All posts filed under: TC 2019
To Dream*
Taking ‘to dream (發夢)’ – an expression used for the Hong Kong movement referring to going on the streets – as the title for the work, the collective invites the audience to follow their journey through the past few months: they display traces of their search in Hong Kong. They worked with interviews taken and material collected, as well as a fictional film essay concerning the future of the city in crisis. In order to overcome the distance between Hong Kong and Zurich, the work involves live performances such as moving Lennon TVs live-streaming the movement and a tea corner that invites people to talk directly with members of the group.
Week 15, The Last Goodbyes
Clean up Individual Feedback Talks Questionnaire Goodbye Trip To Engelberg Goodbye Dinner in Engelberg After packing and cleaning up the last remains of the final presentations at Toni Areal, we packed all our warmest clothes to go up to the mountains. Engelberg was our destination to calm down from all the excitement – and yes – stress of the past weeks. But also and mainly, to get together as a group one last time again for some quality time before we all part ways. We ate, drank, danced, cooked, threw snow balls, chit-chatted, played, discussed, hugged, made promises to not lose touch and went up the mountain in a gondola to go sledding. Thank you for your effort, your energy, ideas, courage, your strengths and weaknesses, for sharing emotions, insights, believes and concerns. Thank you for many moments of laughter, tension, anticipation, of desperation, tears, of quarrel, helplessness, achievement, success, of fear, rage and joy and happiness. And after all, thank you for new friends and companions.CAN.
Week 14, Zurich
Set up incl. technician Rehearsals Mentoring sessions and coaching Final rehearsals Group Dinner Inaugural Conference and Official Launch of Shared Campus Final presentations Friday and Saturday Final party Clean up After three intensive months in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Zurich, this is the highlight and peak of the semester programme: at the end of the week the final presentations were due.Especially in the last few weeks, after arriving in Zurich, the anticipation and tension has increased once again. The pressure was tangible, the nerves were strained. Many have been tied to their beds with the flu for a couple of days. Nevertheless, all the groups and mentors worked at full speed, stayed for night shifts to be ready for the final presentations on Friday and Saturday night. And when Friday came, everyone was ready and excited. The spots were installed, sound checked, costumes fit, make up done. The halls filled with curious visitors fairly quickly. Also, many conference guests stayed, to immerse themselves either in conversations or some of the performances/installations. Thank you to all …
Week 12 and 13, Zurich
Location and exhibition space sighting Zurich University of the Arts Team work prototyping Mentoring sessions and coaching Presentations incl. technician First mark through Group Lunch The last two weeks were fully dedicated to the upcoming final performances and installations on Friday and Saturday, December 6th & 7th. The participants worked individually in their groups, checking in with the mentors, Dimitri, Ricardo, Maximilian, Elizabeth, Nuria and Daniel to discuss their plans from time to time. After the exhibition in Shanghai, almost all the groups mixed into new constellations again. Kian and Yuyus work evolves around social atmospheres. Seain and Nick joined Lena, Leal, Milos and Rae. Their working title is FLUX. Gloria and Joe were joined by Timo. They are staging an item shop. Raúl and Lambert formed a new team and are dedicated to the topic of language. Rose and Cindy have joined the group BouDai12. Now nine members in total, they continue to work around the subject of the political situation in HK: Aline, Harisson, Tobi, Colin, Duy, Cass, Riar, Rose and Cindy. Brooke, …
Tea with Zhao Chuan
Zhao Chuan is a writer, curator and theatre director of Grass Stage, an independent Chinese theatre collective. The alternative, socially engaged performances of his theatre productions take place in public spaces: They turn restaurants, construction sites or lecture halls into stages. At the end of each performance, the audience is invited to talk about the work. Zhao Chuan explores, challenges, critically questions and criticizes different social aspects. Liv, Tobi, Aline, Duy and Colin met him for an open talk on the terrace of the old villa where the programme’s Shanghai exhibition took place. Liv: Tobi, Aline, Duy and Colin, you have been invested in the ongoing protests in Hong Kong and your work in Shanghai also evolves around it. Given the political situation, the museum officials have stressed that we are not allowed to touch sensitive topics. In the first mark through you had to come up with a cover story. How do you deal with the tie of not being able to address the subject of your work? Aline: My feelings towards the censorship …
接下来是什么(AT/WT) | What’s Next (AT/WT)
An installation, performance, light structure by Jia Yu Wu (Performance, Xinghai Conservatory of Music), Timo Raddatz (Theatre, Dramaturgy, Zurich University of the Arts), Cindy Cheng I-Hsin (Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts) & Raúl Castro Estévez (Music Performance, Zurich University of the Arts) at McaM Shanghai.
