ISEA2013 presentation
Waterwheel Patch Presentation - ISEA2013, University of Sydney
– posted by James Cunningham –
Suzon, Ian and I give our 16 minute presentation “Waterwheel Patch” at ISEA2013 at the University of Sydney. Participating with us via Skype and OSC were Russell Milledge and Rebecca Youdell of Bonemap (Cairns, Aus), Mary Armentrout and Marcia Scott (San Francisco, USA), and Kate Genevieve and Evelyn Ficarra (Brighton, UK). ISEA delegate Brisa Mp from Santiago, Chile, volunteered participation on the day in the presentation space, and Adegreden-Adhari Donora from Sumatra participated in the research but not on the day of the presentation. 5-minute edited version of the video documentation follows:
Full video document is here
Shannanigans in Europe
Shannanigans in Europe
– posted by James Cunningham –
Suzon & I get up to luscious good things whilst artists in residence in Munich, with side trips to other (relatively) nearby locales. Just these last two weeks, we gave comments on papers presented at the OffTheLip17 conference by researchers at CogNovo — Plymouth University’s Cognitive Innovation research centre. We then participated in discussions on data visualisation at DataPlay7, a joint initiative of Plymouth council and i-DAT. The main attraction of Devon for us, was presenting our FLUIDATA soundscape (the “talking bowls” with interviews and creek sounds), and leading a walkshop, Creekwalk — Challenging ‘Getting There’ and Exploring ‘Being Here’, in Balance/Unbalance 2017. We saw and heard interesting papers and works, and met many wonderful people, including one who might turn out to be a collaborator with us in a future project.
Contemporary art in Taipei 2014
Contemporary art in Taipei 2014
– post by James Cunningham –
Following the Summit 2014 – International Art Exhibition of People with Disability in Taiwan, I stayed on in Taipei for a week at Taipei Artist Village. There i met up with volunteers from last year’s summit, and a few artists Suzon and I met during the 2013 Louder Than the City Live Art Festival.
I attended the 2014 Inter-Asia Biennale Forum (Taipei): Production Art, and the Taipei Biennial 2014 – The Great Acceleration exhibition, which included Formosa Decelerator by OPAVIVARA! art collective from Rio de Janeiro with 16 hammocks and a selection of herb teas, and Surasi Kusolwong’s Golden Ghost (Reality Called So I Woke Up) that covered the floor knee deep in industrial thread waste that you could lie on.
In two visits to Bamboo Curtain Studio, I met directors Margaret Shiu and Catherine Lee, and assistant Iris Hung, to talk about the role Suzon and Waterwheel would play in a possible 2-year sustainable art project they are planning for. I also met the resident artists including Australian dancer-choreographer Elizabeth Dalman.
Not far from Bamboo Curtain Studio is the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts where I saw Recognition System – 2014 Kuandu Biennale.
I also caught a few films in the Taiwan International Documentary Festival.
Not bad in one week!
Art Summit Taipei 2014
Art Summit Taipei 2014
– post by James Cunningham –
Following Suzon’s and my visit to Taiwan last year, I was invited again this year to the Art Summit 2014 – International Art Exhibition of People with Disability in Taiwan, Oct 6-9.
Rance Linger was assigned as my assistant and interpreter. A lovely guy from Taipei who met me at the airport and took me to a hotel for breakfast where we were joined by Mr Chen Tu Chin, President of the China Professional Skills Association for the Handicapped that organises this yearly summit. On his recommendation, we accepted an invitation from the visiting performing arts troupe from Fujian province, China, to tour around Taoyuan county that day, visiting the Cihu Mausoleum (where we saw the change of guards of Chiang Kai-shek’s tomb), taking a boat ride on a dam, and ending the day at a BBQ where the troupe performed a dance routine.
At the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall the next day, renowned Taiwanese artist Professor Lee, Mr Chen, Rotary Club branch leaders and other dignitaries spoke, all the exhibited artists received certificates, and a confetti-releasing paper-lantern string-pulling ceremony was enacted. We all had a good laugh when one of the paper lanterns fell on the head of Korean artist Woong Ryeol Choi. Several artists displayed their painting techniques, while others took in the exhibition. After lunch, about 10 artists, including myself, spoke and displayed media about our artistic practice in a forum, before being rushed away to visit Vice-President Wu Den-yih in the Presidential Office Building. In the evening we sang karaoke over dinner in a restaurant.
After meeting the city mayor Hau Lung-pin on day 3, we all had lunch with Mr Chen. I then went with one of Woong Choi’s assistants, and Summit volunteer Cherry, to a cultural centre to see two design exhibitions, an exhibition about water and an antique wooden furniture display.
On our official day off, I was extremely fortunate to hook up with artist Woong Ryeol Choi and his assistants the next morning and join them on a day trip to a mountain spa in Yangmingshan National Park.