NYKS - Galata, Istanbul

I discovered NYKS of Istanbul http://www.nyks.com.tr/ while watching an intriguing video on the Monocle website: http://monocle.com/film/business/making-a-point/  and by pure luck my paper on performance art was accepted at the Contempart'15 conference in Istanbul. I thought that NYKS products were lovely and resolved to go there if I got the chance, even though I knew I would only be in town for 2 days.
On the second day, after the city tour had finished I immediately made my way over to Galata and wandered the narrow streets looking for the tiny NYKS shop. The streets in Galata are quite steep but it didn't take me long to find their premises and I was so relieved to enter the shop and see their wonderful products first-hand. Making a choice was not easy but I was helped and advised by Deniz Yurtkuran, one of the owners (the other being Merve Tatari).
If I submit another paper to this conference again next year I will surely return to NYKS but in the meantime, I really wish they would establish a mail-order service!
If you find yourself in Istanbul, don't miss it!

Photos courtesy of www.theguideistanbul.com

CONTEMPART '15 - Contemporary Art Conference, Istanbul

On Monday 8th June, 2015 I caught a train on the new Marmary section of the local Mass Transit Railway from Serkeci under the Bosphorus to the Asian side of Istanbul. From the station at Kadikoy (close to the ferry pier) it was a short walk through the local streets to the Nazim Hikmet Cultural Centre (established in an old renovated Armenian School) where I attended the CONTEMPART '15 Contemporary Art Conference.
This modest Cultural Centre became the focus of a series of presentations by artists, researchers and creators from around the world. I found myself in the midst of participants from Australia, Canada, South Africa, China, Mexico, Columbia, Portugal, Singapore, Germany, Taiwan, the UK and of course I traveled from Hong Kong.
The range of session focuses was wide: Architecture and Contemporary Arts, Art and Technology, Cinematographic Arts and Identity, Place Medium and Art, Ways of Artistic Production, Urban Space and Contemporary Arts, Performance and Contemporary Art - we pretty much covered everything!

I chaired one of the first parallel sessions and enjoyed stimulating presentations by Jorge Lopera of EAFIT University in Columbia, Mengbi Li of the University of New South Wales in Australia, Jennifer Lade of RMIT, Melbourne, Australia and Antonio Gorgel Pinto of Portugal.

Following a nice lunch we began the afternoon sessions and at around 3:30pm it was my turn to present. I related my experience constructing a performance piece and included descriptions of references, methods, theories, research and the practical experience of realising the performance in the hot summer of Hong Kong. I believe my work was well received despite not being as academic as some others and I subsequently held thought provoking discussions with other participants about performance and experience.
Also presenting in my session were Izabela Pluta of the University of New South Wales Art and Design, Sydney, Australia, and Lenka Novakova of Concordia University, Canada.
In the earlier afternoon session I had listened to the presentation of Peter Burke of RMIT, Melbourne, Australia who gave a very interesting summary of his practice and I was very impressed with his energy and creative passion for participatory art.

There were two keynote presentations, Lawrence M. Kaye talked about 'Art Law and Contemporary Issues', relating interesting stories of law suits involving artists and works of art, and Ludovic Bernhardt - a French artist living and working in Istanbul who introduced his work and experiences being an artist in this city.

The day passed incredibly quickly and the following day I joined a walking tour of the city during which we visitied the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque, The Grand Bazaar and the Hagia Irene Church outside the city walls.

I must thank Hande Dirim and everyone else who helped organise the conference and I wish them well for the future. The question that popped into my head on the flight home was 'Will I return next year?'...I'm very tempted!

Nazim Hikmet Cultural Centre

Cultural Centre Interior

Cultural Centre Outdoor Dining Terrace

Galata Tower

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia Interior

After the conference with Peter Burke and Jennifer Lade

Artist Sharing Session at YY9 Gallery

On Saturday 28th March I joined an artist sharing session at the YY9 Gallery which coincided with the 10th Anniversary Exhibition.
A small but enthusiastic group of participants attended including Movana Chen, Norman de Brackinghe, Galen Tse, Chan Sai Lok, Faan Cyran, Francis Yu, Keith Wong and Ling Lai.

