China's Cultural Scene

passages

CHINA’S CULTURAL SCENE

Airport Kids: Documentary Theatre from Switzerland p. 6 Centre Culturel Suisse Paris: New Directors with Vision p. 40 Swiss Institute in New York: A Hot Tip in the Art World p. 42

The Cultural Magazine of Pro Helvetia, No. 49/2009 Contents 12 – 39 Dossier: CHINA’S CULTURAL 3 EDITORIAL 40 LOCAL TIME Migrant Workers SCENE Paris: A Beehive of Culture Pius Knüsel Joachim Johannsen

4 PRO HELVETIA NEWSFLASH New York: “In New York, if you’re Swiss Design in Hollywood not open-minded, you don’t last Compass – Swiss Culture to Go long” Artists’ Books for Swiss Talent Roman Elsener Contemporary Vibes 43 PARTNER PROFILE 6 REPORTAGE Swissnex: “We want to increase Portrait of the Artist as a Young our visibility, generate interest in Nomad research...” Anne Fournier (text) In their work, Ta Men, an artists’ Felizitas Ammann Caroline Minjolle (photos) collective, and the photographer duo Li Yu and Liu Bo offer critique of 44 IMPRESSUM 11 CULTURE BEAT modern Chinese society (pp. 12 f., 18 f., PASSAGES ONLINE Constantly Seeking Difference 24 f. and 32 – 39). NEXT ISSUE Martin Heller 14 “A great asset for both China 45 VIEWPOINT and Switzerland” The Lead-Free Computer Claudia Porchet in conversation Pierre Keller with Angela Wettstein 46 GALLERY 16 China’s CCD Workstation: A A Showcase for Artists New Environment for Indepen- “você tinha tempo” dent Cultural Production and by Jan Eichenberger Dialogue Wu Wenguang

20 Playtime Is Back Carol Yinghua Lu

22 Foodscape – A Culinary Journey Through China

Arno Camenisch Li Yu und Liu Bo The photographers Li Yu (born 1973) and 26 Pop Music: The Pulse of a Liu Bo (born 1977) live and work in Wuhan, China. For their photo series “13 Nation Months in the Year of the Dog” (2006) Sun Mengjin and “Victims” (2007), the artists staged stories drawn from the Chinese daily news: the crime beat, the absurd and the everyday 28 China’s Culture Industry coalesce in scenes reminiscent of – Between Consumption and film stills. www.photobang.cn Cover: CHUTIAN GOLDEN PAPER, Control Ta Men 13 August 2007: Mark Siemons The artists’ collective Ta Men (“They”) Fugitive Drops Through Ceiling comprises Lai Shengyu (born 1978), Yang Xiaogang (born 1979) and (until 2006) Around 6 pm on 10 August, some 50 doctors 31 “All people knew about Chinese Chen Li (born 1973), all of whom live and nurses attending an HR meeting at music was that it was difficult to and work in Beijing. Always using the same a beauty parlour in No.16, Wu Sheng Road in room with picture window as a Hankou were startled when a man dropped understand” backdrop, Ta Men stage hysterically overblown through the concrete ceiling. He had jumped Muhai Tang, as told to Wei scenes of life in the big city. In digitally off the sixth floor while fleeing a mob. processed photographs and oil paintings alike, Photo: Li Yu and Liu Bo, from the series Zhang theirs is a pessimistic portrait of China's “Victims” (2007) consumer culture.

2 editorial

Migrant Workers

From our cosy perch in Switzerland, the first thing that strikes us about China is the amazing pace of its growth. In the span of one single generation, a land of rice farmers has become a factory supplying the entire globe. The cottages of yore have mutated into canyons of glass and steel in burgeoning megacities, the whole sustained by an infrastructure that anticipates the 22nd century. Such a remake of Genesis in just two decades would have been unthinkable without the army of migrant workers who follow the construction sites from one end of China to the other. These sons and daughters of poverty-stricken farmers flee the countryside to make over Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, and in the process provide fodder for our western fantasies. China’s architectural metamorphosis is matched by a cultural renaissance, as inspiration from the country’s past as well as from the outside world floods in to fill the vacuum left by the Cultural Revolution. China is not only the world's largest construction site, it is also its greatest atelier. Local artists have found their niche between global expectations and their own taste for experimentation, with a cunning to match the reluctance of official Chinese cultural policy in the face of independent artistic production. Artists are the journeymen and women of the mind, labouring on the construction sites of perception, intellection and exchange. They have captured the imagination of the Swiss cultural world, whose exponents have not been slow to set out on journeys of their own. With Swiss Chinese Cultural Explorations, a two-year programme focusing on the Middle Kingdom, Pro Helvetia aims to foster exchanges between Swiss artists and China’s multifaceted culture. In this issue of Passages we invite Chinese intellectuals to have their say, and furnish us with insight into their country’s independent documentary film scene, its contemporary conceptual art, and the growth of its pop and rock music industry. In their work, meanwhile, young artists turn a critical gaze on modern Chinese society. Taken together, the accounts of artists from China and Switzerland prove that cultural exchanges between the two countries are a veritable voyage of discovery. For Swiss and Chinese alike!

Pius Knüsel Director, Pro Helvetia

3 pro helvetia newsflash Swiss Design in Compass – Hollywood Swiss Culture to Go

A rift opens in the enormous ship: (www.prohelvetia.ch/expo). Forming the Titanic is rent in two between its ma- the core of the exhibition are twenty jestic funnels, baring its innards and panels dealing with the work of a sending passengers sliding across the number of artists – the likes of H.R. Gy- deck and clinging to the railing while its ger, John Howe, Christian L. Scheurer stern slowly sinks into the dark and frig- and Deak Ferrand – for film and video- id ocean. The Swiss freelance designer game productions. A selection of videos and concept artist Christian L. Scheurer also provide insight into modern design committed this catastrophe to his draw- techniques such as matte painting, con- ing board in countless variations until cept design and special effects. he had created a cinematic effect worthy Swiss Design in Hollywood, which of Hollywood. targets both the general public and spe- Although the film industry has be- cialists in the field, is the brainchild of come one of the most prolific cultural Yverdon’s Maison d’Ailleurs. It was com- production centres of our era, the world missioned by Pro Helvetia, whose offer of is unfamiliar with the names of the the show free of charge to Swiss embas- Swiss artists who, for years now, have sies throughout the world makes availa- been creating highly successful figures, ble a simple and affordable instrument to fantasy characters and sets for interna- convey Swiss cultural accomplishments tional film productions and video to countries where Pro Helvetia has a Fresh sounds on Compass: The unusual games. Swiss Design in Hollywood is lower profile. Predecessors to the exhibi- vocal stylings of Swiss-American Erika Stucky. the first show to feature the contribu- tion, such as Comic Land Switzerland Photo: Gina Folly tions of Swiss artists to the field of de- and Ticinese Architects Worldwide, were sign and digital imagery in major pro- mounted over one hundred times in Conceived as an interactive kaleido- ductions such as Matrix, Lord of the some forty countries. Those interested in scope of the visual arts, Compass is a Rings, The Fifth Element, Star Wars staging such an event can order the guide to Switzerland’s diverse cultural of- and Alien. The digital exhibition is based exhibition through any Swiss embassy. ferings. The new promotional website fea- on DVDs and supplementary internet tures an up-to-date selection of concerts, documentation, which is accessible to films, exhibitions, readings and theatrical viewers on Pro Helvetia’s website and dance productions by Swiss artists, with texts, images and sound samples of projects supported by Pro Helvetia and Concrete canyon from the science fiction film The Fifth Element by Christian L. Scheurer. Video still. ready to go on tour. Compass provides access to a continually updated cultural calendar as well as direct contact to artists. The online platform is intended for curators, programmers, cultural attachés and members of the diplomatic corps around the world – and of course anyone curious about Swiss culture anywhere. www.prohelvetia.ch/compass

4 themselves known to a wider public. From Artists’ Books for Swiss Talent 8 to 14 June, under the auspices of the Swiss Art Awards ceremony in Basel, Pro Helvetia will present this year’s crop of artists’ books. The jury chose to honour the Chapuisat Brothers, Francisco Sierra, Aldo Mozzini and Marie Velardi, from the “Monstera” (detail) by Franziska Furter. French and Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland, and, from the German- Who will be the movers in the art speaking region, Ana Roldan, Franziska world of tomorrow? For its Cahiers Furter, Marianne Engel and Sladjan d’Artistes series, Pro Helvetia is con- Nedeljkovic. stantly on the lookout for promising Published by Edizioni Periferia, the Swiss artists whose work takes readers new Cahiers d’Artistes are available in by surprise and captivates them with its book shops and from Pro Helvetia. originality. The current series offers sev- The deadline for applications for the 2010 en artists and one artist couple – select- series is 12 June 2009. Details under ed from among 220 submissions – a www.prohelvetia.ch début publication in the form of a Cahier d’Artiste or “artist’s book”. For over ten years now, Pro Helvetia’s Collection Cahiers d’Artistes has lent support to as- piring Swiss visual artists by giving them an instrument with which to make

Contemporary Vibes

Jaques Demierre is composer- in-residence at Les Amplitudes. Photo: ZVG

This spring, La Chaux-de-Fonds will host the fourth edition of Les Amplitudes, a bijou biennial festival of contemporary music showcasing an internationally re- nowned composer. Featured guest for 2009 is the Swiss musician, composer, teacher and sound-poet Jacques Demierre, who joins other artists at a variety of venues during the six-day event. In Entre- Les Amplitudes is a red-letter event on the sound installations, musical spoken-word deux, a sort of improvisation on demand calendar of the Swiss contemporary mu- and dramatic performances and work- and just one of the many unique festival sic scene, and enjoys an international rep- shops, the festival also invites its guests to offerings, Jacques Demierre will play ten- utation beyond Switzerland’s borders. discover a new approach to music. minute solo pieces for one audience mem- But it’s not only festival-goers’ ears that www.lesamplitudes.ch ber at a time. Sponsored by Pro Helvetia, are in for a surprise between 12 and 17 May in La Chaux-de-Fonds: with films,

5 reportage

“From now on, we want a real play, with real parts.” (Patrick, 12 years old)

6 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Nomad

Airport Kids, a piece of By Anne Fournier (text) and documentary theatre, presents Caroline Minjolle (photos) scenes from the life of modern “Can I have my e-game back?” 9-year- nomads – the children of old Oussama booms out at the house. The refugees and of the managers lights are back on in Hall 2 of Zurich’s of multinational corporations Theater Schiffbau. Rehearsal is over. Julien (8), Kristina (10) and Patrick (12) didn’t – who describe their world wait that long to head backstage and es- to the adults in the audience. cape from a stage that, for six months now, A play with authenticity has made troubadours of these nomadic children. “Juliette, is it true you love mu- and fiction that is at times sic?” No answer. The little 6-year-old girl is unsettling. now all by herself on the boards; she seeks out her mother, seated somewhere beyond. Juliette is intimidated. After all, however soft-spoken they may be, the directors Ste- fan Kaegi and Lola Arias questioning her are strangers. Juliette, who often tags along on her musician parents’ travels, has been cast as the next “expert” in the Airport Kids stage play touring Europe since May 2008. They are “airport kids”: they hail from Morocco, Ireland, China or Brazil.

