June 28th, Beijing and Three Shadows

Text and images by Michael Schmidt.

Trains and Elevators in China:
Be careful because it’s not like back home. The train does not open 11 times for you because your Jansport backpack got stuck. It actually doesn’t even open once for you. You get caught in the middle after the siren warns you and you just die, that’s all. No second chances, as there is no conductor saying “please stop getting your backpack stuck in the door”. The trains here are computer operated. I am not complaining because they are always on time. Same thing applies for the elevators. You can’t just manhandle the doors open because your girlfriend is late. The elevator monster will just eat your arms for breakfast, unless a nice old lady is inside holding the green door open button down for you. Get in or get out. I like that!

Bathroom Massage in Shanghai:
I heard the nightlife was great in Shanghai so I had to check out the scene with everyone. When we arrived at club “True Love” I had to pay a cover charge of 100 yuan since I am a male and it was ladies night. It almost seems unfair but I guess it’s a fair tradeoff because there are plenty of girls to choose from, if that’s what you’re there for. It is probably a better deal for the men actually. I would hate to be a girl at the club because just seeing the amount of creeps on the prowl, persistently harassing women, bothers me enough. Imagine how many of them are out in an American club, multiply that by two and you have club “True Love”.

The 100 yuan cover charge was actually a deal because they gave me a wristband and once I was in I could drink free all night. That’s about $16 to go clubbing on ladies night. The cab fare round trip is about $3 when divided by four people. So a good night can cost you less than $20 (The price of one mixed drink, including tip, at a high end club in New York City). No wonder I spend $100 on a night when I am out back home. I am really going to reconsider my spending now, this has put things into perspective.

From what I can remember, the night was great. There is one particular part I remember clearly because it was quite strange. When I first arrived at “True Love” I used the restroom (known as the washroom here in China). I did my thing and went to wash my hands. I was approached by the towel man, who was eager to turn the sink on for me and squirt some watered down soap into my hands. After washing and drying my hands for me, I was ready to give him a small tip, as this is expected in America. Apparently he wasn’t done yet! He snuck behind me and gently placed his left hand on the top of my head and his right hand just under my chin. For a moment I pictured a man snapping the neck of another in a Kung Fu flick. I told myself to just remain calm and see what would happen. The towel man then cracked my neck on both sides and it felt great. He then went on to massage my shoulders, upper and lower back. At this point I turned around and handed him 10 yuan but he declined my tip. I am not sure if he was sexually attracted to me, does that to every guy or if it’s just a normal custom here in Shanghai. Free massage and chiropractor services, so once again I am not going to complain.

Friendly taxis of Beijing:
The first evening in Beijing, Abby’s friend Xizi invites us out to dinner at the best duck place around. Everyone gets ready, heads out, and is divided into two groups for taxi hunting purposes. Lets just say that I picked Eli’s group and it was not the better choice. After the first ten empty taxis passed us without giving us the slightest bit of attention we started to become quite irritated. Abby’s group landed a cab just as it started to pour rain. This at least meant that there was some hope; since taxis actually do stop to pick people up, go figure. Mitch, Eli, Sora and I each took a corner of the intersection and tried to hail a taxi for the next forty-five minutes. Sora finally got one and we took off for our fancy duck dinner.

Since then I have learned not to try to get a taxi during rush hour. Your best bet is to take an illegal taxi and pay the extra 40 yuan. They know they can rip you off during rush hour and also on weekends. Personally, I think it’s worth it to pay the extra money for convenience. This doesn’t happen in Shanghai because the cab drivers from Shanghai are honest and hard working, I think.

Nobuyoshi Araki exhibition:
Since we know the famous Abby Robinson, we got the hook up on getting into the Nobuyoshi Araki show before the opening. Three Shadows gallery literally opened the show up just for our workshop. Let me just tell you that being in the space with only a few quiet people really made for an intimate experience. I felt as if it was just the photographs, the hauntingly beautiful music and I.

Araki’s show is titled Sentimental Journey/Decadence in Paradise. The show consists of beautifully taken and printed, black and white pictures of his wife during their honeymoon. These powerful images lead up to his wife’s death and then the death of his cat, which seems to be his only other close companion. Reading the artist statement alone gave me goose bumps but walking through the show sent chills down my spine. Never have I been so moved and saddened for another through a photographic essay. When I reached the picture of his wife in her casket, surrounded by flowers and hands, I nearly cried. The images then goes on to show the cat’s memorial, corpse, and then the bones of the cat after its flesh and organs have decayed over time. These pictures came one after the other and I felt the same grief I did for his wife.

