Convergences

I have a painting in this group show (in Peekskill, NY), which will be up until end of June: 

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"Convergences: Connecting Community and Creativity will open on May 14th in the Atrium of the HRHCare Jeannette J. Phillips Health Center in Peekskill. This exhibit is jointly sponsored by HRHCare, the Peekskill Arts Association, and the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, and will run through June 28th.

On Saturday, May 19th, there will be a reception in honor of the exhibit in the Atrium from 12 to 2pm. Several of the artists whose work is being exhibited will be on hand to talk about their work, and refreshments will be available.

On Saturday, June 2nd, Convergences will be featured as part of the city-wide Peekskill Open Studios from 12 to 5pm. This will serve as another great opportunity for the public to enjoy the art, and learn more about the mission of Hudson River Health Care." 

From: http://www.hrhcare.org

Address: 1037 Main St, Peekskill, NY 10566

PUBLIC COLORS/ PRIVATE LINES

First week involves a performance at the Gothic House and some Children's Workshops at the Citadel, both in Spandau. On the 27th (tomorrow) I'll be performing with Arief Yudi Rahman from the Jatiwangi Art Factory, sometime between 7 and 8pm. 

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PUBLIC COLORS/ PRIVATE LINES

CHRISTINE FALK & ALFRED BANZE / CAMPING AkADEMIE e.V.
PICTURES, INSTALLATIONS & PROJECTS

The exhibition „Public Colors / Private Lines“ shows paintings, drawings and videos by Christine Falk and Alfred Banze, as well as participative projects that they have realized with their association Camping Akademie e.V. in the past 10 years in Berlin and around the world, often in Emerging and developing countries. New works created in China in 2017 form a center of the exhibition. The collection of the city museum is included.

EXHIBITION April 28 to June 24, 2018
Gothic House, Breite Strasse 32, 13597 Berlin Spandau
Mon – Sat 10am to 6pm, Sun 12am to 6pm

VERNISSAGE on Friday, April 27, 2018 at 7pm
Performances by Dava Frog Wing, Lijiang Studio, USA / China
and Arief Yudi Rahman, Jatiwangi Art Factory, Indonesia
Welcome: Gerhard Hanke, district councilor and Ralf F. Hartmann, cultural office Spandau

FINISSAGE on Wednesday, 20 June 2018 at 7 pm Music performance with Kopi Kaputa
Reading with Christine Falk, travel stories

2 weeks in Berlin

I was invited to exhibit/ perform and facilitate workshop in Germany (Berlin), so I am going to go. I'll be there from April 25th to May 8th. This will be my first time in Berlin. Not sure what to expect. And then I'll be back in NYC/ Baltimore. See you soon!

TWANG/ by FatherFigure

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"twaNG: switching between Jamaican Patois and american/UK English" is finished and ready for distribution! A zine by @xfatherfigurex and available at @disclaimergallery and @chinatownsoup (16 Orchard St., NYC). 

This is SunDogs Studio's first publication project and I helped with some illustration, formatting, and printing tasks. I'm really happy that it's done! It's always fun to work with Rain, and it's awesome to see the end product in its (first version) final form. If you're in New York, you can pick up a copy at the above listed locations-  BUT also we can ship to you from afar, email me (theparhelia@gmail.com) or DM Rain (@xfatherfigurex) directly and we got you covered. 

Peace!

frog

first post of 2018

We're one month into a residency session at Chinatown Soup NYC (16 Orchard St.)- January-April 2018. Planning to work on some oil paintings and puppets. Both. Two zines are also underway. They won't be ready in time for the Zine Fair, but that's worth going to anyway, especially if you're into zines. February 10th (11am-5pm). 

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In other news... the 365videosproject is already over, that was fast! And what should i do about videos now? Keep filming? Post where? I don't even know.  I started another experimental journaling account but its a secret for now because i want to see what the algorithms will bring us if nothing is said. Maybe something, maybe nothing. 

So... expect to see me around NY in the next few months, I'll be here until summer at least.

