Beats of the land – Artist’s persistence saves ethnic heritage

By He Jianwei
Percussion instruments are the oldest of any traditional instrument in China.
The earliest archaeological evidence of Chinese percussion music was discovered in Shanxi Province, where massive drums were made to celebrate the triumph of Li Shimin’s army durig Tang Dynasty (618-907). Drumming in Shanxi Province can be dated back centuries earlier to Xinjiang County, the ancient name of Jiangzhou, in present-day Shanxi Province.
Since 1988, the former director of Xinjiang Culture Museum has been taking his troupe of drumming villagers on tours of world stages, showing both classical culture and an endangered heritage.
The troupe, which combines ancient drumming with modern theatrics, will soon be taking the stage in Beijing to present their new art.

Time to return – Leading artists assemble to define contemporary art

By He Jianwei 

The China Avant-Garde Exhibition, held at the National Art Museum of China 21 years ago, was the first time many in the West saw contemporary Chinese art.

Critics of the day called it the final curtain for the ’85 New Wave Art Movement, a vague period of time in the mid-’80s when Chinese Avant-Garde emerged.

In the years since, these artists have won attention with their exhibitions abroad and have broken auction records around the world.

Last year, 21 representative artists from various periods and schools of the last 30 years were assembled for the first time at the newly founded Contemporary Art Academy of China.

These leaders returned to the museum last Wednesday to show their latest paintings, sculptures and installations in an exhibit which is itself the history of China’s contemporary art.

A giant stainless steel sculpture of a laughing man welcomes visitors at the front gate of the National Art Museum of China. The face – its mouth open and eyes closed – has become a dominant icon in the paintings and sculptures of creator Yue Minjun.

That sculpture is part of The Constructed Dimension: 2010 Chinese Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition, a collection of the last 30 years of development in Chinese contemporary.

More than 70 works by 20 artists are on display. Their oil paintings, sculptures, installations and photographs each represent a different area of contemporary art.

Music the new vessel for traditional philosophy

By Han Manman

Traditional culture is undergoing a resurgence across the mainland, and at the vanguard is Ha Hui, a singer whose music has been called “ceremonial music of the 21st Century” and been characterized by Grammy Awards judges as uniquely Chinese.

By combining classical poetry and Confucian aesthetics, Ha’s new ceremonial music preserves historic rites and traditional etiquette that have almost disappeared.

Now preparing for her world tour, Ha hopes to spread traditional Chinese philosophy to the world and spur overseas interests in its related culture.

Ha Hui is a professional singer who promotes traditional Chinese culture through music. Her music has been called "ceremonial music of the 21st century." Photo provided by Tai Bo'er

Digitized urban life – Art exhibition analyzes man-city relationship

By He Jianwei

Every city has its symbols: the Brandenburg Gate is as iconic of Berlin as Tian’anmen is of Beijing.

But cities are about more than recognizable imagery.

Berlin artists are exploring the hidden and unseen of their city through digital art as they try to unravel its new relationship with its inhabitants in the Internet era.

Having attended this year’s transmediale, the international media arts festival in Berlin, the artists are bringing their works to Beijing’s Today Art Museum next Monday.

Sound of the East – Asia the future of classical music?

By He Jianwei

It is easy to find master conductors and virtuosos from Asia, but the list of top classical orchestras today is still dominated by European and North American groups.

A decade ago, Korean-American conductor Myung-Whun Chung established the first orchestra composed of musicians from all over Asia.

Since its debut in Japan, the orchestra has been recognized as the continent’s best. The diverse cultures and ethnicities of its performers contribute to its beautiful music, and to a deeper harmony within the orchestra itself.

Today, Chung will lead the orchestra again on its return to Beijing’s stage after last year’s debut.

Chung’s orchestra, the Asian Philharmonic Orchestra, includes 97 musicians from 11 Asian countries who have played with more than 30 leading symphony orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

The group was first assembled to fulfill Chung’s dream: that relations between Asian nations could be strengthened through music.

“Musical ability and musical talent are not linked to whether you are Korean, Japanese or Chinese, or French or American. It is a language of feeling, of spirit, and no one can convince me that a Korean has a different spirit than a Japanese, Chinese or American person,” Chung says.

“We have different customs, and we have developed different ways of living, but basic human nature and human qualities – I don’t think those change across borders,” he says.

In 1995, when Chung conducted the opening ceremony of an international orchestral festival in Tokyo, he met many Asian musicians from top orchestras. His idea was to put them together.

‘I don’t believe in Utopia’ – Curtains open on mainland’s first tent theater

By He Jianwei

Rapid urbanization is creating new ghettos at an unprecedented rate and poverty continues to haunt the modern world. As unlikely as it may sound, theater is needed now more than ever.