7 reportage

The children describe our world other dictated by his father in the service of today, onto which they project of Tetra Pak — already have a long and their gaze and their utopias. winding road behind them. Director Stefan Kaegi (centre) Working hand in hand with them, Lola Arias and Stefan Kaegi, by now known for blending documentary and fiction in their work, have invented life-scenes that are more or less inspired by the children’s real lives. The children describe our world of today, onto which they project their gaze and their utopias. Thus we have Patrick, the son of the vice-president of Philip Mor- ris and proud owner of his first credit card at the age of 10; or Clyde, an orphan from India adopted by Swiss parents under cir- cumstances he goes on to relate. The team have been working with some twenty youngsters since 2007, drawing on their life stories, and then adding some imaginary flourishes (Kristina is not as keen a tennis player as she comes across in Air- port Kids, she herself makes clear), before going on to script the actual play. “How do you see your future?”, “What do you like?”, “Are you comfortable on airplanes?” Cast- ing was based on the interest of their biog- raphy, and their behaviour towards the audience. The resulting production takes inspiration from their everyday life but immerses them in a time frame they have never before experienced, namely the im- mediacy of theatre. “They are unpredicta- ble and disconcerting in their demands and in the trouble they have in concentrat- ing. Even after months of putting on the show, we still have to keep them from drop- Child refugee, adopted orphan, senior from 6 to 14, their route has landed them ping out,” explains Boris Brüderlin, assist- manager’s son in Lausanne — here they attend school, ant stage director. The stage set consists of airport con- and here Stefan Kaegi of Switzerland and tainers: the cast’s homes. A place where, Lola Arial of Argentina have selected them Theatre starring “experts” of the for instance, Kristina, the child of Russian to stage their production at the Théâtre de everyday parents and a pupil at Lausanne’s Interna- Vidy. On stage, in an atmosphere reminis- A few hours before one of the perform- tional School, can dream of a vocabulary cent of an airport, they each play their role ances, the players waxed professional: understandable to one and all. The setting or join in the chorus, declaiming or sing- “From now on, we want a real play, with also features rails, screens, and musical in- ing out flashes from their life in successive real parts,” Patrick jokingly declared. The struments: the cast’s language. Words in scenes. Their experience is still minimal. only answer came in the form of a question which, for instance, Sarah can sing of the And yet, during their trips and throughout from the sound engineer: “Who forgot to Africa that her father fled due to war and their dreams, these eight children — nine turn off their cellular?” It’s as if they were that she never got to know. It is the multi- counting Garima, who joins in by video as old hands at this, impatient at times and national and chaotic world of kids forever he follows the moves from one place to an- quite proud of themselves. Six months is a on the go, rootless, and adept at improvis- ing in several languages. Off-stage, the youngsters are the offspring of directors or The fact that they all have left somewhere of refugees, or else adopted orphans. The fact that they all have left somewhere else else behind creates a tie stronger than their behind creates a tie stronger than their dif- differences in background. ferences in background. Ranging in age

8 long time in the life of a 9-year-old. Enthu- everyday life placed in a fictional setting 200 voters to witness the parliamentary de- siastically, Lola Arias asserts: “They’ve told destined to reveal their imaginary world. bates in Berlin, before enjoining them to us tons of stuff. It’s what we used to inject And this whether they be truck drivers take seats in a mock-up of the Parliament, real life into fiction. Anyway, their world is (Cargo Sofia – X, 2006), model-making and in turn to deliver the arguments they so alive that it is very fragile. It’s hard to fans (Mnemopark, 2005) or call-centre had heard the politicians set forth. know where a lie sets in...” It’s been several employees in Calcutta (Call Cutta, 2005). The resulting “documentary theatre” years that the artist Lola Arias, now 32, has A globetrotter, Stefan Kaegi draws in- is a malleable concept that uses snatches been globe-trotting. Thanks to the theatre. spiration from a world whose changes he of reality and a journalistic tone to provide After studying literature and drama in Bue- observes in the course of his own travels. a thoroughly hybrid approach to everyday nos Aires, she founded the Compania Post- Having studied philosophy and the visual life. During the early ‘60s, the stage direc- nuclear, enabling her to engage in mime, arts in Basel and Zurich, he went on to tor Peter Weiss attended the trial of Ausch- song and dance. A writer and stage direc- complete a programme in theatre studies witz death camp staffers before the Frank- tor, she revels in the tension between real- in Giessen, in Germany. “I didn’t want the furt criminal court. Based on his notes and ity and fiction that has informed her crea- acting degree course that casts you into a the minutes of the trial, he composed The tions. This taste also brought her close to mould and teaches you the art of fencing. Investigation in the form of an oratorio, Stefan Kaegi of Solothurn and his commit- That approach is a threat to art,” he asserts. making him the first to propose a genre ment to exploring society from a documen- In Giessen he met Daniel Wetzel and Hel- built up of political theses and openly-de- tary perspective. In Brazil in 2007, the two gard Haug, with whom he founded the clared sympathies. In the meantime, bring- joined forces to stage Chacar paraiso, a Rimini Protokoll theatre collective in 1999. ing reality into play has become a popular performance bringing to light the life of At once creators and observers, the three tool to reflect upon both the theatre as policemen and their families. With an eye used public spaces to act out and produce such and its ethical purpose. Nowadays, to revealing, to disturbing. But not to judg- “ready-made” documentaries for the stage. theatrical productions in a documentary ing. “We show. Without saying if it’s good Their idea was neither to reproduce nor to vein tend to distance themselves from any or bad,” the director explains. Today 36, dramatize reality, but to display such real- value judgment: they are more likely to ask Stefan Kaegi once dreamt of becoming a ity within a theatrical structure. In other questions or to turn issues aside, at times journalist, but later he turned to the thea- words, to point a finger at the theatricality through laughter. Then there is also the tre and its “experts” — that is, artisans of of our everyday lot. In 2002, they invited humour-tinged stand taken by Rabih Mroué

Airport Kids in action: They come from Morocco, Ireland, China and Brazil.

9 reportage

Sarah sings they are on tour all across Europe; spring about an will see them in Paris and Hamburg. New Africa she has “ I’d like to be an never seen. demands continue: “They made me into a actress someday. soldier. I think I laughed it off but, actually, I don’t want to make war. Even if I like the A real one. ” boots.” Aline, whose background is Brazil- ian, loves the projectors. She’s delighted, sion? Stefan Kaegi and Lola Arias justify as betrayed by her smile. About to politely their work with the youngsters by remark- lift fork to mouth, she admits: “I’d like to ing that they (the children) “are like scale be an actress someday. A real one.” models of the future, while as yet unaware of the laws of the world. True, many www.rimini-protokoll.de words of our own crop up during the show, undermining the fine line between fiction Anne Fournier is Zurich correspondent for the daily Le Temps. She studied Arts de la and reality. They open new doors. Where scène et du théâtre in Paris, where she dedicated is it that we are strangers? In whose eyes her research work to Genevan playwright Sylviane Dupuis. Fournier sits on the jury for are we strangers? The same questions the Hans-Reinhart Ring award. cross the minds of the nomadic youngsters and the members of the audience. We Translated from the French by Margie Mounier come up with no answers.” Beyond this questioning as to whether distancing has or has not been achieved, the feelings of of Lebanon with respect to the strangle- unease thus aroused are akin to those that hold of war on his country: How Nancy today’s globalized world has in store for to- Wished That Everything Was an April morrow’s adults. Fool’s Joke – produced at Zurich’s Theater In Zurich, enjoying their evening Spektakel in 2008 – marries a documen- snack, Oussama of Morocco and his fellow tary form to the stage players’ fiction, re- cast members are serene. “We feel com- sorting to the absurd to denounce the con- fortable. In a way we’re the ones writing flict. the text,” he comments with a laugh, adding that gaming is his way of relaxing. The Children – “scale models of the future” youngsters are like little sorcerer’s appren- Stefan Kaegi’s close involvement with tices, frightening in their mixture of inno- the “experts” selected on the basis of their cence and adult knowledge. During 2009 everyday life sets his approach apart and lays him open to criticism. At the Festival A break during d’Avignon in France, for example, it was rehearsals: The mood is cheerful noted that in Airport Kids, the mise en and relaxed. abyme of reality is performed by youngsters rather than by adults. All of a sudden, what the youngsters say on stage – that is, their opinions of the real world built without them until now, and often without their necessarily being aware of it – is at variance with, even in contradiction to, the way spectators perceive (or wish to perceive) it. You have children denouncing the wor- ries or absurdities belonging to adults. Ju- lien, hailing from China, overstepped the bounds of his role to haggle with the audience over the worth of his country meas- ured in rice. And then there’s Aline, who boasts of the virtues of war. One wonders: does the illusion spooned out by theatre bring authenticity into play? Does it cater to a taste for voyeurism? Does it risk tres- passing the limits of the theatrical dimen-

10 culture beat

code of etiquette and predilection for indi- Constantly Seeking rect communication are surprisingly reminiscent of the Far East – and as a result I am hardly suffering the sort of culture Difference shock I had once thought to prepare for as a student of ethnology. Rather, it is precisely the microscopic nature of Austrian difference that is the rub, its potential for bewildering deviation from my Swiss What do you get when a Swiss in Linz such a programme will necessarily proceed norm, coupled with a constant need for re- plans an Austrian city’s year as the from an attempt to read and comprehend assurance. European Capital of Culture? Artistic that city’s urban fabric. This means in turn As a result, my work calls for prudent Director Martin Heller encounters rituals that its culture must be understood as empathy if I am to get the best possible re- from the Far East as well as some broadly as possible, and compared with turn on the outsider’s perspective, with its intercultural stumbling blocks. that of other cities. Needless to say, this is penchant for experiencing the other as much easier said than done. After all, such Other and thus constantly subjecting its By Martin Heller – I have been work- an assessment is only partially based on own position to critical scrutiny. This ing outside Switzerland for several years hard facts, and must depend upon a range means neither downplaying nor dramatiz- now, and while I keep one foot in Zurich, on of soft factors in its identification of things ing the crucial perception of cultural dif- my native soil, I am more often than not on like a city’s urban potential, its affective cli- ference, but instead incorporating a the hoof abroad: mainly in Austria, or rather mate, and its cognitive patterns. healthy dose of it into each and every as- Linz, to be exact, population c. 200,000, the sessment of reality. If you take intercul- centre of a region with almost half a mil- tural stumbling blocks and inconcinnities lion inhabitants and the capital of the fed- seriously, after all, you stand to make a far eral state of Upper Austria. greater impact than many an international In 2009, together with Vilnius, Linz is convention of specialists. For myself, I the European Capital of Culture. As its Ar- would like to see an extended discussion of tistic Director, I have been charged with all what Linz’s year as European Capital of of the planning work in and around this Culture could have to offer for the everyday banner year. My main task is to put to- life of medium-sized towns in, say, Estonia gether a programme boasting original, in- or Portugal. Because this will inevitably dividual events and offerings while also lead to a humanist perspective on the uses recognizable as a coherent whole. of culture, and because it is the only way to As a result, I am in regular contact turn differences into cultural capital, for with cultures other than my own – both the good of all concerned. figuratively, with regard to the contents of the programme, and literally, in the very Martin Heller (Heller Enterprises) is an surroundings in which I do my work. Due independent exhibition curator, author and cultural entrepreneur based in Zurich. He is to the largely public nature of the projects currently serving as Artistic Director of Linz I am involved in, my work raises a series of But what if I experience Linz differ- 2009 European Capital of Culture. From 1998 to 2003 he was Artistic Director of Expo.02, the specific questions. To what extent, for in- ently than its inhabitants do, because I Swiss national exhibition. stance, can cultural peculiarities be under- happen to be Swiss? Because I bring differ- stood as national, or indeed local, phenom- ent criteria to bear, different typologies, dif- Translated from the German by Rafaël Newman ena? Is it possible to characterize everyday ferent expectations, as I try to find my bear- cultural processes as the result of a partic- ings in an urban society whose strangeness ular mentality? How is it that preferences is revealed only gradually, on second and values palpable at all levels of the cul- glance, beneath the surface of the ostensi- ture industry can be so nation-specific, bly familiar? It’s as if a programme of events even when the two nations in question devoted to Europe were being devised ob- EXTRA EUROPA SWITZERLAND share an official language – and what are liquely, through the back door, as it were – by Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, joins Linz09 in presenting contemporary culture the consequences of such distinctions? way of countries like Norway, Turkey and from Switzerland, thus enhancing cultural So here I am, in Linz, where common Switzerland, whose European status is un- exchange with Linz and Upper Austria. Over sense dictates that the programme for a deniable but which for one reason or another 30 projects showcasing music, film, comics, visual arts, architecture, literature, theatre city’s year as European Capital of Culture are not members of the European Union. and dance are underway, organized together take said city into account, with all of its In any case, it is certainly European with Austrian counterparts. A selection of these collaborative projects is also on view traditional strengths and glaring peccadil- differences that frame my life at the mo- in various Swiss cities. loes, its desires and objectives; and hence ment. Austria is not Japan – for all that its www.prohelvetia.ch/extraeuropa

Illustration: Sarah Parsons 11 “Tank” (2006), oil on canvas by Ta Men 12 CHINA’S CULTURAL SCENE

How does the Chinese independent documentary film and theatre scene negotiate the twin perils of censorship and the market? What is needed for a cultural exchange between Switzerland and the Kingdom of the Middle? How does Chinese pop music sound? And why is China’s contemporary art world in crisis? Seven commentators on China's current cultural scene, from both East and West, tackle these issues.