We discussed topics such as the examples of our work in the current exhibition, the recent experience of ArtBasel / Art Central, artist's contracts with galleries, art education and other related subjects.
A nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

March Art Madness in Hong Kong

Due to ArtBasel and its rival(?) ArtCentral being held in March, many groups and galleries shifted their plans to coincide thereby creating an overload of events and shows that was almost impossible for people to keep up with.
Instead of spacing out events throughout the year that would allow many more people to attend, especially the smaller events, the clustering together of everything in March meant that most people had to choose and so many galleries and lesser-known events lost out. It was done for 'commercial reasons' I was told and yet I wondered how much commercial sense it made if you immediately rule out a large percentage of your possible audience?

I actually missed ArtBasel this year as I had a ticket for the only free time-slot I had (Tuesday afternoon) but late on Tuesday morning I had an urgent document to work on that kept me stuck at my desk until it was too late.

The previous Saturday I had visited ArtCentral and came away with less enthusiasm than I had arrived with. In my opinion these Art Fairs are not for viewers, they are for galleries and are essentially trade fairs. I entered the large white tent feeling enthusiastic and eager to see the work. However, by the time I had wandered around the many booths seeing similar work by the same artists that I had seen for the last few years, along with new work that was reminiscent of work I had seen before yet presented as though it was unique and ground-breaking (why does it always have to be 'unique and ground-breaking?), I finally arrived at the exit and felt glad to be leaving. The one breathe of fresh air was in the 'Flowers' booth where I saw an Eduardo Paolozzi sculpture. The bronze maquette was a study for the 'London to Paris' sculpture on view at the CASS Sculpture Foundation in West Sussex, UK. I liked the way he had reversed a familiar process - often artists make maquettes from wood, clay or other 'temporary' material before casting the final version in bronze. Paolozzi on the other hand had made his maquette from bronze and then made the final version from wood!

Before I experienced this exhausting and disappointing tour of Art Central, I had visited the Pedder building, a short walk away in Central. Here I saw two exhibitions that couldn't have provided a better contrast. First in Ben Brown I saw Simon Birch's latest show of paintings. It was refreshing to see an artist working diligently to perfect his craft and the intimate exhibition space allowed me to become lost in Simon's world, the figures dancing and floating around me as I toured the show.

Next door, just along the corridor is the Simon Lee Gallery. Here I saw an installation by the Arte Povera master Michelangelo Pistoletto. He had clad the small gallery with large mirrors onto which there were fixed photographic images of the same woman, repeated in different poses. The reflections criss-crossed the room creating the illusion of a labyrinth of rooms joined by rectangular doorways. I became a second figure and I was also multiplied within the labyrinth, engaging in an interactive relationship with the woman, almost a kind of dance. After a few minutes another group of visitors arrived and I was lost in the crowd, in the multitude of reflected images. The work changed totally as people came and went.
This is how art should be seen, each gallery had used the space perfectly to show the work to its best advantage. I left Central full of positive energy and began walking towards Art Central...if only I had planned my day's itinerary in reverse!

Simon Birch at Ben Brown

Michelangelo Pistoletto at Simon Lee Gallery

'London to Paris' by Eduardo Paolozzi

Yoshitomo Nara at Hong Kong Asia Society

On the evening of 6th March I attended an even that featured a talk between the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara and curator Fumio Nanjo at Hong Kong's Asia Society, close to the British Council / Consulate Building in Admiralty.
The talk was arranged to coincide with Nara's exhibition at the Asia Society 'Life is only one' (he also has another exhibition running at the Pace Gallery).

The press release for the talk stated that Nara and Nanjo would discuss the curatorial approach of the exhibition and about how the works in the exhibition were chosen.
However, the talk seemed to take a different direction. Nara showed photographic slides of his frequent trips overseas and he narrated these journeys in a matter-of-fact way. He often seemed to wonder why people were interested in his photos but he was encouraged to keep showing them by Nanjo. The informality and meandering nature of the talk allowed the audience to gain an introduction to Nara's personality.

