diacritic | art and culture

This evening Ms. Lucy Forwood gave an interesting, although short, presentation of her research into Vietnamese propaganda. The images are on loan with the Dogma group in HCMC. The collection is owned in part by Mai Gallery in Hanoi. In approaching the topic, Lucy arranged the images according to "virtues" such as courage and determination. To give a historical footing, propaganda from the West including Stalinist Soviet Union and fascist Germany were included. The bonus were printed international propaganda found on the back of some of the Vietnamese prints - Hungary, North Korea and Poland.

Unfortunately due to some last minute cancellations the audience was no larger than six people at any one time. I'm sure if there were a larger crowd that the dialogue after would have been interesting. Many interesting issues regarding ownership of images, concerns of the original artists, the absence of similar propoganda in the Diem regime were raised.

As I wrote earlier about ALBB, its good to see that they are providing a space for interesting thought and dialogue.

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It's been a busy week in Saigon for me this week, despite getting no personal work done. This entry is less information/ more interval. I met a friend for lunch today, who may work with Galerie Quynh and our new arts magazine. She asked if I remembered her birthday. I was off by two days. Anyone who has been in this situation can imagine the horror. Which goes back to this blog. This blog is like the digital couple of my moleskine notebook. It's a way of keeping track of shit.

The Nokia show is over and there's been a lot of positive feedback in the city. Although my role was very small in the success of the production (I designed some furniture for the set), I am happy to see that this is one of Uyen's strongest collections yet.

Finding Balance
So, yesterday our group of up and coming publishers met at Atelier Wonderful to discuss the creation of our love child, the magazine. The core group has always been strong in content creation and largely inept when it comes to the business nitty gritty. Luckily for us, someone with extensive business and publishing experience has offered to assist us in the business plan and formation of the magazine. To all those living in the free press world, I must remind you that we're aiming to publish in Vietnam. You can only imagine the challenges.

Sweating it out
After the meeting, I went to the presentation on contemporary photography and the role of the artist by Cheryl Younger, co-hosted by Saigon OpenSpace (formerly Saigon Biennale) and the HCMC Photography Association. The presentation was informative and well worth attending. Now here's my criticism. The Photography Association was definitely a poor venue. Sitting on plastic stools for three hours is one thing, but doing it a room at  90f/30c with no airconditioning and poor ventilation is another. The room was too narrow so folks in the back had a difficult time seeing the presentation. The translation into Vietnamese was problematic. That in itself is always a problem, especially when translating words like 'censorship' and 'gay' when Younger spoke about Robert Mappelthorpe's work, but it was further complicated by having 4 people simultaneously scrambling for just the right words. Translations for WPO and redneck were simply passed over.

Her selection was great including works from Cindy Sherman, Nikki S. Lee to Larry Clark and Man Ray. Younger was extremely strong in her advocation for the artists in creating work independently. Independent from groups or professional associations. Her methodology was explained by the triangle of content, form and reception. I was waiting for the Yasumasa Morimura as Cindy Sherman image, but it never came.

Q&A (Questions and Annoyances)
The most annoying questions that are always asked during Q&A sessions are the technical ones. An artist spends hours detailing their conceptual process and meat of the questions are like, "What kind of paper/film do you use?" I am happy that for once the presenter replied that as professional photographers, they should know how to develop and shoot film already. Once that was out of the way, someone followed, "What content should artists be looking for?" Um, what? So here's the problem. We aren't enabled with creative ability. Everything if formulaic. To be an artist, I need to a, b, and c. Someone, please shoot me!


The Fuji Photography Association
Apart from the presentation itself, all of the works displayed in the gallery of the HCMC Photography Association have these obnoxious (read: nauseous) Fujifilm stickers on them. Can you imagine going to a photography exhibition and having Kodak stickers on all of the prints and Kodak windflags strung along the ceiling like a used car parking lot? Well, that's the HCMC Photography Association gallery. Someone really needs to rethink that space and how it evolved from gallery to showroom to tradeshow exhibition.

Young Folks
The presention was entitled, "The Role of the Artist/Photographer in Society". It was an call to think differently about one's work. From the start, to clear up any ambiguities, Younger listed a number of photographic genres: Documentary, advertising, journalism, 'national geographic', and scientific/medical to explain what she was NOT going to be talking about with regards to what art photography is (though she failed to list pornography as a genre). The audience for the presentation were mostly professional photographers and there were very few new young faces. Her message clearly was about change, and I'm afraid it was lost on the audience. It became clear when one of the elders wanted to know why Larry Clark's photograph of a drug user was considered contemporary art.

Supernaut
One of my daily visits is the Supernaut blog. You can find it on the blogroll to the right under contemporary art. Besides having a mutual interest in drag queens, I go here to get a pulse on what's happening in Asia. The latest post, Guangzhou art and blogs, is a goldmine. Check out the post and the supernaut site.