13 china's Cultural Scene

Claudia Porchet: Ms Wettstein, since collaborating with them Pro Helvetia is increasing its “ A great asset for allows significant scope for presence in Asia, with a branch development. Because we believe office established in India and a that this sort major project currently underway both China and of direct dialogue has a beneficial in China. Why China? effect on the democratization Angela Wettstein: The cultural Switzerland ” process, we decided scene in China is developing at to continue our commitment a breathtaking pace, especially as to China even after the criticism regards fringe venues for art. Swiss Chinese Cultural Explorations, levelled at the country in the Flourishing and incredibly dynamic Pro Helvetia’s cultural summer of 2008. work is being done in all disciplines, and the Chinese cultural scene programme, opened in October 2008 Do you meet with any difficulties in is interested in experimentation in Shanghai with Heinz Spoerli’s your project work in China, such as and new art forms. Intensifying our A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a censorship? cultural ties to China will mean series of Sino-Swiss cultural projects Apart from the approval a great asset for both Switzerland and procedures I’ve already mentioned, China. We would like to establish have since followed. Angela which are quite laborious, each networks and support exchange be- Wettstein, Pro Helvetia’s project leader, project is subject to the question of tween institutions in both talks about the rewards and feasibility and censorship. For countries, such as academies, cultural example, it is not possible to appear organizations and festivals, difficulties of cultural exchanges with naked on stage in China, nor to and to do so as equals. Part of Pro the Middle Kingdom. present scenes with explicitly sexual Helvetia’s foreign policy consists content. In addition, there are of expanding its commitment to Asia. Interview: Claudia Porchet other organizational obstacles: a visa This began with the Swiss Con- must be obtained for every entry temporary Arts in Japan programme, into China, which is a time- followed by a branch office open- contract has been signed you keep consuming procedure. Chinese artists ing in New Delhi in 2007. If the collabor- revisiting its preconditions. Contracts are coming to Switzerland are ation with our Chinese partners is less binding than they are for us – also required to have visas, by the way. successful we will be opening a local more important are personal contacts, liaison office there too. or quanxi. How has Pro Helvetia positioned itself on the Chinese cultural scene? How does Pro Helvetia approach a What is the relationship like between We support projects that Swiss completely different culture such as that Pro Helvetia and the Chinese authori- artists and organizers realize directly with of China? ties? With whom do you actually partners in China.Under the aegis of its To start with we conduct careful collaborate? Swiss Chinese Cultural Explorations research, and cooperate with specialists On the one hand we work together programme, Pro Helvetia called on Swiss and local partners. We have to take with the authorities – a cultural artists differences in communication style into exchange would not be possible otherwise. and organizers to plan exchange projects with account. In Switzerland we commu- All cultural events and projects China. Proposals were submitted, but nicate differently – in a more direct, require official approval: for example, an a precondition was an existing invitation structured and business-like manner, exhibition at the National Museum from a Chinese partner. From the proceeding step by step. In China of China would be under the control of 117 projects proposed, the jury selected nine communication might be termed “spiral”: the Ministry of Culture. On the that were particularly impressive. A a subject is identified and steps are taken, other hand, we also work together with further two dozen projects in the fields of but you are forever returning to the private alternative cultural organizers. music, dance, theatre, literature, questions you asked at the outset. It’s like These are very important partners for us, visual art and film will be realized in China a hike in the mountains I took with and Switzerland by May 2010. some Chinese people. While I spent the We would like to establish China invests primarily in traditional whole time envisaging the destination networks and support art. Most Chinese performing in the form of the next restaurant, artists who create contemporary art receive the Chinese were constantly looking back exchange between institutions virtually no support from the state and discussing the route that they had in both countries, such or from foundations. They tend to play already covered. Such differences make it as academies, cultural various roles, creating art, organi- difficult to draw up contracts, among zing events or curating exhibitions. While other things, because even after a organizations and festivals. such figures are extremely flexible, 14 their foreign language skills are often quite Which projects have already been changing music scenes and limited, so it is vital for Pro Helvetia launched? club culture. A key partner in the field of to work in China with specialists, who serve For one thing, Switzerland was the electronic art is swissnex shanghai, as liaisons and undertake tasks like main partner in the exhibition the branch office of the State Secretariat translation and networking. We have three Synthetic Times – Media Art China 2008, for Education and Research – a Chinese employees in Beijing and which took place at the National Art network spanning technology and science. Shanghai who perform valuable services Museum of China in Beijing in the summer Important synergies are emerging in our work with local partners. The of 2008. The exhibition featured both from the fruitful collaboration between extensive knowledge of European culture established and upcoming artists from over Pro Helvetia and swissnex. possessed by our Chinese partners is thirty countries. Pro Helvetia Our Chinese partners show great astonishing. In Chinese schools the study supported four Swiss productions in the interest in a collaboration with of western classics from the realms field of new media. Switzerland, and in the coming year we of literature, philosophy, art and music is Another experiment was a co- will be presenting parts of the mandatory, whereas here our know- production at the Grand Theatre programme in Switzerland as well. So it ledge of Chinese culture is negligible – which in Shanghai last November: Heinz Spoerli promises to be pretty exciting! makes our work on the ground all the rehearsed A Midsummer Night's more interesting. Dream together with the Zurich Ballet, Swiss Chinese Cultural Explorations, Pro We want to initiate cultural projects Chinese actors, and the Shanghai Helvetia’s cultural programme with China: www.prohelvetia.ch/china0810 in China for which there is an audi- Symphony Orchestra. Despite a lengthy ence. We also believe that the relationship preparation, however, they actually Angela Wettstein has been project leader for between the two countries will only rehearsed together for just three days. The Pro Helvetia’s international programmes since 2003. She is a trained cultural mediator. endure in the long term if our Chinese combination of perfectly staged neo- partners are committed – financially classical dance, Chinese actors, and the Claudia Porchet is editor of the ProLitteris as well as culturally. music of Mendelssohn and Philip magazine Gazzetta and writes regularly for the Tages-Anzeiger. Glass, all presented on a gigantic stage set, The China programme has a budget of was fascinating. It went down very Translated from the German by Bill Gilonis three million Swiss francs. What can well with Chinese audiences, and the you do with that kind of money? performances were sold out. Such a budget does not allow us to support projects in the remotest What is the main focus of the China corners of China, nor is it our intention to programme? do so. By way of comparison, France We support selected music and theatre commits thirty million euros to its cultural projects that faculty members from programme in China. For our part, Swiss art schools develop in collaboration we concentrate on the leading cultural with Chinese academies. For example, centres: the cultural capital Beijing there is an exchange between music for one, as well as its rival Shanghai, which ensembles in which Chinese and is more influenced by Europe and Swiss musicians are commissioned to write the American east coast, and thus more new compositions for performance international and open. The two in both countries. What’s more, the cities are developing culturally at a great independent theatre group Capri pace, and provide a fertile ground Connection is planning a project with for intensive dialogue between artists from Chinese artists that deals with the both countries. Former industrial traditional art of healing – and its zones are being converted into large cultural associated rituals – in Emmental and areas where, as of recently, streets Qingdao. are lined with cafes, galleries and shops. Another emphasis is on the electronic It is actually nice to take a stroll in arts, the interface between art and such places now, what with culture and technology. One project arising from this commerce rapidly taking root. Pro- synthesis is Switch On, which was jects are also scheduled in ten to fifteen launched in Shanghai in December 2008. other Chinese cities. In order to The core of the project is a substantial optimize our own presence there, we are crossover programme – from audiovisual collaborating with Presence performance to electronic music – Switzerland and the Swiss Embassy in that aims to support exchange between Beijing, as well as with a host of artists from Switzerland and China, other partners in China. and to give the wider public an insight into 15 china's Cultural Scene

Caochangdi (or CCD) Worksta- So the artists’ native Chinese au- tion, on Beijing’s Fifth Ring Road China’s CCD dience had all but disappeared, their next to the small village of Cao- relationship with the rest of society changdi, is located some eight kilo- had been severed, and their creative metres from the city’s center. Amid Workstation: A resources were on the wane. As China China’s present rapid development, moved into its current phase of mod- Caochangdi may thus be considered New Environment ernization, its independent documen- a liminal space between the urban tary filmmakers and performance art- and the rural. Those who live in the ists found themselves in a crisis, village have long since left their for Independent trapped between the official system ploughs, opting instead to rent their and the market, barely able to survive, land to outsiders, either as housing Cultural let alone develop their craft. for migrant workers or gallery and studio space for artists. These two CCD Workstation – a place for disparate populations now commin- Production and independent artists gle in the environs of Caochangdi, I began shooting documenta- from whose main street the new ex- ries in 1988, which makes me Chi- pressway to Beijing Capital Airport Dialogue na’s first independent documentary is clearly visible, as are the cars that filmmaker. In the early 1990s I joined roar along it day and night. The lit- China’s independent documentary forces with the choreographer Wen tle village serves as a metonym of the film and performance art scene, Hui to launch China’s first independ- capital in its current phase of rapid ent performance art group, Living development. still in its infancy, is struggling with Dance Studio. My own personal ex- This article treats CCD Work- censorship and commercialism. Not perience thus exemplifies that of station as a case study of independ- far from the boomtown of Beijing, other artists who persevered in pro- ent cultural production in China. By the independent artist Wu Wenguang ducing independent work. Rather examining the relationship between than simply bury our heads in the one independent arts space and the has created a place where docu sand of our own work, we also had to documentaries and performance art mentary filmmakers and performance support the environment that al- it produces, we may better under- artists can do their work, free from lowed us to continue developing our stand the general trends in independ- independent documentary and per- ent art production in today’s China. official constraints and as part of an formance art, which in practical international network. terms meant actively constructing The pressures of censorship art spaces and forming networks and the market By Wu Wenguang with like-minded independent art- Our story begins in the early ists, whether our age or younger, so 1990s, the era in which China’s inde- as to foster our own art and ensure pendent documentary and theatre move- lacked funding, patronage and overall sup- our voices could be heard. ments were born. A group of artists, unsat- port. The reform era also ushered in an in- We began construction of CCD Work- isfied with the restrictions placed on their tensely materialistic culture, making these station in 2005 guided by these goals. work, took their first steps towards produc- early independent artists that much more Though Wen Hui and I originally built the ing art outside of television stations, film aware of their isolation and otherness. Fur- studio to serve as our personal workspace studios and any other government-spon- thermore, not only were television stations, for documentary production and perform- sored organizations. They made intermit- cinemas and theatres continuing to turn ance art, we also opened our doors to a host tent appearances at bars, during student down their independent, non-commercial of public activities, including collabora- activities at various universities, or in the work, the bars that were willing to screen tions with foreign artists and art agencies, form of “insider screenings” in regular the- their films were going bankrupt while the- documentary and performance art work- atres, non-ticketed events in line with gov- atres demanded exorbitant fees for any shops, lectures and art festivals. We hoped ernment regulations. Besides such venues, chance to perform on their stages. Those to provide a space in which fellow travellers the only other exposure such artists could who persisted in creating documentaries could provide each other with mutual sup- hope for was at international film,art, or and performance art by independent means port and dialogue. theatre and dance festivals. were thus faced with a painful predicament: CCD Workstation’s main annual events When China entered the twenty-first either conform to the needs of television have been the May Festival and the Cross- century, its rapid economic development stations and theatres for propaganda and ing Festival, the latter held in October. created a commercialized society in which commercial products, or resign themselves Both festivals feature independent docu- strict cultural policies began to loosen. to the rounds of the international film and mentary and performance art activities However, independent art production still performance art festivals. running simultaneously, and have to date 16 allowed CCD to exhibit over one hundred In a vast nation like China, ranging from the common cold to cancer independent documentaries, multiple per- file in to see the cigarette-wielding Dr. Jia; formance art pieces by groups such as Pa- an independent workstation the film’s ingenuity lies in the fact that per Tiger and Zuhe Niao, as well as per- can only hope to make a Wang Hongjun’s angle remains unchanged formances by fledgling groups from more tiny mark. We want to offer throughout the sequence. Ethical issues than ten different cities, including Beijing, aside, One Hundred Patients of Dr. Jia reads Jinan and Guangzhou. CCD also oversees a glimmer of hope… the malaise of an entire society through the related funding and development projects, illnesses suffered by the patients of its title. among them the Villager Documentary tary Filmmaker Training Project, begun in Wang Hongjun was subsequently invited by Project, launched in 2005, which invited ten 2006, in which over 120 young filmmakers Shenzhen’s OCT Art Museum to screen his farmers from nine different Chinese prov- from all over the country have participated film at its Documentary Forum, held in De- inces to participate. The original project, by producing their first independent docu- cember of 2008. funded by a joint European Union and mentaries. In terms of performance, the The films screened at or funded by Chinese government Village Governance Young Choreographers Project began in CCD are all independently produced by the Training Programme, asked the villagers 2006 and has continued for three years filmmakers themselves, and reflect their to film political processes in their respec- now, with 30 young choreographers hav- own experiences in today’s society. Their tive villages. This resulted in raw and pro- ing received funding and opportunities to subject matter touches on everything from vocative footage offering insight into vil- premiere their pieces here. the struggles of migrant workers in the lage elections, land division issues, tourist city to the plight of the unemployed and industries in Tibetan regions and the newly With a video camera to the village the fate of homosexuals in China. And al- urbanized generation’s alienation from its physician though these films have no greater a chance rural hometowns, in addition to charming These activities and funding projects than they did before to be broadcast or sequences in which the new digital video all occur within the context of an expand- screened in the mainstream media, CCD is technology is introduced to China’s rural ing international dialogue. Several Euro- able to provide their creators with a venue citizens. pean cultural institutions and art festivals to present their work, as well as a place for Upon completion of the EU project, I (such as Holland’s Borneoco, Germany’s an engaged audience to experience and dis- wanted the villagers to continue to express Goethe Institute and Switzerland’s Swiss cuss these forms of cultural production. themselves through documentary films, Films and Pro Helvetia) have with their In this vast nation, an independent and invited them to do so under the aegis support and funding allowed us to invite space such as this, as well as the independ- of CCD. Four of the original villagers took European performance artists and film- ent art and dialogue it produces, can only me up on my offer and have since com- makers to perform their pieces, screen hope to make a tiny mark. It is, however, pleted a total of eight feature-length docu- their documentaries, and even direct work- our intention to offer a glimmer of hope, to mentaries. For example, Wang Wei fo- shops or give lectures. Swiss director Peter encourage the growth of other such spaces cusses largely on disputes arising from Liechti, for example, hosted our most suc- and forms of art production, and in turn to corrupt village leadership, while Shao cessful workshop to date at the last Cross- foster a new environment for independent Yuzhen films the television crews frequent- ing Festival, held in October of 2008, with cultural production and dialogue. And per- ing her village, and thus creates a subtle the support of Swiss Films. Ten young Chi- haps, as China continues to travel down its satire. nese filmmakers participated by showing current expressway, we may be able to con- Aside from the Villager Documentary rough cuts of their newest films, many of struct our own independent byway. Project, we also have the Young Documen- them debuts. Several of the films shown in this workshop enraptured audiences Wu Wenguang is an independent documentary with their subject matter, concep- filmmaker, author and producer of dance performances. Born in 1956 in Yunnan, China, tual innovation and interesting he has lived in Beijing since 1988. point of view. Song Tian’s Flowers presented children at a holiday camp This article can be found in Chinese on Pro Helvetia’s China website: where discipline is meted out to- www.prohelvetia.cn gether with a healthy dose of nation- alism. Her opening sequence, a black Translated from the Chinese by Marilyn Ong screen with a soundtrack of a child reading a hyper-disciplinary “pep talk” to her fellow students, juxtaposed contemporary post-socialist youth with old-school ideology. Wang Hongjun, meanwhile, set up a camera in the Chinese farmers make their first documentary films small health clinic in his village to and offer insight into political processes in their villages. filmOne Hundred Patients of Dr. Jia. Photo: Su Ming One by one, patients with diseases 17 “Mah Jong” (2007), photograph18 by Ta Men 19 china's Cultural Scene

