In case you’re in Hong Kong, for ARTHK or otherwise, please stop by the Tulou Open House preview event on May 14 – this project has been in the works for quite a while, and we’re very excited to finally share it. Official press release to follow.

Tulou Open House: Project Preview in Hong Kong
Monday, May 14, 3 – 5pm
Afterschool Cafe
2/F, 17 Yun Ping Road, Causeway Bay
銅鑼灣恩平 道17號2樓
RSVP to Samantha Culp, samantha@newterritories.org

This Monday, please swing by Afterschool Cafe for a preview of the Tulou Open House project 2012 – a temporary, site-specific creative experiment and mini-conference taking place this June at a traditional Tulou (round earthen house) in Fujian Province. During this open-ended “expedition”, a diverse group of artists and scholars from greater China will explore the structure, symbolism, and everyday life of the Tulou as a laboratory for new projects and collaborations, a fresh lens for the concept of creative community, and a potential site for expansive future projects at the Tulou and beyond. The event will culminate in a public “Open House” event on the weekend of June 8-10, which is open to visitors and the local community alike, and will stage a program of talks, screenings, workshops, performances, guided tours, and artistic interventions.

On Monday, organizers Dana Wu (Friends of the Tulou) and Samantha Culp (New Territories Studio) will present an overview of the project, discuss its background and goals, and lead a conversation with HK-based Tulou participants and others who might like to join or learn more.

>>> QUESTIONS/CONTACT/MEDIA — 问题/联系/媒体 <<<
EMAIL: tulouopenhouse2012@gmail.com
TUMBLR: tulouopenhouse.tumblr.com

Announcing “Border Studies“, a haphazard collection of visual inspiration from New Territories Studio. While the more formal New Territories blog/site is still under construction, check here for fragments pulled from the lucid dreaming experience that is Tumblr in 2011.

Threads: Asia, art, landscapes, cultural remixing, the aesthetics and problematics of exploration, absurd and arresting images

See it here.

(click for the more annoying GIF)

Recently I became the “creative talent scout” for Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai – their first in this somewhat bizarre-sounding role, I believe. I’ll be helping to expand W+K’s network of emerging Chinese talent and pool of creative collaborators (with an emphasis on China, but also across Asia and internationally).

I’ll also be curating an events program in our office here, open to the Shanghai creative community at large, to bring in cross-disciplinary inspiration and strengthen W+K Shanghai as a local creative hub.

See the full announcement here, and see you around – I will be the one with binoculars “scouting” high and low!

A track for the impending autumn, from influential yet short-lived Japanese band Jacks. More on their history here.

“からっぽの世界”, ジャックス, 1968
(“Vacant World,” Jacks, 1968)

[audio http://newterritories.org/images/03-からっぽの世界.mp3]

03 からっぽの世界

It’s a pretty insane week here in Shanghai, as the “back-to-school” activities of the artworld commence, but truly looking forward to an event I’ve helped organize for this Sunday evening: two recent works by Singaporean filmmaker Ho Tzu-Nyen, to be screened in association with my friends at Future Perfect, and hosted by the just-barely-soft-opened Shanghai branch of Café Sambal. (Many thanks to Cho Chong Gee of Sambal for graciously supporting the event!)

If you find yourself in Shanghai this Sunday, please do attend – it should be a relaxing, atmospheric end to a crazy week.

Future Perfect presents

Ho Tzu Nyen: Recent Videos

Sunday 12 September, 2010, 7 – 9 pm
星期天 12 九月 2010，7-9 pm

at Café Sambal
37a Shanxi Nan Lu, Lane 550 (past Yongjia Lu)
37a 陕西南路，550弄 （近永嘉路）
(Jia Shan Market area, between Shanxi Nan lu and Jia Shan Xi Lu – a map showing detailed location of the complex is here)

Future Perfect is pleased to invite you to a special screening of recent video works by award-winning Singaporean artist and filmmaker, Ho Tzu Nyen.

The two works, EARTH and Zarathustra: A Film for Everyone and No One will be screening for the first time in Shanghai, in association with Future Perfect’s participation in ShContemporary 2010. The screening is hosted by Café Sambal, a newly-opened Shanghai restaurant and bar serving modern Malaysian cuisine, and organized by New Territories, a studio for experimental research and production.

For more information, please contact organizer Samantha Culp at samanthaculp@gmail.com

About the Works

EARTH (((radio))), 2009
High-definition digital video, single channel, colour, sound, 41min
Originally made as a visual accompaniment to the music of The Observatory for the Singapore Arts Festival, EARTH is a post-apocalyptic tour de force. Involving a cast of 50 actors, this deliberate study in pose, gesture, light and composition explores the impossible legacy of painting for contemporary image-making. EARTH has been screened at the 66th Venice Film Festival (2009), the 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam (2010) and the 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival (2010)

Lengthy review on Sinema.sg here

Zarathustra: A Film for Everyone and No One, 2009
High-definition digital video, single channel, colour, sound, 25min
Made in collaboration with art school students, Zarathustra is a multi-disciplinary engagement with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. The film explores themes as diverse as fate and repetition, pedagogy and power, black metal and noise music, and man’s potential to overcome the constraints of his mind and environment. Zarathustra was commissioned for the 6th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art and supported by Osage Gallery, LASALLE College of the Arts and Singapore’s National Arts Council.

About Future Perfect
Future Perfect is a mobile exhibition platform based in Singapore, working with an international roster of contemporary artists. In addition to curated and site-specific projects, Future Perfect provides international promotion and representation for contemporary artists, as well as research and advice for collectors, institutions and curators.

http://www.wallwork.tv/futureperfect
e. futureperfect.asia@gmail.com
t. +65 9125 7035

Flying Bird from Samantha Culp on Vimeo.

Teaser for New Territories – experimental studio for research and production – full site coming soon from Samantha Culp on Vimeo.

New Territories is an experimental studio for the research, development and production of innovative cultural projects, with a focus on the intersection of art and cinema. Based between Beijing and Shanghai, New Territories serves as a laboratory for new ideas, a curatorial platform for programming and exhibitions, and a production base for the creation of films, installations, editions and events. New Territories seeks to support emerging, risk-taking artists in China and beyond, and act as a catalyst for interdisciplinary collaborations and original work.

She works hard for a living…

Link to set on Flickr.

SHORT STAYS / 暂停
3 Short Films by / 三个短片
Zhao Ye / Liu Jiayin / Peng Lei
赵晔、刘伽茵、彭磊