Marching into March
So, this next month I will finish my second report to the Asian Art Archive, have my first article done for the new magazine, and try and make it into Laos in time to document Jun's new work in Luang Prabang. No new studio (did I write that my dream loft studio space was sold while I was in Cambodia?) and no money. So, that makes it ripe to park my ass in my room and work.

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Readers, from poets to artists,  had a rare and unique opportunity to view a collection of zines hosted by ALBB Lounge this weekend. Events as special as this come once in a blue moon in Vietnam and ALBB did not disappoint. The works in the collection varied from haphazardly printed and stapled to meticulously crafted, hand sewn bindings and papers. The ALBB Lounge was reconfigured exclusively for this event and the visitor traffic was controlled as to provide everyone with best reading experience. Also on view were magazines and literature from ALBB's permanent collection and a collection of work on-loan for viewing from Atelier Wonderful.

This month, Atelier Wonderful opened on Saturdays, sharing their book collection. For me, these two events/spaces are critical to the long-term enrichment of our arts community. It has been my own personal dream for many years to see events and spaces such as these open to creative minds and discussions. Hopefully, at some point in the future, I may have a space to share my collection of books and magazines once again. For now, I'll be seen lurking around Atelier Wonderful and ALBB. Great job Sue and Motoko!

What are Zines?
(from the ALBB invite)

Zines (pronounced "zeens”) are non-commercial, non-professional publications that are distributed in small quantities. This collection of over 100 zines, contains works created by young visual artists, and many of the zines are unique items. We invite you to come and relax for a few hours over some zines in a casual lounge atmosphere.

Zines have become a part of the cultural landscape in countries like USA and Australia over the past two decades, but have their historical roots earlier in the 20th century, with the magazines and manifestoes of Dada, the surrealists, the situationists and other avante garde art movements; and fanzines (fan magazines) for science fiction and fantasy literature in the 1930s. Other independent publishing influences are the Beat writers and poets of the 1940s and 1950s and the punk rock movement of the 1970s, which benefited from the cheap photocopying technology that became available at that time.

These are low budget but highly individualized publications that come in a wide variety of formats, from raw, messy photocopied styles to delicate hand-crafted objects. Regardless of the aesthetic, zines are always a labour of love, and are produced not to make profit but for the personal reasons of the artist or author. Many are distributed for free, or are bartered with other zine producers. When on sale, most cost between $1 and $5 and can be bought at markets, record stores, concerts, zine symposia or through mail-order. As zine publication is so personal, there is no limit to the kinds of themes that can be covered — art, literature, comics, politics, spirituality, sexuality, music, poetry, science fiction, UFOs… the list is endless. Many of the zines on show this weekend are purely visual, and function more as artworks rather than publications in terms of their personal expressiveness.

Although the word “zine” clearly originates from “magazine”, in many ways zines function as the antithesis of mainstream magazines. Authors invest time and money into producing the zine, rather than publishing with the aim of making a profit; there is no advertising; and the passion, imagination and desire for self expression of the author, rather than market popularity, are the driving forces. Zines are about autonomy and independence. Built into the typical zine aesthetic — cheap paper, stitched together by hand, messily laid out, black & white photocopy — is an oppositional stance to slick mainstream magazines and commodity culture.

ALBB (a little blah blah) is co-directed by Sue Hajdu and Motoko Uda, who have been active in Vietnam for 12 and 5 years respectively. Both visual artists and writers — they work on their own creative projects and also write for local and overseas publications covering areas such as the visual arts, design and urban history. Other areas that keep them busy include curating, research, and consulting for art event management & co-ordination. Sue Hajdu also lectures in Multimedia at RMIT International University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City campus.

Information
ALBB
Printed Matter, Inc.

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The video was finished a couple of weeks ago in between my exhibition in Cambodia and the production for the Nokia Show in Vietnam. I'm always fascinated when analog phenomena (like faulty electronic wiring) can produces mesmerizing effects. Bring this into a digital tool and the possibilities are endless. The footage itself has not been doctored or manipulated. The canteen just needs a serviceman to fix the lights. Shot at Dongkuk University, where my good friend Yoon-Joo went to film school.

To view the video in your browser, you will need to have the Macromedia Flash Player installed, and a broadband connection is best. The compressed format had degraded both image and sound. The work itself is on DVD. 

Make sure your sound is turned up! ;) 

View the video at:
http://www.diacritic.org/dongkuk/dongkuk-final.html

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Bing Dian had previously attracted attention and official criticism with articles about corruption, Taiwan and—perhaps most irritating to the powers that be—heavy-handed political interference in the work of the media. In the case of Bing Dian, the powers in question are probably the highest in the land. The paper is a weekly supplement in the China Youth Daily newspaper, which is affiliated to the Communist Party Youth League. The Youth League, in turn, is the institutional power base of China's president and Communist Party chief, Hu Jintao, so Mr Hu was likely to have been directly involved in the decision to shut Bing Dian down. (The Economist)

BBC writes that China's media has recently sought the approval of the readers over that of the state's censors.