欢迎来到我的直播间 | Welcome to My Live – 播间
A live performance, installation by CHEN Zhenglang (Fine Arts in Dance (Choreography), The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts), Lena SEEFRIED, (Art Education Curatorial Studies, Zurich University of the Arts), LEI Xuan (Fine Arts in Dance (Choreography), The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts), Milos STOLIC, (Fine Arts, Zurich University of the Arts) at McaM Shanghai.
多巴胺的存在 | Dopamine’s Present
An installation by Gloria Hertig (Trends & Identity, Zurich University of the Arts), Liu Shiyan (Visual Arts, Baptiste University) & Joe Ma Kam Leung (City University of Hong Kong, School of Creative Media) at McaM Shanghai.
再見, 睙眼 | See you again, Tear up
An installation by Bou1 and Dai2 at McaM Shanghai
更多,缺席,睡眠 | MORE, ABSENCE, SLEEP, M.A.S. Dream Machine
A performative installation by Rose Li Zi-Rui, (Visual Arts, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University), Rafael Gil Cordeiro (Trends & Identity, Zurich University of the Arts), Brooke Jackson (Curatorial Studies, Zurich University of the Arts), Qian Yuxuan (Drama, Nanjing University), Nuriia Khasenova (Music Pedagogy, Zurich University of the Arts) at McaM Shanghai.
Week 11, Arriving in Zurich
Reflection Shanghai Lecture The Phantom of Zurich and From a social Movement to a perfect Hedonistic Lifestyle by Daniel Späti Input on Collaboration by Dimitri de Perrot Workshop Introduction Group building and idea development Input on Bonds & Ties by Ricardo Eizirik After traveling from Shanghai to Zurich over the weekend individually, we all met again at TONI Areal. Still jetlagged and drained from the intense weeks at McaM Shanghai, many participants fell ill. Temperatures were low and so was the energy level. Nevertheless, the program picked up on Tuesday with the introduction of Dimitri, Max and Ricardo: New mentors, who will be accompanying us through the last phase in Zurich. There was a space for the groups to reflect upon the opening event in Shanghai and to give feedback. The main tenor of the They also discussed whether they wanted to stay in the current groups or split and rearrange. Some groups were very sure about splitting up, like the What’s Next group and some groups were certain they wanted to stay together. Eventually, …
了结 | OVER
A self help office, Office of Voluntary Essential Riddance, by Kian Schwabe (Stage Directing, Zurich University of the Arts), Nick Ng (Theatre, Lasalle College of the Arts) & Fu Lingbo (Theater Nanjing University) at McaM Shanghai.
