conversa con personajes existentes que pertenecen a otras obras teatrales y que se han trasladado al momento actual" (web de La Capella).
En el 2012 Rasmus Nilausen expuso 'Sisyphus, rhopography and a headless chicken' (ver video) en el espacio de La Capella (como ganador de la convocatoria BCN Producció 2012), Barcelona y en el 2013 tuvo la exposición 'Still' en la nueva galería madrileña García Galería.
Raúl Nieves del dúo blablabLAB nos presentó su trabajo con impresoras 3D y herramientas de código libre que realiza a través de talleres programados periódicamente desde Hangar.
La entrevista con Mireia c. Saladrigues tuvo lugar via skype ya que se encuentra preparando 'No tocar, por favor', una exposición colectiva en el ARTIUM de Vitoria comisariada por Jorge Luis Marzo (blog del proyecto aquí) que inaugura en un par de semanas.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
"Free Forms: An interview with Lauren Cornell", Curator, 2015 Triennial, Digital Projects and Museum as Hub, New Museum, New York. 9th in the #OpenCurating interview series.
Wed, Apr 24 2013
"Free Forms: An interview with Lauren Cornell" is available on ISSUU to view on screen and is also downloadable. It is also available as pdf format via Latitudes' web.
After serving for seven years as Executive Director of new media non-profit Rhizome, in 2012 Lauren Cornell was appointed “Curator, 2015 Triennial, Digital Projects and Museum as Hub” of the New Museum, New York. During her tenure at Rhizome – a New Museum affiliate – Cornell initiated programmes including the annual Seven on Seven conference series, which bridges contemporary art and technology fields by pairing technological innovators with visual artists and challenging them to develop something over the course of a day. At the New Museum, Cornell was part of the curatorial team for The Generational: Younger Than Jesus (2009) and has curated exhibitions including Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’ Black on White Gray Ascending (2007), and Free (2010), a group show that examined “how the internet has changed our landscape of information and our notion of public space”. She is currently preparing the 2015 Triennial, the institution’s signature exhibition, which she will curate together with artist and filmmaker Ryan Trecartin.
Follow:
@LTTDS
#OpenCurating
@newmuseum
@lcornell
#MuseumAsHub
ABOUT #OPENCURATING
Drawing on the emerging practices of so-called 'Open Journalism' – which seek to better collaborate with and use the ability of anyone to publish and share – #OpenCurating is a research project that investigates how contemporary art projects may function beyond the traditional format of exhibition-and-catalogue. #OpenCurating is concerned with new forms of interaction between publics – whether online followers or physical visitors – with artworks and their production, display and discursive context.
The project is articulated around a series of ten new interviews with curators, artists, writers and online strategists published as a free digital edition [read here the published ones so far], a Twitter discussion moderated around the hashtag #OpenCurating and an public conversation with Dia Art Foundation curator which took place at MACBA on the 19 February.
#OpenCurating is a research project by Latitudes produced through La Capella. BCN Producció 2012 of the Institut de Cultura de Barcelona.
Content partners: Walker Art Center
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Report from the 2013 congress of the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (IKT) in Madrid, 18–21 April
Tue, Apr 23 2013The programme of the 2013 congress of IKT, the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art, included meetings at the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Móstoles as well as at Centro Cultural Matadero Madrid and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, where the IKT Members Forum, Symposium and General Assembly were held.
"Curating Value", the topic of this year's symposium organised by Brussels-based independent curator Zoë Gray, included the participation of Barnabás Bencsik (the recently forced-out director of the Ludwig Museum in Budapest), French artist Pierre Bismuth, Spanish curator and consultant María de Corral, London-based curator and theorist Dr. Simon Sheikh and Greek artist and Athens Biennial co-director, Poka-Yio.
Following is our photo diary documenting a few moments of these five days in Madrid alongside the organisers' schedule, starting the Pre-Congress programme on Thursday afternoon with a first meeting at Espacio Trapézio at the Mercado de San Antón and ending on Monday morning with the Post-Congress programme which included studio visits to Fernando Sánchez Castillo and Cristina Lucas.
Friday, 19th April 2013
Buses depart from Plaza del Emperador Carlos V/ Atocha (opposite the renowned El Brillante bar) for Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M) in Móstoles.
IKT Members Forum. Opening of the congress, welcome and greetings.
Exhibition visits: Pop Politics: Activismos a 33 revoluciones curated by Iván López Munuera and Hailil Altindere curated by CA2M Director, Ferran Barenblit.
Buses depart for Fundación Banco Santander (Boadilla del Monte) to visit the exhibition "Out of the House. Contemporary Art Cranford Collection", curated by Anne Pontégnie and Muriel Salem.
Buses depart for Ivory Press. Exhibition visit: Ilya & Emilia Kabakov.
Walk to Galería Liebre. Exhibition visit: Ideas y presupuestos. Curator: Martí Manen.
Ideas and budgets for possible artworks by artists Sebastian Beyro, Black Tulip, Bonus Extra, Kalle Brolin, Priscila Fernandes, Guillem Juan Sancho, Sandra Paula Fernández, Ana García Pineda, Luis Pérez Calvo, Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum, Laramascoto, Connie Mendoza, Carlos Motta, Carl Palm, Pepo Salazar, Yes.
Visit to the Tabacalera Espacio Promoción del Arte. Exhibition visit: José Manuel Ballester “Bosques de Luz”. Curators: María de Corral and Lorena Martínez de Corral.
Saturday, 20th April 2013
Caixaforum. Exhibition: 'Maestros del Caos. Artistas y Chamanes'.
Walk to Medialab Prado, Calle Alameda 15, which officially opened its doors a day before our visit.
Walk to La Casa Encendida, Ronda de Valencia 2.
Exhibitions: Generaciones 2013. Proyectos de Arte Caja Madrid.
Albert Oehlen, Moderne Farbkonzepte. Curator: Christian Domínguez.
Lunch offered by La Casa Encendida in their terrace.
Buses depart for Matadero Madrid, Plaza de Legazpi 1, 28045 Madrid.
Archivo de Creadores de Madrid, offering "physical and online documentation on 150 young artists or collectives of 17 different nationalities with links to the city of Madrid."
IKT Symposium “Curating Value” at the Cineteca.