And they have found plenty of supporters - some in unlikely quarters - willing to speak up on their behalf. "There is now an unstoppable wave of demands for more freedom of expression and resistance to the old propaganda policies," said Jiao Guobiao, who was forced to resign his post as a journalism professor last year...

The row over the extent of people's right to know shows that the Communist Party's authority is ebbing away, he said. But without censorship, the party could not maintain its rule for a day, he added."

The international attention to the compliance of US technology companies in enforcing the official Chinese censor machine has been far less a domestic issue. However, the recent closure of  Bing Dian (Freezing Point) has become a domestic rally point for public protest.

Far more embarrassing, not to say ominous, has been the chorus of domestic protest over the closure in late January of Bing Dian (Freezing Point), a weekly publication noted for its cutting-edge reporting on sensitive topics. The reopened magazine would be an empty shell of its previous self, they said, and had been ordered to print a full rebuttal of the article on historical censorship which triggered the closure.

Among those who have rallied behind the editors are a group of former senior party and media officials, including Mao Zedong's secretary and a former editor-in-chief of the People's Daily. The Taiwanese-born columnist Lung Ying-tai, whose controversial articles for Bing Dian may have been the real reason for the closure, has sent an open letter of protest to President Hu Jintao. (BBC)

"The reappearance of Bing Dian is an act of bogus leniency. The investigative weekly has had its two prime movers cut away and replaced by a loyal communist party journalist," said Reporters Without Borders. "While the crackdown and censorship of the media is being contested by veterans of the Chinese communist party, sanctions continue to bite. They confirm the determination of Hu Jintao to gag the press to prevent it from revealing the failings of the regime," it said. (RSF)

Force for Change

Propaganda officials have also faced other public challenges to their authority, including a rare strike by reporters in support of three editors dismissed from a leading daily, the Beijing News, late last year. But what really worries them is that those now pushing for a lifting of censorship include not just journalists and activists, but also people in business, government and law who believe media reform is a necessary part of China's modernisation.

China's rapid economic growth is proving a strong force for change, he said, pointing out that the media was already far more open in many ways than in the past. China's 11,000 newspapers and periodicals, along with its 600-plus radio and TV stations, are more intent these days on satisfying the demands of the market than the state censor, who no longer pays their bills.

"The media have seized upon pushing harder and digging deeper, writing about corruption and Communist Party scandals as ways to sell more papers," he said.

Elsewhere...

As  Vietnam moves towards it's own modernization, we recall similar event happening in recent times regarding the media. These events, were reported by the BBC

When Lan Anh, a staff writer for the popular daily Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, wrote a series of articles on Zuellig Pharma last year, she was hailed for brilliant investigative reporting. During the last couple of months, the government has decided to shut down one of the country's most popular news and entertainment websites, tintucvietnam.com, as well as to sack the editor-in-chief of the leading online newspaper, Vnexpress. 

With exception to the Ministry, there has been a widespread defense of the journalist from several newspapers, including the official newspaper for The Peoples Supreme Court (Cong Ly).

Politburo member Nguyen Khoa Diem, head of the party's powerful Ideology and Culture Commission, was quoted in state newspapers in December as saying Vietnam must "strengthen the management" of the press. "Many newspapers are being influenced by commercialisation and their activities are not in line with proper principles and objectives," he said in Tuoi Tre, the daily newspaper whose reporter is facing legal action. But Tuoi Tre and other newspapers have been vocal in their defence of the journalist, Lan Anh, who is accused of using secret health ministry notes in a series of articles exposing excessive pricing in the pharmaceuticals market.

Even the newspaper run by the People's Supreme Court, Cong Ly (Justice), carried an article last week saying Anh had not broken any laws. Less has been said publicly about the popular news websites, however.

Observers say Vietnam, like China, is grappling with the dilemma of expanding internet use for the sake of development while maintaining strict control over any content deemed subversive. Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnamese affairs at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said strict controls "will handicap Vietnam's development effort, especially in light of plans to further the development of electronic newspapers and internet services as a means of connecting Vietnam to the outside world". (SC)

 Note: Section "Force for Change" are excerpts directly from the BBC article.

Sources
BBC. China's censored media answers back
RSF. Bing Dian reopened under tight control as new sanctions slapped on investigative journalists
The Economist. Deep Freeze: The authorities silence yet another inconvenient voice
ESWN. There Was A Man Named Liu Binyan
ESWN. The Li-Lu Statement On Freezing Point
IHT. Old guard in China takes aim at censors
BBC. Vietnam tightens media stranglehold
Asianews.It. Websites targeted, reporter prosecuted in media purge
RConversation. Journalism in Vietnam - more than meets the eye 

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 I am captivated by the work of this artist! Also check out the "cities" project - RST

Horizons is a series depicting thin bands of landscape, placed with their horizons in the same position in each frame. The images are meant to be viewed next to each other, creating a spatial continuum out of geographically distant locations. The arrangement of images can be thought of as a photographic cadavre exquis, where new relationships are formed by unexpected juxtapositions.

