Archive for November, 2010

29
Nov

DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) Shanghai 2010 (Part I)

By Sue Anne 2 Comments
Categories: Art, Games and Hobbies

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I had the pleasure of watching the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) Shanghai 2010, also known as the China Street Race, this past Sunday. It was held around Century Avenue in Pudong where streets were shut down for three days. If you were nearby, or had watched the semi-finals leading up to Sunday, you may have heard, or witnessed some rather epic car crashes.

I have been to a couple of car races in my time and paddock action is always very thrilling, what with the smell of burning rubber and deafening bellows of revving engines. Street racing has not caught on in China as yet but it is expected that the steady demand for high-performance cars will eventually translate into a bigger DTM following.

“In recent years, the luxury car segment in China has been growing more than twice as fast as the other segments. If everything goes well, sales of luxury cars should approach 700,000 units in 2010, a year-on-year increase of 70%,” said Zhang Xiaojun, executive vice-president of FAW-VW Audi Sales Division. Meanwhile, JD Power & Associates predicted that luxury car sales in China will double by 2015.

Attendance that day was not even close to 10,000 spectators as compared to an average of 80,000 in Europe. Nevertheless, Asia is the only region DTM has held races outside of Europe and China is a major focus for the organizers and definitely Mercedes and Audi.

The results are as follows: A thoroughly British win, Paul di Resta won the DMT championship but Gary Paffett won the race in Shanghai. Both raced from Mercedes.

Audi had an impressive rookie, Miguel Molina, who took fifth place with a very long stint first strategy where he he drove 39 laps on his first set of tires, and then stopped on laps 39 and 43 (each car makes 2 pit stops per race which consists of 60 laps).

I was in Molina’s paddock and could feel the heat emanating from the tires when the pit staff tossed them behind. It takes about 3 seconds for a team to switch an entire set of tires. Boom, boom, boom and they’re off.

I’ll spare you my pedestrian commentary. A more elaborate review of the DTM Shanghai race can be found here.

DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) Shanghai (Part II)

26
Nov

A collaboration with nomad-life photographer Jeroen Toirkens

By Sue Anne 1 Comment
Categories: Exhibits, Talks and Publications

A month ago, I received a call from Deborah Meijburg from Five Spices, a Dutch creative agency that applies a spectrum of disciplines including concept, 3D design, graphic design, interaction design and motion design.

To celebrate the opening of their new Shanghai office at the Dutch Design Workspace in Jingan, the agency put together an exhibit called Five Spices Exchange where they pair up a Shanghai-based artist and a Dutch artist to collaborate on 5 separate themes: architecture, light design, paper design, music and of course, photography.

The idea was for artists from both sides to converse through the exchange and reaction to each other’s work. In my case, I was very honored to have been paired with Jeroen Toirkens, a photographer who has been documenting nomadic life all over the world for over a decade.

Jeroen and I were both exploring contrasts between Shanghai’s urban dynamics, and that of nomadic culture and people in Mongolia, Central Asia and Russia. As part of the collaboration, we would send each other photos that are representative of our work, then interpret and react to each other’s photographs through our own photos again. All of this was done via Skype and email.

Below is a partial snapshot,  we contributed around 18 photos in the course of our collaboration. 

It stands along with impressive collaborations by other Sino-Dutch artists, such as architectural explorations of Shanghai and Amsterdam, projects contrasting lighting design and paper design installations and featuring DJs presenting the best of their music.

Following the success of their private launch, Five Spices will be opening their exhibit to the public this Sunday.

Location: Cafe Sambal located in Jiashan (嘉善) Market
37A Lane, 550 Shanxi Nan Lu, near Shaoxing Lu. 陕西南路550弄37号,  近绍兴路 (Details on how to get there)
Time: Sunday, 28NOV from 3-5pm.
Jiashan Market is a new urban garden community of shops, restaurants and offices with an eco-friendly agenda.

Unfortunately, a scheduling conflict prevents me from being there, but other Shanghai-based artists will be present to discuss their work at length. I’ve met all of them and can tell you they are an incredibly creative and friendly group. I heartily recommend hopping over to check out this exhibit.

25
Nov

The matron and her plastic bag

By Sue Anne 2 Comments
Categories: Street Stories and Take To the Street

It wasn’t hard to notice her amidst the pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The summer heat called for casual and light clothing. Yet, she wore a tweed-like dress that was dull brown and sombre, with a quiet air of dignity.

She had paired the dress with a thin pearl necklace and thick beige stockings. In her hand, I noted a thoroughly used black plastic bag, with no handbag in sight.