Chinese contemporary art is in early 1990s, and many pivotal criti- danger. This is not idle speculation Playtime Is cal essays were composed. Artists but rather inescapable fact. Its de- came together in groups (among the cline, which seemed to have taken best known are Xiamen Dada in Xia- place overnight, has actually been a Back men, the Pool Society in Hangzhou, long time coming. The recent collapse and the Measurement Group in Bei- of the financial markets has given the In today’s post-boom Chinese art jing) for animated exchanges and to fall a sense of abruptness; and yet the world, a young generation of concep- organize exhibitions, conferences and inner logic of Chinese contemporary publications. Shows took place in out- art’s development has long been prob- tual artists are busy inventing a range landish places, from the outskirts of lematic. The markets boom in recent of practices that move beyond the cities to the artists’ own apartments. years, prior to this unexpected drop, socio-political work conventionally While reality provided neither comfort had appeared to be an upward spiral, recognized and promoted by the nor the conditions necessary for artis- but little care was taken to ensure tic events, the urge to make things that artistic practices and theoretical mainstream system, and thus breathing happen was greater than ever. discussions were enjoying equal at- new life into China’s art scene. tention, resources and appreciation. Profit opens doors in the 1990s As many artists and dealers were By Carol Yinghua Lu The June 4th Student Move- thriving on what felt like an endless ment in 1989 brought the liberal at- free ride, critics of an art system mosphere and intellectual openness over-dependent on money were predicting world. There was a strong compulsion felt to an abrupt close at the end of the decade, the coming of a harsher season. Now that among intellectuals to reflect on China’s re- and China entered a phase in which the em- the party is over, can we look into the dark- cent history and immediate reality from the phasis was placed on monetary matters and ness with courage and hope? vantage point of disjointed hearsay and a pragmatism rather than intellectual en- distorted reception of Western artistic deavour. Chinese contemporary art faced Stimulating artistic experiments in movements, which, combined with specific the dire reality of a marginalized and even the 1980s local knowledge and ways of thinking, gave unlawful status, largely excluded from the Chinese contemporary art enjoyed a re- rise to a diversifying and dynamic art scene. official exhibition venues. Artists continued sounding start in the late 1970s. On the Chinese artists enthusiastically embraced to experiment and to engage conceptually heels of the Cultural Revolution, artists were foreign ideas and art forms, and relentlessly with reality while simultaneously fighting eager to find their own voices and recover and uninhibitedly copied them in an effort for resources and support to make and ex- their aesthetic senses without having to con- to create their own. It was a time of stimu- hibit their art, and the struggle for legiti- form to the monotonous ideology of the rul- lating artistic experimentation and dis- macy and government recognition took ing party. It was an age in which the deci- course, of naiveté and genuine fascination. centre stage. And as usual in China, the door sion to paint a still life, a landscape or a Many key contemporary Chinese art- opener during this phase was profit.When domestic scene was a choice of political mo- works were created during the 1980s and a market began to take shape for Chinese ment. The desire for open expressions contemporary art in the West in the of emotion and opinion was ulti- latter years of the 1990s, the govern- mately unstoppable, manifest in pas- ment resolved to make peace with sionate campaigns launched by the contemporary art within its own bor- artists to publicly display their works ders while at the same time bending it and communicate with the general to its ideological exigencies. public. In 2000 Chinese contemporary These fervent calls for diversity art entered a transitory period, one and freedom of artistic and intellec- that continues to this day. Its struc- tual expression continued to echo ture now comprises a steadily grow- into the 1980s, a decade widely con- ing network of local and interna- sidered to have ushered in China’s tional galleries, museums, auction most recent cultural renaissance. houses, art magazines, art fairs and Thanks to the rapid recovery and biennales. Still suffering from a com- growing dynamism of intellectual parative ignorance of the art history life in their country, Chinese people of the West and, more importantly, of once again were exposed to an abun- their own country, a body of know- dant (if fragmented) flow of informa- ledge that had suffered severely dur- tion and ideas from the West within ing the Cultural Revolution, Chinese a short period of time, after years Shooting Panda Express by Fang Lu. artists are currently caught between spent in isolation from the outside Photo courtesy of the artist. the urgent call to carve out their own 20 unique artistic language and the implaca- a darkened room, amazed more by the way attention for his realist sculptures of mi- ble call of the art market to meet its partic- the art was shown than by its content. The grant workers in Chinese cities. Between ular demands. In the process they are grad- visit was enormously fruitful for the young 2002 and 2004 he was artist in residence at ually writing a new chapter in Chinese art artist, stretching a grasp of art rooted in the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, an expe- history, one in which the conflicts faced by traditional practice as exemplified in her rience that importantly shaped his subse- contemporary Chinese artists are very much own family, and moved her to a life as an quent work. Since then, he has focused his in evidence. artist instead of the designer she had first thinking for the most part on the materi- The past decade of market-driven growth set out to become. She earned a Master of als and processes of artistic production. In has made of art a business, and a profitable Fine Arts (MFA) in new genres (video and an ongoing project entitled “What Thing” one at that, and this in turn has rendered it performance) at the San Francisco Art In- (2006-2008), he picks a random object or particularly vulnerable to the latest eco- stitute in 2007 before returning home to sculpture, immerses it in wet clay, and re- nomic meltdown. Now that the soil in which pursue her artistic career. moves it, leaving only its imprint. He then the art world thrived has been laid fallow, the Working mainly in video, Fang in- makes a cast of the hollow, which he terms “anything goes” spirit that had animated it fuses her art with a passion for media and “the negative space”, and uses it in turn to during the 1980s may at last return to re- the everyday by remaking news stories and produce a sculpture of this “nonexistence”. claim the ground for more spontaneous, quotidian scenarios with subtle wit, as well Merely citing examples of the work of playful, over-the-top artistic experiments as conceptual twists playing on video’s sta- such young artists scarcely gives a com- and discourses. The working day has tus as a documentary tool accessible to all. plete picture of the lively and self-moti- ended: it’s time to play. Panda Express (2007) is based on US re- vated scene just beginning to emerge in ports of the Chinese practice of showing China. Many experiments are only now un- A new generation of conceptual artists pandas videos of their species mating, folding, and a wide range of discussions Caught up in this revival is a young with an eye to increasing their population. have only just begun. Young artists who generation of artists, steadily emerging in Fang filmed two female actors in panda grew up in a well-supplied, well-informed the aftermath of the art boom that had costumes performing scenes of mating, artistic climate, constantly engaged with been responsible for devaluing all stand- which she then posted on YouTube as a the outer world, are now willing themselves ards for art other than its price at auction. video clip. By thus using the democratic to work, to think, to participate and to Building on the general growth of faith in and open system of the internet, Fang was share, driven by a sense of urgency and the an art scene that was also, ironically, a pro- able to put her own version of the story desire to continue making art, albeit duct of this same boom, these young artists into mass circulation. within their own practical constraints. can now find satisfaction and intellectual There is no time to lose. It’s time to play. autonomy as they think for themselves and Challenging the authorities, demytholo- develop a myriad of new practices. gizing status and renown Carol Lu is a contributing editor at frieze Like Fang Lu, many artists are think- magazine and a curator and art critic based in Beijing. Chinese artists are currently ing deeply about the essence of artistic me- caught between the dia and production as well as of the art industry. Although he is working towards urgent call to carve out their an MFA at the Central Academy of Fine own unique artistic Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, whose sculpture language and the implacable department offers the school’s most rigor- call of the art market ous training in the socialist-realist tradition, Lu Zhengyuan constantly challenges to meet its particular demands. institutional authority in an effort to de- mythologize status and renown. For his lat- Like many recent art-school graduates, est conceptual painting series, “XXX” Fang Lu relocated to Beijing not long ago, (2008), he asked an untrained assistant to unperturbed by the harsh climate of the “copy” iconic artists such as Cai Guoqiang, north and drawn by the capital’s great en- Fang Lijun, Wang Guangyi, Damien Hirst ergy. The Beijing art scene is one of China’s and Andy Warhol using printed reproduc- most developed, boasting the largest pool tions of their works, and thus create paint- of artists from all regions of the country, as ings in their styles based on his own con- well as galleries worthy of the name and a dy- ception and projections. The unnamed namic salon culture. While studying graphic assistant’s versions are shown next to a de- design as an undergrad in the USA, Fang Lu scription of the particular artist’s practice, saw her very first contemporary art show at as quoted from a periodical. the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, an insti- Upon his graduation in 2000, Liang tution affiliated with MoMA. She was struck Shuo, another alumnus of the CAFA’s sculp- by the display of TVs and sprawling cables in ture department, received a great deal of 21 china's Cultural Scene