#slowtrainresidency

Making preparations to begin a #slowtrainresidency project. I am tentatively titling it "ManMan Yawaarai" (Go Slowly) for now... As virtual artist-in-residence, I will be taking over the @china_residencies IG account and posting observations over the next two weeks (Oct. 30th- Nov. 15th) while traveling by train from the border of Mongolia into Yunnan Province, China. The idea is to roughly retrace the 13th-century path of conquest taken by Kublai Khan's Mongol troops- via train- and to make work as I compare historical records with contemporary evidence of life in these locations now. 

Proposed route: Erenhot/ Erlian (border city), Hohhot (capital city), Baotou/ Ordos (Chinggis Khan’s ashes)- Beijing (capital city), pass through Chengdu (formerly invaded city), Kunming/ Tonghai (current location of the last Mongolian-Yunnanese tribe), final destination: Lijiang (Kublai Khan’s former outpost).

Preliminary sketch/ live drawing of hill composites, made from moving train (Beijing-Hohhot).

Preliminary sketch/ live drawing of hill composites, made from moving train (Beijing-Hohhot).

Thank You: to Kira and China Residencies for hosting, and to BUFU and An Xiao Mina for sharing news about this residency opportunity!

OBJECTIVES

 

-to study the [recent] history of the Mongolian-Chinese political relationship

-and understand it more deeply, by physically traveling the route taken through China by the Mongolian armies as they expanded Mongol empire across the Eur-Asian terrain

-to investigate contemporary relationships between ethnic-Mongolians in China and other Chinese ethnic groups, as well as attitudes held towards ethnic-Mongolians of Mongolia

-to observe current political/ economic situations of Inner Mongolia in person, and compare my notes with what is reported through CCTV news and other media broadcasts

-to see how usage of Mongolian language differs between Mongolia (adapted to Russian Cyrillic script) and Inner Mongolia (where traditional script is still in use, despite the region’s dominant ethnic group being Han Chinese)

-to study modern Chinese imperialism and management of Mongolian culture- especially in regards to commercial activities in the domestic/ international tourism industry of today’s Inner Mongolia 

-to further research and develop contemporary narratives that revive both Toroi Bandi (Mongolian folk hero) and the Xianu (Chinese mythological archetype)

-and, finally, to weave these cultural explorations into the network fabric of American (and International) Contemporary Arts- since i am American by nationality, and that is where I am creatively based when I am not working and traveling through Asia.

BUFU at LIJIANG STUDIO

Honored to be working as a translator/ facilitator with BUFU (By Us For Us) during their 10-day stay in Lijiang, from October 3-11th. They are gathering interviews and footage for a documentary film series that observes Black-Asian political/ economic/ social relationships from a global perspective (with footage from Korea, Japan, Ethiopia, Jamaica, China, and selected American cities). Film should be ready for screening in various locations by 2018. 

Check Lijiang Studio or BUFU website for updates soon. But also, follow them on their Instagram for regular posts on the filming/ editing process... 

BUFU interviewing Grandma He on location at Lijiang Studio (October 2017)

BUFU interviewing Grandma He on location at Lijiang Studio (October 2017)

Visiting Taiwan

"Yi" water vessel of Yi-yue Mid Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 10th to 9th century BCE)

"Yi" water vessel of Yi-yue Mid Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 10th to 9th century BCE)

Made a trip to Taiwan, stayed for 2 weeks. Some events/ places i checked out this time:

-NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM: (temporary exhibit) Splendid Accessories of Nomadic Peoples: Mongolian, Muslim, and Tibetan Artifacts of the Qing Dynasty. Full-sized ger on the third floor, with a framed print of Chinggis Khaan sitting in the center. I asked a museum docent about how I can find the original CK painting; he said that it's too valuable and they only take it out once every few years, the rest of the time they hide it away in storage, buried deep in the mountain behind the palace. So there you go. // https://www.npm.gov.tw/en/

Oh! and i learned about Giuseppe Castiglione (Chinese name: Lang Shi-ning); He was an Italian Jesuit missionary who lived in 17th-century China and made these uniquely hybridized paintings... Look at the way he painted horses, dogs, and birds. 

