I will be speaking on a panel at the 98th Annual Conference held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois, February 10-13, 2010. Hope that I see you there!
Our session has been scheduled as follows:
Title: New Media Art in China: Understanding the Emergence of the Dragon
Date and Time: Friday, February 12, 6:30 PM-9:00 PM
Location: Grand B, Gold Level, East Tower, Hyatt Regency
2010 Roster: New Media Art in China: Understanding the Emergence of the Dragon
Session Abstract: China is rapidly emerging as a vast new territory for exploration by new media artists. From the 798 Art Zone in Beijing at Dashanzi to the coveted Bei Gao studios of Red Gate, experimental opportunities abound for new media artists. In 2008, China opened its massive new media arts show entitled Synthetic Times – Media Art China 2008 at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing. Simultaneously, the Zendai Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai hosted its year long experimental project entitled Intrude: Art/Life 366. Both projects are vast in scope and scale and represented a wide range of both local and international experimental new media artists in a country that is quickly becoming a major factor on the international art scene.
How do artists navigate this enormous art scene? Where do we look for residencies and exhibition opportunities and how do we know what types of projects can be done in China? This session seeks to examine a myriad of creative projects, both large-scale and "small" (by Chinese standards) that can be proposed and accessed by “foreign” artists. We are seeking panel presenters and discussions by new media artists who have participated in and/or mounted projects in China. This panel invites artists to show their work and discuss their experiences in one of the most open and interesting places to experiment in the world.
Chair
Name: Mr. Scott David Groeniger
Affiliation: University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Email: sgroenig@gmail.com
Address:
Department of Art and Art History
2535 McCarthy Mall
Honolulu, HI 96822
United States
Speaker #1
Name: Ellen Zweig
Affiliation: New York University, Shanghai
Paper title: Alternative Art Spaces in China: Adventures in Disappointment, Guanxi, and Language
Abstract: Since 2000, I have created videos and installations about China and have shown my work in alternative art spaces in China. This is a new concept for China; I have been able to both participate and nurture this aspect of the Chinese art world. As I traveled, made work, and showed work in China, I had both negative and positive experiences. A residency fell through, equipment didn’t show up, artists were suspicious of my motives. Alternately, the network of friends I’ve made is the most valuable part of working in China and definitely necessary to getting the work done. I see my time in China as an on-going learning experience. I have been able to inspire young artists to think about something other than how to make money; I’ve been able to create projects that move between languages and cultures; and I’ve been humbled by my American ignorance.
Speaker #2
Name: Conrad Gleber
Affiliation: La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA
Paper title: China Video Stories: China as Subject, Scene, and Mind
Abstract: It was the task of designing new media artwork, in this case first-person video narratives, that provided a means to understanding the global and shifting relationships of an emerging China. The subject of these works is the experiences of college students studying and traveling to China. It was a semester long project that began with the distant perspective offered by books, papers and online websites. It ended with a 12-day study trip to Beijing. The videos are first person narrative stories that capture the incidents and events that served as a catalyst for reconstructing students’ assumptions, expectations and experience. Designing and editing the video sensitized students to the cultural differences they experienced; telling stories captured their changed minds and realizations as a mediated experience.
Speaker #3
Name: William J. Andersen
Affiliation: The American University of Kuwait, Safat, Kuwait
Paper title: A New Lure of the East: Artistic Opportunities in China
Abstract: While the possible perils for “foreign” artists in China include being overcharged, bamboozled, or even thrown in jail--as in the case of new media artist, James Powderly, during the 2008 Olympics--, the rewards can be great. Creative opportunities abound in China’s burgeoning art scene, from cheaper material, production, and labor costs, to a welcoming, dynamic, progressive, and optimistic art community where the newly-emerging mingle freely with internationally recognized artists, curators, and critics.
In this paper, I will articulate some of the potential benefits and pitfalls of this vast new artistic frontier by sharing my own experiences in China, including: installing, guerrilla manner, unauthorized street art; co-organizing and taking part in numerous exhibits, as well as film and video festivals; and participating in artist residencies in the 798 Art Zone with Platform China, in Bei Gao with the Red Gate Gallery, and in Jingdezhen with The Pottery Workshop.
Speaker #4
Name: Scott Groeniger
Affiliation: University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
Paper title: Collaboration, Cooperation, and Installation: Three Summers in Taiyuan
Abstract: As a new media artist teaching digital imaging at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I have been committed to building collaborative relations with China since my first visit there in 2004. Since then I have completed and participated in three large-scale projects in China located in both urban and rural areas. I have collaborated using the web as the primary vehicle for distribution and print as primary output, as well as worked publicly in guerrilla-style video projection and drawing performance. Additionally, I have facilitated collaborative projects between Chinese and American art students as well as mounted complex political art installations using both video and sound. I have navigated the Chinese system at first with gracious Chinese hosts and now more recently on my own. Currently, I am working on a solo show of digital images investigating historical symbols and current environmental issues in China.
Speaker #5
Name: Stephen Lane
Affiliation: Columbia University, NY, NY
Paper title: Beijing and the Context of Location: The China Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA) as Site for Studio Art and International Programs
Abstract: This presentation focuses on the digital media summer studio art program at the China Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA). It explores the idea of the artist and studio practice as an international art form where the making of art is determined in part by the context of location. The significance of site, the context of materiality, and the influence of location on an artist’s studio practice are the themes discussed. The conceptual framework for this talk stems from a field that has multiple and interdependent contexts that inform each other. These interconnected areas of studio practice and the video forms are linked in a manner that is closely contextualized through a specific location, time and place of Beijing as a city, CAFA as site, and the Ghost Market (Pan Jin Yuan) as a source of materials.
Speaker #6
Name: Kirsten Rae Simonsen
Affiliation: Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, HI
Paper title: Shopping Malls and Wall Drawings: The Zendai Museum of Modern Art's 366 Days of Art in Shanghai
Abstract: “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses,” titled after a short story by Irwin Shaw, was a site-specific installation executed on May 18, 2008 at a high-end shopping mall called the Loft in Shanghai, China. This project was sponsored by the Zendai Museum of Modern Art as part of their massive cross-cultural and interdisciplinary art project called Intrude: Art and Life 366. For the entire year of 2008, the Zendai MOMA presented a cultural event to the people of Shanghai every single day. The project intruded on everyday life and engaged the public in art happenings, and was curated by Mr Shen Qibin, the director of Zendai MoMA. “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses” involved wall drawings and text pieces that both participated in and critiqued the virtually empty, high-end shopping mall they inhabited.
Sultan Gallery cordially invites you to attend the opening of its next exhibition “Shape of Light”, an exhibition by Reem Al Faisal on Tuesday, 16th February 2010 at 7 - 9 pm. 