The train is twelve minutes late cobra from a wooden drawer in his arriving in Biel. It is November 30, Foodscape – sideboard, cutting off the tip of its tail 2008. The carriages are packed, the and placing the creature in a fabric luggage racks crammed full. Above bag, explaining “Grasp the snake at its the seats runs a quotation from Max A Culinary Journey seventh vertebra. That’s where the Frisch: “The precondition of toler- heart is and that’s how you paralyse ance is the recognition that our think- Through China it.” ing is always conditional.” Frisch’s * name will crop up again, in meetings Excerpts from the diary of Arno Camenisch We leave Hong Kong on the with Chinese authors. Dürrenmatt morning of December 6 after fur- will be mentioned too; but unlike ther meetings at the hotel school with Frisch, his name will be greeted with English builds bridges. At our later and film school, where the chief topic of a nod. The train departs. meetings we will need translators. Yet de- discussion is food in film from the early * spite the common language there remains days through to Ang Lee. My mind is full of Food is served and I see on the moni- a grey area, between what we could say in impressions, but I still do not really feel I tor that we are flying over Poland. With me our mother tongue and what we can man- have grasped the essence of the city in this are Odile Cornuz, Vanni Bianconi and Pe- age in a foreign language. The Swiss auth- short time. Much seems to me unduly uni- ter Weber, all three authors, and Margrit ors who have travelled with us converse in versal, as if conforming to an unspoken Manz, the project organizer. The artist Mar- a mix of languages that moves from French standard. A kind of fusion, like the concept tin Zeller awaits us in Hong Kong. The po- to Spanish, into Italian or German, Swiss of fusion cuisine that was brought up at tatoes are delicious, and the meal is washed German and English. Rumantsch is only of our meeting in the hotel school. In the taxi down with coffee and red wine. We are in use when I want to talk to myself. on my way to the bus terminal, I reflect China to take part in an exchange with * that Hong Kong used to have 200 news- Chinese writers, and gain a closer insight The foodscape laid out on the turntable papers and now has only two. I also think into Chinese culture via the medium of before me appears baffling and mysterious, about a typical Hong Kong drink: coffee food. In two weeks’ time, when I sit in the and I can only begin to imagine how I will mixed with tea and drunk with sugar. train on my way back to Biel, I will have * some idea of what China is all about, be- Goose tongues and chicken’s Mainland China. The border is behind yond the fact that it looks like a chicken on us; Shenzhen, our next destination, lies the map of the world. This is my first trip to feet, frogs with snake ahead. Our taxi follows the Pearl River in- China – well, my second, to be exact. Eight essence, shark fins, roasted land. The Pearl River is a brown snake, and years ago I spent thirty hours in Hong Kong. pig’s ears, black eggs. Hong Kong is its head. The silhouettes of * Shenzhen’s tower blocks rise up above the Descending towards Hong Kong. My I stick to rice… horizon. mind goes back eight years to the first time * I arrived here. In those days, I knew how to cope with it. Fish stomachs tied together in On a restaurant terrace. Beside me sits milk a cow and sharpen a scythe. I knew how bundles, pieces of eel reminiscent of The Tin a woman wearing spectacles without lenses. hot milk had to be before the rennet was Drum, goose tongues and chicken’s feet, It is cool. Shenzhen is a city that didn’t even added, how to strike a block of wood with a frogs with snake essence, shark fins, roasted exist thirty years ago. Today, fourteen mil- mallet in order to split it. I knew how to con- pig’s ears, black eggs. I stick to the rice, tak- lion people crowd its streets. Over bridges, struct a centrifuge and I knew that if you ing some each time the bowl passes in front through buildings, across squares, around put your finger in it, it would tear off your of me, and scribble in my notebook that rice the corners of houses, across roads, until hand. I didn’t know any English yet. is a gustatory interface, a point of contact. I after several hours we reach the vast gov- * wash it down with tea, large quantities of ernment square; I feel as tired as if I had Hong Kong stands like a goose amidst tea. Occasionally I drop my chopsticks on been lugging whole sides of pork through the hills by the sea. Its skyscrapers are in- the table. I have a fork in my pocket. the city, and notice that the stream of hu- numerable and tall. Its crowning glory is * manity has dried up, that the square is empty the harbour, with its cranes and iron struc- In my hotel room I read poems by and swept clean, that the government build- tures like oversized chairs lined up as if Leung Ping-Kwan – “Strange Tales of Birds ing looking out onto it appears immense, like awaiting the giants of this world, biding and Flowers”; note down a sentence of Peter an oversized switchboard. I realise that it has their time behind the hills until twilight Weber’s (“A place becomes visible in an- no windows, and I feel as if a brick would when, as the tourists stroll through the other”); reflect on concentration, overlay- serve me just as well as my brain. busy streets, dazzled by the neon lights and ing and alienation, write the word “identity” * the multiplicity of odours, they will emerge, in my notebook, turn the book round and December 8, Shenzhen bus terminal. take up position on their chairs and gaze look at the word upside down. In my mind’s The voice of the woman making the an- out at the seascape, occasionally glancing eye, I recall the sight of the old man in a nouncements is as monotonous as if gen- at each other and raising their eyebrows. shop down an alleyway calmly removing a erated by a computer. A notice hangs in the 22 WC: “Save paper, save environment.” I think The Pearl River is a plus,” and where the clocks have no hands. of the meetings with theatrical folk, of stage brown snake, and Hong “You are your own king, you are your own lighting and blocking diagrams. The food camel.” in Shenzhen was spicy and good, and I’m Kong is its head. * starting to appreciate Chinese cuisine. Back in Hong Kong, the city seems to * ment. The food is Chinese and western me like an old friend. Here ends our jour- We pass through landscapes dotted European, and is served with Chinese and ney through the Pearl River Delta, which with factories. Between them are plots of Italian wine. is roughly the size of Switzerland, where land containing barracks with ponds and * various languages are spoken and the local ducks. The television in the bus is showing On the morning of December 11 we colour makes the difference. China through a disaster movie. Two hours later, as the depart for Macau. On the ground in front food. Assimilating culture. Food as a way of afternoon draws to a close, we arrive in of the bus terminal lies a poker card. It is preserving tradition. I think of the link in Guangzhou: lots of traffic, lots of noise. In the king of clubs. A motorcyclist overtakes the brain between memory and the sense the hotel foyer stands a Christmas tree with the bus. He isn’t wearing a helmet and he’s of taste. packages of all colours around its base. The barefoot. * staff are wearing Santa Claus hats. Ameri- * Our flight back to Switzerland leaves can Christmas songs are playing on an In the centre of Macau we stand be- in the evening. I write four postcards, buy endless loop. I try to ignore them. I might as fore a Portuguese façade. It is crumbling, a music box for my daughter, and acquire well try to herd elephants up the steps. and is illuminated as soon as the sun goes a decorated espresso spoon for my wife. I * down. It commands a view of the coastline, still have my fork in my pocket. I haven’t We dine at the home of the Swiss con- winding honey-yellow around the penin- used it. Our last meal together is excellent. sul in Guangzhou with guests from the art- sula. Amid the warm blocks stands the I note that the more I see and think I know, istic community. It is difficult to communi- Grand Lisboa, which looks like a corn- the more I move away from what is famil- cate with the writers and the photographer, flower. As night falls, the cornflower catches iar to me. I’ve forgotten how to construct a and we are forced to rely on a translator. fire and attracts myriad insects to the roul- centrifuge; all I can remember is what hap- There is an impressive view of the Pearl ette tables, where no rake is used to collect pens if I put my finger in it. River and the city from the consul’s apart- the chips, where there is no “Rien ne va www.food-scape.net

In April 2009, a group of Chinese writers will be making a literary and culinary study trip to Switzerland. Autumn sees the publication of a joint anthology including both texts and pictures.

Arno Camenisch is a student at the Swiss Literature Institute in Biel, where he also lives. His story Sez Ner will be published in German and Rumantsch by Urs Engeler Editor in May 2009. Translated from the German by Geoffrey Spearing

Food in China: A riddle wrapped in a mystery… Photo: Martin Zeller

23 china

24 “Family”25 (2007), oil on canvas by Ta Men china's Cultural Scene

Chinese popular music has al- are already China’s fifth or sixth gen- ways been directly affected by poli- Pop Music: eration of artists. Nevertheless, only tics, the economy, and changes in very few groups, among them Cui life-style. Each turn and development Jian (recognized as the father of in the music scene during the period The Pulse of a Chinese rock), Tang Dynasty (Tang under review can be seen as a reflec- Chao) and Black Panther (Hei Bao), tion of its times. During the nineties Nation have had any impact on the general I worked for ten years in broadcasting, public. compiling and hosting programmes For the first twenty years of its of rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and avant-garde Once upon a time, foreign influences existence, Chinese rock was posi- music. This was not really my profes- on China’s pop and rock music tively weighed down by its own sed- sion: the reason I kept it up for such itious ideas, an oppositional attitude a long time was because, in those were abundant and fruitful, and that kept it out of the musical main- years, broadcasting rock ‘n’ roll and Chinese rock was a horde of rebellious stream. For much of that period, rock avant-garde music had an emancipat- energy. Now, says Chinese music musicians and avant-garde artists ex- ory function. Nowadays, however, fol- critic Sun Mengjin, with the spread of isted side by side in the same under- lowing the rapid development of the ground situation. While European internet and the change in mentali- the internet and TV casting shows, the and American rock had long since ties, contemporary popular music mainstream and the dictates of entered the cultural mainstream, has become totally commercialized the market have commenced their Chinese rock cleaved to its rebellious and tends to serve as nothing but light stance. Under the constant pressure entertainment. triumph train in the Kingdom of of the state censors, who demanded the Middle as well. A sobering spectacle. political correctness (as they still do), Influences from Europe, America, Chinese rock became a sounding Hong Kong and Taiwan By Sun Mengjin board for the existential and intellec- It was in Shanghai, China’s vib- tual crises, the anger and self-doubt, rant international metropolis, that the despair and resignation that the Chinese popular music originated, where long time afterwards: whereas pop music nation’s musicians had been storing up for as far back as the thirties and forties of the from Hong Kong and Taiwan appealed to so long. last century, Chinese popular music began the general public, European and Ameri- As China moved from a planned eco- to thrive in public dance halls. No new im- can rock was heaven to only the few. nomy to the market system and saw its val- pulses were to reach China until Deng Xiao- The first foreign rock artists to be in- ues fundamentally overturned, Chinese rock ping’s political opening in the early 1980s, troduced to China were The Beatles, Elvis musicians of the founding generation and when Shanghai was one of the first cities Presley (known in Chinese as the “Cat King”) their epigones gradually disappeared from in the People’s Republic of China to begin and The Doors, and in the 1980s much of the view. Those who have managed to survive making pop music from Europe and Amer- music broadcast on radio was western pop. to the present day while maintaining their ica, as well as from Hong Kong and Tai- Nevertheless, rock remained taboo, and high standards are as rare as phoenix feath- wan, accessible to the general public. All of the first Beatles songs to be broadcast were ers and unicorns. a sudden – it must have been around 1980 – at first smuggled into pop programmes. The founder and pioneer of Chinese streets all over China seemed to be full of rock was Cui Jian. In 1989 he released his trendy young people listening to Teresa Teng, Chinese rock music: counterculture album Rock for the New Long March (Xin Taiwan’s queen of pop, on their portable cas- from the underground Changzheng lushang de yaogun) in ac- sette players. Soon afterwards, China re- There had been an underground mu- cordance with the official procedure, fol- leased Li Guyi’s “Nostalgia”. But it was in sic scene in China for a long time, but in lowed by Solution (Jiejue) in 1991. Later, those years, too, that many pop singers (in- the 1980s and 1990s rock bands sprang up the following caused a furore among a small cluding Li Guyi himself) were criticized for all across the country, and particularly in but dedicated fan community: Tangchao’s their “decadent” style, and that a book entit- Beijing. According to the domestic rock A Dream Return to the Tang Dynasty led How to Recognize Decadent Music was community, therefore, today’s musicians (Meng hui Tangchao), the compilation al- published. It is apparent that in the early bums Chinese Fire 1 (Zhongguo huo 1) years of China’s reform policy, its domestic While European and and Beijing Rock 1 (Beijing yaogun 1), as pop music continued to meet resistance well as several albums released in the mid- from left-wing ideologues. American rock had nineties by Zhang Chu, Dou Wei or He At approximately the same time, a long since entered the Yong. number of radical young artists and writ- cultural mainstream, While the always clear-headed Cui Jian ers began to take European and American Chinese rock cleaved to was to continue on stage, it was not long pop stars, especially rock stars, as their before the other rock musicians fell into an models. And that would be the case for a its rebellious stance. unprecedented decline and seemed to have 26 nothing more to say. There were two main Under the constant At present Chinese pop music seems reasons for this. Firstly, the industrializa- to be flourishing thanks to the pretty faces tion of pop-music production had still not pressure of the state censors, of a batch of young idols; what is lacking is really got underway and the apparently Chinese rock became a original music that might endure the test flourishing music wave of the late nineties sounding board for existential of time. Mawkishness and hedonism even turned out to be nothing but a bubble on permeate the sounds of many underground the market, which also affected the already and intellectual crises. rock bands – just one of the effects of glob- marginalized rock scene. Secondly, certain alized aesthetic trends. An era characterized rock producers tried to create “superstars” punched to render them unusable for by real ideas has definitely come to an end. at special events, but the short-lived glory broadcasting, but still playable nonethe- And just like all of us who are faced with to- followed inevitably by indifference and lone- less. Chinese music lovers collected them, day’s economic crisis, our musicians have liness was something most rock musicians and thus had their first experience offoreign no idea what they can do to put the world could not cope with. But in his most recent music not with bootleg editions but with back in order. CD, Cui Jian makes use of electronic effects dakou CDs. Since the import of music and other newfangled musical gimmicks, products in the regular way was subject to Audio samples on the internet: thus proving that “the father of Chinese strict controls and legal music products www.myspace.com/cuijian www.myspace.com/lijianhong rock,” at least, has never left history’s stage. were far beyond the means of Chinese music fans, dakou recordings paved the way for Sun Mengjiin is a music and film critic and a poet. He lives in Shanghai and works as Dakou CDs – recycling as inspiration for the development of Chinese underground programme director for art at Shanghai the underground scene culture, and the many musicians, critics Eastern TV. Before the spread of the internet, the and fans who grew up under their influ- This article can be found in Chinese, along with greatest inspirers of Chinese pop music, par- ence came to be known as the Dakou Gen- additional music links, on Pro Helvetia’s China ticularly of rock, were the so-called dakou eration. They combined their distinctive website: www.prohelvetia.cn

