ART iT was a promising Japanese-English art print magazine with contemporary art coverage from primarily Japan, Asia and the rest of the world. Last month it made the migration to an online format, sad for subscribers and paperphiles, but a triumph for trees and blog readers around the globe.

The online magazine and communities is just starting out, but features “official bloggers” from around Asia, myself included. To celebrate and support this new platform, and try to enrich the Asian art community, I’ll be posting short exhibition profiles and photos on the site, please check it out at the link below.

The site features a few other bloggers from China, such as curator Ou Ning. Those interested in on-the-ground Japanese artists couldn’t find a better site, there are tons of blogs from Japan, and local arts news. The “automatic translation” tool is not as bad as one would expect, either.

Read more about the site in this article from the Japan Times: ART iT transforms into a digital forum
Link to my exhibition reviews and my official blog on ARTiT

http://www.art-it.asia

Today marks the inauguration of the “China-DPRK Friendship Year,” which also coincides with the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.  Surely this will be the DPRK’s only chance at a “friendship year,” so, to mark the beginning of what will be a long, nauseating year in public relations coverage, I examine the aesthetic features of some DPRK photography sanctioned by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA); these have all been released on Xinhua.com, China’s media equivalent. Stark, almost Brutalist qualities mark these photos, recalling the regime that created them.

Click on each photo for related Xinhua article.

Both nations have a history of enforcing civic and aesthetic harmony. Wen Jiabao stands here with his DPRK counterpart, Kim Yong Il. What a patriotic name Mr. Kim has! There is something very “progressive” about this photo, note that instead of posing with a traditional painting as backdrop, we are treated to red and yellow color combination (Chinese flag? Olympic opening ceremony 西红柿炒鸡蛋 anyone?).

Ah… that’s more like it. You can’t help but notice the turbulent ocean waves depicted in this classical backdrop, and the matching key-lime, flowered carpet, Kim sits so perfectly in-between those blossoms, with his feet just dusting the petals of each. In DPRK history, the stones that are breaking those waves surely have some courageous, patriotic symbolism. Note to woman in turquoise: there’s only one person who should be standing out in this photo (nice beige jumper). (more…)

昨天在纽约时报看到的一则新闻中提到了尼古拉·齐奥塞斯库收藏的 ‘宣传’ 油画在罗马尼亚的当代美术馆展出，策展人展示这些敏感题材作品的方法给我留下深刻印象。罗马尼亚共产党时代的独裁者尼古拉·齐奥塞斯库的收藏源于上世纪70至80年代，馆长兼策展人Mihai Oroveanu的想法是把这些肖像画全部歪歪扭扭地挂在展场的墙上，目的是不要误导观众––这些油画不是因崇敬而展示，展览具有历史性的意义。尼古拉·齐奥塞斯库与他的妻子埃琳娜曾经是当时罗马尼亚宣传画的主要题材,强大的个人崇拜，最终结束于1989年的革命，夫妻俩被一排手持AK-47行刑队员所杀。

这里，我并不打算强调两个社会主义国家间可能存在的相似性，有趣的是罗马尼亚美术馆歪歪的展示方法。在他们革命之后不到20年，展现这段历史的重点是接受、包容和忘却。如果在中国举办类似的展览一定会对中国美术史的片断有无数的帮助，文革这段历史虽然没有被掩盖但仍然在当代文化背景里只能表现为当代美术符号化的元素或者装模作样的消费文化的产品。当代中国的主要艺术渠道也仍然对这时期的宣传画文物视而不见。罗马尼亚式的展览，如果能够在当代中国出现的话将会是多大的跃进。

看更多的幻灯片

Artist Lu Hao and curator Zhao Li were announced earlier this month as the curator of the China Pavillion at the 53rd Venice Biennale. The 40 yr old artist has participated before in the Venezia Biennale as artist, as well as the San Paolo and Busan Biennale.  Lu Hao told reporters in while in France that he wanted to confront Italians with more challenging problems, and discussed mirroring the walls and projecting images from various corners of the pavilion, to create a “gaudy and grotesque site”. (more…)

Two nights ago was the end of the Spring festival in China, at the celebration called the “Lantern Festival” where people let off their final blammo of fireworks, Beijing’s new pride and joy — the new symbolic CCTV tower by Rem Koolhaas/OMA — was engulfed in flames! It was an incredible fire, in a few hours it made a shell of the production studios, the Mandarin Oriental hotel, that was in the adjunct building next to the more symbolic “Mobius strip”. With an estimated  5 billion in losses–so much for this vanity project of the government propaganda machine!
What is the estimated cause? (Aside from these battling felines of good and evil?): “CCTV hired staff from a fireworks company to ignite several hundred large festive firecrackers in an open space outside the nearly-completed Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which is part of the iconic CCTV tower complex, said Luo Yuan, spokesman and deputy chief of Beijing Fire Control Bureau.”

“… these fireworks were much more powerful and explosive than what was available at roadside stalls during the Spring Festival and therefore needed approval from the municipal government before being allowed in the downtown areas.”

“Owners of the property ignored police warnings that such fireworks were not allowed.” from the China Daily: CCTV Hotel Fire Caused By Fireworks

This year marked only the fourth year that they were allowed after a more than 10 year prohibition. See more doctored images at Mop.com

国际女性博物馆邀请各位提交作品
请为妇女、权力与政治全球在线展览提交您的作品

请在2008年12月31日前向国际女性博物馆提交您的论文、电影短片、诗歌、摄影和漫画等原创作品，参加妇女、权力与政治在线展览。妇女、权力与政治展览以每个月引起人们兴趣的新主题为中心，使用社区提交的作品开始有关问题的讨论。可以使用阿拉伯文、英文、法文和西班牙文直接在线提交作品。直到9月才将为提交过程提供中文协助。如有任何问题，请发送电子邮件至：submissions@imow.org。如需了解提交及如何提交作品的更多信息，请访问www.imow.org/submissions。如需了解妇女、权力与政治展览，请访问www.imow.org/wpp。

I.M.O.W. 很感兴趣中国女士们的故事, 请转发！

重建－70后艺术家将以义卖全部所得为地震灾区损赠一所希望学校展览日期： 2008年6月15日  至  6 月20日 展览地点： 星空间 / 798 艺术区 / 8456 0591

Jin Jing returns home from a heroic Torch run in Paris!
Read about China’s reaction to the events in Paris
See an excellent photo series documenting the attack and heroic recovery

Read more at Xinhua: “… a terror group worse than Bin Laden”