Chinese Arts Centre

First Step – Sonia Kan

Published by liz on August 27, 2010 in First Step and forthcoming.

23 September – 23 December

Late night reception with the artist 24 September 5-7.30 pm

Sonia Kan’s First Step showcase, ‘The mother and her untamed entity’ is an exploration of the relationship between a mother and her daughter. The installation takes the form of two large crochet nets, hanging dubiously around one another. These nets represent the two female figures fighting for their position within the space but who are also reliant on each other at all times for support and stability.

Sonia is a Manchester based multi-disciplinary artist who is using the traditional skill of crocheting (taught by her mother) specifically for the First Step space. Her work is frequently preoccupied with texture and with testing the boundaries of its strength and versatility. For Sonia, experimenting with material comes naturally, and she often finds the materials as an extension of herself. Throughout the duration of her First Step showcase, Sonia will be continuing to work on the nets, creating a durational performance as part of the work, which will allow the work itself to constantly evolve.

Liberation Talk – Summary

Published by liz on August 19, 2010 in Events, General News and Main Gallery.

Chinese Arts Centre recently held a talk relating to the Liberation exhibition here at the Centre. We would like to thank all the guest speakers and participants who attended and created interesting topics and debates to ponder upon within the realms of social media, on-line networking and the very timely issue of freedom vs security of creating on-line identities. We will shortly be posting some short video clips of the days talk for everyone to check out – so please check back soon!

Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprises Inc

Published by info on August 1, 2010 in Main Gallery.

Chen Chieh-jen
Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprises Inc
Preview: 1 October, 18:00-21:00
Exhibition dates: 2 October to 20 November

Chinese Arts Centre is pleased to present a solo exhibition of the work of Chen Chieh-jen. The exhibition will be the UK premier of Chen Chieh-jen’s latest video work Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprises Inc. (2010) together with the single-screen video Empire’s Borders I (2009) and archival material.

Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese video artist Chen Chieh-jen sees his work as ‘an act of connection, linking together the history of people who have been excluded from the dominant discourse.’ In his concern with recent history he is acutely aware of Taiwan’s own complex political status as a country with limited international recognition.

The main piece in his project for Chinese Arts Centre is a new three-screen HD video installation and photographic/documentary archive Empire’s Borders II—Western Enterprises, Inc. The piece is based on a number of documents the artist’s late father left behind, which painted an intriguing picture of a life lived in cold-war secrecy. They hinted at the politics of an era when the CIA cooperated with Taiwanese intelligence and trained the Anti-Communist National Salvation Army on its long-abandoned mission to retake the Chinese mainland. As Chen said, his father rarely talked about his work; the only fact he acknowledged was that the autobiography he wrote was fictional. Chen’s new film project is about his father’s journey, about his imagination and his own imagination.

Almost all of Chen’s recent films have dealt with the impact of global capitalism on individuals, through various systems of exchange. Earlier works, like Factory or Bade Area focused on the impact that the free movement of goods had on the lives of people as factories for new goods (first textiles, then computers) rapidly became the sources of Taiwan’s new wealth, only to close down even faster a few decades later when industrial production moved to mainland China and elsewhere. In Empire’s Borders I, the artist shifted his attention from the impact of global trade to the human stories of immigration and emigration, told in the words of Chinese immigrants to Taiwan and Taiwanese immigrants to the USA. This first film in the new series dealt with attempts of individuals to acquire or assert their normality and legitimacy in the face of bureaucratic state apparatuses (border controls, visa regulations).

Empire’s Borders II, now, introduces another twist. The actors are the same: the USA, Taiwan and mainland China. But where the first film showed how states take bureaucratic and legal steps to lock down their borders against the movement of individuals, this second project takes its inspiration from the surreptitious cross-border movements of individuals in irregular army units acting on behalf of the state. To do this, Chen turns his gaze not on the secretive military episodes themselves but on the civilian companies set up to provide a legitimate front for these operations. Empire’s Borders II becomes a search for Western Enterprises, Inc, in Taiwan today, updating the Cold War tropes to show up their legacy in the contemporary world.

The exhibition is presented as part of the AND festival and is curated by Dr Marko Daniel with Yu-Ling Chou as assistant curator.

The exhibition is made possible with support by the Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan.