(“cut hole”) CDs that streamed into China Chinese experience with Western musical Translated from the Chinese by Helen Walliman from abroad. These audio products had forms to create a series of outstanding been legally produced by foreign companies works, among them Confucius Says (Zi and shipped to China as junk to be recycled, Yue) and Beautiful Pharmacy (Meihao Yaodian), to mention only two. At the same time a batch of experimental musicians emerged, such as Li Jianhong and Zhou Pei. Since the dawn of the 21st century, new trends in Chinese pop music, and rock in particular, are causing concern, as independent ideas and positions have become a thing of the past with the pop- ularization of the internet and the rise of audience-chosen superstar culture. The dearth of meaningful topics, the lack of commitment, the uniformity of musical styles and the pursuit of instant fame have made it possible for a mind- less internet ditty like “Mice love rice” (Laoshu ai dami) to become a hit all over China, and where the only musical events are Super Girl contests. The vogue for talent contests is certainly a by-product of China's rapid economic expansion and might possibly give pop music a new lease of life during its long decline and losing battle on the market- place; but it is also the phony boom of a bubble economy. As for hitherto marginalized musical styles such as rock and avant-garde, the unprecedented at- Cui Jian: The father of Chinese rock. tention of pop-music producers has only Photo: Keystone served to hurry its demise. 27 china's Cultural Scene

In the People’s Republic of China, makes this possible is the fact that as in all socialist countries, to this China’s Culture for the ruling party as artist, the day culture enjoys a jealously guarded market is just as abstract – and there- special status – not just as a tool of fore elastic and malleable – a variable propaganda, but also as a symbolic Industry – as the people had been before it. The form of the New Life for which the pseudo-essentialist concept of the communist party stands. “In real- Between people is replaced by a term of sim- ity,” argued Mao in the notorious ilarly broad scope – but one that 1942 speech in Yunnan in which he concedes from the outset that it is formulated the party’s cultural pol- Consumption nothing more than relation, artifice icy, “there is no such thing as an art and arbitrariness. The perception of that runs parallel to or is independ- and Control reality that underlies marketing, as ent of politics. Proletarian literature it goes about arousing needs and cre- and art are part of the overall revo- ating and propagating brands, is ex- lutionary cause of the proletariat or, What role does culture play in China? plicitly constructivist: it believes only as Lenin said, the ‘nuts and bolts’ in Mark Siemons’ analysis identifies in the brands, dreams and desires the overall mechanism of the revo- that it has itself created – but does so lution.” While conceding a differ- a new kind of culture industry, one with a fervour made all the more in- ence in practice between political that interprets the popular tense by that very fact. Ironically, and artistic criteria, Mao argued that will as the will of the consumer, and therefore, it is the market that pre- the goal must be to merge them: even markets cultural vents the awareness of its contingency “We demand the unity of politics and from weakening the authority of the art, the unity of content and form, criticism as an artistic label. communist party. In a sense, the mar- the unity of revolutionary political ket thus extends its invisible hand to content and the most accomplished By Mark Siemons the invisible hand of the state. artistic form possible.” Yet it would be a mistake to as- sume that some all-seeing master- The communist party as artist claim to authority, which it has absolutely mind must have hatched this sophisticated The “we” invoked by Mao is the party. no desire to give up. Or, to put it another way, concept fully grown out of its head. Rather, In terms of the mission he assigned to it, it is culture that forces politics to declare the current programme of China’s culture the party is responsible not only for poli- itself, and pinpoints the political reforms industry is the result of the eventful his- tics, but also for art and for the creation of still required. tory of recent decades, having gradually the higher level on which politics and art How, then, is the ruling party’s endur- emerged from the interplay of state action are one. The party is, in other words, itself ing claim to art and culture to be reconciled and autonomous social energy. Indeed, the an artist, bringing art to a new and higher with the incalculable and arbitrary aspects confused situation of the 1990s created the plane. To put it more precisely, it is the true of the market? To answer this question, it very conditions under which it could arise. artist that views all other artists as mere is useful to return to the “Year Zero” of the It became apparent to the government that subordinates charged with execution of its status quo, namely the Cultural Revolution. the contemporary arts, which it had previ- will. The Cultural Revolution did not merely set ously viewed with suspicion, could actually We need to bear this in mind in order out to destroy traditional culture: it also in- be fitted quite neatly into its designs, that to understand a phenomenon that, for all tervened profoundly to change the basis of the power of traditional iconography is not the cross-pollination with identically named China’s communist ideology. The excess of uncontrollable, but can be harnessed in phenomena in western countries, is some- ideological arbitrariness brought forth a the name of business and the international thing distinctly different: China’s “culture nominalism that had little time for old con- culture market. In other words: even if – and industry”. The Chinese communist party cepts. Yet once pure ideology had been lib- indeed precisely because – art was treated as has, in recent years, adopted this term with erated from its framework, it could replace critical in the west, it need not inevitably be increasing frequency and enthusiasm de- its signifiers at will. A vacuum had been a threat to stability, provided its sting had spite its unmistakable connotation of west- created, which the restored party elite could been successfully blunted by the primacy of ern cultural criticism, and now apparently fill with new content. market categories. The real breakthrough has no compunction about delegating cul- Under the newly privileged precept of did not come, however, until the commercial ture at least partially to the market. This modernization, it seemed to require only a success of this art proved incontrovertible. fact cannot simply be explained by the cel- modest gesture on the part of this elite, a ebrated pragmatism with which China has, mere sleight of hand, to resolve the result- The Chinese state as cultural since the end of the 1970s, accepted the in- ing contradictions: the party need merely industrialist creasing divergence between theory and interpret the will of the people as the will The Chinese state manifests itself within practice in the interest of economic suc- of the consumer, of the market, and all the its culture industry in a variety of ways. First, cess. Culture touches the core of the party’s frictions are miraculously eliminated. What it operates in its own right as the principal 28 cultural industrialist, being active in the pears to be one dictated not by content, but ket criteria. Legally constituted as culture market via the medium of the cultural en- rather by the orientation toward the crite- agencies, they are still obliged to purchase tities – from newspapers to ballet compa- ria that western prize juries are assumed their licence numbers from the publishing nies – that it has transformed into compa- to apply. Zhang Yimou’s staging of the houses, all of which still belong to the state. nies. Further, like other states, it creates opening ceremony at the Olympic Games, Publishers submit the titles and a sum- the conditions under which money can be and Chen Kaige’s latest film, dealing with mary of the contents of their proposed pub- earned from culture. It offers incentives in Mei Lanfeng, master of the Beijing Opera, lications to the local books authority for the form of tax breaks, and organizes and approval; where sensitive topics such as po- finances platforms such as art fairs. More In a sense, the litical leaders, the military, religion and re- specifically Chinese is the overall supervi- market thus extends its cent history are concerned, they are re- sion that it exercises via a range of public quired to hand over the entire manuscript, authorities and institutions. Good old cen- invisible hand to the which is then considered by a critical reader sorship is a part of this, but there are also invisible hand of the state. group made up of reliable, retired party new tools, described in terms customarily cadres. Publishers that attract attention by associated with business. Above all, suggest that the emphasis has now shifted publishing books on awkward topics receive though, the party maintains its desire to to the dissemination of traditional Chinese fewer licences the next year, thus limiting dictate the cultural issues with which soci- high culture. their ability to do business. Control, there- ety is to engage, albeit now by means of the Responsibility for publishing houses fore, is also exercised by economic means. culture industry. lies with the propaganda ministry and the Yet one should not make the mistake press and publications authority, and the Cultural criticism as an artistic label of assuming that the categories of culture main instrument used to manage the book Generally speaking, the market and recognized by the state are uniform, ho- market is the licences issued by the latter state surveillance are viewed not as divergent mogenous and immutable. In the area of to state publishing houses. Every book re- systems, but rather as realities that imbue film policy, for example, official support is quires a licence number before it can le- and condition each other. Indeed, the means offered sometimes to major historical pro- gally be published. Nowadays, many books of censorship and control can themselves ductions and sometimes to neo-realist are published by private business people be transformed into money, giving rise to chamber pieces, and the guiding thread ap- operating strictly in accordance with mar- something that could be described as the

Visitors at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing’s 798 art district. Photo: Lionel Derimais

29 china's Cultural Scene first post-Adorno culture industry. But Naturally, the western cultural indus- does it also create that “all-encompassing tries are willing participants and support- system” of which Horkheimer and Adorno ers, and 798 is now home not only to the wrote in a celebrated chapter of their Dia- first foreign outpost of New York’s celeb- lectic of Enlightenment? The answer is of rated Pace gallery, but also to the Ullens course no. Even the fact that in China the Center for Contemporary Art. When the planning, controlling and sanctioning power building was inaugurated in 2007 by the of a state that views itself as a cultural force Belgian art patron Guy Ullens, its pur- is added to the market forces that neutralize culture is far from sufficient to make the Generally speaking, the whole into an ineluctable system. Part of the reason for this is that the party and market and state surveillance state are by no means as central, consistent are viewed not as divergent and organized as many in the West believe, systems, but rather as and as party and state themselves no doubt realities that imbue and would wish to be. Moreover the two phenomena that, in Adorno’s concept of the cul- condition each other. ture industry, were to be experienced in the West are equally valid here: the revelation ported aim was to enhance participation by that criticism – and even cultural criticism Chinese artists in international critical de- – could be implicated in the culture indus- bates. One year later, this ambition was try as a label in its own right; and that, as manifesting itself in exhibitions such as so-called “pop intellectuals” have been Christian Dior & Chinese Artists, in which observing since the 1970s, one can make the most celebrated of Beijing’s artists – distinctions even within the culture indus- whose works already commanded top try, and is therefore not abandoned to the prices – were integrated into the Western fashion business. Even if – and indeed pre- Nevertheless, 798 still contains locales and exhibitions that simply cannot be slot- cisely because – art was ted into any government or social strategy. treated as critical in the Indeed, here and elsewhere in China this west, it need not inevitably potential is often actually increased once the official government taboo has been lifted. be a threat to stability. As sometimes in the West, perhaps the chief determinant is the willingness of individual whims of an omnipotent demiurge. The artists to perceive themselves primarily market’s performance and its niches quite via the categories of the market – if at all. predictably offer opportunities for those Nevertheless, even here in 798 the author- prepared to use them, opportunities that ities occasionally ordain the removal of are not subsumed in the strategies of the pictures on the basis of more or less un- culture industry. fathomable criteria – though their objec- The best example of this ambivalence is tions are now couched in a more genteel the art district in Beijing known as 798. This discourse. As a result, for some outside factory complex, originally built by architects China, the district still retains a whiff of from the GDR in the 1950s with an una- subversion. bashed nod to the Bauhaus movement, was rediscovered by artists at the dawn of the new Mark Siemons writes on culture in China for century. Over the years, it became an offi- the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. cially acknowledged nexus for the creative This article is a shortened and updated version culture industry, and was increasingly taken of an essay in Lettre International 79. over by bars and ceramics studios, fashion Translated from the German by Geoffrey boutiques, advertising agencies and art book- Spearing shops. The only development that might halt its progress is the international financial crisis, which has already prompted the closure of some of the galleries in 798.