At least a certain brand of theater.

Japanese playwright and director Sakurai Daizo has spent 37 years working in tent theater, and in that time he has never let his focus falter from art’s role as social critic.

He first introduced tent theater to Taiwan in 2000. His performance in the capital seven years later led to a grassroots offshoot: Tent-Beijing.

Now the local tent theater group is ready to stage its first drama – a wrenching look at the issues the city’s migrant workers face every day.

“It’s neither utopian nor anti-utopian. I call it Wuyabang, something like a group of crows living near a dump.”

– Sun Bai, playwright of Wuyangbang

“I’m afraid that people are going in the dangerous direction of consumerism and capitalism. In the capital cities of government founded in the name of eradicating poverty, the problems only worsened.”

– Sakurai Daizo, tent-theater playwright and director

Trampling mora borders – Cologne Opera asks What if Don Giovanni lived today?

By He Jianwei

Don Juan is a legendary libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors in many languages.

Spanish Baroque dramatist Tirso de Molina first put the character in a play in 1630. Among the Don’s best-known appearances are Molière’s play in French, Byron’s epic poem in English and Pushkin’s play in Russian.

But one of the most influential versions was the opera Don Giovanni composed by Mozart and first performed in 1787.

Last month, Cologne Opera presented a new version of Don Giovanni, set in modern times, which quickly became a hit in Germany. Two months later, the modern-day, cell-phone wielding Don Giovanni will take the stage in Beijing.

Unstable soul – Penetrating life through documentary

“I didn’t want to become one of the many who, to eat, to earn a reputation or to maintain fame, rely on documentary filmmaking… But I have been filming continuously for the last 10 years to create a diary of images.”

Wu Wenguang, a 54-year-old independent documentary filmmaker and founder of independent documentary in China, proves in his films that reality is the smasher of ideals. Photos provided by Wu Wenguang

By He Jianwei

Wu Wenguang, a 54-year-old independent documentary filmmaker and founder of independent documentary in China, proves in his films that reality is the smasher of ideals.

For the first 10 years of his career he was a recorder of lives, watching people struggle to pursue their dreams.

Since then, he has challenged and redefined conventional wisdom about documentary filmmaking. Rather than hiding behind the camera, he gave cameras to peasants to let them make their own films.

Tags: Beijing Today, Center Stage, cinema maniac, filmmaker, ideal, independent documentary, smasher, Wu Wenguang

Forever Pina – Photos, film mark choreographer’s death

July 9, 2010  Filed under Center Stage  

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By He Jianwei

A master artist never truly dies because he is survived by his work.

On June 30, 2009, German dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch died at 68 – five days after she was diagnosed with cancer. Bausch was a giant of European contemporary dance during the last 35 years, shaping by her steps the dance and theater scenes.

Last Saturday, an exhibition and screening of Bausch’s work was held at the Iberia Center for Contemporary Art in 798 Art District to mark the anniversary of the master’s death.

Sacre du Printemps/Vollmond/Sacre du Printemps Copyright/Gert Weigelt

Hiding her high and prominent cheekbone behind a cigarette-bearing hand, Pina Bausch looks serene in black and white.

Leaning on a wall beside the portrait, the photographer Gert Weigelt recalls his days with the artist, at times sighing over her sudden death.

Weigelt first heard of Bausch during his days as a ballet dancer in Stockholm, from 1967 to 1972. He met her for the first time during his last year, when Bausch visited Scalateatern in Stockholm with dance partner and choreographer Jean Cebron.

Having left the world of dance, Weigelt went to study art and photography in Cologne, Germany, not far from Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal, a troupe that revolutionized dance in 1973.

In Bausch’s world, everything is dance.

Drawing on collage or montage, she combined fragments of movement, speech, song and music in a kaleidoscope of images. Her dance resounded in a voice of violence, humor and anxiety.

The year 1975 was important both for Bausch and Weigelt.

Tags: Beijing Today, Center Stage, Gert Weigelt, pina bausch

Life for rent – The stories of women temps

July 2, 2010  Filed under Center Stage  

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By He Jianwei

“Art is not a mirror, but a hammer,” the grandfather of documentary, Scott John Grierson said.

If that’s true, Qi Xiaoguang’s new documentary strikes with fitting force.

Women’s Dormitory turns the camera on a group of temporary workers sharing a cheap dorm. Most are 45 or older and represent the first generation of women migrant workers.

Their story tells the struggles of the city in a voice that hopes for the future.

Qin Xiaoguang's Women's Dormitory tells the story of temporary workers sharing a cheap dorm, most of whom are 45 or older and represent the first generation of women migrant workers. Photos provided by Qi Xiaogang

Tags: Beijing Today, Center Stage, life for rent, women temps

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