Press Release 2009,12,03
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A Conversation with Hou Hanru
Michael Zheng Objectivity, Absurdity, and Social Critique: A Conversation with Hou Hanru January 12, 2009, on the occasion of the exhibition imPOSSIBLE! Eight Chinese Artists Engage Absurdity, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and MISSION 17 Left: Zhang Peili, WATER— I. Chinese Video Art in the 1980s Standard Version from the Dictionary Ci Hai, 1991, single- channel colour video, 9 mins. Michael Zheng: Shall we start with how video art began in China? There are 35 secs. Courtesy of the artist. quite a few video works in the exhibition imPOSSIBLE! In the West, video Middle: Zhang Peili, 30 x 30, 1988, single-channel was first used by artists to record performances and events. In that way, at colour video, 9 mins. 32 secs. Courtesy of the artist. least in the West, video art developed hand in hand with performance art. Is Right: Zhang Peili, Document the same true in China? on “Hygiene No. 3,” 1991, single-channel colour video, 24 mins. 45 secs. Courtesy of the artist. Hou Hanru: Yes, the case in China is really similar. In the 980s, when video was introduced to China as an artistic medium, it began to be used by lots of performance artists. They didn’t really have video—they had documentary, like photography, video documentaries, and very, very brief videotapes, because at that time such technology was not so popular. Only professionals had video cameras—mainly people working in television or with advertising companies. The equipment was very expensive, so few artists had access to it. One of the first artists to really use video both to document his performances and to make independent work was Zhang Peili. -
Limits of the Human
Limits of the human Machine s without limits? Phot. Geminoid F. Hiroshi Ishiguro ATR Laboratories © International Symposium Limits of the human, machines without limits? Contemporary stage and robotics: exchanges and collaborations October 6, 7, 8, 2021 University of Lausanne, Switzerland Organised by: Dr Izabella PLUTA, Colloquium Leader, University of Lausanne - Centre d'études théâtrales and Laboratoire de cultures et humanités digitales Dr Salvatore Maria ANZALONE, University Paris 8 - CHArt Laboratory Dr Gunter LÖSEL, Zurich University of the Arts - Institute for the Performing Arts and Film Dr Erica MAGRIS, University Paris 8 - Theatre Department Symposium office: Théo Arnulf (PhD Candidate, University Paris 8, Theatre Department), Stéphanie BARBETTA (Master’s Degree, University of Geneva, and independent artiste). To contact the office : [email protected] Supporting institution: Centre for Theatre Studies (Unil), Partners: College of Humanities Unil-EPFL, Zurich University of the Arts, Paris 8 University - Theatre and CHArt Laboratory Keywords: stage, robotics, prosthesis, robotic devices, creation, scientific research, uncanny valley, programming, creation process, neurosciences, transhumanism, digital humanities Scientific Committee: Prof. Marc Atallah (Univ. of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland), Prof. Matteo Casari (Univ. of Bologna, Bologna, Italy) Dr. Ester Fuoco (Univ. of Genoa, Genoa, Italy), Dr. Aurélie Gallois (Espace culturel Nymphéa, Amiens, France), Dr. Simon Hagemann (PRAG, Univ. of Lorraine, Nancy, France), Dr. Louise LePage (Univ. of York, UK) Dr. Piotr Mirowski (DeepMind, UK) Prof. Anna Maria Monteverdi (Univ. of Milan, Milan, Italy), Prof. Emanuele Quinz (Univ. Paris 8, Paris 8, France), Prof. Zaven Paré (Uni. of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Prof. Thomas Riccio (University of Texas at Dallas, USA) Argumentation Many artists today have introduced robots into their creations, questioning aesthetic visions and exploring trans- and posthumanism. -
Robot Theatre Marek Perkowski 1
Towards Robot Theatre Marek Perkowski 1. History of robot theatre 2. Modern robot theatre 3. Robot theatre at PSU 4. Models of robot theatre 5. Research topics on Robot Theatre 6. Future Robot Theatre History of Robot Theatre From antiquity until 1996 Heron’s Book Automata Robot Theatre of Hero • A collection of constructions called miracles of Alexandria (thaumata) for temples. • Heron describes automatic rotating objectives, noise such as thunder, automatic opening doors. • Philon from Byzanz describes the existence of automata in his book Mechaniki syntaxis, that includes pneumatic apparatus and automatic astronomical devices as early as 300 BC. Albertus Magnus and his robot head Albertus is recorded as having made a mechanical automaton in the form of a brass head that would answer questions put to it. Knight of Leonardo Da Vinci 1. Leonardo's robot refers to a humanoid automaton designed by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1495. 2. The design notes for the robot appear in sketchbooks that were rediscovered in the 1950s. 3. It is not known whether or not an attempt was made to build the device during da Vinci's lifetime. 4. Since the discovery of the sketchbook, the robot has been built faithfully based on Leonardo's design; this proved it was fully functional. Duck of Vaucanson • The Canard Digérateur, or Digesting Duck, was an automaton in the form of a duck, created by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1739. • The mechanical duck appeared to have the ability to eat kernels of grain, and to metabolize and defecate them Constructed and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Turk of Kempelen Kempelen (1734–1804) to impress the Empress Maria Theresa • The Turk was in fact a mechanical illusion that allowed a human chess master hiding inside to operate the machine. -