For me, the most interesting aspect of the talk was when Nara showed photos taken at intervals during his personal painting process. He seemed to begin by covering the surface of the painting with large vividly-coloured circles that he then overplayed with lighter layers of paint. The circles can be seen beneath the outer layers of paint, in some of his works they can easily be seen, in others less so.

http://asiasociety.org/hong-kong/exhibitions/life-only-one-yoshitomo-nara

Hide and Seek at Home

I was invited to join a group show in March by a fellow classmate from the days I was studying for my MFA and it was timed to coincide with the annual Fotanian open studios.
This year every  art event (including Fotanian) seemed to have been moved to March due to the annual ArtBasel Hong Kong which meant that there were far too many events and people had to choose which ones to see. Subsequently many events didn't get the audience they deserved due to the short-sighted nature of the planning. The month was nicknamed 'March madness' and this perfectly described the decision to squeeze 3 months worth of events into a single month.

The unit in which the exhibition would take place had been decorated as a home-style office and so we decided to make use of this unusual environment. The artworks were to be 'hidden' around the 'apartment' and the audience would need to search to find the artworks. I decided to hide my drawings in the base of a fold-down bed and the audience would first need to discover the 'secret' panel that enabled them to open the bed ad finally discover the drawings. As it turned out, the rest of the artworks were not really well hidden at all and I began to wonder if I had made a mistake by following our initial idea so closely when everyone else didn't really hide the work...would the audience actually find my work when everything else was on display and easy to find?

Luckily the audience were curious and members of our group taking turns to be on duty at the exhibition space dropped useful hints.
The Facebook page set up to coincide with the show also allowed us to post photographs that explained where the artworks were located.

I was pleased that two of my students had works in the show: Bernice Yu and Sharon Choi. It's nice to be able to share an event with the students I am teaching, this experience is part of the learning process for them and also for me.

Due to the increased interest, it was decided to extend the show longer than the official Fotanian open studio event.

Follow this link for a blogger's review:http://pixelbread.hk/review/15-03-09-21612

My 'Excavation Drawings'

'Self-Portrait' by Miss Elephant

'Live Long and Prosper' by Alvina Lee

'Mutualism' by Shek Chun-Yin

'The Sunshine in the Rain' by Bernice Yu

'The Dressing Room' by Marsha Roddy

Samuel Beckett at the Hong Kong Arts Festival

As soon as the Festival tickets went on sale I had one goal above all others: to obtain tickets for the Beckett trilogy 'Not I', 'Footfalls' and 'Rockaby' and on 27th February I had the pleasure of experiencing these wonderful late, short plays.

The only one of the three I had 'seen' before was 'Not I' and that was only a grainy Youtube video of Billie Whitelaw performing this strange, obsessive monologue delivered at the speed of thought. Her performance was wonderful but seeing it performed live on stage was quite another experience.

Not only is it demanding in terms of it's sheer intensity, it is also a physical feat of endurance and it is difficult to imagine how someone can master this piece and deliver it non-stop with hardly a pause for breathe.

Standing on a platform 8 feet above the stage and with a single point of light directed at a mouth that seems to float in an empty black volume of space there are no distractions, no embellishments, nothing but this breathless, desperate cry into the void. During the performance the lights are extinguished and even the exit signs are turned off.
The narrowness of the spotlight and the physically demanding nature of the performance meant that the amazing actress Lisa Dwan had her head strapped into a board to prevent the slightest movement and her arms hooked behind bars for extra support. Despite these restraints, I felt for sure that her head was moving from side to side as she performed even though I knew without doubt that it must have been impossible for her to move in this way.

She must have been exhausted afterwards (I certainly was) and yet she shortly reappeared to perform first 'Footfalls' and then 'Rockaby', which are much quieter and softer but which also cry out into the void, into the dark until fate overcomes us. Again Lisa Dwan was faultless.

Leaving the theatre I felt that I had witnessed something I will recall for years to come, a profound work of art written by a genius and performed by an incredible actress.

An introduction to the trilogy at the festival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPEf_BcdXtQ

Lisa Dwan introducing 'Not I':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2DIB4fyEkM

Billie Whitelaw's 1973 version of 'Not I':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4LDwfKxr-M

Photos Courtesy of Hong Kong Arts Festival 2015