Image credit
Empire’s Borders II, Chen Chieh-jen, 2010, Video Still

Fiona Long

Published by info on July 30, 2010 in Whisper.

Whisper Residency – Fiona Long
27 August – 11 September
Open Studio 24th September

Fiona Long is a British artist who will be working in collaboration with two artists from our upcoming Infinite Strokes exhibition in order to explore hidden shapes and symbols within Chinese calligraphy.

Having graduated in both art and psychology, Fiona is fascinated by in the way in which we cognitively interpret images. Using Chinese calligraphy symbols as the starting point for her research Fiona will be spending the residency investigating Chinese characters and taking part in calligraphy workshops. Her work will focus on symbols which resemble one thing, but in translation mean something completely different.

Fiona intends to transform these traditional symbols in the hope that her interpretations alter the meanings of characters whilst also aiming to show how images can transcend language.

Asia Art Archive Presents: Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980-1990

Published by info on June 30, 2010 in Events.

Chinese Arts Centre will be hosting a screening and website project in the Jasmine Suite
Date: Saturday 24 July
Times: 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00pm

This is a free event, bookings can made via the link below:
http://asiaartarchive.eventbrite.com/

From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s

The 1980s was a seminal period in the history of contemporary art in China. However, the contribution and experimentalism of the art scene in South China, in particular, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, have generally been overlooked. But due in part to the proximity of Hong Kong, western ideas from translated books and articles as well as popular culture in the form of TV shows and Canto pop, flooded over the border to Guangdong at the end of the Cultural Revolution. This influx of new ideas and popular culture sparked great excitement, debate and experimentation in the arts.

Based on primary research, rare film footage and personal interviews with key artists, this documentary bears witness not only to the reading fever that gripped the Chinese art world in the 1980s. It also highlights also the experimentalism and verve of artists and critics in South China whose contributions to the development of contemporary art have been long lasting and deep.

Part of a major research and website project focusing on contemporary art in China in the 1980s, AAA will launch a comprehensive website in Spring 2010, as well as make available all of the material collected and produced for the project.

This project is made possible by the generous support of:
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation
W.L.S. Spencer Foundation
Ilyas and Mara Khan
Foundation for Arts Initiatives
Produced by:
Asia Art Archive

Jane DeBevoise, Claire Hsu
Phoebe Wong, Anthony Yung

Research Team:
Jane DeBevoise, Phoebe Wong, Anthony Yung
Carol Lu, Megan Connolly, Natalie Cheung, Doris Wong, Silas Fong

Interviewees (in alphabetical order):
Chen Shaoxiong 陈劭雄, Chen Tong 陈侗, Deng Jianjin 邓箭今, Feng Yuan 冯原, Hou Hanru 侯瀚如, Huang Xiaopeng黄小鹏, Li Zhengtian 李正天, Lin Yilin 林一林, Shao Hong 邵宏, Wang Du 王度, Wang Huangsheng 王璜生, Xu Tan 徐坦, Yang Jiechang 杨诘苍, Yang Xiaoyan 杨小彦

Shooting and post-production:
Siren Films

Special Thanks:
Librairie Borges /Librairie Borges Institut d’Art Contemporain
Mr. David Gleit
Mr. Shek Hon Kei 石汉基先生
Martina Koeppel-Yang
Guangdong Museum of Art

Infinite Strokes

Published by info on June 24, 2010 in Main Gallery.

Infinite Strokes: Chinese Ink Painting
Mary Tang & Cathy Wu
Exhibition Dates: 20 August – 18 September 2010

Cathy Chinese Arts Centre pays tribute to two artists, Mary Tang and Cathy Wu, who have shown commitment to the Centre over the last 20 years. Both artists have worked as workshop leaders for the Centre but are also accomplished ink brush painting and calligraphy artists in their own right.

Cathy Wu (Chinese name Yat Ming Ho) was born in Sichuan, Chengdu and brought up in Hong Kong. She studied Chinese calligraphy under Master calligrapher and painter Lin Chien Shi in Hong Kong.

