Chat and Chat
By Zhao Jing
Photos by Yao Fan


The artists at a seminar

现场--"话仙"2005亚欧当代艺术工作坊近日在亚洲海湾大酒店开幕. 16位来自中国, 比利时, 荷兰, 韩国的艺术家参加了这个综合性艺术展览活动. 展览特别选在一个建筑工地上(盛世豪泰现场工地)进行, 既是对艺术家创作适应力的挑战, 也给观众提供一个全新的观展方式.

The opening ceremony for Chat and Chat 2005-Scene was held in the Asian Gulf Hotel on October 22. Sixteen contemporary artists from Belgium, the Netherlands, South Korea and China were invited to the project to present their latest works to a Xiamen audience.



Background

The exhibition, under the Chinese title of 话仙 (Hua Xian, meaning "chat" in South Fujian dialect) is a step forward in the dialogue between Asian and European contemporary artists that has been going on since the Chat and Chat---A Dialogue between Chinese and Belgian Contemporary Art exhibition that was held in Xiamen in 2003. According to Mr. Zhu Luming, the Chinese organizer of both exhibitions, the purpose of the exhibition is to continue the search for new techniques in contemporary art. Artists from the four countries will endeavor to work together on new forms and the continuous development of contemporary art exhibitions through various works, including installations, sculpture, mixed media and experimental photography.

The project is divided into four parts: an art workshop, the workshop open exhibition, presentation of the work and working on scene. It is based on international cooperation on contemporary art, and offers a good opportunity for Asian and European artists to learn from other cultures in circumstances conducive to innovation and creativity. The project also helps artists and audiences to communicate and interact in order to break through the "invisible borderline" between contemporary art and daily life.



A unique exhibition venue

As well as including a wider range of art forms and larger number of artists than the first Chat exhibition, this show also has an exciting venue in an unfinished building. This new way of exhibiting offers Chinese audiences a fresh way of appreciating art works, while at the same time posing a challenge to the artists' adaptability to new situations.

"It's not uncommon in Europe to mount an art exhibition in an unfinished or abandoned building, but you don't see it happening in China yet. That is what I was thinking about when I started preparing for the exhibition. I found this building completely by accident and at last had the chance to put the idea into practice. Hopefully it will give the local audience a new way of thinking about exhibitions," Mr. Zhu says.



Further exchange expected

Of the eight foreign artists exhibiting in the show, the Vroede brothers have been more active than the others. Piet de Vroede, the younger brother, majored in Chinese language and culture at college and studied in Fudan University for about six months. It was there that he was exposed to the attractions of Chinese contemporary art. "There have been a few classical Chinese art exhibitions in Europe, but you seldom get the chance to find out what's going on in Chinese contemporary art. I never realized there are artists doing work just as exciting as western contemporary artists!" Piet was inspired by this exposure.

As the co-organizer of the project, he also brought his elder brother Jan into the cross-cultural team. The director of an international art organization called Etoiles Polaires Vzw Belgium, Jan has held many successful exhibitions in different parts of the world.

Both the brothers mentioned the possibility of inviting Chinese artists to give exhibitions in Belgium. "This exhibition is only the first step toward a deeper exchange of ideas. If everything goes well, we will probably do the next exhibition in Belgium next October or November," Piet suggests.

The exhibition is scheduled to run until November 19th.

Spooky Halloween


Children dress up as Spiderman out trick-or-treating

The earliest Halloween celebrations grew out of rituals of the Irish new year, more than 2000 years ago. October 31st was the last day of the year, and an old legend said that the spirits of everyone who had died throughout the year would return to seek living bodies to possess for the following year. Naturally, the living did not want to be possessed, so they used to extinguish the fires in their homes and make them cold and undesirable. They also dressed in scary costumes and had noisy parades as a way to frighten away these spirits.

During Roman times, a celebration of the goddess of fruit was combined with the Irish traditions. As people believed less and less in possession, dressing up became more formal and ritual. But it was not until the Christian church was firmly established in Europe that the modern name appeared.


Halloween traditions

Carving Jack-o-Lanterns is a Halloween custom that dates back to ancient Ireland, although the first Jack-o-Lanterns were made of turnips, beets or even hollowed out potatoes, not pumpkins. The large orange squashes didn't become popular until Irish immigrants settled in the United States, where pumpkins were cheaper and more plentiful than turnips.

Trick-or-treating is a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share in the Halloween celebrations. Children dress up in ghostly costumes and go to each house asking for sweets. Families must prevent the neighborhood children from playing tricks on them by providing them with small treats. A uniquely American tradition, it has proved enduringly popular.


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Vocabulary
contemporary 现代的
installation 装置
adaptability 适应力
mount 组织
circumstance 环境
conducive 有助于的
spooky 鬼的
extinguish 消灭