It seemed a universal matron look I’d seen everywhere. My middle-aged primary school teacher in Singapore used plastic bags to carry test papers before cloth tote bags came into fashion. In the suburbs of London, an old plastic bag served as an additional carry on with an even older weather-beaten leather tote. I’ve even seen an older woman loop her scarf through her plastic bag in a small bow.

When I lived in Moscow, I recalled older grandmothers or babushkas in Moscow who carried their coin purses and modest snacks in colorful plastic bags as they picnicked in the park. In Shanghai, it was common to see more mature woman use a sturdy plastic bag as an all-in-one carry on.

I’d like to think that the plastic bags they carried reflected the characters of some of these matrons. Practical, efficient and unfussy.

June 2010

22
Nov

Farming in the city

By Sue Anne 4 Comments
Categories: Street Stories, The Fading Vestige and The Lives Within

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How much land does a man need?

Leo Tolstoy had posed and answered the question in a 1886 short story about a greedy Russian peasant Pakhom, intent on securing as much land as possible. He had boldly proclaimed that “if I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil himself!”.

One day, Pakhom entered into an agreement with the Bashkirs who were selling land for cheap (a ploy possibly concocted by the Devil himself). The Bashkirs promised all the land Pakhom could encircle around on foot in one day, marking his desired territory and ending where he started.

Being the greedy man that he was, Pakhom overestimated his stamina (and greed) and despite rushing to the starting point to seal the deal, he collapsed and died from exhaustion. Pakhom’s servant eventually buried him in a six-foot long grave, a tragic yet ironic answer to the question posed by the title of Tolstoy’s story.

Tolstoy’s (an early socialist thinker) character Pakhom should have learned well from the migrant families living in demolition sites here in Shanghai.

I recently returned to Dongjiadu (董家渡）upon learning that westward demolition has resumed with the intention to completely flatten the north part of Old Town (which also hangs blocks away from the Huangpu River (黄浦江) by early next year*.

In the sole structure that has been spared for refurbishment – the Shangchuan Huiguan (商船会馆) or Merchant Shipping Hall – lives a family from Anhui who are responsible for organizing the razing. Nearby, another crumbling structure housed workers from Chongqing, also involved in scrapping and demolition.

These migrant families have been moving around the area and into whatever available space while doing their jobs. The Shangchuan Huiguan is the latest accommodation before it has to be renovated.

On my way out, the matriarch of the family was picking some vegetables from a tiny space of land on what had been rubble only months ago. In effort to reduce costs and control their own food supplies, the families planted small plots of vegetables (bak choy seems hardy and easy to grow, large cabbage, spring onions etc) which look so out of place amidst dump trucks, cranes, scrap and rubble.

The family from Chongqing had a more ambitious farm plot, managed communally by neighbors living in individual shanty shacks (6 planks of wood, a bed and a small table).

3 months and soon to be harvested, one lady proudly tells me. Squatting amidst her kingdom of wild greens, she used scraps of string to hold up her cabbage to allow them to grow vertically. Some of the vegetables looked a bit weak, clearly ravaged by the surrounding construction and dust.

A year ago, concrete blocks and old alley houses filled this several block radius of land. 6 months later, it was covered by excavators, sand, scrap and rubble. Now, wild grass popped up in random tufts in contrast to neat rows of edible vegetation. For the migrant families making their home in the demolition site, their living space may shrink or grow, but they make it work with what arable land they can find.

It would have been a good lesson for Pakhom.

*For those interested in the rare structural architecture that are being razed, please follow Katya Knyazeva’s documentary here.

November 2010

18
Nov

Patrons of street art

By Sue Anne 1 Comment
Categories: Art, Games and Hobbies, Street Stories and The Fading Vestige

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“What is this?”
“What does this all mean?”

Existential questions? Hardly. Just curious thoughts being blurted out, accompanied by some headscratching.

This past summer, I met with BrandFury and Grayson, Shanghai-based street artists on active demolition site – an acre of rubble - now sadly flatter than a panini.

Whipping out bags of spray paint, they began doodling. Chances were, the walls would be taken down in a matter of weeks.

We attracted a few individuals: the demolition company’s lady boss , a few construction workers and one or two migrant workers – all from Chongqing.

One gentleman in particular stood there for a long time, trying to make sense of it all. I gave him Grayson’s moleskin sketchbook, and watched him thumb through page after page of intricate designs destined for Shanghai’s walls.

Grayson’s work is mostly intricately sketched portraits and emblems with great detail and a very Australian aboriginal feel to it, You might have recognized it on Moganshan Lu (莫干山), a stretch of wall in Shanghai popular among graffiti artists.

“Do you have a favorite design?” I asked, watching the middle-aged man, mesmerized by the book. He hemmed and hawed, I could tell the designs were very alien to him.

