The link to our first blog

Thanks for Raymond to let us using his link !

To do list:
1./ log in to the site www.goforithk.com/wp/wp-admin
2./Write a short note about yourself.
3./ Post a photo or portrait of yourself.
4./ Click the " + " next to "categories" on the right hand column then tick "Authors".
5./ Click the "Publish" Button.

Mow Mow ^_^

預0左你 等埋你 最新報名及提交作品截止日期：2006年6月15日

優異作品將獲邀參加 7至8月於藝術中心舉行之

「Cruel/Loving Bodies」國際藝術家聯展



期待你的作品！

新婦女協進會 女‧性‧網 主辦

http://www.nuxingwang.org.hk



2005年評審的說話：



梁寶山：「在大眾傳媒中女性作為被拍攝的對象，她們的形象是怎樣的呢？誰是客體？

這兩個作品(2005年女性萬像的冠軍及亞軍作品)給我強烈的感受，

是女性拿起錄像機拍自己。」



黎肖嫻：「情慾是怎樣的呢？... 單就生活中的一點多作思考和想像，

開放性是身體政治的一部份。」



敢於夢想、勇於開拓 -- 婦進20年

The Passion to Dream. The Courage to Act.

AAF’s 20th Anniversary

THE LAUNCHING OF A NEW HONG KONG ART SITE !

Dear Friends,

It's new!! Please visit the latest website on contemporary Hong Kong art:

http://www.hongkongartweb.com

You can contact the artists and access their exciting sites directly!

We are committed to keep it current and as comprehensive as possible. The site will be constantly updated!!

Have fun!!

sabrina fung
SFFA projects

From Crystal

As in 0/5.
The wiki concept is really an amazing idea in a global sense, I agree with the thought about collective writing and it is great to have a wikiblog that is Hong Kong based, even if we can only start it off as a small-scale one, ideally it can become an archive for storing Hong Kong art & culture related issues if we choose to open it to outside parties, it is valuable if different media can be grouped under one wikiblog.

Do we have any examples in Hong Kong that is functioning similarly, will it be in a format like the Inmedia plus the ‘editing’ function?

For response pls directly leave your msg in comment. Tx.

About our blog II

I realise that the examples in "About our blog" do not allow too much personal stories input. I simply wish everyone here is a critic more than a documentarian.

I am looking at the blogcritics.org that is using a clear subject classification to the postings and rotation of monthly highlight persons in the subject and their features.

Since we may be contributing different media, the clssification system cannot be only by subject, it has to be media classified too. So I am thinking of a collective writing - wiki so that under one topic such as Central Police Quater, we can have relevant contributions such as map, excerpts of the talk, personal thoughts, discussion, photo document, writing of issue concerns etc.

Last time in Alex Hui's talk, he said he believe that wiki will made true or approaching true knowledge and he is looking foreward to this. check out Bliki

Truth or Dare

Anyone think of Radio Documentary ? It may be easier and better than video(talking head) when we do portraits.

Further thoughts on documentary :
Mondo documentary
mock documentary
Docudrama

We can have more ground to discuss the HK boys' band film. Think about the changes in the first principles of documentary and the documentary value (as in Greyson style)

Much had been said that Tammy's "Secondary School" is quite different from Frederick Wiseman's High School. What is the difference?

How documentary becomes reality TV? We will have one talk focus on this.

We may have some of the DVD of the examples noted, do we want to continue the documentary appreciation / discussion?

Cinema Verite Vs Direct Cinema

Cinéma vérité is a style of filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques that originated in documentary filmmaking, with the storytelling elements typical of a scripted film. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics. The name is French and means, roughly, "cinema of truth".

Cinéma vérité aims for an extreme naturalism, using non-professional actors, nonintrusive filming techniques, hand-held camera, genuine locations rather than sound stages, and naturalistic sound without substantial post-production mixing or voiceovers.Cinema Verité uses the power of the camera to provoke and reveal. Direct Cinema, on the other hand, is more strictly observational. It relies on an agreement among the filmmaker, subjects, and audience to act as if the presence of the camera does not (substantially) alter the recorded event. In Direct Cinema, the filmmaker aims to be a fly-on-the-wall capturing life as it unfolds, although such claims of non-intervention have been severely criticized.

more reading - The story of cinema verite

Words from Cheung Hung

Today we have Cheung Hung, a renowned docu- maker
Here are the tips she gave us:

