touch would

Patty Chang, Touch Would

29 July – 29 September 2008

The Arrow Factory is pleased to present Touch Would, a new work by New York based artist Patty Chang.

Touch Would is a multilayered video project that centers on the concept of translation—mistranslation, cultural translation, interpretation and performance. It takes as its departure point two concrete events, the first being a text written by cultural critic Walter Benjamin about the Asian American film starlet Anna May Wong after their meeting in Berlin in 1928; and the second a knifethrowing sequence from Song, one of Wong’s early silent films. Reimagined and reinterpreted in a contemporary context, these events form a lens through which Chang explores notions of public/private space, staged performance, and linguistic mishap. Shot in Beijing and co-produced by the Arrow Factory, Touch Would is a two-channel video work with words and actions that move around a periphery, as if to reference the elusive goals of translation and endless efforts to reach the ‘center’ of meaning. The presentation of Touch Would in Arrow Factory’s storefront furthers this ambiguity, with seats and tables that resemble a waiting room or doctor’s office positioned behind glass to imply an internal viewer.

Touch Would originates from Chang’s video piece A Chinoiserie Out of the Old West, 2006, which depicts the translation of Walter Benjamin’s text from German to English. Continuing to translate the text across land from China to Europe, Chang will enact a game of ‘Chinese whispers’ whereby each translation is folded into the next, with the meaning moving farther and farther from the ‘center’ and traversing cultural and geographical lines. Touch Would forms one stop along this trajectory. It is part of a larger constellation of Chang’s projects that explore the processes of mythmaking, constructed identities and the production of real and fictive cultural imaginaries. Chang’s earlier film projects include Flotsam Jetsam (2007) in collaboration with David Kelley, a layered narrative addressing themes of landscape and identity against the backdrop of Yichang, a town near the Three Gorges Dam project; and Shangri-La (2005) which documented her real visit to the imaginary place of Shangri-La located in Zhongdian, Yunnan Province.

Patty Chang (b. 1972) was born in California and received her BFA from the University of California, San Diego. She currently resides in New York. Chang is a 2008 finalist for the Hugo Boss Prize, and was recently featured in the MOMA New Directors series for her work Flotsam Jetsam (2007). Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally.

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张怡， 《可能接触》

2008年7月29日－9月29日

箭厂空间有幸展出纽约艺术家张怡新作《可能接触》。

《可能接触》是一个以翻译、无译、跨文化传译、诠释和表演概念为核心的多层次录像艺术作品。它以两个具体事件为起点，其一是文化评论家瓦尔特·本雅明 （Walter Benjamin）1928年与美国亚裔电影明星黄柳霜（Anna May Wong）在柏林相遇之后所写的有关这位女星的文章；其二是选自黄柳霜早期默片《爱比刀更厉》（Song） 中的飞刀片断。这些事件经过当代语境下的重新想象和重新解读，成为张怡用来探索公共/私密空间概念、舞台表演以及语言灾难的一只镜头。《可能接触》在北京 拍摄，由箭厂空间共同制作，是一部双频录像作品，台词和动作围绕外围不断游走，仿佛指涉了翻译难以捉摸的目标以及为达致意义的“核心”而付出的无尽努力。 《可能接触》在箭厂空间的橱窗式展厅中放映，更加深了这种不确定性，类似候诊室或医生办公室的桌椅摆在玻璃背后，暗示了一位内在的观看者。

《可能接触》源自张怡2006年的录像作品《西部概念里呈现的中国风味》，该片描写了瓦尔特·本雅明的著作从德文译为英文。不断地从中国到欧洲跨地域地翻 译该文本，张怡上演了一出“轻声传话”的游戏，每个译本被转入到下一个译本中，而意义逐渐偏离了“核心”，并跨越了文化和地理的界限。《可能接触》形成了 这条轨迹线上的一站，是张怡众多作品的组成部分，这些作品探讨了传奇的演绎过程、建构同一性、现实和虚构中的文化假象的形成。张怡先前的影片包括与大卫· 凯利（David Kelley）合作的《漂流物》（2007年），以三峡大坝附近的宜昌作为背景，运用多层次的叙事手法揭示环境与身份的主题；《香格里拉》（2005年） 则记录了她实地考察文学中虚构的位于云南省中甸的香格里拉。

张怡，1972年出生于美国加利福尼亚，在圣迭戈加州大学获得美术学士学位，目前定居于纽约。2008年成为Hugo Boss Prize候选人，其作品《漂流物》（2007年）入选MOMA举办的新导演系列作品。作品曾在国际上多次举办个展和群展。

the fever

olympics antics have descended upon the capital. in addition to all the bizarreness reported in the media, here is a brief listing of the idiocy that i have experienced first hand:

• taking photos of foliage around town prompts neighborhood watchmen to inquire about what you're doing
  
• every single available advertising space is taken by either government propaganda declaring 'Beijing 2008' with the asinine tag line 'One World, One Dream', or a logo from an official sponsor.
• our friends who run a bed and breakfast out in huairou, an hour and forty-five minutes away from beijing, have been told that they are not allowed to receive any overnight visitors.
  
• drivers have been restricted to even and odd days, depending on the final number of one's license plate. yesterday wangwei's license plate was stolen off the back of his car. his front plate remained intact. as he was driving, a cop pulled him over and threatened to fine him 200RMB because the cop said he purposely took the plate off.

i'm sure it will only get more ridiculous and annoying. the city is under seige.

casting off tvs and dvd players?