30 On completion of my music by the xu principle find expression. studies in Munich in 1983, having “All people knew The creativity of both artist and lis- graduated in conducting and com- tener is lent wings, and a spiritual in- position, I decided not to return to dependence is fostered, to the enrich- China directly. After all, classical about Chinese ment of classical music. music is rooted in Europe, and if you I am more than satisfied with my are a Chinese musician seeking to music was that it current job and my life in Switzerland, assimilate that tradition, then you because Switzerland seems to me to must let yourself be impregnated by be a God-given Paradise. I am im- it, as the Chinese saying has it, in or- was difficult mensely impressed by the Swiss cul- der to internalize it, as it were. Of the tural and linguistic diversity. My many Chinese musicians who have to understand” four-year-old daughter has the good been through this process, some fortune to grow up speaking four have gone on to national and inter- languages: in addition to her Korean national fame, in a proper fusion of Muhai Tang is the Principal mother tongue and the Chinese she the Western and Chinese cultures. Conductor and Artistic Director of the has from her father, she speaks Eng- The deliberate blending of cultures lish and is learning German at kind- has proved to be a recipe for success, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and an ergarten. in so far as Chinese influences have internationally acclaimed musician. My everyday dealings with Swiss lent new qualities to European clas- Originally from Shanghai, for the past people give me the impression that sical music. four years he has been living in they are very conscientious and reli- I owe my early acquaintance able in their work, if on occasion al- with Western music and art to my Switzerland – a place he describes as a most overly circumspect and re- privileged family background. I was God-given Paradise with overly served. They are also hesitant and born into a family of artists in Shang- circumspect inhabitants. sceptical at first when confronted hai, which allowed me to cultivate a with another culture, and yet they close relationship to Western art even are perfectly willing to engage with during the radically anti-Western Muhai Tang, as told to Wei Zhang it provided the encounter is con- Cultural Revolution. In 1979, when I ducted in a seemly and elegant fash- was already working as Professor of ion. In comparison, the great Chinese Conducting and Composition at the Shang- when I brought The Peach Blossom Fan, a civilization with its centuries of tradition is hai Conservatory of Music, I received a Kunqu opera, to Zurich two years ago. But less shy about embracing other cultures. grant to study at the Conservatory of Music that is beside the point. You simply have to China is self-confident enough not to be de- in Munich. This meant that my music stud- be prepared to listen to music in an open- fensive. ies started again from scratch when I was minded manner and let it transport you to thirty years old. At that time a Chinese per- another world. In the meantime, I have Wei Zhang is the author of Zwischen den son in Bavaria was regarded as something come to appreciate traditional Chinese Stühlen. Geschichten von Chinesinnen und Chinesen in der Schweiz (Neither here nor almost exotic. All people knew about Chin- music, to which I barely paid any attention there: accounts of Chinese in Switzerland), ese music was that it was very difficult to earlier, as one of the most highly developed published by NZZ Libro in 2006, and writes for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, among other understand, which is what I heard again artistic forms of expression. After decades publications. of the Chinese learning from Eu- rope, Europeans would be well ad- Translated from the German by Bill Gilonis vised to make a closer study of certain aspects of Chinese culture. In Chinese philosophy there is a dialectic of complementary princi- ples: xu (emptiness, implication, sug- gestion) and shi (reality, representation, expression). In the West, people are mainly aware of the shi principle, whereas it is the xu principle that is central to the Chinese aesthetic, and that reveals the essence of the Chin- ese conception of art. When a horse “Let yourself be impregnated by classical music.” gallops across the sky, as a celebrated Principal Conductor Muhai Tang. Chinese verse has it, the limitless Photo: Alberto Venzago bounds of the imagination released 31 Li Yu and Liu Bo

The photographs printed here are from the series “13 Months in the Year of the Dog” (2006) and “Victims” (2007). The artist duo, intrigued by the way the media construct reality, use their pictures to restage items from the Chinese daily news.

CHUTIAN METROPOLIS DAILY, 5 June 2006 Moonlight Cactus in Full Bloom Last night, 14 fragrant moonlight cacti bloomed in Ms Zeng's apartment at the Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision. Ms Zeng said the flowers opened at 7 pm and did not close again until 11 pm.

32 33 34 CHUTIAN METROPOLIS DAILY, 28 August 2007 Long-Distance Runner from Sichuan Nearly Starves to Death

A Sichuan man on a self-financed marathon in honour of the Olympics appealed to the police yesterday when he ran out of money on National Highway 107 in the Dongxihu district of Etouwan. Police officers treated him to noodles, bread and water, and the man was able to continue his run in the direction of Wuchang.

35 CHUTIAN GOLDEN PAPER, 4 April 2006 Blitzkrieg at the Beauty Parlour – Business as Usual despite Vandals

A sizable mob yesterday stormed a beauty parlour at 87 Renhe Jie in Hanzheng Lu. The vandals laid waste to the premises at 2 pm in an attempt to force the owner to close up shop. Oblivious to the awkward situation, two customers tranquilly completed their treatment.

36 37 38 CHUTIAN GOLDEN PAPER, 5 April 2006 Thirteen-Year-Old Sets Fire to Classmate’s Home With the help of a forged key, 13-year-old Xiao Qian frequently stole from the home of her classmate Lin Yu (names have been changed). On 1 April, during one such incursion, Xiao Qian was unable to find any money and set fire to the Lins’ master bedroom in anger. Yesterday the two families reached an agreement: Xiao Qian’s parents are to pay Lin Yu's family RMB 30,000 in compensation.

39 local time

Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts new york Council, maintains offices paris rome around the world in order to warsaw promote cultural exchange cairo with Switzerland and to expand cape town cultural networks. new delhi

A Beehive of Culture

Fragments on the horizon: “Le phare” (1999). Sculptor Silvie Defraoui shows her work this fall at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris.

ley and Kaeser play the game completely differently, that is to say: equally. When they talk about their programmes and visions, they deliver a monologue in duet. They literally finish each other’s sentences.

A well-balanced programme Where did they learn this highly ef- ficient rhetorical technique, which always manages to anticipate and dispel any possible doubts raised by visitors? For the last fourteen years Jean-Paul Felley (42) und Olivier Kaeser (45) have been running the arts space Attitudes in The new directors of Pro Helvetia’s the correct head movements: from left Geneva. The two French-speaking Swiss Cultural Centre in Paris want nothing less to right and back again, like following a first met as students in the University of than to transmit their love of art to the tennis match. The directors serve each Geneva’s art history department, and public. Co-directors Olivier Kaeser and other lines with the elegance of sports- soon realized that they wanted to be- Jean-Paul Fellay met the press in March. men, ping-ponging arguments back and come curators. Together. Jointly. forth. The influence exerted by Attitudes, By Joachim Johannsen, Paris – Ol- In both theatre and politics, ruling the arts space they created, reaches far ivier Kaeser and Jean-Paul Felley, the pairs often function according to the beyond Switzerland’s borders. Felley two new co-directors of the Centre Cul- principle of the power behind the and Kaeser have organized around 100 turel Suisse in Paris, sit at facing desks, throne: Louis XIII had Cardinal Richel- exhibitions in 18 cities between Geneva a novel scenario for an interview. The ieu, Richard Nixon had Henry Kissinger, and Buenos Aires. This enormous work- visiting journalist familiar with previ- and Peter Stein had Dieter Sturm. Fel- load has involved collaboration with ous directors Werner Düggelin, Daniel over 300 artists. Jeannet and Michel Ritter quickly learns

40 Photos: Georg Rehsteiner (left), Steeve Junker (right) a similar search in the and artists, driven by a passion most 1990s, there was an people associate with the pursuit of a uproar. Back then he hobby, and an expensive one at that? was considered to have Their method for bringing art and betrayed the cause of public together is that of the passeur, pure art; today he is the ferryman, or the transmetteur, who regarded as a pioneer. conveys today’s contemporary art across In addition, there the boundaries that still tend to separ- is a plan to establish ate it from the general public. They have an Association des been influenced in their passion by amis du Centre Cul- Jean-Christophe Ammann, the great turel Suisse (Associa- museum director and curator who, de- tion of Friends of the spite his own accomplishments, always Centre Culturel Su- sees his role as standing behind the art- isse), an idea that in- ist (“derrière l’artiste”) – unlike Harald stitutions like the Szeeman, who regarded exhibition- Schauspielhaus Zu- making itself as an artistic act. “Monologue à deux”: Olivier Kaeser rich introduced a long time ago. Also in One thing is certain: contrary to (left) and Jean-Paul Felley, the new the pipeline is a culture magazine to be the sensationalist reports in the French- co-directors of the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris. published three times a season, which Swiss weekly L’Hebdo that greeted their will comment on scheduled events and appointment, Olivier Kaeser and Jean- place them in a broader context. Paul Felley are not about to launch a The programming in the Paris Centre new revolution. Nor does the traditional extends as far as the building’s infra- Une belle folie roster of national stereotypes lead any- structure and the institution’s mandate Not only has the post of director one to expect the Swiss to import this allow. The plan is equal representation been split in two (with salary shared two particular product to France. Kaeser for music, theatre and film, with per- ways, so that finances remain in order), and Felley are positively bursting with haps a slight preponderance for the vis- there are also to be two directorial of- enthusiasm, that is undeniable. But it is ual arts – which is unsurprising, given fices. Olivier Kaeser and Jean-Paul Fel- part of the job, and a professional rather the directors’ backgrounds. The facili- ley plan to divide their time between than an ethnic quality. Their task is to ties will be renovated, the rooms Paris and Geneva. They have retained scour the Swiss microcosm for works touched up. The library, with its view of the Attitudes office and will certainly they can show the great world in Paris. the Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, will be continue activities under their old Ge- Could this be the beginning of a converted into a bookstore-cafe. A wel- neva-based label. It seems they have far beautiful madness? come improvement to the foyer, which more ideas than a half-time job can ac- was always rather bleak in spite of the commodate. They want the Centre to Joachim Johannsen is a culture journalist based good selection of reading material. become a “beehive” (“une ruche”) bust- in Paris. The new programme already boasts ling with creativity. Translated from the German by Bill Gilonis one highlight: in 2010 Jean-Christophe At the interview’s conclusion, Jean- Ammann, the curator’s curator, will be Paul Felley sums up their approach with given free rein. The 2009 season kicked a catchphrase. He even stands up to off in March with Lutz & Guggisberg, a make his declaration – but that might Zurich-based duo, to be followed in May just be a coincidence. In any case, he by a film programme in collaboration says that what he and Olivier Kaeser ex- with the Visions du Réel film festival in perience and what they wish to convey Nyon. Autumn will feature works by to others is “a beautiful madness” (“une sculptor Silvie Defraoui. belle folie”). How else, after all, is one to Worth mentioning is also an innovat- describe the salaried management of art ive new approach to funding: Jean-Paul Felley and Olivier Kaeser have proposed approaching sponsors. Pro Helvetia has What they experience not only granted them permission to seek additional third-party funding to supple- and wish to convey ment their annual budget of two million, to others is “ a beau- it has urged them to do so. Times have clearly changed: when Zurich Opera tiful madness ”. House director Alexander Pereira launched

41 local time

some police officers wanted to know what “ In New York, if you’re was going on up there. “Such shows are an attempt to restore some of its mystery to art. If we can work not open-minded, you don’t with other original organizations, we can make a lot of things happen,” says Jetzer. last long ” “Everyone who was at the Dark Fair talked about it with other people, and word of mouth is still the best form of advertising!” The SI follows the times, even when they are bad: during the financial crisis, it has been offering a monthly “Lunch Date” – Lively, bold, trendy – the Swiss Insti- state of New York. SI President Fabienne five dollars will buy you soup and a tour of tute, in the heart of New York, is the Abrecht’s medium-term goal is to reach a the exhibition. After Christmas, as a supple- standard bearer of a Switzerland that is yearly budget of one million dollars with the ment to John Miller’s exhibition Regift, innovative and open to the world. help of grants from other foundations and Jetzer and his colleagues organized a gift ex- additional, private contributions. After all, change. “New York has a surplus of every- By Roman Elsener, New York – There's for this non-profit organization to continue thing,” says Jetzer. It is imperative to find nothing wrong with chocolate, cheese and as a prized artistic jewel in the city life of and occupy niches; for his part, Jetzer enjoys Heidi, but Switzerland has other things to downtown Manhattan does have its price. discovering and supporting artists who have offer as well. “An amazing number of Swiss So the grant from Switzerland is vital to the not yet received the attention they deserve. artists have something to say,” says Gianni institute, but cultural sponsorship pays off As a contrast to the contemporary cult Jetzer, Director of the Swiss Institute (SI) in for the country, too, as is proven by the long of youth, Jetzer tries to bring different gen- New York. He attributes this to a kind of list of famous contemporary Swiss artists erations together, and his exhibition of Swiss sophistication: “We didn’t invent ei- who have managed to make names for photographs by Zurich photographer Wal- ther chocolate or watches, but we make the themselves in the highly competitive New ter Pfeiffer was enthusiastically received by best clockworks, and we turned cacao into York art world, such as Gianni Motti, Ugo young New Yorkers. For the coming spring, chocolate bars. Art builds on this kind of vis- Rondinone and Olaf Breuning. he has now even managed to convince the ual, articulate sophistication,” explains Jetzer Swiss artist Manon, who has shown work with a smile that, in the past two years, has Dark Fair – making art mysterious since the sixties but avoids airplanes, to graced a wide range of media – he has been again come to the United States for her first exhib- central to making the SI’s openings into As a national institute, Jetzer said, the ition here. “She took an extremely daring musts for everyone who’s anyone in the con- Swiss Institute is far ahead of others. For one step by presenting herself quite serenely temporary art world. thing, it shows its colours very clearly: not both as a muse and as an art object,” says Time Out, a popular guide to the city, only with the flag that flies over Broadway Jetzer. He has not the slightest doubt that included SI in its list of the city’s 40 most im- in a new design by a different Swiss artist the intriguing artist will be a hit with Amer- portant art institutions, and star curator every year, but also because a large majority ican viewers. “In New York,” he says, his eyes Matthew Higgs has made the space one of of the exhibited works have Swiss origins. flashing roguishly with the desire to con- his ten hot tips for anyone on the lookout for Still, the SI’s importance for contemporary tinue reinventing the Swiss Institute, “if art in New York City. The authorities have art in New York goes beyond national bound- you’re not open-minded, you don’t last taken notice, too: while the SI receives up to aries – and once, the police even came to long!” 45 percent of its funding from Pro Helvetia, Jetzer’s building. It was not that he had done it also gets financial support from the cul- anything wrong; on the contrary, the Dark www.swissinstitute.net tural authorities of both the city and the Fair, which he put on as a contrast to the Ar- Roman Elsener is a journalist in New York for mory Show (the largest New York the SDA news agency and the Neue Zürcher art fair), was so popular, with the ex- Zeitung. hibition space lit only by the light of Translated from the German by Andrew Shields candles, projectors and flashlights, that a long line formed downstairs on Broadway – so long that even

“Science Classicism Lycanthropy” (2007), oil on canvas by Greg Parma Smith from the REGIFT exhibition.