Week 10, Shanghai
Group Work Set up and rehearsals Opening Event at McaM Shanghai Goodbye Dinner Shanghai Flights to Zurich The abandoned villa on the premises of the museum turned more and more into a bustling work space. As the days grew nearer to the opening event on Saturday, one could feel the tension rising. The groups were busy ordering material on Taobao, getting to work a functioning internet connection, installing sound and tv screens, building big wood structures and experimenting with different material. While some groups had a clear vision how their work will look like and were rehearsing the detailed schedule of their performance, others dealt with a minor crisis and dismissed many ideas they had come up so far: Only to begin at square one to start working even more focused. When Saturday came, all the groups were ready and eager to present their work at the opening event. It was an exciting and successful afternoon with many curious visitors who joined. Congratulations to all the participants and thank you to everyone involved at McaM …
Week 9, Shanghai
First sighting of exhibition space at Ming Contemporary Art Museum Screening of Documentary Shanghai Youth Talk with Christopher Connery on cultures & the definition of groups Introduction on censorship Talk with Zhao Chuan on Shanghai radical art scene from 1970 t0 1990 Meet up with local artists, FU KA Independent Art Space Visit Rockbund Museum: Hugo Boss Asia Art Awards & Emerging Asia Artists Excursion to Jiading Confucian Temple & China Imperial Examination System Museum Excursion to Shanghai Arts and Design Academy, Chinese Traditional Crafts Group work Mentoring and technical organisation It was a fully packed first week in Shanghai. The convenient comfort of knowing a place we built in Hong Kong, was gone. Fresh start, new city, new questions – at least for most of the participants in the program: How do we order taxis, how do we buy a metro ticket to get around easily? Where are the good places to eat? Where do we get supplies for our group project? Which app is the best to translate Mandarin? How do you say …
Urban Co-habitation in Disappearance: Street Cat Photography and Animal Advocacy in Hong Kong
Dr. Fiona Y. W. Law, Department of Comparative Literature, University of Hong Kong In the age of digital photography, online social media has been devoted to sharing and circulating ‘cute’ images of the animals we encounter every day. Responding to this urban phenomenon, this talk addresses the relationship between visualization of street cats, aesthetic trends in animal representations, global consumerism, and urban renewal through examining various street cat photos taken in Hong Kong. While taking photos of street cats is often understood as a habit voyeuristic pleasure (like the cat version of moekbang, live streaming cats checking out food areas), many of these image also capture the difficult lives of street cats who struggle to survive in the concrete jungle (especially in times of tear-gazed neighbourhoods). The talk also discussed how these images often juxtapose the fragmentary (omni)presence of these feline residents and ruin-like environment of the old districts, resulting in a photographic critique of both the city’s ignorance to animal welfare and a visual reminder of how the city itself has been undergoing mutations …
Week 8, Goodbye Hong Kong
Group Work Mentoring Sessions Silent presentations Bye-bye Dinner Travel to Shanghai on trains and planes The last week in Hong Kong started with the silent presentations on Tuesday. Each group had 30 mins to present research findings, concrete plans and ideas or experimental material from their running project. Projects that will be exhibited in Ming Contemporary Museum in Shanghai. Before we all had to say a temporary goodbye to some Hong Kong locals and a final farewell to the city, we enjoyed a great dinner altogether at a typical wet market restaurant in Kowloon City. On Friday, we travelled to our next destination. Within 8 hours the high-speed train took us through Mainland China to Shanghai, where the program continues for 2 weeks.
Week 7, Hong Kong
Individual group work Mentoring sessions After a full week of intense group formation in the last week, the following have teamed up together for the next phase and the exhibition at Ming Contemporary Museum in Shanghai. They all worked individually and met with Daniel, Nuria and Simon for mentoring sessions. Cindy, Yuyu, Raúl and Timo’s topic revolves around the broad question of ‘where do we come from and where do we go next?’. They work with the keywords, information and communication, space, time, change and environment. Seain, Gloria and Joe work with the feeling of obsession, expectation and attraction to objects. Milos, Rae, Lena and Leal have been looking at different social phenomenons; new identity, make up, voguing, live streaming as well as Chinese classical dance and traditional opera. Lisa, Nick and Lambert deal with the topic of voluntary loss. Tobi, Harrison, Aline, Riar, Duy, Cass, Colin worked on interviews. Money, Brooke, Rafael, Rose and Nuriia worked with the keywords ‘Sleep, Absence and More’. They took time to experiment within different activities, such as field trips, improv sessions or …
In Process with Cindy, Yuyu, Timo and Raúl