Following the two large rooms of the initial prints you are led into an arrangement of huge framed prints that hang in front of your face. It is set up sort of like a funhouse so you have to walk between the hanging life size images, which were quite disturbing still lifes ,in which there were dolls that I believe represented his wife and Tyrannosaurus Rex that represented himself. I believe the dinosaur was used to describe his anger and sadness, but this is my opinion as I am writing this from my own perspective.

At the end of the show there were projected images of Araki and his wife. Some of the black and white images had splats and strokes of very colorful paint on them. For me this made the images very strange and sexual. I see the projected images as memories of things that Araki loved but has now lost.

I will go as far as saying this is the best exhibition I have ever experienced. This perfectly curated show had a huge impact on me. Before this I did not know of Nobuyoshi Araki, but now he is one of my favorite artists. Making great photographs is one thing, but creating such a profound photographic diary and mournfully affecting an audience is something else.

Cable Car at the Great Wall

Ariel on the Great Wall

The Great Wall

Stair Climbing

Three Shadows

Araki Exhibition

Tired after a day of galleries at 798

The Forbidden City

Patricia

June 27th, The Great Wall

Text and images by Mitchell Paster.

On June 26th the wonderful leaders of troop 438 took us on a trip that might have changed our lives forever! When the bus arrived to begin our excursion we all joyfully climbed aboard only to find that it wasn’t a private tour like we were used to, it was a group tour. After realizing that we weren’t being spoiled per usual, the troop was OK. The tour guide told us that on this trip we would be first stopping at a jade factory to see how they make all sorts of jade sculptures. What this really was was a forced trip to a glorified gift shop. Granted I found the jade jewelry and sculptures very impressive, but I thought this was a trip to the Great Wall of China not a tour of my empty pockets.

After that we were taken to the Ming Tombs, which is a large area that houses the mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The tombs were interesting but they felt kind of touristy. Everything seemed as if it had been redone relatively recently, all of the pillars and archways seemed to be somewhat freshly painted. I was expecting it to be more of a “National Treasure” type of place, in which I surely would have been Reilly. We then headed on an hour-long trip up to the great wall area where we were to have lunch. Lunch was served to us promptly upon arrival, it felt more like Americanized Chinese food, but it was quite good. After lunch we had about a 5 minute bus ride to the wall.

We arrived at the wall at 1pm and were told to be back at the bus by 3pm. As we walked up we were informed that we would be taking a chair lift up and a toboggan down from the wall. I felt this was a little strange as it was combining historical wonder with modern fun. After we made it through all of the vendors trying to sell us all sorts of hats and t-shirts and tchotchkes, we boarded the chairlift. When we reached the top we took a few group photos and began our hike to the heights tower of the section where we were, Mu Tian Yu. It took just short of an hour to make the whole climb. Most of my time I was just in awe of the beautiful mountains we were traversing, along with the fact that I was walking along something that is older than my country. I kept saying to myself “this should be renamed the amazing wall of China.” Climbing the Wall and being at this site has since been the greatest thing I have ever done in my life.

When we left we had about an hour and a half drive to (drum roll please) a silk factory!!! We got to watch a 4-minute tour of how they get silk from the worms and see how strong it is. After that we spent the better part of a half hour trying to avoid sales people from harassing us to buy things. We got dropped off back at our hostel and the day was over.

Carved jade statue

The Ming Tombs

Carved stone at the Ming Tombs

Money given to the ghosts at the Ming Tombs

Ming Tomb throne

Lunch

Restaurant decor

Ready to hike the Great Wall!

Cable car to the top

The “Amazing” Wall of China

Second view

June 26th, To Beijing!

Text and images by Patricia Peguero-Vidal.

Last night everyone went back to their apartments early to do some photo editing and last minute packing as we had to be up early the next morning to head out to Beijing. Nova and I packed rather quickly and then stayed up late, swapping stories and thinking about what Beijing would have in store for us – figuring we could catch up on sleep on the five-hour bullet train to our destination. Believing that we’d set our morning alarms, we went to sleep late. However, the alarms were not set properly and instead I just so happened to wake up about ten minutes before we were supposed to meet with everyone downstairs. Realizing that Nova had also overslept I began yelling “Oh! Nova wake up! We’re gonna be late!” and with that- there was a sudden mad rush around the apartment. Quickly throwing on some clothes and making sure not to leave the essentials behind, we ran downstairs and, although the last ones to join the group, we made it!