She has exhibitions in Hong Kong, London, Manchester, Liverpool and Wirral, where she has given talks and workshops in galleries, museums, schools and colleges. In 2007, she was commissioned to write ‘The Chinese Calligraphy Sourcebook’ which was published by Apple Press in Britain; ‘The Chinese Calligraphy Bible’ by Barrons in the US, and by Simon and Schuster in Australia. Last year in June, in order to commemorate their late calligraphy Master, Lin Chien Shi, she and her friends organized a joint exhibition in Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver. In 2010, Cathy was invited to hold calligraphy workshops at the Victoria Gallery and Museum of Liverpool University, the Liverpool Museum and was also involved with the Radio Merseyside, Up for Arts project. mary

Mary Tang (Chinese name Xue Yin Tang) was born in Shanghai and raised in China. She was taught calligraphy by her mother, Liang Wei Yan, a noted Chinese calligrapher.

Whilst studying at the Teacher Training College in Shanghai, Mary was taught Chinese painting by the artist, Lu Shi Hao, who in turn was a student of the renowned Chen Shifa. After qualifying from college, Mary spent twenty-five years teaching in a variety of schools around Shanghai. Mary moved to the UK in 1987, since then, she has taught many of the traditional skills of China, including painting, paper cutting, calligraphy, as well as mask and lantern making and crafts in schools, colleges and universities.

This summer exhibition profiles their work and celebrates this unique traditional Chinese art form, which is technically demanding requiring great skill, concentration and years of training.

Majority of the works by Mary Tang and Cathy Wu currently being exhibited are available for purchase. The exhibition catalogues can be downloaded in a PDF format using the following links:
Mary Tang Exhibition Catalogue
Cathy Wu Exhibition Catalogue

During the exhibition period Chinese Arts Centre will be organising free workshops and demonstrations. Mary Tang and Cathy Wu will be leading workshops in brush painting and calligraphy.

Cathy Wu
Date: Saturday 4 September
For families and children: 10am – 11:45am
For Adults: 1pm – 3:15pm

Bookings can be made via the links below:
Families and children Tickets – http://infinitestrokes.eventbrite.com/
Adult Tickets – No more tickets available

‘Befriending Brendan’ for Liberation exhibition

Published by liz on June 22, 2010 in General News and Main Gallery.

As part of our upcoming ‘Liberation’ exhibition, one of the participating artists, Brendan Fan, would like the audience to ‘befriend’ his on-line discussion via Facebook. The artist will be working on the site through out the course of the exhibition, creating on-line debates about the use and limitations of on-line social media. Furthermore the artist will be offering the public to swap the gallery space setting for their own living room, allowing them to view the preview live and on-line via Facebook. So whether you wish to attend the preview at our Centre, or simply view it from the comfort of your own sofa, befriending Brendan will allow you to keep up to date with all the debates relating to the show, and actively participate by leaving your own questions and comments via the social media sight we are all so familiar with.

To befriend Brendan please follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liberation-Chinese-Arts-Centre/126052364083114

Negotiable Values Touring to 501 Arts Space, Chongqing, China

Published by info on May 28, 2010 in General News.

Negotiable Values
Date: 5 June to 18 June 2010

Developed out of a dialogue with Yan Yan, Director of 501 Arts Space, the exhibition brings together artists’ works which explore the notion of advancement and raises questions about the price of progress. What has been lost in the pursuit of a better life? How have ethical and moral dilemmas been resolved or compromised?

Having been exhibited at Chinese Arts Centre at the beginning of the year, the exhibition is travelling to Chongqing China with an addition of new artists from Chongqing. The exhibition will feature: Conroy/ Sanderson, Gordon Cheung, He Chengyao, Li Cao, Li xiaojing, Jonathan Baldock, Rachel Goodyear, Wang Jun, Yang zhichao, Zheng Li.

Eastman Cheng and NEESA women’s group in Cheetham Hill

Published by info on May 28, 2010 in Breathe and General News.

During Eastman Cheng’s Breathe Residency with us, the artist will be working with a local Cheetham Hill women’s group, to create soft sculptural pieces based around the women’s views about the city they live in.

Eastman will be working alongside a number of local artists and students throughout June, and the works created in the workshops will be exhibited as part of the Asia Triennial Manchester next September. These workshops are just the first phase of three trailblazer projects that will be taking place between now and the 2011 festival.

The project aims to create opportunities for local Asian communities to share ideas and skills with both local and international artists, and looks set to result in a series of wonderful collaborative works.