Archive for the ‘BEIJING’Category

IRAAA Special Issue Merges Science, Technology, Art + Design

The International Review of African American Art just published a special issue which shows how aesthetic, scientific and mathematical configurations can be perceived in everything and experienced in many ways. This full seeing and being is a spark for innovation in art, science, technology, engineering, architecture and mathematics and, more broadly, in education and business… and life!

This Spring issue features a spectacular group of design and cultural critics, and theorist writing on science, Afro Futurism, STEM Education and the Interplay of Patterns are just a few of the amazing features highlighted in this issue. Pick up a copy and delve into creative intelligence!

 

GlIDE10: Justine Hsueh/integration of green design and visual typography

Justine presents signboard communication in Asia. Objective is to improve technology design in the future, through better design and visual typography by integrating green design concepts.

What is phenomenology and phenomenography?

How will Justine apply theories of postmodernism to her research? Last year while visiting Macao, and Hong Kong, Beijing I was able to experience the density of signboards on many streets.

How are signboards in Asian countries different than the busy exterior signage in NYCs Time Square?

Below images from my travels last January to Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao the streets are brilliantly lite-up with signboards. One thing to consider is the amount of energy generated to keep these signs glowing day and night. Brilliant concept Justine’s offers alternative materials such as legos parts, old computer boards, and small car toys to develop more efficient signboards.

She offers interesting keyword: bricolage as main methodology.

Macau

Hong Kong

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GLIDE10: Keynote presenter Audra Buck-Coleman from China

Stick + Stones project

Audra Buck-Coleman, is our first keynote speaker of the day, Coleman’s topic Identifying Potential Pitfalls + Windfalls in Collaborative Projects will definitely set the tone for what follows. She will address some major issues surrounding collaboration, and it consistent use as a  buzz word in higher education. Finally she proposes design educators develop more projects that foster critical thinking skills to make students better prepared for today’s creative working environments. Audra explores some of the pitfalls that exist with her projects, and investigates the advantages and disadvantages of working collectively across boarders with other cultures where English is not there first language.

How can design educators adept some of Audra’s rich skills and knowledge for collaborative projects?

What happens when language is a barrier to enhance collaborative critical learning outcomes?

Audra’s presents one project between Blacks students in  southern community and Mormons who came to realized they shared  more similarities then differences.

She proposes the following question to consider: When working on collaborative projects do your students know how to navigate through stereotyping issues with other ethnic, religious, gender based groups?

Audra proposes the following suggestions based on her collaborative experience of working with Students in China:

Chinese students prefer organized structured learning over US students flexible learning.

What is your Classroom Culture?

Are you well versed in the nuances of the culture?

How prepared are you for flexibility and improvisation in the classroom?

What are the benefits of the professors experience from collaboration?

Check out: Stick + Stones

Prepping Peking Duck

FOOD: Eating Peking Duck Down to the Bones

Peking Duck

Did you ever finish a meal, then found yourself running your fingers around the rim of the plate to pick up the last remaining “juices” of your meal? This was my experience after Scott and I dined on Peking Duck.

Liu Ye, our Hotel concierge suggested the best restaurant for Peking Duck, and it was a worth while 20 minute walk away in the cold. Located in a glitzy mall on the fifth floor, this hyper-stylized restaurant was much like those I frequent in NYC. The three or four women hostesses gave us the once over, then politely escorted us into the dining area to a table in view of the raised gazebos glass shaped kitchen. Inside, about 10 chefs were busily prepping the ducks, and more leathery Peking ducks were hanging from overhead hooks. I counted four wooden stoves. Other utensils included long carving knives, and sharpening stones, in addition to the hanging poles. At one point I got closer to the glass kitchen to take photos of the cooking technique used.  I noticed that each chef wore a surgical mask as they worked. I later learned that this was a common practice throughout China of chefs who worked closely with food preparation. The setting looked like a stage for some ritualistic practice.

We could not stop looking. One chef took a duck out of the oven, then broke off its beak, then sanded the skin to remove any excess hair and ashes. Our curiosity prompted us to take turns grilling the waitress about the preparation.

Read the rest of this entry →

21

02 2010

Beijing embraces lunar New Year after overnight firework spree

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — The first thing Qiwen did when she woke up Sunday on the first morning of the Year of Tiger was to run towards the windows. As she found trees and houses standing tall, safe and sound, the four-year-old cracked a smile.

In her first outdoor venture on a Chinese New Year Eve at Saturday night, the little girl huddled up against her mother in attempt to cushion earsplitting firecrackers while taking safe peeks at the lightened up sky.

14

02 2010

On Point: 2010 is 4707 in the Chinese Calendar

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.

08

02 2010