Pressed for an answer, he stopped at a page and pointed at a design. A large diamond.

We smiled at each other.

July 2010

17
Nov

Fresh from the farm

By Sue Anne 0 Comments
Categories: Street Stories, Suburbs of Shanghai and To Market, To Market

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The idea of fresh vegetables for me, a born and bred city girl from Singapore, is having my produce vendor pick out crisp greens at 7am in the morning in a crowded wet market. Ok, who am I kidding, my mother does the shopping. But surely that is fresh enough, no? After all, that crate of bak choy was merely a truck ride away from the farm in the suburbs … or Malaysia.

Organic was a term that entered my lexicon after I arrived in Los Angeles and a nice stockboy/man at Whole Foods was trying to convince me that I should pay USD 1 more for the same pound of vine tomatoes. No pesticides! Sweeter! Juicer! It’s just that much better.

So scoff away, you people who grew up with vegetable patches in your front yard. Mock me, people who buy organic produce at three times the price. I just found myself a nice farm with fresh leafy vegetables with low pesticide application. After all, it only took me about 1.5 hours to get there.

I was riding along Line 5 one day (an extension of Line 1, interchange at Xinzhuang (莘庄)) and toward the end of my ride, I came across a 4 block wide vegetable farm right by the metro stop. Interestingly enough, the area was made up mostly of factories and new houses (villas, flats, farm houses etc).

The landscape of neat rows of edible greens was managed by a few surrounding residents. The area was, at one point, a collection of village homes but they have been been flattened and all residents except one family had moved away to nearby flats. Mostly elderly folk  – retired, self-sufficient and very healthy – tended this farm. Almost all were born and bred Shanghainese. Migrant residents had their own farm elsewhere.

Trailing them, I watch them fondle and select ripe greens, dip their knives into the soil and tug out whole bak choys and lettuce. A little flick of the wrist removed loose roots and then gently packed away into bags and crates.

Little pesticide is used on the vegetables, they proudly tell me. And they sell what they cannot finish at the markets or on the streets.  How much? I inquired. RMB 2 (USD 0.30) a kilogram to vendors, one very tanned lady replied. Alas, it became clear that my nearby wet market has been profiting modestly.

My friend and I sat in the farm for a while, awashed by the pleasant colors of green and yellows, surrounded by bees and flies, and basking in brilliant weather. The farm ladies laughed at our cameras and shook their heads, oh you city folk, and carried on.

November 2010

15
Nov

Help Portrait on 4th Dec and other miscellany

By Sue Anne 0 Comments
Categories: Exhibits, Talks and Publications

Hello there! A bunch of exciting things are underway here…

Help Portrait: Shanghai’s ready, are you?

For the second year in a row, a group of Shanghai-based Flickr photographers are coming together to participate in a global movement called Help Portrait, this year held on Dec 4 on a Saturday.

Help Portrait was first started with the idea for photographers to give back to their local community through their equipment and skills. The entire process is summed up simply below. 

This year, we will be working wth Xintu, an NGO focused on helping Shanghai’s migrant community, to photograph the portraits of migrant families. Last year, we did the same thing with close to 50 families who received portraits on the same day. For more information on what the group of Shanghai Flickrites are doing, moosey on here.

More importantly, we hope that wherever you are, do consider rounding up some friends, finding a local community partner to work with and on Dec 4, take their portraits and make them smile with a portrait of their own! Do register on Help Portrait to make known your participation in the movement! 

In other non-proclamations of altruism (and hopefully not in bad taste):

- My exhibit “Demolish, Construct, Repeat: Building the Shanghai Dream” is still showing at Southern Barbarian in Lujiazui, Pudong, and will be there till December. And yes, the photographs remain on sale.

- Earlier in the year, I contributed to a book called The Urbanity Project.

The book is a collection of “multidisciplinary artwork that not only communicates a common vision of “the city in terms of its people,” but one that also values collaboration and demonstrates artistic excellence.

The book is now for sale, for more information, you can head over to Shanghai Art Community.com or contact  shanghaiartscommunity@gmail.com for a copy!

- I’ve been slowly contributing to this fantastic blog called Urban Photo, basically cross-posting a few older pieces I had written. Edited by Christopher DeWolf, Urbanphoto is a blog about cities and its people, how they grow and change in a world of modernization and urbanization. What makes it unique is that it is made up of a cast of contributors writing from all over the world. I highly recommend bookmarking it if you have an interest in urban development. Chris’ extensive coverage on Hong Kong’s old neighborhoods is itself a good reason to read the blog. 

- I recently co-published a series on The Lowry Interpreter with Raffaello Pantucci, based on my recent trip to Xinjiang. Entitled “Notes on the Silk Road”, we covered Kashgar, Urumqi and Tashkorgan.

