One evening in Real Life Bangkok, a Thai filmmaker friend of mine mentioned this project, a short, mixed-reality documentary about contemporary Congolese politics and human connection. It’s called “Kinshasa 2.0” and was directed by Teboho Edkins as part of a project investigating concepts of democracy. Since I’ve been working on several projects relating obliquely to Africa in First Life, and my official job is in Second Life, I couldn’t wait to watch it…
(Photo by “Youin3D”, shooting album)
黑玫瑰公寓
一直非常喜欢日本电影，可能是中日两国有些文化渊源。
从朋友那边借来了日本导演深作欣二的六十年代作品黑玫瑰公寓（1969，Black Rose Mansion），朋友说我常常一点小事就要生要死的戏剧化作风大有电影里面黑玫瑰之风范云云。片中的黑玫瑰并非香港电影里的女侠盗，却是神秘又吸引的歌女，歌女手中一朵黑玫瑰是她的动情银针，当歌女遇到真爱，玫瑰会由黑转红，最后故事以悲剧告终（不透露剧情了）。
电影的Femme Fatale老土情节对我来说不是卖点，倒是电影的坎普氛围和“妖气冲天”地反串女主角美轮明宏才是戏中亮点。美轮明宏原名丸山明宏，生于1935年，17岁作为歌手出道，翻唱Edith Paif 等歌手的法国香颂，丸山有种中性美，而且有种诡异的气质，连唯美至死的三岛由纪夫也忍不住要赞丸山为天人。丸山的妖气不单迷到了三岛，也促使鬼才寺山修司以其话剧团天井桟敷之名度身定做的《青森県のせむし男》和《毛皮のマリー》。 丸山在某年觉得受到感召， 脑海中出现“美轮”二字，继而把自己的名字改为美轮明宏。近年丸山仍旧活跃艺能界，包括为宫崎峻的哈尔移动城堡里的荒野女巫配音， 其招牌造型是其一把染成鲜黄色（真是黄色，不是金色）的秀发，看上去大有草间弥生婆婆的风范。
看到丸山的青春从盛到衰，看到他一头色彩鲜艳，camp爆的头发，他无论在台上台下都一样脸谱化的作风，然后想想他因三岛切腹自尽而一夜白发的传言，就觉得一堆堆华丽的符号的场景，在他上面劈头劈脑的倾泻而下，最后还是剩下他独自在一间放满各色假发的房间，唱着久违的香颂。
年轻时的丸山明宏，确实有些三岛的小说人物的风格。
现在的美轮明宏
美轮和三岛
“In January 2009, a group of 17 students in an undergraduate photo class at New
York University visited RMB City and made photographs of the things they saw.
The students were given the assignment by their instructor, Christopher
Phillips, who is the curator at the International Center of Photography in New
York. He got the idea for the assignment when he accidentally ran into China
Tracy (RL: Cao Fei) while he was exploring RMB City not long after it opened to the
public in January. It was China Tracy who suggested sending the NYU students to
RMB City on a group photo expedition.
Most of the students had never visited Second Life before, and they were
excited by all of the possibilities this virtual world offers. They all learned
to fly without too much difficulty, and many of their most interesting photos
were made while zooming though the air around RMB City. Many of the
students chatted with the other visitors to RMB City that they met. One student took part
in a wedding of two avatars that was being held in RMB City. One of the sexier
female avatars even received an invitation to teleport to a sex club! Many of
the students are continuing to explore RMB City and the countless other aspects
of Second Life.”
More pictures coming up…
Just saw this lovely Vitamin blog post which juxtaposes People’s Slum and the similar housings in Guangzhou.
