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Galleries: Commercial v. Subsidised

Taken from an article on the boom in London’s galleries, from 2006. This shows a rather pragmatic approach to the commercial system but maybe not to the consequences of being part of such a system – recent events have shown how fragile this system can be (and that’s not to say that a publicly-funded system read more..

Laoban Mixing Event report

I just posted a short video to youtube of highlights from last night’s Laoban Mixing event at the Gallery. Unfortunately youtube in it’s wisdom has reduced the quality of the video to “very poor” in the process of compressing the file, so the following is the original (still not great, but better): It was a good read more..

Laoban Soundsystem: Xmas Mixing Event at CPU:798

My friends at the Laoban Soundsystem will be installed in the Gallery tonight presenting their new venture, the Laoban Soundsystem. This is an open invite to all artists, musicians etc. to come along and show off what they are working on. Should be an exciting, energetic evening! Come along and see works in progress. Laoban Soundsystem read more..

Damien Hirst piece for Vogue China

An edited Chinese-language translation of a piece I wrote was published in Vogue China in November 20081. These are my original texts in response to the questions the editor proposed as the structure for the piece: Damien Hirst Please write down why you picked Damien Hirst? Hirst is a controversial character who gives a writer a lot of read more..

Unbelievable

This is an old post (from April 2008) that for some unknown reason I never got round to publishing. Happy memories! — How was digging up all the roads in 798 at the same time, ever possibly considered a good idea? It seems that nowhere is safe from the ‘dream’ that is the Olympics. 798 is currently undergoing read more..

Michael Yuen announcement notes

Quoted from my gallery’s announcement of a new artist: CPU:798 is delighted to welcome Michael Yuen to our roster1 of artists. Michael’s work encompasses a plurality2 of media3, and he is already well-known4 in his native Australia for a body of exceptional works making use of light5, sound6 and performance7. With Michael joining CPU:798, we are read more..

Notes on the artist Zheng Yunhan

Zheng’s work deals with the relationship between the Chinese people and their landscapes, it’s idealised nature as a site for forming, as man-perfected/adjusted material, a symbolic residue or site of potential for human activity. His works stem from an investigation of his home town of Jixi, a mining town in NE China. Jixi Research Project from read more..

alternative BJ – project work

I think in general it’s an interesting question: what is alternative? It’s obviously completely relative to the established situation. I think the way things are at the moment in Beijing, that means working around the profound commercialisation of the majority of presentations that are currently taking place. So, if I was asked to point someone in read more..

opinions requested of me

Every now and again people ask for my opinions about Beijing or China in general, or the art scene in this neck of the woods. If I’m replying by email then I tend to put a lot of thought into what I write∗, and I probably take it a bit more seriously than I should. read more..

Adorno on Commitment in Art

In aesthetic theory, ‘commitment’ should be distinguished from ‘tendency’. Committed art in the proper sense is not intended to generate ameliorative measures, legislative acts or practical institutions – like earlier propagandist plays against syphilis, duels, abortion laws or borstals – but to work at the level of fundamental attitudes. For Sartre its task is to read more..