Cheers, have a great day!

12
Nov

Behind the Camera: 蜕(Tui) on the relationship between the city and street photography

By Sue Anne 7 Comments
Categories: Behind the Camera Interviews and Take To the Street

 蜕(Tui) is a Shanghai-based street photographer and one of the many contributors of the Chinese street photo blog Zaijietou (在街头 or ‘in the streets’). His work, shot exclusively on film, is strongly emotive and instinctive which result in arresting, haunting and moody images. Tui talks about his relationship with Shanghai and how the city has influenced his work, his dedication to film and his views on street photography in China.

Websites: 4oto.com (Personal) zaijietou.com (Group blog)

SA: Tell us a little about yourself, you say you are not from Shanghai but lived here a long time? Do you consider the city home?

跟我们简单介绍下你自己, 你说你不是上海人那呆了上海多久? 在你的心目中,你会觉得上海是你的第二故乡吗?

蜕(Tui) : 我生于重庆,六岁时随父母来到了上海,从此定居于这座城市,理论上应该就是上海人了,可是我至今仍然不能流利的说上海话,我觉得对于一个地方方言的主动学习或抗拒,代表着你内心对那个地方的接受程度有多少。所以在我心里很难用第二故乡来看待她,始终没有归属感。对于这座城市,内心的感情是复杂的,抵触和溶入的心态并存,毕竟生活了几十年,就算再没有归属感,也不可避免的在无形中被这座城市深刻影响着。对于我与这座城市的关系说那么多,是因为我觉得我这种复杂矛盾的心理,与我所拍的这座城市的照片是息息相关的。

I was born in Chongqing and was six when my parents moved to Shanghai where we’ve lived every since. I suppose I can be considered Shanghainese but till today, I still cannot speak the Shanghainese dialect fluently. I feel one’s resistance to learning the dialect reflects the extent of how accepts a city (as a home). So in my heart, it is hard to view Shanghai as my adopted home as I ultimately lack that sense of belonging. My feelings toward the city are complicated: resistant yet embracing at the same time. After all, I’ve lived here for years, even if I’ve no sense of belonging here, I cannot avoid the inevitable and profound impact the city has on me. The reason why I speak at length about my relationship with the city is because it has much to do with my photography. I feel that my state of mind impacts the way I photograph the city.

SA: What motivated you to turn to street photography and how would you describe your style?

是什么样的际遇让你走进街拍? 对于你的摄影风格,你自己怎么形容? Continue reading ‘Behind the Camera: 蜕(Tui) on the relationship between the city and street photography’

08
Nov

On street photography in China

By Sue Anne 8 Comments
Categories: Take To the Street

Update: Thanks to Jonah, Jens, Imansoe and budak for your comments. Blogger Ren Yue, whom I mentioned in the post has also responded via her blog (in Chinese). My response to your thoughts after the jump. Please keep them coming.

Liu Mao has kindly translated the below post into Chinese which can be read here. 朋友刘淼很好意的把这博科的文章翻译成中文。请看他个人的博科。

A few weeks ago, my friend Adam Minter over at Shanghai Scrap interviewed me about photography and collecting Shanghai Street Stories. I always appreciate people’s interest in the blog which in the course of writing, has resulted in new friends and collaborations, and endlessly fascinating conversations. One of which has been about street photography in China.

Most recently, Ren Yue, who is a prominent Chinese blogger of 1416 教室 on photography but more impressively, a professor in Beijing, raised some questions about street photography in response to my interview and the blog. I had mentioned that while I like the diversity of photo essays, street photography is a style I aspire to. Continue reading ‘On street photography in China’

04
Nov

Barrel roll a yo-yo

By Sue Anne 0 Comments
Categories: Art, Games and Hobbies and To Market, To Market

He rolled his eyes and sighed. I had proven to be an utter disappointment, having failed to master the yo-yo.

Scowling, I slapped the toy into his open palm in defeat. Wielding hundreds of dollars in camera equipment, I impressed no one and instead, was undone by cheap plastic and bits of string.

Bored with me, he then rolled his wrist and flicked the shell outward and did a swift hook and loop. I later learned it was a barrel roll. He then showed off how he was able to “walk the dog” or 放狗 (fang gou), which involved rolling the spinning yo-yo on the floor and trailing like you would a tiny pet.

Suddenly, the yo-yo spun out of orbit and flew across the street, narrowly missed being crunched under a passing scooter. The excuse of a string had snapped, again, moaned the boy. With bits of coins, he purchased one from down the street and patched the toy back into shape, faster than you can say “around the world”.

October 2010

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