Info
Sze Tsung Leong
 

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That congress gave Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo! and Google a grilling over their corporate complicity in censoring information for the Chinese government was suprising enough. Danwei posts an interesting piece on the delivery boys. Now, it seems that the focus is turning toward FedEx, DHL and UPS. Most americans are alarmed when an envelope arrives where the adhesive seal has come undone. Someone's been reading my mail!

Fact. Every envelope my mother sends to me in Vietnam from the US is opened and taped back up. When someone sends along a CD or video tape, I know, as a protocol, to show up at the post office with my computer (to view the CD) or my video camera. Usually, it only takes a couple of minutes once the clerks can sit down and share your precious moments on media. But if they choose, you could be in for a feature length popcorn session.  But this is the post office. Are international shippers in Vietnam any different than in China?

No.

My artwork arrived via DHL several months ago from my exhibition in Korea. The pretext was taxation. How much would they tax me for my artwork? For insurance purposes, I had listed that each 100x60 cm print was 500 dollars. DHL, luckily for me, didn't agree to that price to tax me (yeah, for my own artwork).  But the question then follows: How did they know what was in the package? They opened it, as they do all my packages.  

About the entry title, Cookies:
1) Internet Browser - Holds information on the times and dates you have visited web sites. Other information can also be saved to your hard disk in these text files, including information about online purchases, validation information about you for members-only web sites, and more. 2) the tasty baked type that Mom sends in care packages, sometimes oatmeal raisin, other times, double chocolate chip.

Source
Danwei. Fedex, DHL and UPS complicit in state censorship? 

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by Bruno Tanquerel
Galerie Quynh
23 Ly Tu Trong Street
District 1, HCMC

Thursday, February 23, 2006
6-8 PM
Dress: White

Please RSVP to Hoa at (84 8) 824 8306
or by email to: info@galeriequynh.com
Exhibition continues through March 12, 2006 

Vô Tận
Trân trọng kính mời Ông, Bà đến dự buổi
khai mạc triển lãm "Vô tận"
của họa sĩ Bruno Tanquerel

Vào lòng mặc đồ trắng khi tham gia khai
mạc lãm theo ý tưởng của họa sị

Triển lãm mở của dến ngày 12 tháng 3 năm 2006
Hân hạnh được đón tiếp

Xin vùi lòng phúc đáp cho chúng tôi sự hiện diện của
Quý khách tới địa chỉ email: info@galeriequynh.com
hoặc liên hệ điện thoại số: (84 8) 824 8306
23 Lý Tự Trọng, Quận 1, TP HCMC 

Information/Tin tức
Galerie Quynh

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Ms. Cheryl Younger has been invited to speak with the Saigon Open City project at the following venue:

Cheryl Younger
Monday. February 27, 3 PM
HCMC Photography Association
122 Suong Nguyen Anh, District 1
HCMC, Vietnam

Program
Lecture: 3 - 4:30 PM
Q&A: 4:30

Cheryl Younger will discuss the role of the photographer in society, the difference between journalistic, documentary work and art photography; the formats each type of imagemaking requires, and explore questions related to the art and practice of photographic imagemaking. Looking at work critically and historically from the point of view of the artist and art market she will discuss how the image operates in society and what obligations photographers as artists have.

The Photography Institute brings together today's noted and emerging artists, scholars and critics to provide a forum where they can explore contemporary issues in visual imagery and photographic image making.

Only by including diverse voices in these examinations can we address fully the profound issues of our time. If artists are to be visionaries, the gadflies of social and political injustice in our complex world, then we must also learn to engage our communities and take responsibility for that engagement.

Ms. Cheryl Younger was Founding Director of the Photography Institute in New York while concurrently teaching at New York University (NYU) and the International Center of Photography for several years. She was formerly director of post-secondary education at Film in the Cities in St. Paul, Minneapolis.

The Photography Institute is a non-profit corporation created to respond to the need for more in-depth consideration of photographic image making and to assist emerging artists as they begin their careers. The Institute includes two programs: The National Graduate Seminar and American Photography in New York City. It also maintains a research archive, curates exhibitions, and offers public lectures and educational events. The Photography Institute is a sponsored organization of the New York Foundation for the Arts and is hosted by Columbia University, School of the Arts. 

Bà Cheryl Younger từ 1990 đến 2005 là giám đốc Học viện Nhiếp ảnh tại New York (www.thephotographyinstitute.org), đồng thời cũng là giảng viên tại Trung tâm Nhiếp ảnh quốc tế Hoa Kỳ. Bà từng là Chủ tịch Hội đào tạo nhiếp ảnh ( SPE) và giám đốc một trung tâm đào tạo thanh niên Film tại Minneapolis. Là một nhiếp ảnh gia, Cheryl Younger cũng đã có nhiều triển lãm và sách xuất bản ở nhiều nơi trên thế giới.