Hiroshi Ishiguro's Androids As Staged by Oriza Hirata Introduction
Theater and Robotics: Hiroshi Ishiguro’s Androids as Staged by Oriza Hirata Izabella Pluta Université de Lausanne (Suisse) Université Lyon 2 (France) Introduction: Theatre and technology1 The use of digital technology has become a frequent aesthetic choice in live perfor- mance and is particularly present in the scenic arts. The technology is integrated in different ways: almost all of light and sound tables today are digital; incorporated into the performance itself through objects and technological devices and even in the creation process, requiring IT research and specific collaborations. The “pro- duction with technological components” as Steve Dixon called it in Digital Perfor- mance (Dixon, 2007) or “intermedial performance” as defined in the field of inter- media (Cheng et al., 2010), is inscribed in the lineage of digital humanities where different areas are gathered together under the common denominator of advanced technologies. The production in question becomes, thus, at the same time creation and theatrical research, scientific and technological research. The idea of the robot is increasingly at the forefront.2 Today, one sees diversified productions interested in robots, made by artists long dedicated to this aesthetic, as well as by young proponents. For example, in 1991, Chico MacMurtrie created the Amorhic Robot Works (ARW), a collective of artists, engineers, and technicians who develop abstract and anthropomorphic robotic machines. This systematic work is seen in installations and environments, autonomous universes due to sce- nography, actors and the robotic plots. In 1996 Zaven Paré created an electronic puppet (initially with a video source, then digital and tele-remote), presented at 1 This article takes up some issues presented in the Communication “The Geminoid F or laboratory limits” in the session “Live Show and digital technology: the scientific laboratory to the theater sta- ge” held at the annual conference of the Digital Humanities in 2014, an event that had as its theme: Cultural Digital Empowerment. -
Huber, Jörg / Zhao Chuan (Eds.): The Body at Stake
DOI 10.1515/asia-2014-0011 ASIA 2014; 68(1): 407 – 412 Huber, Jörg / Zhao Chuan (eds.): The Body at Stake. Experiments in Chinese Contemporary Art and Theatre. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2013, 278 pp., ISBN 978-3-8376-2309-3. In the manifesto which was included in the opening issue of the short-lived un- official poetry journal, “The Lower Body”, poet and editor Shen Haobo made the following statement: [. .] the time of language has come to an end, and the time of the awakened body has begun.1 This declaration, combined with the controversial naming of Shen’s poetic enter- prise, offers but two glimpses into a broad variety of literary and artistic phenom- ena that have emerged on the horizon of Chinese culture in course of the political and economic transition that has taken place since the late 1970s. The second collection of essays by the editorial duo, Jörg Huber and Zhao Chuan2, aims at shedding light on the corporeal turn in the artistic production of contemporary China and Taiwan. Nineteen contemporary artists, theatre practi- tioners and theorists contributed to this volume. They delivered fresh and riveting insights into the vigorous art scene in the so-called region of “Greater China”. The two editors, besides the meticulous translation, the accuracy of which is highly praiseworthy, made an effort to offer a platform for the unmediated voices of protagonists whose artistic personalities were shaped mainly in Chinese educa- tional institutions and by their own regional life experience. This aspect, which has resulted in the introduction of broadly unknown names and discussions to a Western audience, may be regarded as the primary contribution of this publi- cation. -
2345 Oriza Hirata and the Emergence of A
Melcher 1 Sterling Melcher 7 March 2017 Pig Iron Seminar II Prof. Kuharski Word Count: 2,345 Oriza Hirata and the Emergence of Androids in Society The emergence of android1 technology and its consequences for human society is a long- running tradition of inquiry for science-fiction writers. Writers such as Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov have written many novels about what it means to be human in a technologically advanced age. If humans create something that mimics human nature, is it equal to humanity, is it under our control, or will it surpass us in intelligence and ability, ultimately changing the hierarchy of natural beings on Earth? These are at the forefront of many modern philosophers' minds. However, in the theatrical realm, Oriza Hirata and the Robot Theater Project are taking a different take on this modern philosophical inquiry. What is it for humans and androids to coexist and possibly evolve together, and subsequently, what does it mean to be human in a society that contains an equal or superior intellect? Oriza Hirata's career started as a prominent playwright in 1990s Japan with the emergence of Contemporary Colloquial Theater Theory. During his years at International Christian College in Tokyo, Japan, Hirata started the Seinendan Theater Company to investigate his own theories of theatrical writing. In response to the westernization of Japanese drama in the 80s, Hirata wanted to create a new form of playwriting that highlighted the unique grammatical structure and speech patterns of Japanese language. He believed that the plays being performed in Japan caused the performers to put emphasis on certain words and sentences that went against normal every-day speech. -
