Finding people beyond your hotel or at major restaurants and tourist venues that speak fluent English is not easy. While the majority of the signage throughout the Beijing is in Chinese and English, I would highly recommend that visitors and businesspeople take a quick course in Mandarin. Scott bartered Spanish lessons with a colleague fluent in speaking and writing Mandarin who taught him the language and cultural nuances. I learned a few phrases myself, including typical greetings, and Thank you,” and “I do not eat meat.” This was the most important phrase since I do not eat anything with more than two legs, and pork is a main ingredient in a lot of their dishes.
Otherwise navigating the city might prove to be difficult. Even the simplest task of catching a cab requires that you keep your hotel’s business card with the name written in Chinese to hand to the cab driver. I would highly recommend the China Institute in Manhattan as a great place to take classes, and it’s a wonderful resource for information on Chinese culture.
Zhang Huan’s second solo show at PaceWildenstein, features Rulai, a monumental Buddha and recent large-scale works on paper based on the 7thcentury Chinese prophecy book Tui Bei Tu. The exhibition follows the debut of his newly conceived Handel opera, now scheduled to tour China in 2010, as well as the publication of a new Phaidon monograph.
NEW YORK, November 24, 2009—Following the critically-acclaimed September premiere of Semele, a new production of George Frideric Handel’s opera directed and designed by Zhang Huan and presented to audiences at The National Opera of Belgium in Brussels (scheduled to tour China in 2010), the artist will be the subject of his second solo exhibition at PaceWildenstein.
Neither Coming Nor Going will be on view at 545 West 22nd Street, New York City, from December 11, 2009 through January 30, 2010. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, December 10th from 6-8 p.m. Representing the artist’s continuing investigation of humanity through tradition, historical associations, and personal experiences, Neither Coming Nor Going will feature a monumental ash Buddha, Rulai (2008-2009), measuring 18′ 1/2″ x 14′ 10″ x 10′ 11-1/2″,as well as a series of unique large-scale works on paper made in 2006-2008.
The compacted ash surface of Rulai, supported by an internal metal frame, is heavily embedded with miniature porcelain Buddha relics, copper offering dishes, miniature skulls and unburned joss sticks. The strikingly beautiful grisaille palette of the sculpture is sharply contrasted with blood red paper wrappers, clustered around the crown and face of the deity. Burning incense pours out from Buddha’s head, activating a traditionally static art form with performative aspects, one of the artist’s hallmarks.
Zhang Huan video of burning Buddha’s
Using ink, paper handmade from the bark of Mulberry trees, and in some works feathers to build up the surface, Zhang Huan depicts animals and landscapes in the series of unique works on paper included in this exhibition. He references the celebrated 17th-century Chinese painter and calligrapher Bada Shanren as well as Tui Bei Tu, a seventh-century Tang Dynasty prophecy book which reappeared in second-hand book stores in China in the 1990s after being banned by the Communist party. Tui Bei Tu offered an alternative to traditional Eastern and Western systems and presented insight into China’s future, utilizing drawings and poems to prophesize a sequence of sixty events.
The Year of Tiger which is also known by its
formal name of Geng Yin
Chinese New Year Film Series
MOCA presents a series of Lunar New Year Films from Hong Kong and mainland China that celebrate the New Year. New Year Films originated in Hong Kong in the early 1980s with the success of Security Limited (1981) directed by Michael Hui. The movie became exemplary in the genre called “he sui pian,” or New Year celebration movies, which typically have two main features: the stories have something to do with the Chinese New Year and the films are crowd pleasers with comic entertainment.
Renowned Chinese actors and directors such as Maggie Cheung, Jackie Chan, Tony Leung, Stephen Chow, Chow Yun Fat, and Won Kar Wai have all participated in “he sui pian” in their early careers. With their slapstick quality and specificity to the New Year, these films are often overlooked by the mainstream. MOCA invites the community to revisit some of the iconic films of this genre.
China has become hot topic, you cannot read the daily newspaper, turn on the TV for national news or listen to NPR without hearing some big story on China. Beijing is touted as a major contender for global power, against the United States. Recently, I listened to a controversial NPR talk show interview on “On Point,” with Martin Jacques, during which he discussed his new book, When China Rules the World. His argument centered on how China will eventually replace the American government as a world leader.
One major problem that continuously plagues Beijing is the battle to clean up thecity’s pollution.There rating is worst than Los Angeles. Despite our spending only three days in Beijing we couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the densely polluted air. I felt like, I could literally reach out and grab puffs pollution in my hands. Don’t be surprised to see people walking or riding bikeswith designer style surgical mask. It’s not to protect people against “SARS,” but to help them breathe. In order to ebb the tide of pollution, Beijing has launched a program to bring back bike riding to curtail car traffic.
My recent trip to China was another benefit of my relationship with my partner Scott Barton, who was granted a fellowship, for an intensive 2-1/2 week program that focused on the culture, history and ritual practices of eating of the people of Hong Kong. Who lives for all things food, Scott is a PhD candidate in the Food Study program at New York University. For the past 25 years he has worked as a chef and restaurant consultant all over the United States and in several European cities.
