Focus: China Events Guide and Programs by Category
Exhibitions
Gallery Walk
October 1, 2009, 5-8PM
All museum and gallery exhibitions will be open late for a Focus: China art walk.
Found: China's Contemporary Design
A+D Gallery, October 1 through November 7, 2009; opening reception on October 1, 2009
An exhibit displaying select contemporary Chinese products with great cultural and design significance for contextualized display along with interviews with design professionals in China.
Curated by Tao Huang and Kevin Henry. For more information about the exhibit, go to www.colum.edu/adgallery.
Fraternal Nationalities
Library, 3rd floor, September and October 2009
An exhibit highlighting the fifty-six unique fraternal nationalities which are woven together to create the dynamic tapestry of the People’s Republic of China today. A kaleidoscope of textures, brilliant hues, and intricate designs invite the observer to intimately experience the depth of many heritages that remain an integral part of local daily life.
Hugo Tillman: Film Stills of the Mind
Library, September 8 through October 30, reception on October 1 and an artist talk/lecture on Friday, October 2
In this revealing series of color photographs, British artist Hugo Tillman turns his lens towards China, the fastest growing force in art and economics, and examines in the most intimate of portrayals, approximately eighty of the leading Chinese artists of today. This solo exhibition will present selected film stills of this powerful investigation.
Sponsored by the Nohra Haime Gallery, New York City in conjunction with the Library and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Pearl of the Snowlands: Buddhist Printing at the Derge Parkhang
Center for Book and Paper Arts, September 11 through December 5, 2009; opening reception September 11, 5-8PM
An exhibition of artifacts, photographs, and interviews collected in Derge Parkhang, a repository of Tibetan cultural memory, including wood block printed thangka (meditational image), specimen copies of typical books (also printed from wood blocks), actual wood blocks used in the production of prayer flags, photographs documenting the processes used in creating these artifacts, and videotape of the workers producing books and prints. For more information, contact the Center for Book and Paper Arts at (312) 369-6630 or book&paper@colum.edu.
Reversed Images: Representations of Shanghai and Its Contemporary Material Culture
Museum of Contemporary Photography, September 25 through December 23, 2009; opening reception September 24, 5-7PM
An exhibition looking at the city of Shanghai and its development into one of the global economy’s top cities in the new millennium.
Shanghai Reflections
Hokin Gallery, August 31 through October 23, 2009
An exhibition presenting works by students currently enrolled Columbia College Chicago students or Columbia College Chicago alumni in any medium which hold the culture, images, history, or feeling of Shanghai, China as their subject matter or source of inspiration.
Sponsored by the Department of Exhibition and Performance Spaces.
Spirals of Indigo: Deconstructing Meaning through Chinese Dress
Storefront windows of 618 South Michigan Avenue, September and October 2009
An exhibition focusing on the specific details of a festival jacket worn by women in Southern China.
Sponsored by the Art & Design Department in collaboration with the Arts, Entertainment & Media Management Department.
Symposia and Workshops
Gender, Identity and the Crossing of Cultures in Contemporary Chinese Art and Media
Film Row Cinema, September 25-26, 2009
Symposium offering artist presentations and scholarly papers that explore gender in contemporary Chinese art, globalization of the art discourse, and the hybridism of cultures.
Presented by the Department of Humanities, History and Social Sciences; Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media; and Museum of Contemporary Photography; organized by Elena Valussi.
The Himalayan Book
Center for Book and Paper Arts, November 21-22, 2009
A hands-on opportunity to learn about Tibetan/Himalayan book and papermaking in which participants will get an overview of the history of the book in the Himalayan region while creating an authentic traditional book. Led by James Canary, Curator of the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Wesleyan University. For more information or to register for the workshop, contact the Center for Book and Paper Arts at (312) 369-6630 or book&paper@colum.edu.
Lectures, Panel Discussions, and Readings
From the Cultural Revolution to the Economy Boom: How Changing Policies Affect Individual Lives in China
Hokin Auditorium, 623 South Wabash, first floor, October 7, 2009, 10:30AM
Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: a Memoir of China, will talk from a personal perspective and insider's view about the drastic changes in China over the past half century.
Sponsored by the Office of Academic Research and the Department of Humanities, History and Social Sciences. More information on her book can be found at www.mulberrychild.com.
Olivo Barbieri
Ferguson Lecture Hall, September 24, 2009, 6:30PM
Exhibiting artist Olivo Barbieri speaks of his use of innovative aerial photography techniques to document urban environments.