First Steps One-Way Ticket “Intrigue Theater” “Liberthéâtre” “Tokyo
VIEWPOINT First Steps France, in the late 1980s. A friend “Ame no Nioi” (The Scent of Rain) asks me: “Do you have any plans this weekend?” “No, none in particular.” “I “Liberthéâtre” signed up for a theater workshop, an initi- ation to the Comedia dell’arte. Would you Mozaffar having gone back to London, theater exits my life for a Author Jean-Gabriel Dupuy be interested?” “Well, not really. I’m while until I meet Philippe Mesmer, Tokyo correspondent for the more the music type…” “Come on, just give it a try!” French daily Le Monde. Together, we set up a company called Eventually, I just give in. So here I am, on a Saturday morning, “in “Liberthéâtre” that retains the spirit of Mozaffar’s idea: each actor, the limelight,” so to speak, struggling to improvise a scene imposed whether Japanese, British or Korean, will play in his own language. by the workshop director. She comes up to me and whispers: “Your We fine-tune the process with a supertitle system in Japanese to presence is fine, but you’re not going far enough. Be more daring, try reach a wider audience. This formula allows us to play at the Agora to surprise yourself!” theater, headed by the renowned Oriza Hirata and his company, To dare. To surprise oneself. This pair of keywords opened the “Seinendan” (Youth Troupe). At a pace of one play per year, we suc- gates to theater…and to myself. Because theater is, indeed, a stage cessively present “The Bald Soprano” (Eugène Ionesco), “Antigone” where the tension between dreams and reality becomes “playable.” (Jean Anouilh) and “The Collection” (Harold Pinter). -
Creation and Staging of Android Theatre ``Sayonara'' Towards Developing Highly Human-Like Robots
Article Creation and Staging of Android Theatre “Sayonara” towards Developing Highly Human-Like Robots Takenobu Chikaraishi 1,2,* ID , Yuichiro Yoshikawa 2, Kohei Ogawa 2, Oriza Hirata 1,2 and Hiroshi Ishiguro 2 1 COI Site, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo 110-8714, Japan; [email protected] 2 Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; [email protected] (Y.Y.); [email protected] (K.O.); [email protected] (H.I.) * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 4 September 2017; Accepted: 18 October 2017; Published: 2 November 2017 Abstract: Even after long-term exposures, androids with a strikingly human-like appearance evoke unnatural feelings. The behavior that would induce human-like feelings after long exposures is difficult to determine, and it often depends on the cultural background of the observers. Therefore, in this study, we generate an acting performance system for the android, in which an android and a human interact in a stage play in the real world. We adopt the theatrical theory called Contemporary Colloquial Theatre Theory to give the android natural behaviors so that audiences can comfortably observe it even after long-minute exposure. A stage play is created and shown in various locations, and the audiences are requested to report their impressions of the stage and their cultural and psychological backgrounds in a self-evaluating questionnaire. Overall analysis indicates that the audience had positive feelings, in terms of attractiveness, towards the android on the stage even after 20 min of exposure. -
Zhang Huan Spring Poppy Fields
PRESS RELEASE ZhangPRESS RELEASE Huan SpringRobert IrwinPoppy Fields 6 Burlington Gardens, London, W1S 3ET 256 Burlington April – 31 Gardens, May 2014 London, W1S 3ET 21 June - 24 August 2013 Opening: Thursday 24 April 2014, 6.30 – 8.30 p.m. Pace London is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by the American artist Robert Irwin at 6 Burlington Gardens from 21 June to 17 August 2013. This is the first exhibition by the artist at Pace London. In the early 1960s, while much of America and Eu- rope was fascinated with the new wave of Pop Art- ists, Southern California quietly gave rise to a very different aesthetic revolution known as the Light and Space movement. Spearheading this movement, Robert Irwin began to take ideas from philosoph- ical inquiries into the nature of human experience and radical advances in perceptual psychology and combine them with the immersive abstraction that had been pioneered by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman. The result was an original approach to art that replaced the object with a phenomenon. Finding traditional painting and sculpture too restrictive and self-con- tained, Irwin was the first to make objects and installations that were purely designed to manipulate the light in front of or around the viewer. The exhibition features two new site-specific installations displayed on the gallery’s ground and first floors. Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow & Blue³ III, occupies the entire space of the ground floor of the gal- lery and features three aluminium black and coloured panels suspended from the ceiling that mirror three identical panels hovering over the floor, suspending the viewer in a real time-space experience. -
Invisible Body and the Predicaments of Existence in an Urbanizing China, In: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 44, 1, 163–197