Giuseppe Castiglione/ Lang Shi-ning

Giuseppe Castiglione/ Lang Shi-ning

-DREAM COMMUNITY: a non-profit creative company that offers artist residencies and volunteer opportunities; at the moment they seem mainly focused on building parade floats, community theater events, and constructing a small new "world cultures" museum. How is this place, really? Please comment with thoughts/ feedback (if you have any). // http://dreamcommunity.tw/english/

An actual snail i actually saw. Bottle for scale.

An actual snail i actually saw. Bottle for scale.

-TREASURE HILL ARTIST VILLAGE: Rented a studio room here for a week. Pretty nice. Mostly quiet. They have creative residencies (applications in the Spring), hostel spaces, gallery/ show events, ceramics and metalsmithing workshops, a toy theater... Same office operates in three locations (I think). You can check out their website: http://www.artistvillage.org

-MONGOLIAN AND TIBETAN CULTURAL CENTER: in Da'an District. Library/ gallery of Mongolian and Tibetan cultural artifacts. Tiny ger on the first floor, with some old robes and what i thought was a horse-cart. Didn't expect to see books on Yunnan, but I did (probably because of the Tibetan connection), and one book had chapters on the Naxi, Lisu, Bai, etc... We could spend more time here. // http://www.mtac.gov.tw

-MONGOLIAN AND TIBETAN AFFAIRS OFFICE (IMMIGRATION BUILDING): near the NTU Hospital. I read that there's a ger library in here, too. But I arrived on a Sunday and didn't get to see it in person. D'oh // https://www.news.mn/r/328593

film still from the "Prophets" installation at TK Gallery

film still from the "Prophets" installation at TK Gallery

-TINAKENG GALLERY: Two Trees and a Mountain (Shi Jin-hua Solo Exhibition) // Plaster Gong (Su Yu Hsien Solo Exhibition)// Went to this show with two friends. I especially enjoyed the bleak installation/ theater audio happening down in the basement- Su's portrayal of Huang Hua-cheng's "Prophet" (1965)- reminiscent of Beckett's "Waiting for Godot." // www.tinakenggallery.com

-I'm drawing in this photo, you can see my notebook but you cant really see me // (source: wastelandarts)

-I'm drawing in this photo, you can see my notebook but you cant really see me // (source: wastelandarts)

-WASTELAND ART SPACE: Came out here to see my friend Tsai but i missed Friday night's set, caught 4 performance pieces on Saturday night. It was interesting to see performance art in a Taiwanese context (especially after seeing it this summer in Yunnan), made me think bout it differently, but i couldn't really keep up with the verbal presentations/ discussion due to language gap. // wastelandsite

-DAD'S PERFORMANCES: I watched my father play with his band at Fuego, Sunmai (Long Sun Brewing), ZXDH Station for the Universiade 2017 Parade, the Senior Home, NTU Hospital, and the community center rehearsal space. That was almost a full-time job. I took it very seriously. 

/// Videos: @365videosproject (Aug28- Sept10)

 -Xia's LOL Institution: www.lololol.net [IG: @xia_lol ]

 -Xia's LOL Institution: www.lololol.net [IG: @xia_lol ]

Cosmiknots: "Twisted" in NYC

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I won’t be present at this event, but please consider going if you happen to be in NYC/ Brooklyn this week… KK and Simone Johnson will be facilitating. Here’s the write-up that Khokhoi wrote for the GoogleDocs page:

“Told around a clock, unfolded as an unknowing map to see situations happening simultaneously across space-time, "Twisted" is a ritual of re-search to explore global inequalities through embodied investigations. As much as we feel like 'individuals' and despite the distance of borders, all our embodiment is entangled in gravitational orbit with each other. CosmiKnots* will practice "Twisted" as part of the JUST SITUATIONS Performative Convention**

The participative performance requires twelve spines (representing time's strokes) to be gently entwined by string. CosmiKnots is looking for people of diverse intersectional axises & across lived divisions of resource access to stand (or sit in a wheelchair) in a fixed or fluid position for max 25 minutes. Concerned with the participative politic$ of artistic production, we wish to conjure your corporal contributions outside the logics of paid capital. 