Thus, our journey to Beijing began and we headed out to the closest metro station with our luggage and, although somewhat tired, we had enough energy to dodge the morning rush of people: carrying our suitcases up and down several flights of stairs, boarding train cars, squeezing in to find our spots in the morning commute. Excited but aware, careful not to fall behind and get lost in the masses of natives on their way to work. We finally arrived to the train station and made our way to our gate. Once we all boarded the train we instantly became the “excited Americans on a bullet train to Beijing.” The five hours seemed to fly by rather quickly and once we arrived in Beijing we headed to what would be our new home for the week.

When we finally arrived at the hostel, our group of six photographers realized that if we didn’t already know each other closely, well, we were about to. We were going to be staying in the same room with three bunk beds and a shared bathroom. It was pretty funny, to be quite honest, it felt as though we had a case of the summer-camp-jitters as we rushed to claim top or bottom bunks. After finally settling in, we met up with Xizi, a former student of Abby’s, who invited us out to a wonderful Peking duck dinner in one of the traditional restaurants in the brightly lit Hou Hai Lake area. We ate an amazing family style traditional Chinese dinner and after many turns of the lazy Susan, full of lovely foods I had never thought of trying before, we had our duck served to us tableside. After a long but beautiful day, we headed back to our new Beijing home, full and ready to capture the city during the week.

Bullet train to Beijing

Group Shot

Abby and Sora

Fried fish at dinner

Duck served tableside

Hou Hai Lake

Thursday, June 21st

Text and images by Ariel Bobson.

We started off the day at the Shanghai Museum. We travelled there together and then went our separate ways when we arrived in order to explore on our own. I found the visitors there more engrossing than anything else on display. It seems like people are obsessed with photos of themselves anywhere we go. There is a formula to it; pose in front of whatever makes that specific location instantly recognizable, run to the camera to view the image, and retake. The second photo differs from the first in a few ways: position of the subjects amongst each other (the most body conscious hide behind the children), position of the head (to avoid multiple chins), and position of body parts (to instantly distinguish the relationship the subjects have to one another).

On a more general note, I need to vent for a minute. The food, THE FOOD. It’s not bad, it’s actually delicious… in small doses. Shanghainese cuisine (like Shanghai itself) is new and expansive. Specialties range from dim sum (soup dumplings, steamed buns), street food (sesame balls, scallion pancakes), typical noodle joints and tiny storefronts displaying a myriad of fried foods that lead right onto the sidewalk. It’s so exciting to point to something that smells delicious and devour it on the spot, not to mention that the most delicious discoveries come from the street and virtually cost nothing.

This food doesn’t come without a price. My stomach is upset. What’s doing it is the oil. There seems to be a thick layer of it sitting at the bottom of the bowl/plate/container/carton only to be noticed during the last few bites of whatever I’ve just eaten. This isn’t a good thing, nor is it a bad thing, it’s just different than what I’m used to. Therefore, when a small group of us barreled into a familiar fast food chain during a recent photo safari, our reaction to the chain’s offerings was more than slightly atypical, “this food is amazing,” “it’s just so good,” “I feel like I just ate a healthy meal.”

As previously stated, I love the food here, I really do. I’d eat dumplings every day, but my western insides insist that I don’t. The situation was looking pretty grim until I googled “American food in Shanghai” and found every kind of food I would want delivered right to my door! Crisis averted.

photos in the Shanghai Museum

Carl’s Jr.

Shanghai fast food

McDonald’s

street vendor

noodles and dumplings

Shanghai pancakes

noodles noodles noodles

Wednesday, June 20th

Text and images by Sora Woo.

Today we had individual critiques. For Individual critiques, everyone signs up for their own time slot and talks about their themes, work and ideas one-on-one with Abby. My critique was at 10am. I was barely half awake when I walked into Abby’s room, but by the time I walked out of Abby’s room I felt I had learned a lot. I feel I am learning a lot through this abroad program, not only technically but also by having the chance to learn about various artists, their work, and even by visiting galleries.

During the critique we went over my 54 works and picked some of the stronger images. Abby and I talked about why I like to take photos of elderly people and how other people feel when they see my work. The best part was that after the critique Abby sent emails to all the students individually including information on artists that we should look at to help us inform our work. When my critique was over, I went back to my room and tried to organize my best images into a new order. I did this because after the critique I felt that I could better communicate my ideas by changing the flow of the photos.

After my critique, but before the critiques of some of the other students, we were all hanging out at Patricia and Nova’s apartment on the 23rd floor. Most people had their images with them because they had either come directly from their critique or were getting ready for their critique. We were all going over everybody’s work together because everyone had more new work since the last class on Monday. I was a little surprised how all seven people were excited to see each other’s work and that we actually gathered around and went over each person’s work even though it was not a class.