1. set up the camera before the people arrive, it will be easy for people to get use to the camera, treat the camera as a piece of furniture.
2. only use small camera, minimal disturbance, no intervention
3. compare to main stream TV, Tammy does not use voice over, no music, i.e.elements that lead to a certain emotion or conclusion. Try to stand back, it is funny that even no obvious emotion is embedded in the video, people from different backgrounds will be able to make their own intrepretations, and these can be quite contradictary and very different.
4. no need to steal any shot or take long distance voyeur shot, it is an ethical issue.
5. only film when people know what they need to do or will do. Don't tell them what to do when the camera rolls. Act natural.
6. It is ok to start from a personal motive. Write a half page letter to ask for permission. It is simple, you just need to write down the number of hours, the number of crews, facts etc
7. People can intrepreted the same film differently. Allow post film discussion. People's feeling towards "Secondary School" can be angry, funny to shock.
8. Ask yourself : How would you frame the reality consciously? How much intervention is done in editing table?
9. Art does not equal to art. When answer to May's question, "is documentary an art?", Cheung Hung said the most important aspect of art is to move people. Documentary may not look beautiful, one of the theories even want to anti beauty. Tammy further comment that"This is an extreme too, in my video I want it visually looks natural, sound should be as clear as possible but the most important is the content, whether it can move people.

About our blog

I am thinking that we should work on a common ground in our portal.
I am trying to elaborate what we have said at this stage, the abc options are what we should decide together:

1. The blog is a portal contributed by
a. solely people in the class;
b. by invitation;
c. by members
(you should see the difference now, since we have been logging onto different blogs, if you don't, try this
http://binarybonsai.com/
http://blog-you.com/
http://www.pingmag.jp
It affects the resources we need.)

2. The blog will run beyound the class peroid i.e. sept/2006

3. We accept contributors who come from different background / interest/ age group, but are representing art lovers in HK. Our definition of art is vast or we can change it to culture.

4. The media we all love
a. photo;
b. video;
c. sound;
d.web/mltimedia;
e. all of the above or more

This also affect the resources we need.

5. We share with the web community,
a. personal;
b. art news,
c. art critical writing
d. technical writing/news;
e. can we have all of the above to project a stong identity?

6. We want to develop the portal into
a. online forum/ discussion;
http://blogcritics.org/
b.online publishing mag
http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/03/31/processing-maths-to-art-in-one-simple-step/);
http://www.inmediahk.net/public/index
c. an alternative radio/TV station

You can help to rewrite/extend the list by responding in the comment.

Please think about the check list(mission, resources, target audience/ identity, style)and turn it to a wish list in the comment.

Mi III sucks, Lun Jun Q

Now, first things first, this follows the same formula as the previous Mission: Impossibles.

1. Ethan is sent on an easy mission
2. Easy mission is partially successful
3. Ethan uncovers the real bad guy
4. Bad guy uncovers Ethan
5. Bad guy kidnaps Ethans love interest
6. Ethan makes a trade with bad guy involving some disasterous secret weapon for his girl
7. Trade goes south, Ethan gets his ass kicked by bad guy and just when the situation is at it’s most grim, he triumphs, saves the girl, kills the bad guy and makes sure secret deadly weapon is still safe
8. America, Fuck Yeah!

I left before the end because all are too predictable. I have to say, it was strange seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman as the bad guy, cause the main thing running through my head was “holy shit! Truman Capote is kicking Tom Cruise’s ASS!!!”
Maggie Q is a shame, her cantonese is like shit, try this "ngo ho lun jun" which should means "I am so clumsy" but Maggie Q s "I am so funking cheap")Oh god lun jun lun jun!!

Technorati Blocked Again in China

WE may not aware of this in Hong Kong. But free information is really important issue cf to freedom of speech. We have the privillage to check out technoratic where a lot of artist links/ tags can be found. And are these sensitive to GFW ? Maybe, as we come across closing down exhibitions, censoring quite often in China.

"Several days after Technorati was back in China, we cannot access it again for about three days in China.

And someone found, I also tested it by myself, that we can not search “.technorati.com” in Google. By doing so in either Google.com or Google.cn, we will not be able to access Google for a while temporarily. But we are allowed to search “technorati” as keyword in Google. For other blocked sites, Wikipedia, for example, we can search “wikipedia”, “wikipedia.org”, “.wikipedia.org” in Google, it will not trigger the action of GFW.

If “.technorati.com” is a blacklisted keyword in Great Firewall, then it means, I think, Technorati is blocked by GFW intendedly.

PS. It seems Live.com is also been blocked by GFW."

From Ka Lun

I think it is a good idea. Below is the class schedule with lesson topics that you may find useful for the purpose.