Exhibition visits. Abierto x Obras: Candela. Los Carpinteros . Curator: Manuela Villa; and Arqueológica, curated by Virginia Torrente. Followed by a dinner and party offered by Matadero Madrid.
IKT General Assembly in the Auditorio 200, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS).
One of the issues to discuss during the General Assembly was to decide on the next venue/city to host the IKT Congress 2014 and 2015. The members voted that CCA Derry-Londonderry would host the 2014 event (the bid included visiting the biennial Eva International in Limerick) and that Vienna's Kunsthalle Wien to host the following year.
Here Johan Lundh co-director of CCA Derry-Londonderry during his presentation for Derry-Londonderry to host the 2014 IKT Congress.
Exhibition visits: Colección I. 1900-1945; Colección II. 1945-1968; Colección III. 1962-1982; Cristina Iglesias; Robert Adams. el lugar donde vivimos. Una selección retrospectiva de fotografías; La invención concreta. Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros; and Azucena Vieites. (Programa Fisuras).
(End of congress & beginning of Post-Congress)
Afternoon gallery visits around c/ Doctor Fourquet:
NoguerasBlanchard, with the exhibition "Can’t Hear My Eyes" curated by Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk.
MaisterraValbuena, with the exhibition "Entre lo fugitivo y lo infinito" curated by Anja Isabel Schneider.
García Galería with the exhibition "En la zona gris" curated by Virginia Torrente.
Moisés Pérez Albéniz with an exhibition of Antoni Muntadas (below).
Helga de Alvear with an exhibition of works by Prudencio Irazabal.
Fúcares, with the exhibition "Escópico-Esconder(se)-Escaparcurated" by Juan Francisco Rueda.
Visit to artists studios at Rampa in the Carabanchel neighbourhood, Madrid.
Bus departs for Colección Inelcom at the Ciudad de la Imagen, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid. Artistic direction of the collection: Vicente Todolí.
The circa 3,000m2 headquarters at Ciudad de la Imagen, hold 72 works by 24 artists, including Pavel Büchler, Anthony McCall, Markus Schinwald, Ernesto Neto, Sophie Calle, Kader Attia, Candice Breitz, Ceal Floyer, Fiona Tan and Fernando Bryce's 'Work in Progress' (2006) a suite of 80 ink drawings (below).
Monday, 22th April 2013
Visit artists studios: Fernando Sánchez Castillo and Cristina Lucas.
Espacio Valverde group show included a work by Antonio R. Montesinos, one of the members of Rampa.
AVE back to Barcelona... end of journey.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
2013, Centro dos de Mayo, collaboration, congress, conversations, curators, exhibition-making, galleries, IKT, madrid, Matadero, modes of assembly, production, Reina Sofia, report, studio visit, symposium, value
"Curating Value", the topic of this year's symposium organised by Brussels-based independent curator Zoë Gray, included the participation of Barnabás Bencsik (the recently forced-out director of the Ludwig Museum in Budapest), French artist Pierre Bismuth, Spanish curator and consultant María de Corral, London-based curator and theorist Dr. Simon Sheikh and Greek artist and Athens Biennial co-director, Poka-Yio.
Following is our photo diary documenting a few moments of these five days in Madrid alongside the organisers' schedule, starting the Pre-Congress programme on Thursday afternoon with a first meeting at Espacio Trapézio at the Mercado de San Antón and ending on Monday morning with the Post-Congress programme which included studio visits to Fernando Sánchez Castillo and Cristina Lucas.
Friday, 19th April 2013
Buses depart from Plaza del Emperador Carlos V/ Atocha (opposite the renowned El Brillante bar) for Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M) in Móstoles.
IKT Members Forum. Opening of the congress, welcome and greetings.
Each of the +/- 120 members and guests had 90 seconds to introduce themselves to the rest and quickly explain what projects they were currently developing.
Exhibition visits: Pop Politics: Activismos a 33 revoluciones curated by Iván López Munuera and Hailil Altindere curated by CA2M Director, Ferran Barenblit.
Lyota Yagi, Vinyl
(2005) plays the melodies of Debussy's “Clair de Lune” and “Moon River”
by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini on a record player from a record
made of ice created with a silicon mould.
Lunch offered by CA2M at the Terrace.
Buses depart for Fundación Banco Santander (Boadilla del Monte) to visit the exhibition "Out of the House. Contemporary Art Cranford Collection", curated by Anne Pontégnie and Muriel Salem.
Sci-Fi-like building of the Fundación Banco Santander in the Ciudad Financiera, Boadilla del Monte.
The exhibition space holds a collection of Spanish currency. Here, the last pesetas notes that used to circulate before 2002.
View of the galleries presenting London's Cranford Collection. Holdings include mostly British art (Sarah Lucas, Rachel Whiteread, Damien Hirst, Phil Collins, Paul Noble, Eva Rothschild, Rebecca Warren, Gillian Wearing), but also pieces by Franz West, Albert Oehlen, Martin Kippenberger, Pierre Huyghe and Thomas Schütte.
You can also visit it virtually.
More blue chip works, by Damien Hirst (Something or Nothing, 2004).
Our Love Is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea and the Hours, 2002 by Martin Boyce.
(Foreground) Jim Lambie's Sweet Exorcist, 2005.
(Foreground) Rebeca Warren, Log Lady, 2003.
Franz West, Appartment (2001)
Buses depart for Ivory Press. Exhibition visit: Ilya & Emilia Kabakov.
Tour through Ivory Press' artist books production with heavy weights like Noguchi, Chillida, Kapoor, Kiefer, Bacon...
...and of course Damien Hirst (again). Here The Holy Trinity explained in percentages, a part of a much larger sculptural/archive piece produced by Ivory Press.
View of Ilya & Emilia Kabakov's show Vertical Paintings and Other Worlds.
Walk to Galería Liebre. Exhibition visit: Ideas y presupuestos. Curator: Martí Manen.
Ideas and budgets for possible artworks by artists Sebastian Beyro, Black Tulip, Bonus Extra, Kalle Brolin, Priscila Fernandes, Guillem Juan Sancho, Sandra Paula Fernández, Ana García Pineda, Luis Pérez Calvo, Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum, Laramascoto, Connie Mendoza, Carlos Motta, Carl Palm, Pepo Salazar, Yes.
Visit to the Tabacalera Espacio Promoción del Arte. Exhibition visit: José Manuel Ballester “Bosques de Luz”. Curators: María de Corral and Lorena Martínez de Corral.