Cheryl Younger sẽ thảo luận về vai trò, ý nghĩa công việc của nhiếp ảnh gia trong xã hội; sự khác nhau giữa nhiếp ảnh báo chí, tư liệu và nhiếp ảnh nghệ thuật. Buổi thuyết trình sẽ có phần thảo luận kỹ về từng loại hình nhiếp ảnh, khám phá những câu hỏi liên quan đến nghệ thuật và thực hành nhiếp ảnh, khám phá các bức ảnh trên cơ sở phê bình và lịch sử, từ điểm nhìn của nghệ sĩ cho đến thị trường nghệ thuật.

More information
Saigon Open City
The Photography Institute

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It's not the gap between my teeth, but a:

Monospace typefaces in which every character is the same width (usually, font width is variable; the "w" and "m" are wider than most letters, and the "i" is narrower). The first monospaced typefaces were designed for typewriters, which could only move the same distance forward with each letter typed. Their use continued with early computers, which could only display a single font. Although modern computers can display any desired typeface, monospaced fonts are still important for computer programming, terminal emulation, and for laying out tabulated data in plain text documents.  - Wikipedia

On today's Digg feed, there's a great piece article, Visual Comparison of 18 Monospaced Fonts. If you're a lover of good typography, it's a great read. If you do a lot of code reading, it could be your lifesaver. If you are a "designer" who doesn't know what kerning is, then this is definitely NOT the article for you.

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Since my return from Cambodia, I've been working on the Nokia L'Amour Show arranging props and coordinating the performance for the fashion show component. Uyen has designed a new collection of the show (nearly 40 outfits). The past couple of days, it's been an 8 am to 8 pm affair. The show is massive. Above is an image of the back of the stage set (the show itself will occur inside a sport stadium in HCMC). Below are my sketches for stage props and furniture and their realization. I will post some images of the event later!

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Presented by New Media Caucus (NMC), Leonardo Education Forum (LEF), and Art/Technology Boston (ATBoston)

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 23rd, 6pm- 9pm
Thursday, February 23rd - Sunday, February 26th
Gallery hours: Thursday 3 – 9pm, Friday - Sunday 12-6pm.

During the 2006 College Art Association conference in Boston, Art Interactive will be hosting a unique collaborative venture in new media art. New Media Caucus (NMC), Leonardo Education Forum (LEF), and Art/Technology (AT) Boston have joined forces to present New Media/New Work on view from February 22 – 26, 2006. New Media/New Work collects a multitude of voices from the new media landscape in this brief and rare occasion.

Gathering a cross-section of cutting-edge video and new media work, the exhibition is built around four individual projection screens representing each of the participating organizations. LEF’s Technologized Bodies/Embodied Technologies is co-curated by Legier Biederman and Dave Burns and consists of work by a group of international artists that explores the intersections among visuality, embodiment, and the technological. AT Boston presents Art and Technology Boston, a video reel compiled by Phaedra Shanbaum and drawn from work created by consortium members demonstrating each local organizations involvement in New Media in the greater Boston area. Slurp!, curated by NMC member Lisa Dorin, brings together short videos that ooze, gurgle, flicker, burn, float, whirl, lick, lather and generally let it all hang out in the name of art. The fourth screen, compiled and mastered by the NMC member Gail Rubini, highlights diverse technical and thematic approaches to the medium including experimental abstractions and formal and narrative explorations.

New Media / New Work Panel Discussion
Thursday, February 23rd, 3:00PM - 5:00PM
Panel Chair: Diane Willow, University of Minnesota.

Five on Five:
Five Perspectives on the Interplay of Research, Innovation, Experimentation, Pedagogy and Practice

Panelists:
Glorainna Davenport – MIT Media Lab
Andrea Polli – Hunter College
Jennifer Hall – Massachusetts College of Art / DoWhile Studio Founder
Blythe Hazen – Montserrat College
Joan Brigham - Emerson College / Emerita

Art Interactive
130 Bishop Allen Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139

Email: info@artinteractive.org
Phone: 617-498-0100
Fax: 617-498-0019
Web: www.artinteractive.org

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Yesterday, education was the topic at Atelier Wonderful. Sandrine and Bertrand gave an overview of the art education in France, Delphine shared her experience as a 4th year art student. I gave a comparative overview of art schools in the United States and shared my experience as a guest lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh Fine Art University.

When asked if any in the audience were students, the reply was "Yes, but we consider ourselves artists." This is the life of the student. Hopeful and making things work however they can.

Unfortunately, I also read this in today's news.