>>>>

CosmiKnots invites NYC ARTISTS to PARTICIPATE in this 'JUST situation' in EXCHANGE for SHARING RESOURCES amongst each other. Is there something you NEED/SEEK to pursue your art practice that may be facilitated or fulfilled by the community? Is there something you can OFFER/CONTRIBUTE in exchange for a JUST TRADE? 

(Examples: Seeking recording equipment rental, creative & critical feedback on a project, etc; Offering editing skills, surplus supplies, mentorship, creative direction for projects, etc ::: All imagined ideas big or small are possible! genuine requests only please)

If interested, please check out the dates/times & fill out the form below. All participants will be "paid" with a just trade-exchange arranged with other artists in the circle-clock meet-up & a small vegan snack for their hour-long corporal contribution. THANK YOU!”

-Khokhoi

JUST SITUATIONS (https://justsituations.wordpress.com) is a hybrid conference, festival, and “political science fair,” hosting artists and active citizens who are working in performative ways, moving beyond the trending commercialization of art “about” politics, into non-representational and non-reproductive modes of performance which directly construct, speculate, design. position, and posit “just” forms of political, social, and personal human being and becoming. Please consider helping fund basic access for all participants: https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/access-equity-for-just-situation

WORKSHOPS @ MAESTRA VIDA

From March 21st- 31st (2017):

Lijiang Studio conducts an installment of Aztlan-Shangrila at the Maestra Vida school in El Tambo, Colombia (with Ernesto Salmeron, Paul Donneys, Dava Wing/ WuZhimi, and Jay Brown).

Find updates at --Lijiangstudio.org--

365videosproject: brief tour of #maestravida // The founders of this school believe in having no classroom walls, no bells, no textbooks, no homework, no grading system, mixed-age classes, non-structured personalized learning methods via real-life situations, and respecting students' need for freedom. This educational model has already been replicated in 8 other municipalities since the school started in 1994 (and counting). "Life is Teacher” @maesvida // #latepost march29 #wednesday #pedagogia

WORKSHOP GROUPS:

Ernesto Salmeron: drum-making/ music 

Paul Donneys: video filming/ editing/ production

Jay Brown: art techniques and experimentations

Frog/ Dava Wing: bookmaking/ journaling; theater/ storytelling with "The Color Bird"

WuZhimi: Dongba dance/ ritual demonstration

(Many thanks to everyone in Colombia for hosting us! I learned so much, and the process continues... Looking forward to the future)

quote for thought

RE: GLOBAL (NON-LOCALIZED) SHAMANISM

“Who works for The World?” -WuZhimi

“The message presented above by Byambadorj zaarin is one of the chief reasons why those of us in the Mongolian Shamans’ Association want to network with shamans from around the world. This summer at the 5th International Conference on Shamanism we invite as many shamans from as many nations as possible to attend so that we can establish a World Shamanism Federation, so that shamans from the entire human community can work collectively for the healing of our world and promote the revival and growth of shamanism everywhere on earth. In Mongolian tradition the shaman serves the community, ought not this responsibility to also include the entire world community as well?”

-Sarangerel Odigon (from: buryatmongol.org)

CosmiKnots @ NERVE Performance Arts Festival

CosmiKnots presents: "A CALL-OUT BEFORE THE FALL-OUT: Public Ceremonies for the Church of Consumption" -this weekend at the NERVE Performance Arts Festival in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Featuring: Qpon (Frog Wing) // #krittykouture (KK de la Vida) // FATHERFIGURE (Rain Love) // Hardley (Rachel Johnson)

March 17-19 

FRI (7-10) SAT (7-10) SUN (6-9)

 

IG: @cosmiknots

Tumblr: https://cosmiknots.tumblr.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cosmiKnots

***As part of the soundtrack, CosmiKnots featured random clips on Youtube, Ft. Lauderdale radio on a Disney-princess boombox, static noise, and music by Dasa Transmute and Alienood420 (SplashZone is now available on iTunes, click HERE)