Public Space as Side Effect: The End of Neo-Liberalism
— a talk by Scott Lash
3:00pm—5:00pm, May 21, 2009

CROSSTALK Beijing #4 features Professor Scott Lash from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Taking issue with Ma Qingyun’s statement that there’s no public space in China, Lash examines the possibility of different kind of public space in China in the context of the financial crisis since late 2008, and the implications such a space will have on urbanism, arts and new media.

Presented by Shao Foundation
Co-organised by Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art

When: 15:00 – 18:00, March 27, 2009
Where: Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art

Inquiry: (8610) 6561 0361, info [at] shaofoundation.org.cn
Media package available upon request

The Chinese generation born after 1980 is often stereotyped as being politically insensitive and socially indifferent. While lacking interests in the sort of grand narration that people from one decade before are obsessed with, many from the post-1980 era, or balinghou as they are referred to in Chinese, actually participate in the society in a more self-conscious and pragmatic way. Always fascinated by the social engineering side of things, Shao Foundation invites six Chinese post-1980 writers, activists and cultural critics for the third installment of the CROSSTALK series, which promises to offer a glimpse into balinghou’s minds and their unique way of intervening in the social space. What’s their social responsibility? In what way are they historically conscious? What are they thinking and envisioning? Can they act as good as they think? The event will be conducted in the form of panel discussion, audience participation is cordially encouraged.

After a site visit recently, we realised the UCCA Auditorium blocks mobile signals. To interact with the guest speakers with micro- blogging system, we recommend you to bring cellphones or laptops with Wi-Fi function. The name of Wi-Fi on site is UCCA. No password needed.

Guest speakers:

Cheng Kin Yip
Born in Hong Kong in 1985, Cheng Kin Yip is a member of HKFS Social Movement Resource Centre (smrc autonomous8a) as well as a committee member of Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival. Cheng edited For Whom the Bell Rings, a documentary about the Star Ferry Pier protection movement. He was an active participant in Hong Kong’s right of abode campaign, the protest against the 6th Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong, and the campaign for democratic planning of the Star Ferry Pier and the Queen’s Pier. Cheng’s social intervention usually takes the forms of cultural activities / actions and artistic creation.

Dick Chu
Dick Chu graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1999. Once a journalist of international news in Hong Kong’s mainstream media, he turned himself into a citizen journalist and joined InMediaHK.net in 2005. Chu has participated in several campaigns for democratic urban planning, historic sites preservation and public space protection. In the end of June, 2006, Chu and six other persons grouped together as ‘Toya7dogs’ and sponsored themselves for a trip Japan to report on the local social movements and the G8 summit. He is currently planning a studio focusing on the research of the culture and history of Tai Po district, New Territories, Hong Kong.

Deng Siu Wah
Deng Siu Wah is a freelance writer whose commentary can be found on various newspapers and magazines in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. A literature major in the university, she also hosts a Chinese- language radio programme on cultural topics for Radio Television Hong Kong. Deng is a member of the social activist group Local Actions and has been forced out by the police during the campaigns protecting the Star Ferry Pier and the Queen’s Pier. She is also one of the ‘Toya7dogs’.

Tang Shui’en
Born in 1983, Tang Shui’en is a researcher of youth’s self-governance and media activism. He got involved in the punk scene in 2000 and developed an interest in the activist philosophy of the punk community. In 2006, Tang went to Europe and visited several anarchist squats and youth governance centres to investigate their resistance culture from a youth–social perspective, as well as their interaction with the new social movements, such as anti-neo liberalism and anti- globalisation. Currently, Tang is conducting small-scale experiments to explore the possibilities and actual methods through which youth can trigger social changes by means of self-governance and activism.

Andrew Yu
Andrew Yu began backpacking in 2000 and has since traveled in most provinces in the southwest China when he was deeply affected by the under-developed status of education in rural areas. In April, 2004, he initiated and volunteered for the ‘One More Kilogram’ project (1KG.org), which encourages backpackers to carry one more kilogram of luggage to fill the needs of the schools in the countryside. Since the August of 2006, Yu has been working full-time for the project as a social entrepreneur.