Entrance to Tabacalera, Espacio Promoción de Arte.
Tabacalera also shares spaces with La Tabacalera Centro Social Autogestionado (follow @latabacalera), where over 30 organisations self-manage their own spaces sharing, garden areas, storage, a stage, bar facilities, etc.
Saturday, 20th April 2013
Caixaforum. Exhibition: 'Maestros del Caos. Artistas y Chamanes'.
Walk to Medialab Prado, Calle Alameda 15, which officially opened its doors a day before our visit.
Exhibitions: Generaciones 2013. Proyectos de Arte Caja Madrid.
Albert Oehlen, Moderne Farbkonzepte. Curator: Christian Domínguez.
Lunch offered by La Casa Encendida in their terrace.
Buses depart for Matadero Madrid, Plaza de Legazpi 1, 28045 Madrid.
Manuela Villa, Head of Contents at Matadero introduces the different areas of the 80,000m2 of the former slaughterhouse and its programmes, including the Programa de Pensamiento Matadero Madrid; Intermediae Laboratory for the production of projects and social innovation and Archivo de Creadores (Documentation of 150 Madrid-based contemporary artists).
Fernando García-Dory of Campo Adentro working at Matadero Madrid.
Archivo de Creadores de Madrid, offering "physical and online documentation on 150 young artists or collectives of 17 different nationalities with links to the city of Madrid."
IKT Symposium “Curating Value” at the Cineteca.
"Curating Value" symposium at the Cineteca, Matadero Madrid.
Left to right: Zoë Gray, Pierre Bismuth, Dr. Simon Sheikh Poka-Yio, Maria de Corral and Barnabás Bencsik.
Candela, site-specific work by Los Carpinteros at the Abierto x Obras space.
Pedro Barateiro's piece The Negative Reader, 2012-13, included in the group exhibition Arqueológica in Nave 16.
Mariana Castillo Deball, five dance costumes produced by artisans in Yautepec in Morelos, used to perform the Brinco de los Chinelos dance during the Carnival. Part of the group exhibition Arqueológica in Nave 16.
Sunday, 21th April 2013IKT General Assembly in the Auditorio 200, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS).
One of the issues to discuss during the General Assembly was to decide on the next venue/city to host the IKT Congress 2014 and 2015. The members voted that CCA Derry-Londonderry would host the 2014 event (the bid included visiting the biennial Eva International in Limerick) and that Vienna's Kunsthalle Wien to host the following year.
Exhibition visits: Colección I. 1900-1945; Colección II. 1945-1968; Colección III. 1962-1982; Cristina Iglesias; Robert Adams. el lugar donde vivimos. Una selección retrospectiva de fotografías; La invención concreta. Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros; and Azucena Vieites. (Programa Fisuras).
Favourite Gego mobile, "Reticularea" (1973–76), in the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
Favourite Jesús Soto, "Pre-penetrable" from 1957 in the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
Wonderful 1967 Tropicália by Hélio Oiticica in the "Colección III, 1962-1982" (above and below).
Afternoon gallery visits around c/ Doctor Fourquet:
NoguerasBlanchard, with the exhibition "Can’t Hear My Eyes" curated by Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk.
MaisterraValbuena, with the exhibition "Entre lo fugitivo y lo infinito" curated by Anja Isabel Schneider.
Isidoro Valcárcel–Medina, Conducto, 2013. From the press release: "On the occasion of this exhibition project, Isidoro Valcárcel Medina proposes a site-specific intervention on the floor in the gallerys entrance zone. With a critical, at times provocative stance towards the art market, voiced among others in Ley del Arte - Ley reguladora del ejercicio, disfrute y comercialización del Arte (1992), Valcárcel Medinas work sees art and life interrelated, inviting the spectator above all to an experience."
García Galería with the exhibition "En la zona gris" curated by Virginia Torrente.
Joaquín García of García Galería introducing the meteorite piece by Belén Rodríguez González
Helga de Alvear with an exhibition of works by Prudencio Irazabal.
Fúcares, with the exhibition "Escópico-Esconder(se)-Escaparcurated" by Juan Francisco Rueda.
Visit to artists studios at Rampa in the Carabanchel neighbourhood, Madrid.
Found photograph in the former car repair shop that existed before Rampa.
IKT members listening to Rampa's presentation and questions on curating and the artist-curator relationship.
Bus departs for Colección Inelcom at the Ciudad de la Imagen, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid. Artistic direction of the collection: Vicente Todolí.
The circa 3,000m2 headquarters at Ciudad de la Imagen, hold 72 works by 24 artists, including Pavel Büchler, Anthony McCall, Markus Schinwald, Ernesto Neto, Sophie Calle, Kader Attia, Candice Breitz, Ceal Floyer, Fiona Tan and Fernando Bryce's 'Work in Progress' (2006) a suite of 80 ink drawings (below).
Monday, 22th April 2013
Visit artists studios: Fernando Sánchez Castillo and Cristina Lucas.
How many curators can you fit in an artist studio?
Espacio Valverde group show included a work by Antonio R. Montesinos, one of the members of Rampa.
AVE back to Barcelona... end of journey.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
"Digression(s), Entry Point(s): An interview with Heman Chong", Singapore-based artist, curator and writer. Eighth in the #OpenCurating research series
Tue, Apr 2 2013
Cover of the interview. Photo: Joan Kee.
Interview available for download as a pdf or readable on ISSUU via Latitudes' web.
The interview was initiated at Spring Workshop, Hong Kong, in the context of Chong’s invitation to Latitudes to make a curatorial residency as part of Moderation(s), a year-long series of programming between Spring and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam. "Digression(s), Entry Point(s): An interview with Heman Chong" also includes a guest spot with Gotherburg-based artist and writer Anthony Marcellini.
Follow:
@LTTDS
#OpenCurating
@HemanChong
#Moderations
ABOUT #OPENCURATING
Drawing on the emerging practices of so-called 'Open Journalism' – which seek to better collaborate with and use the ability of anyone to publish and share – #OpenCurating is a research project that investigates how contemporary art projects may function beyond the traditional format of exhibition-and-catalogue. #OpenCurating is concerned with new forms of interaction between publics – whether online followers or physical visitors – with artworks and their production, display and discursive context.