Working collaboratively can be inspiring and challenging at the same time. ‘In Process’ is a series of small reports following along each group for a day to find out how they interact and work collaboratively, what difficulties they might face and what strategies they follow. The insights offer a snippet from different stages on the way to their exhibition/performance at Ming Contemporary Art Museum Shanghai on November 8th. In the very early days of their project, I met Cindy I-Hsin Cheng, Jia Yu Wu, Timo Raddatz and Raúl Castro Estévez on a research day hopping from gallery to gallery. Previous Next I meet Cindy, Timo, Raul and Yuyu at noon outside a multi-story building in Central. They have visited 7 galleries in the morning already. Everyone is very hungry, so Raul leads the way across the broad street, passed the tram way. We leave Chater Road, home to many luxury brand flagship stores, and walk through a back street. The concrete ground is wet, AC’s are dripping onto our heads as we pass through the tunnel-like and smelly alley. …
Week 6, Hong Kong
Feedback HART Haus Improv Week Sharing of individual learning experiences, methods, personal and professional habits Discussion “Where is the line?” Input on collaboration strategies Idea pitch for next group phase Group building After one week away at HART Haus, it was almost like coming home to AVA Kai Tak Campus. We started off sitting in a circle to discuss the previous workshop with Simon and Andreas at HART Haus. For all of the students, the public performance was an exciting evening, which they enjoyed very much. Some found themselves in a performing mode, they had never experienced before and were very surprised about themselves and about how good they felt. However, not everyone felt comfortable with the structure of the workshop. Some had different expectations about the format of an improvisation week. Other feedback included, that the performance night was somehow too structured to have the label of improvisation. Some also would have preferred to work as a whole group instead of splitting in smaller groups. In the end, it was an experiment for everyone …
Problem Solving in the Collaborative Process
Working collaboratively can be inspiring and challenging at the same time. Working in a transcultural group, in which you don’t share the same mother tongue and have different approaches to work processes and ethics can be even more demanding. Thus, the questions on how to deal with idea exchanges, defining roles, group dynamics such as communication and feedback culture and how to manage expectations are crucial to talk about in advance. The students each discussed a set of problems or challenges they might face in working together and tried to come up with different solutions. Some approaches were a little more playful than others. The left column defines a potential problem, while the right column suggests a possible way to deal with it. Challenge/Problem Possible Solution When do we define tools, before or during producing? The question is hard to answer generally. The times to define tools differ for each project or discipline. It might be best to just try out new and different tools; ask yourself what you can do and what you want …
Time Space Stranger
Encounters with strangers are unexpected. We see them as random coincidences or signs of fate. We pay attention to them or let them pass by. They might leave a trace in our memory and life that changes us. They offer us the possibility to experience ourselves in an unknown way.
T.U.B.E Hong Kong 0.1 alpha
An interactive, immersive group game experience by Colin Schmid (Interaction Design, Zurich University of the Arts), Lena Seefried (Curatorial Studies, Zurich University of the Arts), Lisa Schwabe (Stage Directing, Zurich University of the Arts), Timo Raddatz (Theatre, Dramaturgy, Zurich University of the Arts) and Chan Clair Ka-kiu KK (Fine Arts, City University of Hong Kong). Intro Our group started with the keywords spaceship and bondage. The third topic revolved around the words of utopia and matrix. The spaceship gave us an idea of the aesthetics we wanted to achieve. Several films and series like Pacific Rim, Enter The Void, Love, Death And Robots etc. inspired us. The topic bondage gave us different access to a wide range of interests like BDSM and Shibari (traditional form of using ropes, as art and not as sexual liberation), a metaphor of gaining freedom by losing some of it, basic human interactions, power regulations in politics and colonialism. For the media, different TV game shows from the 80′, 90’s, 00’s from Germany, Switzerland, China and Japan inspired us. Concept T.U.B.E Hong Kong 0.1 alpha is an …
Leave Or Not To Leave
A performance by Jia Yu Wu (Performance, Xinghai Conservatory of Music) and Nick Ng (Theatre, Lasalle College of the Arts). Intro In this age of news and fake news, Yuyu and Nick seek to find commonality and conflict. Leave or not to Leave is a performance showing different levels of translation of what we see and not see, how we respond or not respond. The performance consists of 2 performers. One who is seen, heard and felt physically. The another not seen in physical form, with his presence felt merely in text. Yuyu’s dance performance is performed by Nick through text in an un-emotional, purely descriptive way, While Yuyu responds physically against the factual interpretation. Concept Leave or Not to Leave 走或不走 are the 4 characters that Yu came out with in response to her own improvisation. It is her response to her own performance. The final performance consists of 2 performers. With Nick performing in Singapore in front of a computer performing Yu’s original dance in the form of a detail, non-emotional description and Yu performing live …