Presented in conjunction with the Photography Department’s Lectures in Photography series.
History, Printing and People: The Derge Parkhang and Tibetan Cultural Revival
Center for Book and Paper Arts, November 21, 3:30 pm
Discussion on Tibetan book arts as practiced today, after which panelists will present slide lectures on the Derge Parkhang’s role in the creation and preservation of Tibetan culture and the part that it plays in the daily lives of people in Derge. For more information, contact the Center for Book and Paper Arts at (312) 369-6630 or book&paper@colum.edu.
Film Screenings
Autumn Gem
Film Row Cinema, October 8, 2009 at 5:30PM
This documentary explores the extraordinary life of the Chinese revolutionary heroine and women’s rights activist Qiu Jin. Screening followed by a question and answer session with writer/co-director/co-producer Rae Chang and co-producer Adam Tow.
Sponsored by the Center for Asian Arts and Media.
My Dear by Gu Yaping
Film Row Cinema , September 26, 2PM
This documentary features two women from Beijing’s contemporary art world who struggle for personal and artistic integrity. (2007, 82 mins.)
Presented by the Department of Humanities, History and Social Sciences; Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media; and Museum of Contemporary Photography; organized by Elena Valussi.
The Rising Tide
Ferguson Lecture Hall, October 1st, 2009, 7PM
This documentary examines China's economic and cultural metamorphosis through the work of some of the country’s most talented video artists and photographers. Filmmaker Robert Adanto will introduce the film and answer questions following the screening.
Sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Photography. For more information, visit www.therisingtidefilm.com.
Shanghype!
Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Avenue, Chicago, September 27 through December 13, 2009; opening reception on September 27 from 3-5PM with a gallery talk by Peggy Wang, a doctoral student researching the ‘90s experimental art scene in China.
A video exhibition running featuring works by various artists in a running loop.
Curated by Dan S. Wang (Art & Design Department) and Davide Quadrio.
Tuya De Hun Shi (Tuya's Marriage) and Ni Qiu Ye Shi Yu (Loach is Fish Too)
Hokin Auditorium, October 21, 2009, 6-9:30PM
In Tuya De Hun Shi (2005, 96 min.), after suffering a back injury working on the family farm, Tuya decides to get a divorce and find a new husband who will take care of her children, land, and disabled first husband—a search that proves to be much harder than she had anticipated. In Ni Qiu Ye Shi Yu (2005, 100 min.), two migrant workers from the countryside (one the mother of two children) who share the same name "Ni Qiu", meaning loach in Chinese, try to subsist as laborers in Beijing.
Sponsored by the Library from a gift of the Consulate General of The People's Republic of China in Chicago.
Wo Men Liang (You and Me) and Shi Jie (The World)
Hokin Auditorium, October 7, 2009, 6-9:30 PM,
In Wo Men Liang (2005, 85 min.), a young woman rents a room from an elderly woman who is mean to her. She decides to say in the room after deciding the elderly woman needs her. In Shi Jie (2004, 96 min.), on the outskirts of Beijing lies an amusement park featuring scaled-down models of world famous landmarks. The film follows the daily lives of staff members Taxo and Taisheng as they navigate their romance through The World.
Sponsored by the Library from a gift of the Consulate General of The People's Republic of China in Chicago.
Online and On Air Events
Cocoon
Streaming video by Rose Camastro-Pritchett. Cocoon, a performance art video exploring notions of tradition and change, performed by Jiujiang University students in Jiujiang, China, created by Rose Camastro-Pritchett, edited by Zach Breman. Students explored the notions of change and transition. Questions arose: How do we adjust? Can we alter our lives? Do cultural traditions and values matter? Wrapping, sewing, and cutting cocoons became metaphors for this journey. Sponsored in part by Jiujiang University, the Columbia College Part-Time Faculty grant and the AEMM department. Camastro-Pritchett is an adjunct faculty member in the AEMM department and holds an MFA degree in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago. Breman is a Columbia College Chicago graduate in Interactive Arts and Multi-Media.
Radio Airwaves in China
Features and reports will air Monday through Friday, October 6-11, 2009 at 7:51AM, 9:51AM, 1:51PM, and 3:51PM
A series of radio features and news reports examining the music, contemporary development and current status of Chinese music radio stations and its influence on pop culture and social value of the world’s most populous country. Listeners may listen to this program at www.wcrx.net <http://www.wcrx.net> or on 88.1FM.
Presented by WCRX Radio, 88.1FM and the Radio Department.