The project is articulated around a series of ten new interviews with curators, artists, writers and online strategists published as a free digital edition [read here the published ones so far], a Twitter discussion moderated around the hashtag #OpenCurating and an public conversation with Dia Art Foundation curator which took place at MACBA on the 19 February.
#OpenCurating is a research project by Latitudes produced through La Capella. BCN Producció 2012 of the Institut de Cultura de Barcelona.
Content partners: Walker Art Center
–
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Report from Dublin and Derry-Londonderry: research trip to Ireland, 8–14 March 2013
Sat, Mar 16 2013
View of Dublin's 1816 Ha'penny Bridge nearby Temple Bar.
Invited by Dublin City Council: The Arts Office, Latitudes visited art spaces, artists' studios and galleries in Dublin and Derry-Londonderry throughout the week.
The schedule included visits to the Red Stables Studios; Temple Bar Gallery + Studios; Fire Station Artists' Studios; Green On Red Gallery; Kevin Kavanagh Gallery and Project Arts Centre - Visual Arts, as well as talks by Latitudes to students of the MA in Visual Arts Practices (MAVIS) (8 March, 3pm), and at the recently inaugurated CCA Derry~Londonderry (9 March, 7pm) as well as participation in the seminar "Within the Public Realm" at the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane (12 March, 2–5pm), alongside curator Aisling Prior and the artist Sean Lynch.
Latitudes
was invited to Dublin in the context of the Barcelona Mayor's visit to
Dublin and the renewing of the twinning agreement between the two
cities. Here a coffee table at the Lord Mayor's Mansion House displays "Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape" and "Barcelona" books.
Talking to MA in Visual Arts Practice (MAVIS) students at The Lab on 8 March. Photo: @lemuela
9 March: After +4h bus ride north, we arrive at Centre for Contemporary Art in Derry–Londonderry for a talk that evening at 7pm.
View of CCA's galleries hosting the touring exhibition The Grand Domestic Revolution GOES ON (GDR), which in Derry-Londonderry "focuses on the contemporary working conditions of caregivers—primarily mothers and grandmothers—in the domestic sphere."
In the galleries, two of the London-based design collective Åbäke (Patrick Lacey, Benjamin Reichen, Kajsa Ståhl and Maki Suzuki), building a bed inspired by a 1970s design by Enzo Mari.
Sunday walk around the Bloody Sunday Memorial and the Bogside area of Derry-Londonderry.
Two of the murals around Bogside.
Ernesto Che Guevara Lynch mural in Derry-Londonderry's Bogside.
With Aileen and Johan at Kinnagoe Bay in Donegal, site of 1588 shipwreck of one of the Spanish Armada ships.
11 March: Back to our temporary home in Dublin's The Red Stables in St. Anne's Park.
A windswept North Bull Island looking towards the city.
12 March: Studio visits at Temple Bar Studios + Gallery in the heart of the city.
Setting up for the 2–5pm talk at The Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery organised by MAVIS, The Hugh Lane and Dublin City Council.
After the seminar, artists Sean Lynch and Michele Horrigan took us to see the 'failed' Richard Serra nearby the Guiness factory.
Studio of Martin Healy in Fire Station Artists' Studios and his work around perpetual motion.
Artist Maria Mc Kinney research on wheat weaving and straw craft techniques for her project 'Garlands'.
Karl Burke "wooden drawings" photos and renderings.
Crossing the Sean O'Casey bridge to begin a gallery tour including Green on Red Gallery, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Project Arts Space and Temple Bar Studios + Gallery, with Dublin-based critic, curator and Senior Lecturer at the School of Irish, Celtic, Folklore & Linguistics, Caioimhin MacGiolla Leith.
Group show "Material Fact" at Green On Red Gallery included works by Silvia Bächli, Paul Doran, Dennis McNulty and Gerard Byrne (photographed), one of the more well-known Irish artists.
'Detached' group show at Project Arts Centre, guest curated by The Artists' Institute director and founder Anthony Huberman, recently appointed Director of CCA Wattis in San Francisco.
Alice Channer's "Amphibians" (left) and Sunah Choi's "Abdrucke (Imprints)", 2011-13 (wall)
Gathering plenty of material during studio visits, lunches, dinners and meetings.
Collection of books on domestic spaces, DYI, cooking, gardening, self-build architecture, urban planning, etc. accompany the The Grand Domestic Revolution GOES ON (GDR) exhibition.
Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh, co-directors of CCA Derry–Londonderry, hosted a wonderful Thai pre-talk dinner.
Sunday walk around the Bloody Sunday Memorial and the Bogside area of Derry-Londonderry.
Visitor Centre at North Bull Island.
12 March: Studio visits at Temple Bar Studios + Gallery in the heart of the city.
Temple Bar Studios + Gallery, a former shirt-factory building, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Setting up for the 2–5pm talk at The Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery organised by MAVIS, The Hugh Lane and Dublin City Council.
13 March: Visiting the sculpture workshop facilities of Fire Station Artists' Studios with Development Manager Liz Burns and Director Clodagh Kenny.
Temple Bar Studios + Gallery, hosted 'Or tears, Of Course' a solo show of British artist Ed Atkins (photos above and below).
Gathering plenty of material during studio visits, lunches, dinners and meetings.
The minimal education department are doing a great job at dynamising the nicknamed "Dead Zoo" or "Museum of Museums": The 5 year old giraffe has her own twitter account @SpotticusNH and they will soon host a "night at the museum" event where a few kids will be able to sleep (or try to) in the museum galleries.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
"Host and Ambassador: A Conversation with Yasmil Raymond" Curator of Dia Art Foundation, New York. Seventh in the #OpenCurating research series
Thu, Mar 7 2013
Yasmil Raymond has been the curator of Dia Art Foundation in New York since 2009. Previously, between 2004–9, she worked at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. At Dia she has organised exhibitions and projects with artists including Jean-Luc Moulène, Yvonne Rainer, Ian Wilson, Robert Whitman, Koo Jeong A, Franz Erhard Walther and Trisha Brown. She is currently working on the retrospective Carl Andre: Sculpture as Place, 1958–2010, due to open in May 2014, as well as on Gramsci Monument, a project by Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn that begins this July.