Error 404
A performance by Fu Lingbo (Theater Nanjing University) and Gloria Hertig (Trends & Identity, Zurich University of the Arts). Intro What does freedom mean? Is it being free? What rules, ideals and structures are taught by state, parents and society without us being aware of them? Where does the metamorphosis of structure and habit begin? In the performance Error 404 Fu Lingbo and Gloria Hertig transfer their learned impairment into a common meal. Concept We transferred the learned impairment into a common meal. We used table manners as a metaphor for social structures. Table manners are different in every culture and we learned them as children eating with adults. So we not only apply our table manners in fancy restaurants but they unconsciously become natural movements. The setting of the performance was as follows: Two people eating at a table, facing the audience, not staring at them but eating in front of them. The whole scene is plain and kept in discreet colors, everything is white and clean. Next to the table there are two floor …
Meditation In Red
A two-part installation by Cass Leung Lok Kwan (Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University), Cindy Cheng I-Hsin (Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts), Nuriia Khasenova (Music Pedagogy, Zurich University of the Arts), Milos Stolic (Fine Arts, Zurich University of the Arts).
Device Spa
A performative installation by Rose Li Zi-Rui, (Visual Arts, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University), Rafael Gil Cordeiro (Trends & Identity, Zurich University of the Arts), Riar Rizaldi (Media Art/Moving Images, City University Hong Kong), Brooke Jackson (Curatorial Studies, Zurich University of the Arts), Leal Chen Zhenglang (Dance Choreography, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts), Rae Lei Xuan (Dance Choreography, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts), Joe Ma Kam Leung (City University of Hong Kong, School of Creative Media).
Hong Kong Identity as a Global Laboratory
Gordon Matthews, Professor of Anthropology The Lecture discussed how cultural identity in today’s world is shaped. He distinguished between the discourse of the state, that “you must love, cherish and defend your country”, and the discourse of the market, that “one can buy, do, and be anything in the world that one wants.” Most people in the developed world take both of these discourses for granted; but many people in Hong Kong have only known one, the discourse of the market. The talk considered Hong Kong as a laboratory for the world in terms of cultural identity. Are many Hong Kongers, in their inability to comprehend “loving one’s country”, blind in a world where everyone else can see? Or are they sane in a world where everyone else is insane? The discourse of the state is about loving your country. The discourse of the market means you can buy, be and do anything you choose. Every country makes different sense of loving their country as much as every individual chooses differently what they are and do. Most …
Socializing the Common Denominator
Dr. Mark L. Gandolfi, Psychologist How do we connect with the world around us? With all the different layers? How does it relate to the sense of belonging? How do we connect to things, for example devices? How do we relate to nun-human beings? How are we bound or tied to thing we do? To our work? In all areas of life, whether aspiring to be or being an artist, a commercial pilot, a heart surgeon, an elementary school teacher or a chef, every aspect of working life has psychology embedded in its processes. Concurrently with people in work and people in our social – personal life worlds, being with others – or not being with others – all have psychology as the common denominator. So whether we are binding with a job or trying to bind with a new friend, there is a new way of understanding the ties and bonds of with the experiences in our life. The talk took a slice of Bonds & Ties in the context of how we as …
Week 4, Hong Kong
Group work and practice based explorations Mentoring Presentation of the first group work Reflection on group process and presentations Discussion and feedback about first block of the program The whole week was dedicated to the presentation/exhibition of the first group projects. Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday the students worked individually setting up, programming, rehearsing, discussing, arguing, overcoming language barriers, woodworking, coding, installing lights, texting, glueing or painting. On Thursday afternoon they presented their projects at AVA Kai Tak Campus. The day after we sat together to reflect and give feedback on the projects and the program in general. The final presentation of the group projects at AVA (a click on each picture will redirect you to the group process documentation)