單元一: 媒體生態

25.3
網上文化web1.0及2.0
嘉賓講者: 鍾偉民

8.4
傳統媒體與流動媒體mobile media的反思
嘉賓講者: 鍾偉民

22.4
私記實 (first person cinema)與公眾頻道
嘉賓講者: 蔡甘銓

6.5
記錄片的真真假假
嘉賓講者: 張虹、黎肖嫻

20.5
音樂電視的美學
嘉賓講者: 歐雪兒

3.6
從Reality TV看電視文化末來發展
嘉賓講者: 馮美華

17.6
社區電視及社會運動
嘉賓講者: 李維怡

1.7
寫作、採訪及訪問技巧
嘉賓講者: 劉天蘭

15.7
廣告時間軟硬兼思
嘉賓講者: 待定

29.8
Vlog 網上的時間格式
嘉賓講者: 鍾偉民


單元二: 實踐文化

1.4
藝術家如何在火炭工業創作
嘉賓講者: 梁志和 / 謝淑婷

15.4
建築師如何突破香港的空間局限
嘉賓講者: 鄭炳雄

29.4
中區警署如何可以變身文藝中心
嘉賓講者: 許日銓

13.5
設計師如何由2D走向3D再向品牌邁進
嘉賓講者: 吳秋全

27.5
香港的電影工業如何可以持續發展
嘉賓講者: 杜琪峰

10.6
博物館如何帶動藝術發展
嘉賓講者: 鄧海超

24.6
表演藝術如何拓闊觀眾群
嘉賓講者: 詹瑞文

8.7
多媒體網上資訊娛樂如何影嚮人們的生活
嘉賓講者: 鍾偉民

23.7 (星期日)
陶瓷創作如何能更具實驗性
嘉賓講者: 羅士廉

5.8
數碼攝影日漸流行，傳統攝影的價值如何
嘉賓講者: 朱德華



單元三: 實驗工作坊

25.3
影機運作 -手搖機內剪接

1.4
室內室外取景、人物側寫剪影

8.4
基本攝影概念-景深、燈光、色衡

15.4 & 22.4
編輯概念與文本剪接

29.4 & 6.5
建立靜態 blog 節目表及 CMS 定立特色

13.5 & 20.5
收音、配樂

27.5 & 3.6
剪接

10.6 & 17.6
製作 vblog 編輯概念與文本剪接

24.6 & 1.7
字幕及特技

8.7
內容管理系統化

15.7
檔案轉換與互容問題

22.7
內容管理系統化

29.7
檔案轉換與互容問題

5.8
製作vblog 編輯概念與文本剪接

12.8
製作vblog

19.8 & 26.8
podcast

2.9
網上宣傳、 連結及RSS 閱讀習慣

9.9
文化節目評論

CTheory Live- N. Katherine Hayles in Conversation with Arthur Kroker

Katherine Hayles is one of my favourite writers.

CTheory Live is a series of conversations with leading artists and theorists from around the world made by CTheory (http://www.ctheory.net/)
This interview features Professor N. Katherine Hayles, a noted postmodern literary critic and theorist as well as the author of, among others, _My Mother Was a Computer: Digital Subjects and Literary Texts_, _How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics_ (winner of the Rene Wellek Prize for the best book in literary theory for 1998-1999), and _Writing Machines_. She is
currently the Hills Professor of Literature in English and Media Arts at the University of California Los Angeles, where she has taught since 1992.

The conversation with Professor Hayles can be found at: http://www.pactac.net/pactacweb/web-content/video44.html

To view CTHEORY MULTIMEDIA online please visit:http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu/

Msg from Crystal

You are wlcome to leave your comment on the comment page.

2.May 2006
Dear classmates,

Hi, This is Crystal, if you don't remember who I am, please see if you can recall the long-haired girl who is working in the Government and studing a Master Degree, if it still cannot ring you a bell, I can introduce myself again next lesson. Anyway, let me be the first one to initate the discussion about our portal.

For the time being, lets think about what we want to include in our portal before we decide whether we want to register a domain name and webhosting service, as maybe the free blog service can also satisfy all our wants for cost-effective and easy maintenance purpose.

I have one suggestion on the content
We all have different backgrounds, but what draw us together is this Cultural Blog course, and due to this course, we have common experience towards some cultural/art related topics through visits, presentations and sharing. All of us think independently and equipped with different knowledge, so maybe each of us can contribute our responses with the medium that each of us is most familar with towards the topic on weekly/biweekly basis.