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs China aktuell Wang, Meiqin (2015) Invisible Body and the Predicaments of Existence in an Urbanizing China, in: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 44, 1, 163–197. URN: http://nbn-resolving.org/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-4-8198 ISSN: 1868-4874 (online), ISSN: 1868-1026 (print) The online version of this article and the other articles can be found at: <www.CurrentChineseAffairs.org> Published by GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Institute of Asian Studies and Hamburg University Press. The Journal of Current Chinese Affairs is an Open Access publication. It may be read, copied and distributed free of charge according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. To subscribe to the print edition: <[email protected]> For an e-mail alert please register at: <www.CurrentChineseAffairs.org> The Journal of Current Chinese Affairs is part of the GIGA Journal Family, which also includes Africa Spectrum, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs and Journal of Politics in Latin America: <www.giga-journal-family.org>. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 1/2015: 163–197 Invisible Body and the Predicaments of Existence in an Urbanizing China Meiqin WANG Abstract: This article contextualises the art practice of Beijing-based artist Liu Bolin and examines ways in which his artworks illuminate the sociopolitical conditions that regulate the everyday reality of under- privileged social groups amid China’s spectacular urban transfor- mation in the 2000s. The tension between individual existence and the force of urbanization underlays Liu’s most important work, entitl- ed Hiding in the City. -
ZHANG HUAN Present Lives and Works in Shanghai, China and New
ZHANG HUAN Present Lives and Works in Shanghai, China and New York, NY 1993 MA, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China 1988 BA, He Nan University, Kai Feng, China 1965 Born An Yang City, He Nan Province, China Solo Exhibitions 2014 – 2013 Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 2013 Looking East, Facing West: The World of Zhang Huan, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Michigan, USA Zhang Huan: Soul and Matter, Palazzo Vecchio and Forte di Belvedere, Florence, Italy 2012 Zhang Huan: Ash Paintings and Memory Doors, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada As Director and Set Designer, Semele, Opera, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada Zhang Huan: The Mountain is Still a Mountain, White Cube, London, UK Zhang Huan: Jin Hui Dui, Gallery 100, Taipei, Taiwan 2011 East Wind, West Wind. Louis Vuitton Space, Macao Zhang Huan: Q Confucius, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China Zhang Huan: 49 Days, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA Zhang Huan: East Wind, West Wind, Espace Louis Vuittion Macao, Macao Zhang Huan: Aura of Disappearance, Edouard Malinque Gallery, in Cooperation with The Pace Gallery, Hong Kong Zhang Huan: Ash Banquet, ProjectB Gallery, Milan, Italy 2010 Zhang Huan: Dawn of Time. Shanghai Art Museum, China Zhang Huan: Amituofo. Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan Zhang Huan: Ashman. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy Zhang Huan: Free Tiger Returns to Mountains. Pace Beijing, Beijing, China Zhang Huan: Hope Tunnel. Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China 2009 Semele. Opera director and set designer, Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, de Munt, Brussels, Belgium Zhang Huan, Zhu Gangqiang. -
Biographies of Artists
Biographies of Artists GOTANNDADAN Formed in 1997 by Shiro Maeda, GOTANNDADAN is the leading figure in the contemporary Japanese performing arts scene, especially amongst the younger generation. The company has produced about 40 productions mostly for small theatres in Tokyo. GOTANNDADAN's Going on the Way to Get Lost was staged at the Fringe in 2013 and received both popular and critical acclaim. The company aims to produce theatre with minimal staging requirements, paired with witty, funny and somewhat philosophical texts, and its work has been extremely well received in both Tokyo and internationally. Shiro Maeda Director / Actor Shiro Maeda is a leading figure in the Japanese contemporary performing art scene, and has also established himself through his work on novels, TV and movies. Born in the 1970s, he could be said to represent the voices of the ‘Lost Decade’ in Japan, which refers to those who have lived through times of social and economic uncertainty. He is most recognized – and indeed, highly praised – for the way he deals with heavy and universal issues through levity, subtle humour and even absurdism, rather pushing them explicitly. This creates a surreal and sometimes chilling world, where he crosses the lines of time and space freely. Being both a director and actor has allowed Shiro to develop a sense of respect for the intimate relationship he shares with the audience by offering them ‘something to share’. As a Playwright, Shiro’s piece Isn't Anyone Alive? won the 52nd Kishida Drama Award (2007). One of his highly accepted theatre works Suteru Tabi has been presented in Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels (2009), Festival d’Automne in Paris (2012), SÜDPOL MUSIK TANZ THEATER in Luzern (2012), National Theatre in Budapest (2012), Centre Pompidou Metz in France (2012), and now at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (2014).