格里耶于上月18号逝世，虽然其享年85，算是笑丧。但是还是有些戚戚然。
第一次知道格里耶“是当年（“当年”的意思是，那时我看的是录像带，不是vcd更没有dvd）在朋友家中看了阿伦雷奈的去年在马伦巴（L’Annee Derniere a Marienbad，1961）， 那时看完电影就想看看原文， 知道作者是法国新小说创始人格里耶。真正看到格里耶的作品是四五年前，那时侯跟一个深圳的劳工组织工作，我在一个为工人而设的图书馆里，在一堆堆廉价，颜色鲜烈的杂志之间，看到了格里耶比较早期的作品橡皮。前年某出版社出版了一套格里耶的作品，就又买了好几本。
格里耶死后就开始有讨论，讨论他能不能上文学殿堂。这些死后功名我是不太感兴趣，我最喜欢的三岛由纪夫都没有拿过诺贝尔奖啦。媒体报道说格里耶“因为不理解这个世界，所以动笔写下来。然而写作不断，他对世界却越来越不理解”，我觉得很多人写作都有这样一个过程，由于受到几千年来东西哲学的 “求真” 包袱，老想在文字里面理清一些什么，然后找出个形而上的拐杖，慢慢的，写着写着，就发现离开所谓的真（如果有的话）， 所谓的世界越来越远，笔下的已经是另一个现实。好像入梦以后，在另一个梦里醒过来。
廖伟棠很久以前在他的博客上引用了瓦雷里的一句诗：“人体最深刻的地方是皮肤”。当我看到格里耶白发苍苍，皱纹满面，不禁黯然。那些在他小说里让人迷路的女孩，凶杀，石头路，青蛙。。。都敌不过我们一开始就想翻阅的东西，当我们开始的时候，原因已经翻了一面，变成结果了。德里达去世的时候一位朋友哭了，那时侯不明白，现在是有点知道了。通过文字，音乐或者其它，我们试图把自己跟他人连结起来，试图造就我们的，或者他们的，身后的不朽，这种友爱的关系开始的时候就注定被“没有回应” － 德里达在别了，列维纳斯提到的，列维纳斯对死亡的解释。
We are going to show our RMB City videos in H Box (not X Box)!!
“H BOX is an innovative, roaming screening hall, presenting major new video commissions by eight international artists. Designed by architect Didier Fiuza Faustino, the unique structure hosts a rotating, diverse programme of videos by Alice Anderson, Yael Bartana, Sebastián Díaz-Morales, Dora García, Judit Kúrtag, Valérie Mréjen, Shahryar Nashat, and Su-Mei Tse.
Consisting of two entirely collapsible modules constructed of aluminum and Perspex, H BOX can be assembled, disassembled and transported as required. It is designed to travel the world, in search of new audiences. Each year, as H BOX tours between museums internationally, four new artists will join the programme as four others give up their place. The itinerant nature of the structure and the commissions shown within it highlight the exciting fluidity of video, a medium that continues to reshape the twenty-first century.
H BOX is produced by Hermès. Benjamin Weil, executive director of Artists Space, New York, is the artistic director of the project. H BOX was first unveiled at the Pompidou Centre in Paris in November 2007 and has traveled to MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Spain, and MUDAM, Luxembourg. Following its presentation at Tate Modern H BOX will travel to the Yokohama Triennale in Yokohama, Japan.”
在比利时Kaai Theatre举行的performatik艺术节于2月21日（布鲁塞尔时间）完满结束，相信不少观众看过／感受过／听说过人民城寨，对在城寨里玩转风水的广州艺术家黄河印象尤深，其在虚拟世界对传统气场概念和空间的诘问是展览的一个亮点。
这一次Performatik除了对各种Live art 大力拥抱， 同时也对已一百岁的未来主义献上一曲赞歌。在Performatik的首页上，主办方开宗明义说明要庆贺意大利未来主义的一百大寿（自Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti 在1909年二月二十日于Le Figaro 发表未来主义宣言算起）， 理由简单，皆因“未来主义是二十世纪先锋艺术的萌芽点”。
因为某些原因，一向甚少关注未来主义，充其量看过未来主义宣言和未来主义艺术家／音乐家 Luigi Russolo 在1913年写的噪音的艺术，对Marinetti为什么后来变成了墨索里尼的支持者，我也不追问，正如我对海德格尔倾向纳粹的反应一样。
未来主义是对十八，十九世纪欧洲工业化的回应（看到他们对汽车和速度的强调就知道，噪音的艺术中亦提及 “古代为寂闃一片，直至十九世纪机器面世，噪音才得以诞生。”）， 提倡速度，是对科技和新时代的憧憬，希望时间巨轮能把个体的体验伸延到极限。我的未来主义很简单，就是把在当下透支想像中的未来。当过去一个世纪，社会的发展让我们感受到过快过热过剩的副作用，甚至有人已经对工具理性和速度厌倦到要反其道而行（譬如有人舍快餐而提倡“慢食”），我们到底要一个什么样的未来？再想深一层，什么是未来？下一分钟？十年后的某刻？还是未来十年的总和？
我们是不是像本雅明说的Paul Klee 天使一样，面向废墟一样的过去，被风吹向未来？
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Luigi Russolo
What does utopia mean in the mind of RMB City’s first mayor (SL:UliSigg Cisse)? What are the SL dreams of some international, accomplished curators? What do SL architects think about RL architecture? Find the answers of the above questions in People’s Monthly – RMB City’s official newsletter – that contains inspiring discourses connceting RMB City, urbanism, SL, Virtual worlds, art, utopia … in a neatly-designed, tiny publication.
