Cattle Depot Book exhibition 2005
Cattle Depot Book Exhibition 2005 (entitled
We read. Reunion with our bodies) has a blog (in Chinese). It should be one of the first event-oriented blogs in Hong Kong. Inviting weekly guest-bloggers should be a good way to maintain the up-to-dateness and diversity of the content. You can also
apply to be one.
Weird*5 World
Half of the presumed fun might have been killed for my late response to
dreamsplinter's tag for the chain post of weird habits. There have been 5 weird reactions I would like to tell you first, before the real entries.
1. I thought I was nominated for some kind of award when I read bromgrev's
message about my being tagged.
2. Received Toby's refusal to be tagged BEFORE I even told him about it.
3. I thought I
could write an article about its potential of being more constructive/reflective rather than responding "normally" to it
4. I tried to CREATE some weird things to do these few days
5. I felt proud (loved) being tagged after all.
OK. Here are my attempts, but I am not sure...
1.
Reordered morning routine: I always go out and press the button for the lift to come BEFORE returning to my apartment and lock the door. (Sometimes I am really not certain if I have locked it when I arrive at my office.)
2.
Obsession of finishing: I HAVE TO finish a book before I move to another, even it's like chewing wood. (except reading for a purpose)
3.
Bookstore backpack: I have at least 3 books of different genres/languages usually in my bag daily. I won't feel I have wasted the day even if I have not read a word from them.
4.
Compulsive neatness: my friends believe a typical Virgo like me must be obsessed by cleanliness. But my real pick is on verbal "neatness", mine or the others'. It may sound a merit, ay? It's tricky when you seriously feel every word comes up should be in the trash rather.
5.
Like being busy, or otherwise: I mean, being
mistaken as ultra busy. But I am also cheating myself gradually I think.... I think... or I am convincing myself I shall work harder here?
The other half of the fun will be killed if I do not continue, right? Only if you find it interesting:
(Chain rule: write five of your weird habits & invite five other bloggers)
1.
Letters to the city (would be a valuable piece for tabloid?)
2.
Impressive Instances3.
Motat Diary (maybe you'd prefer to write on
inmediahk as your next feature?)
4.
chrispace (Come on! I know you've just passed your exam.)
5.
Kennes
Jamsen's video works @ HKAC
The Lab Series #3: Jamsen Law
@Agnes b. CINEMA! (HK Arts Centre)
Programme 1 (more recent works): 27/8* & 15/9
Programme 2 (from his first work): 30/8* & 16/9 (category III)
* with post-screening discussion with Jamsen
Time: 7:30pm
"The Glamour and the Real in a Personal Discord"
-Extracted from the original article published in Artslink, August 2005 issue (translated from my Chinese original by Ms Teri Chan)Understanding comes after perplexity. The visuals take a labyrinthine route, relying not on a single concept or structure, but the juxtaposition and disparity, and the ambiguity between image Y and image G. The visuals of his works luxuriate a certain aura, as if soliciting your gaze through an array of gestures. They are not representations, or signs; they are hard to be digested in terms of logics. Sometimes they traverse in their repeating paths in too heavy a makeup, sometimes leave barely a trace after introducing themselves, as illusive as a rosy taint in a garden corner. They barely register their presence. Not a single frame carries a definite identity and meaning. They are like pastiches, but pastiches with egotistic insistence. (Desire rises like hot air, as pure as a soul of a newly deceased from a distance.)
His visual texture of his imagery keeps pushing the envelope of real life experience and perception. Before the mastering of more sophisticated techniques, television monitor or windows with impromptu lighting became his Brechtian Theatre of the night. (Reflection and snowflakes act out the charade, with the main character never shows up.) Is it a introspection and digestion of identity usurpation, or as in
I Went There Too, a re-examination of identity morphing through the memories of friends? It is the present surrounding or “I think” that make me confused?
Mapping Four with Twelve may sound promiscuous (referring to the Chinese title 四搭十二 particularly), but what it contains are displays of solitary. The pixels provide the personal (visual) history a good stage. Like reflections of the solar halo, millions of images and relationships can come out of it: alienation, comparison, disparity, metaphor, projection, and elimination…. with the “I” shadowing all screens. Perhaps it is the icon of desire instead which keeps playing the game of private/public space, like the third eye on the forehead, popping up from private imagination and trying to attract attention in the background discreetly. It wants to create stir, and at the same time, it tentatively returns the gaze of the viewers. Probably because of it, under the layers of patterns, the desire and the real are dragged out and painted over. This castration ceremony, lingering between demonstration and self-entertainment, identifying and questioning, becomes a language for the depiction of a psycho-geographic scenery.
Appreciation and Criticism
One of the elementary and instrumental "homework" of our Buddhist practice is to learn to appreciate in the worst scenario, sometimes like digging out the tiniest tail of beauty from the most hideous moron indeed. Try to imagine: someone you don't like much suddenly appear and slap your face complaining about something you did not do then rush off before you can explain, and you are reminded to thank him/her in the heart for granting you a golden chance to nurture better patience.
Though, it is nothing like
Ah Q, but a very pragmatic practice that strives for greater freedom and stability of the heart, from any affecting (and impermanent) situation. The well-defined goal and the rationale is actually the opposite of
A Quism that grows from too much dignity perhaps. The undesirable complication is that we always miss the best stimulant for improvement: criticism.