Schoolgirl gang suicide
17/Feb/2006 VnExpress

Five schoolgirls at the age of 13 in Co Nhue Secondary School in Tu Liem District, Hanoi took sleeping pills to suicide for bad study results on February 16, reported Tu Liem Police.

Five girls in the same grade caused frustration to their parents by their bad study results of the first semester in the grade 7.

We need to rethink educational success. We need to improve critical thinking and measuring improvement and knowledge in a new way.

More Information (en francais)
Atelier Wonderful. Que Me Parle?? 

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Last week, I had a wonderful collaboration with Phnom Penh-based artist Sopheap Pich. Together, within three days time we produced the work above. A giant heart made of rattan and wire with sound (through the aorta). The photographic series in the background is from my series, "The Loudest Sound" concerning the issues of agent orange and war abuse (read: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba & Abu Ghraib, Iraq).

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After she saw the mise en scène of Murakamis short stories « The elephant vanishes » in Paris, she went back to Avignon. A fireworks evening, at the palace, a man comes to speak to her...

Created by Wonderful District, Atelier Wonderful is a new place dedicated to contemporary creation in Ho Chi Minh city. It will open its doors every saturday for students, creators and art lovers who want to meet, share ideas and get information. The studio also provides WiFi connexion. Open every other day of the week on appointment.

Atelier Wonderful is neither a gallery nor an art center, it gathers different aspects in the compact space of a small artist studio:

• a small lounge, offering a display of documentation that can be consulted on place (art books, magazines, DVDs, digital data bank about artists)
• a workshop ,which will accomodate regular presentations of artists' works or cultural actors' talks.

Immense with an Animal Skin
Saturday, February 18th, from 10am to 6pm

For its opening, Atelier Wonderful has invited Delphine Trouche, a student in her 4th year at  l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Art de Bourges (France). She will show a work made during her internship period with Wonderful District in Vietnam.

Delphine Trouche
Ecole des beaux arts de Bourges
Wonderful district :Vietnam
Janvier – Fevrier 2005

There is an Asian legend...

« It is said that at the origin of times, elephants were provided with wings. Loading the sky whith their large grey masses, they would wander following the winds and ascendences, free from the earth tracks and/or traps. Their weight - their weight of flesh or maybe of some ancient guilt , could not allow them to go down back among ordinary beings. Brimming with purifying drops, loaded with the sky waters propitious to men's culures, they did get down and accepted to serve.

Since then, to the rhythm of the slow rocking of their haunches, to the tempo of their feet as light as their shadows, they have been trudging along the paths and the roads, of which they fear neither mud nor dust. For elephants indeed are clouds. » (Asian legend)

PROJECT: The Elephant of Ménilmontant
3 pieces, one in Saigon, one in Bourge (sculpture) and one in Paris (performance)
A presentation in late february at Atelier Wonderful in Saigon.
Bourges and Paris: Bourges, the other black half of the elephant, the head, gets out of the ground. Paris, a grey elephant is getting up Menilmontant street.

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I had left Phnom Penh too soon! The exhibition, Visualising Angkor, shows at the Popil Gallery from Frebruary 17-19 in collaboration with Monash Asia Institute and IT faculty, Heritage Watch and SangSalapak.

Currently on exhibition is Nam's exhibition, Nostalgie. Stephan Janin, director of the Popil Gallery, is planning a trip to HCMC sometime in March with Cambodian photographer Mak Remissa and possibly the curator of our exhibition, Christine Cibert. I hope he will fill us in on the Visualising Ankor project.

Information
SangSalapak. Visualising Asia

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I received an email from my brother in Massachusetts several days ago. It appears I have another niece on the way. He's started to cionsider names for her. I told him I'd put some thought onto it.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, a grapefruit seller has been denied permission to register a domain containing the Vietnamese word, buoi, for grapefruit. Vietnamese being a tonal language, the meanings of words can change dramatically depending on the tone - in this case, grapefruit or a slang word for penis (the difference, again?).

And today, I read that in another case:

A local law firm has sued the Vietnam Internet Information Centre for denying it the right to an internet domain name and then later granting rights to the name to a construction company.

The law firm Pham & Associates was denied approval from the Vietnam Internet Information Centre (VNNIC) to use the domain name internet.com.vn. It filed a lawsuit when VNNIC later allowed the Viet Xay Construction Co Ltd to register the name. - VietnamNet

Which brings me back to my new niece. It may take a a while to chew on a new middle name for you. For now, I'll tell my brother to refer to her as something really bad until she's born as they do in some cultures here, to keep the ghosts (or the governments) away. 

Sources
Reuters. No 'buoi' please, we're Vietnamese
Yahoo. Grapefruit or penis? Vietnam accents the difference
BBC. Vietnam bans fruity website name

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I read some familiar news today in the New York Times. The scenario: a democratic election turns out a winner not endorsed by the United States. The plan: Destroy the democracy by actively undermining the government.