The published text [available via Latitudes' web on pdf and ISSUU format] is a transcription of a conversation between Raymond and Latitudes that took place on 19 February 2013 at the auditorium of the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), as the public event of Latitudes’ #OpenCurating research. The conversation begins with an overview of this research, followed by a brief introduction to Dia and its projects since 1974. It incorporates “crowd-sourced” questions that were received via Twitter and Facebook, including from Raymond’s current and former work colleagues, and concludes with questions from the audience.
 |
| Interview with Yasmil Raymond available via Latitudes' web as a pdf and in ISSUU format. |
ABOUT #OPENCURATING
Drawing on the emerging practices of so-called 'Open Journalism' – which seek to better collaborate with and use the ability of anyone to publish and share – #OpenCurating is a research project that investigates how contemporary art projects may function beyond the traditional format of exhibition-and-catalogue. #OpenCurating is concerned with new forms of interaction between publics – whether online followers or physical visitors – with artworks and their production, display and discursive context.
The project is articulated around a series of ten new interviews with curators, artists, writers and online strategists published as a free digital edition [read here the published ones so far], a Twitter discussion moderated around the hashtag #OpenCurating and an public conversation with Dia Art Foundation curator which took place at MACBA on the 19 February.
#OpenCurating is a research project by Latitudes produced through La Capella. BCN Producció 2012 of the Institut de Cultura de Barcelona.
Content partners: Walker Art Center
All photos above: Joan Morey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
#OpenCurating: "Latitudes in conversation with Yasmil Raymond", Curator, Dia Art Foundation, New York. Tuesday 19 February, 19:30h. Auditori MACBA, Barcelona
Mon, Feb 11 2013
Dia Art Foundation curator, Yasmil Raymond. Photo: Lina Bertucci
| ENG |
"Latitudes in conversation with Yasmil Raymond"
Tuesday 19 February 2013, 19:30h
Auditori MACBA, Barcelona
Free admission. Limited seating. With simultaneous translation.
This event is part of Latitudes' ongoing #OpenCurating research, which analyses the implications of Web 2.0, participation and transparency for contemporary art production and programming. The core of #OpenCurating is formed through a series of interviews, freely available online, most recently with Steven ten Thije (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), Sònia López and Anna Ramos (MACBA, Barcelona), and Badlands Unlimited (New York).
The conversation with Dia Art Foundation's curator Yasmil Raymond will address Dia's historical identity, the evolving role of the curator, and Raymond's vision in commissioning and preserving art projects. The dialogue will be later transcribed and published as the seventh interview of the #OpenCurating research series.
The evening will incorporate "crowd-sourced" questions by the public previously solicited via Twitter (hashtag #OpenCurating) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LTTDS).
"Latitudes in conversation with Yasmil Raymond"
Tuesday 19 February 2013, 19:30h
Auditori MACBA, Barcelona
Free admission. Limited seating. With simultaneous translation.
This event is part of Latitudes' ongoing #OpenCurating research, which analyses the implications of Web 2.0, participation and transparency for contemporary art production and programming. The core of #OpenCurating is formed through a series of interviews, freely available online, most recently with Steven ten Thije (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), Sònia López and Anna Ramos (MACBA, Barcelona), and Badlands Unlimited (New York).
The conversation with Dia Art Foundation's curator Yasmil Raymond will address Dia's historical identity, the evolving role of the curator, and Raymond's vision in commissioning and preserving art projects. The dialogue will be later transcribed and published as the seventh interview of the #OpenCurating research series.
The evening will incorporate "crowd-sourced" questions by the public previously solicited via Twitter (hashtag #OpenCurating) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LTTDS).
Yasmil Raymond has been Curator at the Dia Art Foundation since 2009, where she has organized exhibitions and projects with artists such as Jean-Luc Moulène (2012); Yvonne Rainer (2011-12); Koo Jeong A (2010-11); Franz Erhard Walther (2010-2012); and Trisha Brown (2009-10). Prior to joining Dia, Raymond worked at the Walker Art Center (2004–2009) in Minneapolis where she organized solo exhibitions with Tomás Saraceno (2009), Tino Sehgal (2007) and group exhibitions including Abstract Resistance (2010); Brave New Worlds (2007, co-curated with Doryun Chong). Raymond studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1999) and the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (2004).
As a non-profit institution founded in 1974, the Dia Art Foundation is renowned for initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving art projects. Between 1987 and 2004, the Dia Center for the Arts in Chelsea, New York, saw presented site-specific exhibitions and projects including those by Robert Gober, Jenny Holzer, Jorge Pardo and Pierre Huyghe. Dia:Beacon opened in 2003 in upstate New York, as the home for Dia’s distinguished collection of art from the 1960s to the present. Dia Art Foundation maintains long-term, site-specific projects including Walter De Maria’s The New York Earth Room (1977) and The Broken Kilometer (1979), Max Neuhaus’s Times Square (1977), Joseph Beuys’s 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks) (1988), and Dan Flavin’s untitled (1996), all in Manhattan; the Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton, New York; De Maria’s The Vertical Earth Kilometer (1977) in Kassel, Germany; Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) in the Great Salt Lake, Utah; and De Maria’s The Lightning Field (1977) in Quemado, New Mexico. Currently Dia is developing a project space on West 22nd Street in New York City.
#OpenCurating is a research project by Latitudes produced through BCN Producció 2012. La Capella, Barcelona City Council.
Content partner: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis / walkerart.org
Related posts:
"Host and Ambassador: A Conversation with Yasmil Raymond" Curator of Dia Art Foundation, New York. Seventh in the #OpenCurating research series (7 March 2013)
| ES |
"Latitudes conversa con Yasmil Raymond"
Martes 19 de febrero, 19:30h
Auditori MACBA, Barcelona Entrada gratuita. Aforo limitado. Con traducción simultánea.
Este evento es parte del proyecto de investigación #OpenCurating de Latitudes, enfocado en el análisis de las implicaciones de la web 2.0, así como la expectación de participación y transparencia, en la producción y programación de arte contemporáneo. El núcleo de #OpenCurating consiste en una serie de diez entrevistas, disponibles en línea y gratuitas, con artistas, comisarios y escritores tales como Steven ten Thije (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), Sònia López and Anna Ramos (MACBA, Barcelona), y Badlands Unlimited (Nueva York).