E.g., this could be done in the form of providing extended readings regarding the issues or making creative works such as poems, photographs, critiques, comics, etc in reflecting our thoughts/views. (In this case, e.g . the flickr (photo sharing) or Youtube (video) can help presenting our photos/videos on our portal?)

It helps us to extend our learning process after the 2-hour visit and induce further reflection on the related issues.

This is just my own thoughts. Please feel free to discuss, suggest and explore other possiblities.

Dear Cecilia, seems the email list does not include all the classmates, please help to check if I have missed anyone.Thanks a lot.

Regards,
Crystal

Built to Order: New Works by Feng Mengbo

Coming Exhibition

定制

Feng Mengbo(馮夢波)

　　冯梦波1966年出生于北京，毕业于中央美术学院版画系。曾连续两届受邀参展德国卡塞尔「文件大展」，是中国当代新媒体艺术的重要人物。冯自93年沉迷于计算机艺术，去年起重新以「绘画」为媒介创作，以毛泽东作为他的古典绘画的主角，开始创作《定制历史》系列。文革期间一个广为流行的传说是，绘制毛主席的画像需要某种特殊的许可证。这不仅是因为绘画者需要高超的技巧足以胜任这个工作，也是由于绘制领袖像是一个严肃的政治任务。

4th May- 27th May, 2006
Hanart T Z Gallery, Hong Kong
地址：汉雅轩(香港中环皇后大道中5号衡恰大厦2楼202室)

History Built to Order

Feng Mengbo

During the Cultural Revolution there was a saying that only artists who had obtained an official permit were allowed to paint the portrait of Chairman Mao. This was not only because any artist attempting this task had to be an extremely skilled technician, but also because painting the image of the Great Leader was a grave political mission. I don’t know whether there is any truth to this story, but from looking at existing works of Cultural Revolution art, whether the political passion was real or feigned, behind every portrait there is certainly the shadow of a frightened artist.

In 1997 I was in Berlin and went with an Austrian friend to attend the spectacular opening ceremony of the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum. Afterwards, Harald Szeemann, Holly Solomon and I spent an enjoyable time crowded around a small café table talking together. Since then both of these friends have passed away, and the memory of their voices and faces on that day has also faded: But one memory is still etched clearly in my mind: the sight of Andy Warhol’s portrait of Mao Zedong hanging high up in the museum’s main hall. Andy definitely didn’t have an official permit.

After my obsession with computer art began in 1993, I gradually came to neglect painting altogether; yet every time I visited an art museum, it was always the paintings and sculptures that most attracted me. Last summer, after completing my teaching appointment in Salzburg, I took my whole family to Italy for a three-week holiday. What a wonderful time I had viewing so many great works of classical art---I felt like I was drunk with beauty. The glowing, pulsating images of the silver screen may easily draw the eye and captivate the attention, but in the end the powerful, rock-like stillness of classical art is so much more electrifying. And so I began to paint again.

To me the only truly iconic image in Chinese portraiture in that of Mao Zedong; and my return to ‘classical’ painting began from here..................
　　第一步：材料试验


　　VeeJet，一种以色列兵工厂参与制造的巨型喷墨打印机。


　　亚麻布。热压木板。铝。木炭。油彩。丙烯。凝胶。


　　第二步：定制3D模型


　　以一个毛泽东陶瓷胸像为蓝本制作出了一个完美模型，再从网络上找到的毛泽东画像从中一分为二，制作出一个对称图像作为贴图。至此模型完工，有了一个纯正的人物和一个虚拟的无限自由的摄影棚。


　　第三步：拍摄


　　在3D软件中调焦和布光。

　　第四步：底层处理


　　数据投影机将完成的3D图像投射到亚麻布上，以木炭勾勒轮廓。在画布上涂布黏稠的丙烯凝胶后，用带齿画刀仔细地按照结构分割刻画纹理。干燥后用粗大的画笔和银色丙烯颜料塑造出笔触。


　　第五步：印制


　　12张处理好的画布运抵印刷工作室，工人将画布一一用真空吸盘和胶带固定在VeeJet的台面上，颜料一行行地喷射到画布上，刺眼的反紫外线灯管时开时闭将颜料瞬间烘干固化UV保护层。作品完成。


　　《下一个鹰巢》是冯梦波最具政治性的作品之一。题材暗合了二战胜利60年，更直接的反映了当代太平盛世上空的战争阴云。战争作为终极暴力手段固然永远与金钱有关，而宗教之争和民族敌视更是今日热点，这一切都与历史相关。他要表达自己的不安，也是对他儿子这一代的未来的焦虑。