There are precidents, past and recent. Recall El Salvador. What will do with Bolivia, Peru, and now the Hamas led Palestinian democratically elected governments? The US will starve them, create chaos, and then force new elections where the leader is a puppet. Watch it happen but read about it now.

"The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.

The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement." 

If the US wants help any democratically elected leader carry out the wishes of its people, it should look towards Myanmar. Democratically elected leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest. But that might cause tensions with China. When it comes to picking on people, the US looks for the smallest kid.

Source
New York Times. U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster 

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Our good friend, Quang Lam, has returned to Vietnam from France and will open his new photography exhibition at the Hanoi Studio (17 Dong Du Street, District 1, HCMC) on Thursday, February 16, from 6-9 pm! We're all looking forward to seeing what he's been up to. Quang organized the NetVideoLab project in 2004 with ArtNetworkAsia. It's a coincidence that only days earlier, I met Fred Frumberg, of Amrita Performing Arts in Phnom Penh. He was on the ANA jury panel and recalled the NetVideoLab very clearly as he was one of its strongest supporters in the selection process!

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After a short hibernation, Saigon City Life is back on the newstands with an updated format and design and the once quarterly is now a monthly. I was glad to see it back in press as it is one of the only bilingual, locally published magazines focusing primarily on urban living in Vietnam. I was aghast, however, with the recent play of editorial chicanery.

Case in point, an article in the current issue on Phnom Penh. The article, Saigon Phnom Penh by Bus shares almost identical title, Đi Campuchia Bằng Xe Buýt (Going to Cambodia by Bus). As I have just returned days ago from my exhibition in Phnom Penh to Saigon, I was interested to discover if I had missed anything interesting during my short stay. I was pleased to read in the English text that the author included a short paragraph about the visual arts:

"The relative freedom of press and the extensive and centuries old heritage of Cambodia lends itself to a creative feel and various artsy streets have sprung up nearby around the Royal Palace and the National Museum precinct. Street 178 is one such street featuring commercial art together with works from up and coming artists. A recent 15 day visual arts festival of 15 installations, among them from Van Nath, the brilliant artist of Tuol Seng (sp) genocidal museum fame, is creating a flurry among the arts community in Phnom Penh."

It wasn't the mispelling of Tuol Sleng (also elsewhere in the article mispelled as Toul Sieng) that had me. I was interested to see know how, in the Vietnamese translation, they would tackle wording for "The relative freedom of press". Turning back to the Vietnamese translation, as I began to read, I noticed not only the whole paragraph missing, but it was entirely a different article altogether - authored by an entirely different writer. Saigon Phnom Penh by Bus is written by Dennis Coleman, the Vietnamese language counterpart Going to Cambodia by Bus by Vu Nhat Tan. Not needing to translate either of the articles saved the editors the inconvenience of speaking of sensitive social issues. However, the layout and indeed the title of the two articles are practically identical as you can see from the image above.

To confirm that this simply wasn't an oversight, I then turned to the magazine's table of contents which lists:

(page) 122. Đi Campuchia Bằng Xe Buýt/Saigon - Phnom Penh by Bus - Vũ Nhật Tân.

There is no mention of Mr. Dennis Coleman's name on the contents page nor the "Our Contributors" page. Both pieces, on the contents page, are explicitely attributed to Mr. Tân.

The reader assumes assumes that bilingual magazines make the best and sincerest efforts in their translations. The problem above is not simply a matter of mistranslation (indeed, there was no translation involved) but one of deception. It was clearly and editorial decision to match page layouts, titles and omitting the name of the author of the English language article in the contents and contributors. I'm not saying that decision was malicious or intended to do harm - only that it was a very poor decision. This bait-and-switch seriously compromises the journalistic integrity of the the publication and its reincarnation.

In the "From the Editor" section (page 4), Editor-in-Chief Mr. Hoài Vũ writes, "Saigon City Life has returned to the newsstands after a brief period of absence, with a new stylish look and exciting content, ready to satisfy the expectations of the most demanding readers". They underestimate how demanding readers can be.

Sidenote: Although I have yet to meet Mr. Dennis Coleman, the author of the English article, I have met Mr. Tan, talented musical composer and good friend. We've worked together on audio-visual collaborations in the past. Vu Nhat Tan had months earlier been invited to Cambodia to participate in a performing arts festival. In fact I had met him in Saigon upon his one day layover between returning from Phnom Penh en route to Hanoi. Both articles, though entirely different, are informative and a pleasure to read. Also, I had over a year before met the editorial staff at Saigon City Life and found them extremely bright and friendly. I've always had high hopes for the publication. The editorial staff should reconsider the future direction of their magazine.

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My last painting series was based on photos saved from profiles on Friendster and MySpace. When i tried to explain this to folks in Cambodia, no one really had a clue about these online communities. Almost anyone with a dialtone and a modem knows of Google. Interesting fact: In the past two years, MySpace has over 2.5 times the traffic as Google. Yes. I couldn't believe it myself until i read it here.