La conversación con la comisaria del Dia Art Foundation, Yasmil Raymond se centrará en la identidad histórica del Dia, la evolución del rol del comisario y la visión de Raymond en el encargo y el comisariado de proyectos artísticos. La charla será posteriormente transcrita y se publicará como la séptima entrevista en la serie #OpenCurating .
La sesión incorporará preguntas previamente enviadas por el público a través de Twitter (@LTTDS con hashtag #OpenCurating) y Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LTTDS).
Yasmil Raymond ha sido Comisaria del Dia Art Foundation en Nueva York desde el 2009, donde ha organizado exposiciones y proyectos de artistas como Jean-Luc Moulène (2012); Yvonne Rainer (2011–12); Ian Wilson (2011–13); Robert Whitman (2011); Koo Jeong A (2010-11) (2010-11); Franz Erhard Walther (2010-2012); y Trisha Brown (2009–10). Anteriormente Raymond trabajó en el Walker Art Center en Minneapolis, donde organizó exposiciones individuals de Tomás Saraceno (2009), Tino Sehgal (2007) y exposiciones colectivas como Abstract Resistance (2010); Statements: Beuys, Flavin, Judd (2008); y Brave New Worlds (2007, co-comisariada con Doryun Chong). Raymond estudió en The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1999) y cursó un máster en el Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (2004).
Como institución sin ánimo de lucro fundada en el año 1974, el Dia Art Foundation es conocida por haber iniciado, apoyado, presentado y preservado proyectos artísticos. Entre 1987 y 2004, el Dia Center for the Arts en Chelsea, Nueva York, presentó exposiciones y proyectos site-specific de Robert Gober, Jenny Holzer, Jorge Pardo y Pierre Huyghe, entre otros. Dia: Beacon abrió sus puertas en 2003 en el norte del estado de Nueva York, como sede de la distinguida colección de arte desde la década de 1960 hasta la actualidad. Dia Art Foundation mantiene proyectos a largo plazo en sitios específicos tales como The New York Earth Room (1977) y The Broken Kilometer (1979) ambos de Walter De Maria; Times Square (1977) de Max Neuhaus, 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks) (1988) de Joseph Beuys; untitled (1996) de Dan Flavin, todos en Manhattan; el Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton, Nueva York; The Vertical Earth Kilometer (1977) de Walter De Maria en Kassel, Alemania; Spiral Jetty (1970) de Robert Smithson en Great Salt Lake, Utah; y The Lightning Field (1977) Walter De Maria en Quemado, Nuevo Mexico. En la actualidad, Dia está desarrollando un espacio para proyectos en la calle West 22nd de Nueva York.
#OpenCurating es un proyecto de investigación de Latitudes producido por La Capella. BCN Producció 2012 del Institut de Cultura de Barcelona.
Content partner: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis / walkerart.org
Contenido relacionado:"Host and Ambassador: A Conversation with Yasmil Raymond" Curator of Dia Art Foundation, New York. Seventh in the #OpenCurating research series (7 de marzo 2013)
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This is the blog of the independent curatorial office Latitudes. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in individual photo captions).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Latitudes' Open Day at Spring Workshop on 2 February 2013
Sat, Feb 9 2013
On February 2nd, 2013 Spring Workshop hosted an Open Day during which Latitudes discussed, together with Moderation(s) moderator Heman Chong, their month-long residency in Hong Kong. The contribution to the project consisted in realising the second iteration of "Incidents of Travel", with tours by Hong Kong-based artists Nadim Abbas (19 January), Yuk King Tan (24 January), Ho Sin Tung (29 January) and Samson Young (7 February) – amongst other explorations around the city, such as to Mai Po marshes, Feng Shui tour or to Devil's Peak.
The evening began tracing "Incidents of Travel"'s origins with itineraries and tours organised in previous projects such as the seminar-on-wheels for the 8th Sharjah Biennial (2007) as well as during Portscapes (2009) in the Port of Rotterdam. After introducing "Incidents of Travel" in Mexico City and the four tours in Hong Kong, we fielded questions from the audience and discussed the ongoing research project #OpenCurating and its origins with the editorial project realised for The Last Newspaper (2010) exhibition at the New Museum in New York.
Food time! Thai food from the neighbouring Cooked food Market on Nam Long Shan Road, Aberdeen.
Related contents:
Soundscapes of "Incidents of Travel" Hong Kong;
Storify "Incidents of Travel";
Flickr album of the four tours of "Incidents of Travel".
All photos: Spring Workshop.
Samson Young's "Incidents of Travel: Hong Kong" tour
Thu, Feb 7 2013As part of Moderation(s), the year-long
collaboration in 2013 between Witte de With, Rotterdam, and Spring Workshop, Hong Kong,
curators-in-residence Latitudes have invited artist Samson Young to develop a day-long tour of Hong Kong retelling
the city and artistic concerns through personal itineraries and
waypoints.
To complement the tour, please check the archive of twitter and facebook and SoundCloud posts.
#IncidentsOfTravel #Moderations
–
"Incidents of Travel: Hong Kong"
by Samson Young
7 February 2013
I am very envious of artists who are able to describe their practices in a manner that is concise, succinct, and consistent. To tell one’s life story is also to confess. I purge my catalogue of works and rebuild my identity (as told by images, sounds, and self-descriptions) every couple of years. Moderation(s) asks that I create a tour that “articulates the city and (my) artistic practice through routes and waypoints.” Are routes and waypoints more authentic than a studio visit? Are the vernacular, the eccentric and the marginal more “real,” in the same way that punk is real and techno apparently isn’t? The pressure to define the unique and the authentic is perhaps growing more urgent with globalization, but behind each assiduous defence of the authentic lies what Regina Bendix calls “unarticulated anxiety of losing the subject” (Bendix 1997).
During this tour, I eavesdrop on my own works in the presence of six others. We take an early morning sound-walk around the Kwun Tong industrial district, visit a site near the City Hall in Central where the now-demolished Queen's Pier was once located, and trespass the frontier closed area near the Hong Kong-China border. In between locations, we listen to recordings of music and/or read texts that have informed my work one way or another.
Around Kwun Tong's shops and markets. Photo: Spring Workshop.
Soundwalk-ing in a bus terminus. Photo: Spring Workshop.