Everyone who came back from the critique said that the critique was very helpful. They were all happy that they had time to show their work and get advice from Abby individually.

Ariel 1

Ariel 2

June 19th, M50

Text and images by Dogan Arslanoglu.

Must be a slow summer. Given Shanghai’s relatively short history in the contemporary art scene (1980′s to present time) and its emerging status, I speak not of cynicism but of a peculiar safeness in the works currently being shown.

Today was gallery day. Rushing to finish up my morning routine of coffee and a cigarette on the way to our usual meeting point is always a challenge. You forget one of the two and you might as well hang your head in solemnity for that is the day of defeat. The walk from my apartment to the meeting point is always the shortest, but most interesting walk. You forget it at times. You think you blow the post-communist, human rights abuse thing out of proportion. Because it is nice, once you learn to walk as if you’re a football player with the ball and everyone else is after you with scooters and automobiles. You can’t expect much and you wouldn’t even know what that expectation would be. It’s isolated of course. Your index finger becomes your translator. You hang on to gestures and illustrate them with comical vigor. Every screen in the subway is showing footage of the Chinese astronauts triumphant return. New York Times must have been busy re-adjusting their subscription paywall that day. This is a 2-minute walk and I suppose proportions don’t really relate.

We get to Moganshan 50, which is the art district of Shanghai. While I’m not so sure about calling it the Chelsea of Shanghai, it has the charm of an environment most artists would like. What I don’t seem to understand is the direction some of these galleries take. New self-contained “concepts” in gallery models where in-house artists, curators, writers, and installers all work together leaves no room for honest criticism. It happens in schools sometimes, everyone likes everything. When you add the fact that they’re paid to produce, curate and write about works in the same environment and from the same pay source, it becomes nothing more than a boutique. Alas, I suppose one has to adhere to socialism somehow whether consciously or subconsciously. Walter Hopps, I think you’re needed here. This also brings to mind another observation. I am not sure if this is due to the technology lenient culture here but I think the past 10 years of new media work has shown that the incorporation of digital media practices should be more than a mere fusion of something analog with something digital. I think I’ve seen digital advertisements outside my apartment with more sophistication than what some “galleries” or artists have been producing here in regards to digital and new media.

All is not lost, however. Although it is hard to contextualize the works given I know nothing of Shanghai’s artistic attitude, identity, or philosophy, it seems that there is at least one or two galleries that are supporting artists with something to add to the general discourse and direction of Chinese contemporary art. My knowledge of Chinese contemporary art consists mostly of Zhang Huan, Qui Zihje and Ai Weiwei, all of whom have expressed their individual artist voices in clever, beautiful and interesting ways. I felt the risks that the aforementioned artists took in the past, and still continue to take, seem to be absent from the works I saw today. This isn’t something exclusive to Shanghai but given the cultural and political placement that China has positioned itself in globally, I would have expected at least an honest response. This of course does not allude to political art but to the attitude, voice and most importantly the unique identity that Shanghai, Beijing and the rest of China need to bring to the international contemporary art scene.

OFOTO

Christophe Demaitre Studio

M97 gallery

East Link/Stage Back

Island6 gallery

H Space, ShanghART

Monday, June 18th

Text and images by Nova Pan.

Part I: Toast and dumplings
This morning I awoke to the scent of burning toast and when I walked into the kitchen I saw a piece of black toast lying in the rubbish bin. My roommate, Patricia, shrugged her shoulders and looked at me with a confused smile. Of course, we then went to get soup dumplings without a moment’s hesitation.

There are different kinds of dumplings in China. The first variation is soup dumplings or standard dumplings. Then you can get them Steamed, Fried, or boiled. There are at least 6 different kinds: steamed standard dumplings, steamed soup dumplings, fried, and so on. And if you want you can get an assortment of them by getting different things inside like vegetables, meat or a mixture of both. The combinations are endless. You can have soup fried meat dumping, soup fried vegetable dumpling, soup fried mixed dumpling, standard fried meat dumpling, standard fried vegetable dumpling, standard fried mixed dumpling, etc. Dumplings also come in different shapes and sizes, so there are another hundred kinds of dumplings and you probably don’t want me to name all of them.

Part II: Class Meeting
Today we had our first critique from our work in China so far. I learned a lot from talking about my work with everyone, it is good to get feedback from photography majors. Since I am a graphic designer I do not know much about lighting and technical details. I am learning more about this from my study in Shanghai and it is helping my photography. We have a very diverse group so it is good to see the work that people are doing. I am excited to see how everyones’ work will progress by the end of our trip.

black toast

dumplings

dumpling flow chart