The Internet has a rising star whose name isn't Google. Just over 2 years old, MySpace now has 2 1/2 times the traffic of Google Inc., and it quickly eclipsed Friendster as the top social-networking site where users build larger and larger circles of friends. 

Source
Newstime (AP). MySpace rises as new online star
Myspace Profile. Guess Who?

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I am currently in Phnom Penh with Bui Cong Khanh setting up our exhibition, workshop and performances. We are working with two Cambodian artists, Seckon Leang and Sopheap Pich. Two days ago Khanh and I went the Tuol Sleng Prison on S21. It was a moving experience. I will post pictures soon.

 Our exhibition, REFLOW, opens on the 8th at Java Gallery. Bui Trung The Nam arrives on the 8th for his photo exhibition at Poppil Gallery.

 Much seen and done in the last days. Will write more but the internet connection here is spotty and wireless is 3 bucks an hour!

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Khanh and I began preparing for our exhibitions after visiting the horrible site of Tuol Sleng, otherwise known as S-21.

    S-21 was a prison camp located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, used by the Khmer Rouge from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. It was also known as Tuol Sleng ('hill of the poisonous tree' or 'hill of guilt').

    Formerly the Tuol Svay Prey High School, named after a Royal ancestor of King Sihanouk, the five buildings of the complex were converted in 1975 into a prison and interrogation centre. The Khmer Rouge renamed the complex to Security Prison 21 (S-21) and construction began to adapt the prison to the inmates: the buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny prison and torture cells and all the windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire to prevent prisoner escapes.

    From 1975 to 1979, an estimate of 14,000 to 16,000 people were imprisoned at S-21 (some estimates suggest a number as high as 20,000). The prisoners were selected from all around the country, and usually were former Khmer Rouge members and soldiers, accused of traitorous behaviour or treason. Even though the vast majority of the victims were Cambodian, the prison population included members of other nationalities, including Vietnamese, Thai, Laotians and Pakistanis. A number of Western prisoners passed through S-21 between March 1976 and December 1978. Mostly these were picked up at sea by Khmer Rouge patrol boats. One of the last prisoners to die was American Michael Scott Deeds who was captured with his friend Chris De Lance while sailing from Thailand to Hawaii. The whole family of the prisoner (including women, children and babies) was also often brought en masse to be interrogated and later exterminated at the Choeung Ek extermination centre.

I am still at a loss for trying to write about this terrible episode of recent memory. I will say that it is inspiring to witness firsthand the rebirth of the Khmer artists and intellectual communities after it near annihilation only 30 years ago.

I've uploaded several pictures taken during our short time at S-21. Go to the Tuol Sleng Flash Presentation.

Information
Wikipedia. Tuol Sleng S-21
DCAM. Documentation Center of Cambodia

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Last night's works. Maybe one more this evening and then I'm off to PP! 

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I will be departing tomorrow morning for the REFLOW Exhibition in Phnom Penh from Saigon by bus. The trip takes approximately 9-12 hours. The approximation of give or take 3 hours is for the Vietnamese-Cambodian border which is notorious for delays, corruption and overall crappy experiences. The thing that ought to noted is that all that is wrong on the border is on the Vietnamese side. Ask any traveler whose made the trip and you'll get a consensus.  

Above is a snapshot of some of the work that I'll be exhibiting. You'll notice a break in style. Sunny one day, rainy the next. That's me. 

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As a new painter, I am finding that I am changing quite often. Yesterday and today, I finished two more pieces, which originally, intended to be like the others, but as I put paint to canvas, they became a significant departure. In fact, it's a shift that I like. I feel more free about it and feel that I can get the feeling I'm looking for not relying on the uniform flatness of color in the others. Anyhow, these too will show in Phnom Penh.

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Pioneering media and performance artist, Nam June Paik, passed away on January 29, 2006. I had seen his work most recently at the 2004 Gwangju Biennale. The art community has lost one of the 20th centuries most influential and pivotal artists. No artist working in video cannot acknowledge his influence.

Paik's journey as an artist has been truly global, and his impact on the art of video and television has been profound.To foreground the creative process that is distinctive to Paik's artwork, it is necessary to sort through his mercurial movements, from Asia through Europe to the United States, and examine his shifting interests and the ways that individual artworks changed accordingly. It is my argument that Paik's prolific and complex career can be read as a process grounded in his early interests in composition and performance. These would strongly shape his ideas for mediabased art at a time when the electronic moving image and media technologies were increasingly present in our daily lives. In turn, Paik's work would have a profound and sustained impact on the media culture of the late twentieth century; his remarkable career witnessed and influenced the redefinition of broadcast television and transformation of video into an artist's medium.

John Hanhardt
Guggenheim Museum of Art
Senior Curator of Film and Media Arts

Information
Nam June Paik

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