Zhang Yueran
Zhang Yueran was born in 1982 in Jinan, Shandong province and graduated from the National University of Singapore School of Computing. A leading figure of the new generation literary writers in China, she won the gold metal in the third ‘New Concept’ Writing Contest in 2001, the Best New Talent award in the third Chinese Literature Media Awards and first prize in the fifth Spring Literature Awards in 2005. Her novel Shiniao (Oath Bird) was prized the Best Novel in the Chinese Novel Chart in 2006. She has also won an honorary mention for her essay Yueyuan Zhi Ye Ji Qita (Full Moon Night, etc.) in People’s Literature Awards. Zhang is the editor of the serial literature book Li (carp).

Moderator:

Leung Man Tao
Leung Man Tao was born in Hong Kong in 1970 and grew up in Taipei. He got involved in cultural and journalistic work since 1989 — before graduating from the Philosophy Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1994. Leung is a commentator of Phoenix TV and writes regularly for the outspoken weekly Southern Weekend, as well as a dozen of other newspapers and magazines in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. His books Changshi (Common Senses) and Zaoyin Tai Duo (Too Much Noises) were published recently.

Presented by Shao Foundation
Co-organised by Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art

Shao Foundation will co-present the mainland Chinese premiere of Peter Watkins’ La Commune (Paris, 1871) together with Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art. The screening is scheduled to complement CROSSTALK Beijing #3, a panel discussion focusing on the social participation of the post-1980 generation of Chinese people through writing and activism. There will be three screenings, each of which accommodates 150 viewers. The first screening is free for all, while the latter two are free for the first 30 audiences. Others will need to purchase ticket for RMB 15 at the door, which gives you access to other on-going exhibitions at UCCA.

The following guest speakers of CROSSTALK Beijing #3 will join the post-screening discussion on March 26: Cheng Kin Yip, Dick Chu, Deng Siu Wah, Tang Shui’en, and Andrew Yu.

To RSVP, please send your name, occupation, cellphone number and your preferred date of screening to 1980 [at] shaofoundation.org.cn. Media professionals please also let us know the names of the media you work for. After all seats are filled, we will publish the audience list of each screening on www.shaofoundation.org.cn, and will notify you by email.

Screening time: Mar 26 1:00pm – 7:00pm
Apr 5 1:00pm – 7:00pm
Apr 12 1:00pm -7:00pm
Screening venue: Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art (798 art district, Beijing)

Thanks to Peter Watkins, Rebond pour La Commune, 13 Production, Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival.

About La Commune (Paris, 1871)

La Commune (Paris 1871) is the most accomplished work of British director Peter Watkins and a perfect example of movie as a tool of social activism. An activist director himself, Watkins challenges the absolute authority of the film director and the undemocratic practice of relegating the audience as passive consumers with artistic innovation. Though La Commune is the result of his elaborate design and direction, the active participation of actors is crucial to the film’s production — the director sets the framework, and everyone in the team fills in the content. For instance, the dialogue and discussion — which constitute the majority of the film — are rehearsed based on the actors’ thorough research of the roles and their own real-life identity, experience and ideas. It’s a collective production with ‘mediated democracy’.

Watkins often uses anachronistic method to create a sense of alienation: the actors in La Commune are shifting between the roles they play and themselves. In some cases, they even talk about their own feelings and comment on the roles they play. Women discuss the french female in 1999 while having meeting in the Paris Commune; and men’s topics include television, modern media, and the decline of Japan. By showing the aspiration to a brave new world and the energetic high spirit of the people of the Paris Commune, the director intends to provoke the contemporary people, who lack the ideal and the sense of responsibility for social reform. The film also takes a close look at some of the Commune’s dreams left unfulfilled.

In La Commune, Watkins leaves us a lot of space and materials for discussion by introducing both cinematic alienation and actor / audience’s participation. The actresses who play the women in the women’s federation later continue their discussion of relevant topics in the real life, which symbolises the shift of social activism from the screen into our life.

Peter Watkins, making La Commune (Paris, 1871).

Additional reading:

- Peter Watkins’ Wikipedia entry.
- La Commune (Paris 1871)’s IMDB entry.
- The official website of Peter Watkins.

Social Space and The Post-’80s Generation
3:00pm—6:00pm, Mar 27, 2009

Address: 5/F, Tower 1, Zhongguo Hongjie (China View), Jia 2 Gongti Dong Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100027

Tel: (86) (10) 6561 0361
Fax: (86) (10) 6561 3367

info [at] shaofoundation.org.cn