I was born in Hong Kong but mostly educated in Australia. I’ve always felt that children of Mainland Chinese parents had an easier time answering the question, “Where are you from?” They simply say, “I’m Chinese.” I always feel more natural saying I’m from Hong Kong, rather than plainly stating that I’m Chinese. Or, if I say I’m Chinese, I feel the need to add the footnote that I was born in Hong Kong. I am frankly confused by all of this. For the longest time, I avoided identity politics in my work, but the national education saga in 2012 prompted me to revisit this issue.
Hong Kong and Mainland China are physically separated by the ShenzhenRiver and a great wall of wired fencing, and south to the border are restricted zones known as the Frontier Closed Area. Entry into the Frontier Closed Area without an official permit is strictly forbidden. In October 2005, the then chief executive Donald Tsang announced a proposal to drastically reduce the Frontier Closed Area. In February 2012, 740 hectares of land were initially opened up for public access. The proposal will be implemented in phases, and other areas will soon follow suit. Since July 2012, I had been systemically collecting the sound of places and/or objects that separate the two regions. I recorded the vibration of the wired fencing with contact microphones and the water sounds of the Shenzhen River with hydrophones. I rearranged these recordings into sound compositions. I then re-transcribed these sound collages into graphical notations.
Young introducing the making of the soundtrack "Liquid Borders" we are about to listen to.
Queen's Pier was a public pier in central in front of the City Hall. For decades it served not only as a public pier but also as a major ceremonial arrival and departure point. The pier witnessed the official arrival in Hong Kong of all of Hong Kong's governors since 1925; Elizabeth II landed there in 1975, as did the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1989. On 26 April 2007, the pier officially ceased operation. The government’s plan to demolish the pier to make way for a new highway was met with fierce opposition by conservationists. Despite the public outcry, Queen's Pier was demolished in the February of 2008.
I was living in New York when all of this happened. In 2009 I composed and directed a music theatre work entitled “God Save the Queen.” The work started out as a requiem for the Queen’s Pier. It evolved into a hymn to the structures, both physical and symbolic, of my teenage days – which were also the last of the colony’s. The performance was accompanied by a mixture of live footage from five theatre-based CCTV cameras, and pre-recorded clips of screen icon Helena Law Lan (who often played royalty for TV), dressed as the Queen.
The lotus pond, University of Hong Kong
I was what you might call a “straight-down-the-center” composer to begin with. For over a decade I operated only in the concert in the capacity of a composer of the Western classical tradition. Now I do all kinds of weird things in all sorts of weird places. Chan Hing-yan, my mentor during my years at HKU, had a looming influence on me. I think a lot of what I do today is a reaction against what (I imagine that) I’d learnt during those formative years – a sort of a “creative misreading” as Harold Bloom would put it.
University of Hong Kong in Pok Fu Lam.
Samson Young (1979) is a composer, sound artist and media artist. Young received training in computer music and composition at Princeton University under the supervision of computer music pioneer Paul Lansky. He is currently an assistant professor in sonic art and physical computing at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Young is also the principle investigator at the Laboratory for Ubiquitous Musical Expression (L.U.M.E), and artistic director of the experimental sound advocacy organization Contemporary Musiking. In 2007, he became the first from Hong Kong to receive the Bloomberg Emerging Artist Award for his audio-visual project “The Happiest Hour”. His brainwave non-performance “I am thinking in a room, different from the one you are hearing in now” received a Jury Selection award at the Japan Media Art Festival, and an honorary mention at the digital music and sound art category of Prix Ars Electronica.
Festival presentations and honours include Prix Ars Electronica (Austria 2012); Japan Media Art Festival (Japan 2012); Sydney Springs International New Music Festival (Australia 2001), the Canberra International Music Festival (Australia 2008), ISCM World Music Days (Australia 2010), MONA FOMA Festival of Music and Art (2011); the Bowdoin International Music Festival (US 2004), Bang on a Can Music Summer Music Festival (US 2005), Perspectives International Festival of Media Art (US 2009); Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (Germany 2006); Dark Music Days (Iceland 2008); Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival (Malaysia 2009); amongst others. His music received performances by Hong Kong Sinfonietta, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, London NASH Ensemble, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Bang on a Can and summer institute fellows, Network for New Music, New Millennium Ensemble, SO Percussion, Sydney Song Company, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, MIVOS Quartet, among others.
–
Related contents:
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
2013, Heman Chong, Hong Kong, Incidents of Travel, Moderations, Samson Young, Spring Workshop, tour, Witte de With
To complement the tour, please check the archive of twitter and facebook and SoundCloud posts.
#IncidentsOfTravel #Moderations
–
"Incidents of Travel: Hong Kong"
by Samson Young
7 February 2013
I am very envious of artists who are able to describe their practices in a manner that is concise, succinct, and consistent. To tell one’s life story is also to confess. I purge my catalogue of works and rebuild my identity (as told by images, sounds, and self-descriptions) every couple of years. Moderation(s) asks that I create a tour that “articulates the city and (my) artistic practice through routes and waypoints.” Are routes and waypoints more authentic than a studio visit? Are the vernacular, the eccentric and the marginal more “real,” in the same way that punk is real and techno apparently isn’t? The pressure to define the unique and the authentic is perhaps growing more urgent with globalization, but behind each assiduous defence of the authentic lies what Regina Bendix calls “unarticulated anxiety of losing the subject” (Bendix 1997).
During this tour, I eavesdrop on my own works in the presence of six others. We take an early morning sound-walk around the Kwun Tong industrial district, visit a site near the City Hall in Central where the now-demolished Queen's Pier was once located, and trespass the frontier closed area near the Hong Kong-China border. In between locations, we listen to recordings of music and/or read texts that have informed my work one way or another.
The sound walk begins at 75 Hung To Road in the industrial district of Kwun Tong.
Sound-walk:
75 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong
We begin the tour at 75 Hung To Road. I will conduct again a sound walk that I created back in 2009. Participants of the sound-walk follow me on a route through the Kwun Tong industrial district. To create this work I walked the same route a number of times at different dates and times, generating one full recording in each walkthrough. I then edited these recordings into a single soundtrack, to which the participants listen during the sound-walk. During the sound-walk, I follow my own footstep by listening to the sound marks in the soundtrack, to ensure that I am in sync with my recorded presence.