Beijing denizens, if you are leaving town or upgrading your home
theater system please note: we at the arrow factory are looking for
donations of tvs, dvd players and sound equipment for our upcoming
exhibition. Instead of giving it to your ayi, or throwing it on the
street, give it to us! art is a good cultural cause, recycling is
environmentally friendly, and we'd be forever grateful. We'll even
list you as a donor on our website and buy you a pancake from the bing
stand next door. what a deal!

drop us a line at arrowfactory@gmail.com if you got some goods.

thanks.

Patty Chang at UCCA

ok sports fans. if you are in beijing and you have some free time around 5pm, then you MUST MUST MUST come to hear Patty Chang speak at the UCCA:

A Chinoiserie out of the Old West:
An Artist Talk by Patty Chang

Thursday, June 12
Time 5:00pm
UCCA auditorium

Organized in collaboration with UCCA and the Arrow Factory, Beijing

New York artist Patty Chang comes to Ullens Center to talk about her artistic practice and the project she is currently working on in Beijing.

Patty Chang is perhaps best known for her work as a performance artist and the videos and photographs that derive from these often provoking performances. As the principle subject, Chang's performance work often tested her own physical limits and the limits of the audience. Her more recent film based projects have taken a slightly different course, focusing on processes of mythmaking, constructed identities and the production of real and fictive cultural imaginaries. Shangri-La (2005) documented a real visit to the imaginary place of Shangri-La located in Zhongdian, Yunnan Province and included the repeated sculptural construction and reconstruction of the town's principle icon, Snow Mountain. Her most recent work (in collaboration with David Kelley), Flotsam Jetsam (2007) is a layered narrative addressing themes of landscape and identity against the backdrop of Yichang, a small town along the Yangtze River affected by the Three Gorges Dam project.

In this talk, Chang will give an overview of her artistic practice but will primarily introduce A Chinoiserie out of the Old West, the project she is currently working on here in China. Based on a 1928 text written by Walter Benjamin about the Asian American film starlet Anna May Wong, this work will take the form of several short film pieces that deal with representation, translation, mistranslation, and crossed meanings. Chang is in Beijing to film the first segment, which will be shown in late July at the Arrow Factory, Beijing.

Patty Chang is a 2008 finalist for the Hugo Boss Prize, and was recently featured in the MOMA New Directors series for her work Flotsam Jetsam (2007). Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally.

http://www.ullens-center.org

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《西部概念里呈现的中国风味》：张怡(Patty Chang)

艺术家讲座本次讲座与北京箭厂空间共同主办

2008年6月12日 下午5点
尤伦斯当代艺术中心

纽约艺术家张怡将在尤伦斯当代艺术中心讨论她近期在北京的拍摄项目。

在张怡的行为艺术作品里，影像和摄影创作尤其备受注目。她的作品主要题材来源于艺术家在行为作品里对自身的洞 察和考验观众的界限。在近期影像作品里，张怡关注的主题包括传奇的演绎过程， 建构同一性，现实生活中和虚构的文化假象。2005年的作品《香格里拉》纪录艺术家在云南中甸县的一次实地考察，在文学虚构里的香格里拉重复塑 造一个具有当地代表性标志的雪山。2007年，张怡在长江的宜昌市拍摄她的最新的作品《漂浮物》（与大卫。凯利合作）。作品的背景描 述三峡大坝引起的变化，同时应用叙述的手法建立一个围绕环境和同一性的主题。

在这次讲座中，张怡将和观众分享她对艺术创作的概述， 和特别介绍她的作品《西部概念里呈现的中国风味》，作品主题来源于1928年瓦尔特·本雅明为美国亚裔女影星黄柳霜写的一片文章。 艺术家希望通过一系列短片来反映再现，翻译，误译和跨文化传译的演变。张怡在北京拍摄作品的第一部分， 近期将在北京的箭厂空间里播放。

张怡于2008年候选于Hugo Boss Prize, 她的作品《漂流物》（2007）被入选为MOMA举办的新导演系列作品之一。张怡的个展和群展在国际上备受注目。 这次讲座是尤伦斯当代艺术中心和北京箭厂空间的首次合作。

http://www.ullens-center.org

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see you later.

alxa

i'd never heard of the Alxa League prefecture of Inner Mongolia until I got there.



After driving due west for two straight days from beijing we arrived at a bizarre vegas-like architectural structure that marked the edge of the inner mongolian badajilin desert. Our friend, Wu Er Shan, was scouting locations for a film and going to visit his cousins who are herdsmen in badanjilin. wangwei and i tagged along with the production crew for 12 days, riding camels, battling mosquitoes, weathering sandstorms, eating many a lamb, and drinking quite enough baijiu.

After the first day i realized a few things:
1. i have no knowledge as to how to survive in the desert
2. city people are wimps
3. camels are cool

we camped out for 3 days, rode camels through spectacular scenery and arrived in Miao Hai, where Wu Er Shan's cousins have a home and where his uncle has started to refurbish a 300+ year old temple that was destroyed during the cultural revolution. As we trodded up over the sand dunes the lake was an amazing oasis. after 3 days in the desert, the eyes adjust to see only the color of sand and sky; the white walls of the modest temple were shock.