The debut issue of People’s Monthly will hit the street in March … stayed tuned to the RMB City blog for more updated info.
I just discovered there is some band right now in America called “Miniature Tigers“…
Obviously in real-life, we don’t assume our names are completely unique (depending on how common they are, we may share them with literally millions of other people). But in Second Life, with names as outlandish as Tuna Oddfellow and Gazira Babeli (it really feels like a Charles Dickens novel sometimes), it seems more likely that our SL names might be one in a million.
When I first created my avatar, choosing the name seemed such a very important step, especially because the last names Linden allows you to pick from are so limited. But in some ways, that made it a bit easier, as certain last names do set a course for the first. The moment I spotted “Tigerpaw,” I knew I wanted to be a “Miniature Tigerpaw.”
Of course in real life, I just realized, we don’t get to pick our last names either… Linden is just doing what our parents have for us already, narrowing the field of our possible name-based identities.
In its latest issue, That’s Beijing brings an article about RMB City and Cao Fei.
To read the whole article., please click here.
Our chief engineers Avatrian have posted some lovely snapshots of RMB City at night — our “urban illumination scheme” is still being worked out, but feel free to visit our SIM during SL-nighttime hours and get a taste of RMB AfterDark…
Some Photoshop-savvy “netizens” have been making their own interpretations of the CCTV fire imagery, layering on monster and alien attacks, cartoonish personifications of the buildings, the tracing of mysterious symbols in the smoke-clouds…
It seems only natural to want to “metabolize” such an epic-scale disaster by shrinking it to the level of the cute, or distancing it via the lenses of narrative and myth. Maybe such a catastrophe provokes the need to take more “authorship” than normal over one’s city (as demonstrated here, in a very light-hearted manner). Obviously since there was very little loss of life, it doesn’t feel like a “human tragedy” — more a tragedy of inanimate objects and systems. We know so little about the secret life and emotions of glass and steel. Does the urban fabric of Beijing itself feel the “burn”?
See more on Chinasmack.com.
(from CNReviews.com)
(from RMB City)
On Monday evening, I was driving home in a taxi along Beijing’s 3rd Ring Road (in Real Life), when the traffic began to slow down… It was the final day of the Lunar New Year, also known as “Lantern Festival,” and hence the night when all of Beijing would attempt to set off as many fireworks as possible before they became prohibited again the next morning (and until the next turning of the Lunar Year, which would briefly make the city a flashing kaleidoscope once more). The evening was full of bang, sparkle, and pop in all directions, many revelers young and old standing on street corners to enjoy the show, but then as we approached the CCTV building, the crowds grew bigger and the cars ground to an almost halt. The taxi driver exclaimed that there must be a fire, and urged me to look out the left-side (Eastern) windows of the car. Sure enough, I saw small flames and huge black smoke clouds billowing out of the top of the tall building next to CCTV. He said, “I’m sure this will be in the newspaper tomorrow.” Only a little while later, the entire building was burning – as I continued to watch via my laptop at home.
Of course, RMB City has its own People’s Entertainment Television Center, gently spinning in the air above our Sims, untouched by any threat of spreading sparks. It’s amazing to remember, on such a huge scale, just how fragile a platform First Life is.
A nice essay by Bert de Muynck on Artforum China gives more reflection on the real-life icon, and its place in the ever-changing symbolic weather of Beijing.
(From Artforum China)
RMB City is going to be shown at Performatik 09, a Kaaitheatre festival that will be taken place from 13 Feb to 21 Feb, 2009 in Brussels, Belgium. Focusing on “work founded on exchange and collaboration between disciplines”, this fiesta of art happenings stresses an element — live event. Under this topic, concerts, performance art, live art, body art … are going to blow the audiences’ minds.
Among tons of programs/works by accomplished artists including Stelarc (you probably have seen his “third ear”) and Lawrence Weiner, RMB City will be shown at performatik on 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21 Feb 2009 (Brussels Time). Apart from the visual/ sociological/ art discourses and amzaing virtual architectures, Master Q, a.k.a Guangzhou-based artist Huang He (SL: queenShoe Voom) ‘s virtual fengshui project is definitely a highlight of RMB City — the SL fantasia developed by artist Cao Fei (SL: China Tracy) and Vitamin Creative Space. Art-goers! Prepare for the new eye-blinding journey through the pixels!
RMB City on Performatik website: http://www.kaaitheater.be/productie.jsp?productie=533&lang=en
