Chat and Chat at tea house
December 3, 2003
By Vivian Zhang and Daphne Zhao
Photos by Yao Fan
The tea-house part of the "Chat and Chat" workshop proved to be fairly successful, though at the beginning, the artists present were a bit rigid due to the language problem. As the proceedings went on, they soon felt relaxed and enjoyed each other's work, whether they belonged to traditional art or contemporary art, Chinese or Belgian. Each artist was an audience and each artist might be the author if he wanted to take a part in its production.
A classical music solo "Flow of Water" followed the opening speech. It was performed by Cheng Teichan, who played Guqin, an ancient Chinese stringed instrument. Jethro, an active guy with lots of amazing ideas, seemed touched instantly. He used a video player to video the player's fingers. Perhaps his next piece of art will be something about fingers.
Meanwhile a long piece of paper written with the musical notes of "Flow of Water" was stretched on the ground. Yi Xuan, who held a medical infusion bottle and a needle tube, dipped color ink on the paper. Soon the image of the red and black ink looked like mountains and water in a Chinese painting. Belgian artist Nico was so amazed by this way of painting that he took the infusion equipment and tried it for himself.
Several Chinese artists sat in front of a TV set, watching Nico's video show, "Day by Day by Day", attentively. The 20-minute show was made up of 1,200 pictures taken by him and his friends. "I used a disposable camera, which enabled me to give it to my friends in other places. They sent it back after taking some more photos." Nico explained to his Chinese counterparts, "I don't even raise the camera to my eyes, just do it in a random and casual way. So the pictures are supposed to be a real reflection of daily life." Nico said that the project had so far lasted two years with a production of 2,000 pictures, and would go on for another couple of years.
In the middle of the gathering, participants were asked to wear a pair of x-ray film glasses. Chen Xiuqing, Chairwoman of Xiamen Calligraphers Association, wore the glasses and completed her writing in an unrestrained and fluent way. Fanny Zaman asked her what she was writing. Chen said it was called Heart Scripture of Buddha, which she would practice writing every day, and which never failed to leave her heart in profound peace and harmony. No wonder she could do it even blind-folded in noisy surroundings.
Belgian artists were invited to express their feelings on the paper too, but using a Chinese writing brush. We were surprised to learn that Helena also knew some ancient Chinese characters. "Yang stands for male and Yin stands for female, am I right?" She said proudly. At this time, a young Chinese carver came up and asked if she could write two words on his latest production - a two-sided woodcarving, with white color on one side and black color on the other. Helena wrote "prison" on the white side and "safety" on the black side. "The carving looks like a prison with a little window when you look from the white side," she explained, "And black always gives me a feeling of safety." Then they made rubbings together of the text from the carving onto pieces of paper and hung them on a string.
Two languages, two cultures, but Chinese artists and Belgian artists could communicate with each other using gestures or even just a smile.
Art should have no boundaries. Let us get together for better artistic communication.
Time: Nov. 26
Venue: Shanshuiming Tea House
Participants: Belgian contemporary artists Nico Dockx, Helena Sidiropoulos, Fanny Zaman, Jethro Volders
Chinese artists Chen Xiuqing, Hong Shunzhang, Zhu Luming, Yi Xuan, Wu Minghui, Cheng Tiechan, Shen Ye, Chen Jianbin, Ren Hongwei, Shen Zhiming, Li Shibin, Dong Xing, etc.
A classical music solo "Flow of Water" followed the opening speech. It was performed by Cheng Teichan, who played Guqin, an ancient Chinese stringed instrument. Jethro, an active guy with lots of amazing ideas, seemed touched instantly. He used a video player to video the player's fingers. Perhaps his next piece of art will be something about fingers.
Meanwhile a long piece of paper written with the musical notes of "Flow of Water" was stretched on the ground. Yi Xuan, who held a medical infusion bottle and a needle tube, dipped color ink on the paper. Soon the image of the red and black ink looked like mountains and water in a Chinese painting. Belgian artist Nico was so amazed by this way of painting that he took the infusion equipment and tried it for himself.
Several Chinese artists sat in front of a TV set, watching Nico's video show, "Day by Day by Day", attentively. The 20-minute show was made up of 1,200 pictures taken by him and his friends. "I used a disposable camera, which enabled me to give it to my friends in other places. They sent it back after taking some more photos." Nico explained to his Chinese counterparts, "I don't even raise the camera to my eyes, just do it in a random and casual way. So the pictures are supposed to be a real reflection of daily life." Nico said that the project had so far lasted two years with a production of 2,000 pictures, and would go on for another couple of years.
Belgian artists were invited to express their feelings on the paper too, but using a Chinese writing brush. We were surprised to learn that Helena also knew some ancient Chinese characters. "Yang stands for male and Yin stands for female, am I right?" She said proudly. At this time, a young Chinese carver came up and asked if she could write two words on his latest production - a two-sided woodcarving, with white color on one side and black color on the other. Helena wrote "prison" on the white side and "safety" on the black side. "The carving looks like a prison with a little window when you look from the white side," she explained, "And black always gives me a feeling of safety." Then they made rubbings together of the text from the carving onto pieces of paper and hung them on a string.