I read Berkun's article on
good criticisms (Thanks, Toby) and was glad the points are largely suggestive not just for creative/design works but almost for anything, including behaviours. All the more I consider the
art of giving and taking criticisms as a crucial catalyst for development/growth, no matter for a person, an artwork, a team, a community or a kingdom, etc.
Berkun has got the definition simple and keen:
"Good criticism serves one purpose: to give the creator of the work more perspective and help them make their next set of choices. Bad criticism uses the opportunity provided by someone else'’s work to make the critic feel smart, superior or better about themselves."
Conceptually criticism does not exclude appreciation (through analyses) but in Chinese language they sound like the counterparts to each other. In such context, it will be a real beauty if appreciative temperament and criticizing skills can be maintained in a mastery of balance. Practice is all.
Like a Monk: Greenfeel
Greenfeel Vegetarian (素食一家) was one of the first few vegetarian restaurants (like 4-5 years ago) which pioneered to repackage vegetarian food targeting younger gourmets. It was
Yvonne who introduced us its first shop in Tsim Sha Tsui East and we tried with great satisfaction then.
A couple of years later we went more to the new (then) branch in Shatin near the KCR station, but both shops are not there any longer (its was unbelievable since the shop was always adorned with a small queue). The fact is that the green brand was already outreaching to the city heart like Nathan Road, Mong Kok and then Kwun Tong.
Greenfeel tries to create as many famous conventional Chinese dishes as possible but in their vegetarian versions, besides more innovative ones. Many other chefs tried the same but never has there been such success, referring to the quality and variety (name it: from Roasted Chicken in Beancurd Source to Pumpkin Shark-fin Soup).
If you prefer a more natural appearance and original taste, there is enough choice of dishes prepared in different ways of cooking and seasoning. Or you can just pick from the pictorial menu. Each dish costs around HK$45. I had a tea-set plus an extra appetizer for lunch yesterday, it was only around HK$35. (Recently the quality seems a little bit down but still good.)
Call and check if the shops are still there before you go, and not a bad idea to reserve your table first:
1. Tsim Sha Tsui: Basement, 10 Cameron Road (near Tom Lee) / 2366 8892
2. Mong Kok: 143 Sai Yee Street / 2393 8012
3. Wan Chai (Express): Shop 13. 1/F, Harbour Centre (near ferry pier) / 2520 3678
4. Kwun Tong: 2/F, 64 Hoi Yuen Road (near MTR) (
Oops, just closed down!)
Flashing numbers become beauty
As a reaction to Lilya's
comments and links to some amazing Flash sites, I recall one of my artist friends, Pong Lam (Deepred), who uses Flash in a unique way (in my very limited knowledge). His "
sketch book" shows the results of his attempt using formula and equations as the major "logic" (in his word) for generating a collection of hypnotizing visuals. In many cases, the spontaneity and the visitors' inputs almost gives you a sense of life out of some unknown numeric parameters, like the random positions of your clicking, time, motions of the mouse, etc.
Although these "researches" are mainly vocabularies for other more complete
products, I personally think the artistic spirit reveals itself better in its primitive forms. His works have been adapted in many
Zuni Icosahedron's production in the past few years, in which I think the beauty of spontaneity of his experiments has been covered up by the resulting tantalizing effects. Probably confined also by the nature of theatre audience.
Falling in Bikini
Sunshine sent me earlier this
dream-swimmer to demonstrate a good flash application. I can't help imposing signification to it: gravitational force in heaven... and other (mouse-clicking) attempts are of no use for altitude, unless you wake yourself from it. Watch out: aimlessness could be even more addictive these days.
Discipline in the mountain
I always want to carry on the momentum and change my daily schedule after each of my Buddhist "immersion event" but after a few days back to the "normal" life all old habits will have flooded every inch of my memories...
Anyway, a day at Dharamsala was like this:
05:20 Get up from bed (still dark!)
06:00 Morning class at hotel lobby
06:30 Breakfast
07:15 Set off for the Namgyal Monastery
07:20 Rain poured suddenly, all held back and put on raincoats
08:00 Seated and preparation in silence (reviewed notes)
08:30 Toilet once more (not to go during the sessions!)
09:00 Welcomed the Dalai Lama (happy feeling arose from heart)
10:00 Monks came into the crowd and gave out butter tea
10:01 Carried on jotting notes (legs soured, changed a gesture)
11:12 Joke no. 23 of the day
11:30 Lunch at the Monastery
12:00 Self practice (reading, turning dharma-wheels, reciting, etc)
12:30 A nap (1 day we had to clean the toilets for the Monastery)
13:30 The Dalai Lama's smile in sight again
15:00 The sweet version of butter tea (tea dedication)
15:22 Sun came out from the fog
16:00 End of lesson (Stood up on shaking legs & aching ankles)
16:30 Dedications of lamps, bowing, monastery walking, etc
17:00 Dinner at the Monastery
17:30 Got back to hotel
18:00 Shower and rest
19:00 Evening revision session in small / large groups led by fellow monks
(19:00 Ripoche's occasional sharing at the Monastery)
21:00 Self revision / homework
22:00 Dreams
20 Beans + A Box (art group)
Squidfingers (Pattern, adjusted)