We begin the tour at 75 Hung To Road. I will conduct again a sound walk that I created back in 2009. Participants of the sound-walk follow me on a route through the Kwun Tong industrial district. To create this work I walked the same route a number of times at different dates and times, generating one full recording in each walkthrough. I then edited these recordings into a single soundtrack, to which the participants listen during the sound-walk. During the sound-walk, I follow my own footstep by listening to the sound marks in the soundtrack, to ensure that I am in sync with my recorded presence.
Samson Young leads us while listening to the 44 min. soundtrack "Kwun Tong Soundwalk" on mp3 players.
Young takes us through the bus station.
Photo: Spring Workshop.
Condemned industrial buildings around Kwun Tong.
 |
| More condemned buildings. When Young recorded the soundtrack in 2009 these places were still open, a proof of the swift gentrification of Kwun Tong. |
A short pause at Yue Man Square Rest Garden. Photo: Spring Workshop.
Soundwalk-ing in a bus terminus. Photo: Spring Workshop.
Tsim
Bei Tsui, Frontier Closed Area
I was born in Hong Kong but mostly educated in Australia. I’ve always felt that children of Mainland Chinese parents had an easier time answering the question, “Where are you from?” They simply say, “I’m Chinese.” I always feel more natural saying I’m from Hong Kong, rather than plainly stating that I’m Chinese. Or, if I say I’m Chinese, I feel the need to add the footnote that I was born in Hong Kong. I am frankly confused by all of this. For the longest time, I avoided identity politics in my work, but the national education saga in 2012 prompted me to revisit this issue.
Hong Kong and Mainland China are physically separated by the ShenzhenRiver and a great wall of wired fencing, and south to the border are restricted zones known as the Frontier Closed Area. Entry into the Frontier Closed Area without an official permit is strictly forbidden. In October 2005, the then chief executive Donald Tsang announced a proposal to drastically reduce the Frontier Closed Area. In February 2012, 740 hectares of land were initially opened up for public access. The proposal will be implemented in phases, and other areas will soon follow suit. Since July 2012, I had been systemically collecting the sound of places and/or objects that separate the two regions. I recorded the vibration of the wired fencing with contact microphones and the water sounds of the Shenzhen River with hydrophones. I rearranged these recordings into sound compositions. I then re-transcribed these sound collages into graphical notations.
Walking through the fields that border China.
Nearby Kaw Liu Village.
Pig farm guarded by angry dogs.
New development to house relocated villagers following highway construction.
 |
| En route. Photo: Spring Workshop |
Self-build constructions/storage along the way.
Young introducing the making of the soundtrack "Liquid Borders" we are about to listen to. 
Since early 2012, 740 hectares of land have been opened up for public access, and buildings have been constructed nearer the fence which runs along the Shenzhen River.
Bordering the fence while listening to the "Liquid Border" soundtrack.
Sound recording. Photo: Spring Workshop
Queen’s Pier in Edinburgh Place.Queen's Pier was a public pier in central in front of the City Hall. For decades it served not only as a public pier but also as a major ceremonial arrival and departure point. The pier witnessed the official arrival in Hong Kong of all of Hong Kong's governors since 1925; Elizabeth II landed there in 1975, as did the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1989. On 26 April 2007, the pier officially ceased operation. The government’s plan to demolish the pier to make way for a new highway was met with fierce opposition by conservationists. Despite the public outcry, Queen's Pier was demolished in the February of 2008.
I was living in New York when all of this happened. In 2009 I composed and directed a music theatre work entitled “God Save the Queen.” The work started out as a requiem for the Queen’s Pier. It evolved into a hymn to the structures, both physical and symbolic, of my teenage days – which were also the last of the colony’s. The performance was accompanied by a mixture of live footage from five theatre-based CCTV cameras, and pre-recorded clips of screen icon Helena Law Lan (who often played royalty for TV), dressed as the Queen.
 |
| Photo: Spring Workshop |
The lotus pond, University of Hong Kong
I was what you might call a “straight-down-the-center” composer to begin with. For over a decade I operated only in the concert in the capacity of a composer of the Western classical tradition. Now I do all kinds of weird things in all sorts of weird places. Chan Hing-yan, my mentor during my years at HKU, had a looming influence on me. I think a lot of what I do today is a reaction against what (I imagine that) I’d learnt during those formative years – a sort of a “creative misreading” as Harold Bloom would put it.
To end the tour Samson reads a passage of his dissertation about his approach to music composition and cultural politics.
Talking nearby the
lotus pond at "Hong Kong U". Photo: Spring Workshop
Samson Young (1979) is a composer, sound artist and media artist. Young received training in computer music and composition at Princeton University under the supervision of computer music pioneer Paul Lansky. He is currently an assistant professor in sonic art and physical computing at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Young is also the principle investigator at the Laboratory for Ubiquitous Musical Expression (L.U.M.E), and artistic director of the experimental sound advocacy organization Contemporary Musiking. In 2007, he became the first from Hong Kong to receive the Bloomberg Emerging Artist Award for his audio-visual project “The Happiest Hour”. His brainwave non-performance “I am thinking in a room, different from the one you are hearing in now” received a Jury Selection award at the Japan Media Art Festival, and an honorary mention at the digital music and sound art category of Prix Ars Electronica.
Festival presentations and honours include Prix Ars Electronica (Austria 2012); Japan Media Art Festival (Japan 2012); Sydney Springs International New Music Festival (Australia 2001), the Canberra International Music Festival (Australia 2008), ISCM World Music Days (Australia 2010), MONA FOMA Festival of Music and Art (2011); the Bowdoin International Music Festival (US 2004), Bang on a Can Music Summer Music Festival (US 2005), Perspectives International Festival of Media Art (US 2009); Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (Germany 2006); Dark Music Days (Iceland 2008); Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival (Malaysia 2009); amongst others. His music received performances by Hong Kong Sinfonietta, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, London NASH Ensemble, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Bang on a Can and summer institute fellows, Network for New Music, New Millennium Ensemble, SO Percussion, Sydney Song Company, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, MIVOS Quartet, among others.
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Related contents:
- Soundscapes of "Incidents of Travel";
- Social media archive "Incidents of Travel";
- Flickr album of the four tours of "Incidents of Travel";
- 'Incidents of travel' tour with Nadim Abbas on 19 January 2013;
- 'Incidents of Travel' tour with Yuk King Tan on 24 January 2013.
- 'Incidents of Travel' tour with Ho Sin Tung on 29 January 2013
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.