42 PARTNER profile: Swissnex

Art and science are increasingly involved such project, was initiated by the Zurich work has also been going on with Pro Hel- in a serious, productive dialogue. The University of the Arts: it provides fine art- vetia: since 2008, an agreement has guar- science network swissnex sponsors ists with access to laboratories in the natu- anteed a regular series of projects with projects with Swiss artists. ral sciences, thus encouraging dialogue. In Swiss artists. this exchange of know-how, research and As a centre for new technology that By Felizitas Ammann – “Beautiful, its implications are reflected in art, while serves as a gateway to Silicon Valley, San politically stable, clean – Switzerland en- artists are given insight into new technolo- Francisco is a good base for swissnex. Peo- joys an excellent reputation in China,” says gies. For Schlegel, such cultural projects ple here are very willing to experiment, Flavia Schlegel. “When it comes to research are a means to an end: “The goal is never says Simm. Beyond that, the West Coast is and innovation, however, hardly anybody just cultural sponsorship. We want to in- the capital of American product design. So thinks of Switzerland.” To change this, she crease our visibility, generate interest in re- it’s no surprise that the San Francisco ex- moved to China in October 2008 to become search, and most of all encourage mutual hibition on the Swiss Design Prize at- the head of swissnex Shanghai. Switzer- understanding.” tracted a great deal of attention: Swiss de- land’s State Secretariat for Education and Visibility is of the utmost importance, sign is well known here, after all. Research (SER) has swissnex offices in as Christian Simm knows from many years Such a situation also makes more un- Boston, San Francisco and Singapore as of experience. So he is glad swissnex San usual events possible. Simm, who was ed- well, with one in Bangalore due to be estab- ucated as a physicist, thinks it is important lished this year. for the natural sciences to be exposed to As different as the locations of the outside comment on a regular basis, and “Swiss Science Network” are, what they “ We want to in- thus five to ten of the eighty or so public have in common is their self-appointed events his office stages every year have an function as mediators: between Switzer- crease our visibility, artistic component. For example, with Bio- land and other countries, between research Tech vs. Bio Art in 2004, swissnex took ad- and business, among the various disci- generate interest vantage of the world's largest congress on plines. In practical terms this entails such biotechnology to give local art students activities as providing Chinese doctoral in research... ” carte blanche for an exhibition on the sub- students with information about research ject – including a tour with two guides, a opportunities in Switzerland, finding Chi- professor of art and a Swiss biotech entre- nese investors for Swiss researchers, and preneur. helping universities in both countries establish joint projects. In each case, the www.swissnex.org point is to draw attention to Switzerland’s Felizitas Ammann is a communications excellence in science, education, and inno- specialist at Reso – Dance Network Switzerland vation. and works as a freelance cultural journalist (for the Tages-Anzeiger, DRS2 and nachtkritik, Swissnex’s efforts are focused on sci- among others). ence and technology, but culture also plays a role in its projects. In Shanghai, science Francisco is housed in a historic building Translated from the German by Andrew Shields and culture are right next door to each right in the city centre. Many hands make other, as it were: swissnex and Pro Helve- light work: eight of the eighteen work tia, which currently has an office there be- spaces in the open-plan office have been cause of its programme in China, are both sublet to start-ups from Switzerland, to housed in the Swiss consulate. But rather Swiss universities, or to the investment- than competing, they complement each promotion agency Greater Zurich Area AG, other: “For example, we use the presence which not only cuts down on expenses but of Swiss artists to encourage student ex- also reflects the spirit of the institute. changes and other types of exchange be- “Connecting people,” says Simm, is the es- tween art schools in both countries,” says sence of his work, and in the last five years Schlegel. swissnex San Francisco has established a Swissnex Shanghai's own cultural far-reaching network. Like all such offices projects always have a specific starting abroad, it is financed by the Swiss govern- point, be it Expo Shanghai in 2010 or such ment, from which it receives a third of its topics as air quality and energy, which at- budget. The rest comes from cooperative tract interest in China. Artists in Labs, one projects, sponsoring and mandates. Joint

Illustration: Raffinerie AG 43 impressum Passages online next issue

Publisher: Passages Culture and Politics in Conversation Pro Helvetia The Cultural Magazine of Pro Helvetia online: Switzerland’s official cultural policy Swiss Arts Council www.prohelvetia.ch/passages/en www.prohelvetia.ch is at a crossroads. Which direction Pro Helvetia News should it take? What is the best way to Editorial Staff: Current projects, programmes and competitions: promote Swiss culture – and is there Managing Editor and www.prohelvetia.ch Editor, German edition: even such a thing? Janine Messerli Pro Helvetia International The next issue of Passages takes on Editorial assistant: Offices around the world: Nina Dreier the nexus of culture and politics. We report Paris/France on Pro Helvetia’s new programme, Editor, French edition: www.ccsparis.com Marielle Larré Strange Bedfellows: Culture and Politics Rome, Milan, Venice/Italy in Conversation, reflect on past crises Editor, English edition: www.istitutosvizzero.it and conflicts on the Swiss cultural scene, Rafaël Newman Warsaw/Poland visit some of Switzerland’s starving artists Editorial Address: www.prohelvetia.pl and successful artistic entrepreneurs, Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council Cairo/Egypt and ask young politicians and artists for Passages www.prohelvetia.org.eg their visions of a national cultural policy. Hirschengraben 22 Cape Town/South Africa The next issue of Passages will CH-8024 Zurich www.prohelvetia.org.za Tel. +41 44 267 71 71 appear in late August 2009. Fax +41 44 267 71 06 New Delhi/India E-mail [email protected] www.prohelvetia.in

Graphic Design: New York/USA Passages Raffinerie, AG für Gestaltung, Zurich www.swissinstitute.net Recent Issues:

Printing: Newsletter Druckerei Odermatt AG, Dallenwil Would you like to stay informed about Swiss Misunderstandings arts and culture, and keep up to date on Print Run: Pro Helvetia’s activities? 02/08 18‚000 Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter: www.prohelvetia.ch © Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council. All rights reserved. Reproduction only by permission of the editors.

Bylined articles do not necessarily reflect the New Accents in Swiss opinions of the publisher. Photographs © the Music Promotion photographers; reproduction by permission only. 1/08

Pro Helvetia supports and promotes Swiss culture in Switzerland and throughout the world, and encourages cultural exchange at home and abroad. Pro Helvetia supports diversity in creative culture, stimulates Balkan Encounters reflection on cultural needs, and contributes 3/07 to an open and culturally plural Switzerland.

These issues may be downloaded free of charge or ordered in print form (for CHF 15 per copy): www.prohelvetia.ch/passagen

Passagen/Passages is published in three editions: German, French and English.

For a free subscription contact: www.prohelvetia.ch or [email protected]

44 viewpoint The Lead-Free Computer

By Pierre Keller – “It is far better to know something about everything than all about one thing,” wrote Blaise Pascal in his Pensées (“Thoughts”). As the director of a school of art and design for the last thirteen years, I am delighted that the days when students confined themselves to a single field are long gone. Back when I was a student at the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL), the painters painted, the sculptors sculpted, and the compositors arranged characters. Today’s young people happily embrace every area of visual creation, with a thirst for knowledge and practical experience that ranges across photography, the visual and graphic arts, and industrial design. Nowadays, their appetites already whetted, students are clued up about more or less everything that is going on, both they and their charges can freely ex- phone software, web applications and in- and no longer stick rigidly to their pre- press themselves in a language peppered terfaces, as well as interactive installations ferred subject. For teachers this is a very with expressions such as Flash Player, and projections), drawing on the know- good thing. I often like to say that admis- command+c, vectorization, WiFi and how, techniques and strategies of digital sion to ECAL is a function of three factors: JPEG. Of course, I still miss the days when publishing. The future (and especially that “Curiosity, curiosity and curiosity; we’ll typesetting characters were made of lead of certain artists and designers) perhaps take care of everything else.” This funda- and kept in type drawers. Today, the talk lies in the new epoch rushing towards us mental difference from my student days is is all of computer fonts. Each to his own at the speed of light (or rather, of the kilo- no doubt due to the emergence of new era, as one might say! Nevertheless, while bit)… technologies, chief among them comput- I insist that my students keep abreast of ers. Even before they enter a school of art the latest technology, I believe it is vital Pierre Keller is director of the University of Art and design, students have written blogs, for them to maintain a link to more tradi- and Design Lausanne (ECAL) and a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne produced flyers for birthdays or parties tional materials and use the “old-fash- (EPFL). with hacked copies of Photoshop and Il- ioned” techniques as well. With that in lustrator, created photographs thanks to mind, I’m in the process of establishing Translated from the French by Geoffrey Spearing the wonders of digital imaging, and sought (or rather, re-establishing), a lithographic out the biographies of their favourite art- studio within the walls of ECAL. Shades of ists by typing them into Google or con- Back to the Future! sulting Wikipedia – all with a few clicks of Now before you get the wrong im- a mouse. pression, I’m not suggesting we should re- Although the advent of such techno- turn to an age no one under twenty can logies has undoubtedly had an impact on remember. Indeed, I never cease to be teaching, for those like me who (despite amazed by disciplines such as interaction taking courses each summer) are still design, which combines the ideas I men- streets behind the budding Bill-Gates tioned above, namely computer techno- clones I see around the university, they re- logy and the interdisciplinary approach. main in some ways a closed book. But the This field is growing rapidly, and fits per- fact that the average age of the teaching fectly into our iPhone era as it involves staff at ECAL is thirty-three means that complex communication projects (tele-

Illustration: Lina Müller 45 Gallery

46 “você tinha tempo” (2006), India ink The illustration comes from a sketchbook kept by the and dispersion, by Jan Eichenberger artist during a visit to Brazil, where he travelled and worked. Jan Eichenberger is a freelance graphic artist, painter and graphic designer and a member of the Maphia artists’ collective, among other affilia- tions. Since 2007 he has shown his work in Baden, Basel and Zurich. He did preliminary studies in design at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) before training as a graphic artist. Eichenberger lives and works in Baden.

47 The great Chinese civilization with its centuries of tradition is less shy about “All people knew about Chinese music was that it was difficult to understand” embracing other cultures. Wei Zhang, p. 31 The documentaries touch on everything from the struggles of migrant workers in the city to China’s CCD Workstation: A New Environment for Independent Cultural Production and Dialogue the plight of the unemployed. Wu Wenguang, p. 16 Under the constant pressure of the state censors and their demand for political correctness, Chinese rock became a sounding board for existential and Pop Music: The Pulse of a Nation intellectual crises. Sun Mengjin, p. 26

Playtime Is Back There is no time to lose. It’s time to play. Carol Yinghua Lu, p. 20 www.prohelvetia.ch/passages/en

Pro Helvetia supports and promotes Swiss culture in Switzerland and throughout the world