Ifa has a new show ‘ink games’
“‘Ink Games’ takes a revealing look at the universe of Dai Guangyu: a metamorphosis of ink, its symbolic power and its cultural, social and political references. Across the different floors of ifa gallery various are creative alcoves of this artist who positions himself as a socially engaged creator, working across the diverse artistic mediums of painting, installation and performance over the past 20 years.”
THere is some interesting bickering between Shanghai internet users and ‘waidiren’ ie. those from outside the city on this website. THe term Waidiren can be used in any city to refer to outsiders, in fact it is used a lot in Beijing too, and came into use after the terms nongmin (xiangwonin in Shanghainese dialect) became frowned upon by the language police. It would seem waidiren, already not very nice, has also become very derogatory, as I remember the official politically correct term is now ‘xin shi ming’ ie. new city people.
Anyhow, the upshot of all this, is there is a reference in the debate to the ‘four modernizations‘ topic of this painting below.
The four modernizations was Deng’s original plan for beginning of the reform process, the poster/ picture is supposed to be a poster for the effort.
I think more effort should be spent debating the positive as well as negative aspects of this reform process. Shame it all denigrates into this anonymous internet griping and ‘brick throwing.’
Shanghai’s English language channel ICS is doing a daily series of art related programmes next week.
You’ll have to live in Shanghai to watch them, ICS’s footprint is limited to the fair metropolis.
Interviewees include, Arthur Solway, Pearl Lam, Lorenzo Rudolph and even yours truly. Yours truly features in the first episode in the series:
Meet the Artist (Mon, Oct.27)
Crazy lunatics? Spoiled rich celebrities or true visionaries? People tend to have many stereotypes about artists. So what on earth is an artist? Do artists live their lives differently from you and I? How do they keep themselves inspired? Join two creative artists, Mathieu and Chris, in exploring the world of artists through their eyes.
10月27日 星期一 揭秘艺术家
Yes, find out if Shanghai Eye is a crazy lunatic…
Follow the above link for the other episode topics and what have you. And what time is it on? You may well ask. ‘Primetime’ 7.30 pm apparently, eek..
THe War Nerd does some analysis of Pakistan…
Quote:
The whole country’s a disaster. One of those classic British-made disasters. One thing I’m learning in this business is the Brits messed up more places on this planet than anybody realizes, and somehow they got away with it. That’s what really amazes me about them, the way they got away with it. They realized after WW II that their power was terminally broke, and decided to quit India before Gandhi took it away from them—because if you’ve got any pride at all, losing to a little half-naked vegetarian who looks like the old “Keep on truckin’” cartoon is just not an acceptable outcome. But the Brits wanted to be sure they had two states to play with, not just a single united India. That was old colonial policy for them, and it worked time after time: set up two tribes that hate each other next to each other and let the games begin. (They almost managed to do that to us in 1863—if Gettysburg had gone the other way, I hate to think where we’d be now.)
Radio 4 has this offering:
City veteran John McLaren visits the Square Mile to meet bankers and headhunters, shop owners and cab drivers, to find out how they are coping with the current economic turmoil and what the future may hold.
