Category Archives: shenzhen elsewhere

handshake 302 at berkeley!

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Happy happy to have been part of the wonderful exhibit, Art+Village+City. Margaret Crawford and Winnie Wong curated the exhibition. Featuring the work of the Art+Village+City Research Studio, SHIMURAbros (as researchers at Studio Olafur Eliasson), Sascha Pohle, Jing Wen, and José Figueroa. The exhibition is on in Berkeley and Shanghai; those in either area, check out the challenges and opportunities that urban(izing) villages in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou present.

Main Exhibition:
Wurster Gallery, Wurster Hall, UC Berkeley
October 13-November 14
Tuesdays-Saturdays 12-6pm

Satellite Venue:
Shanghai West Bund Biennale/Urban Art Space Season
West Bund Cultural Center, Shanghai
October 1-December 31, 2015

idiots we be…

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…and yes “we” is you white man. I began this morning grappling with the problem of statistical representation and sustainable imaginaries in the Pearl River Delta, which has roughly the same GDP as Switzerland spread over an area that is only 1.3 times greater than Switzerland. So yes, I live in an important region of the global economy. But here’s the rub: the PRD has a population that is almost 8 times that of Switzerland. This means that sustainable development in the PRD entails grappling with issues at a scale much greater and with fewer resources per person than in Switzerland.  Continue reading →

ma hongjie’s photography

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Over the past 11 years, photographer Ma Hongjie’s (马宏杰) has been photographing Chinese families and all their possessions, like the image of a Home on the Yellow River, Huayuankou Town, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, above. On his blog, Ma said that an album of this work, titled The Family Belongings of Chinese People will be available the end of his month. The blog is primarily in Chinese, but the images–mostly from rural areas and the west of China–speak for themselves. For example, his photo-essays on monkey trainers and their monkeys, or on how Guo Fucheng makes calligraphy brushes.

Continue reading →

horton hears a migrant worker

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In order to grasp the moralities and consequences of social non-existence, and incidentally to demonstrate that non-existence partially registered in American understandings of its Cold War conundrums, especially our self-envisioned role in Asia, one could do worse than a close reading of Horton Hears a Who, which was published in 1954, roughly a decade after Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel had transitioned from drawing editorial cartoons to writing politically charged children’s books. Continue reading →

geek experiences of shenzhen’s creative ecology

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Dangerous Prototypes has blogged about their experiences in Shenzhen, including introductions to foreign hackers, their work with (now nationally renown) Seeed Studios, and geek tours. Worth browsing.

“abet” means “we are here”

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Just discovered the Ethiopian girl band Yegna, who aim to address issues such as forced marriage (the Amhara region has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world), isolation and teen pregnancies to a national audience, teaching self confidence to girls and young women.

The 5-member group was formed in April, 2013 as part of the internationally funded Girl Hub scheme, which also operates in Nigeria and Rwanda. Girl Hub is a corporate initiative and the band itself is spoken of as a “brand”. The five members are: Teref Kassahun (nicknamed Melat, aged 26), Lemlem Haile Michael (Mimi, 26), Zebiba Girma (Emuye, 22), Eyerusalem Kelemework (Sara, 27) and Rahel Getu (Lemlem, 22). Watching the video for award-winning “Abet” provides a crash course in the subject positions open to young girls in Ethopia. It also shines with hope.

military installations in the south china sea

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Victor Robert Lee presents satellite images and analysis of China’s New Military Installations in the Spratly Islands. His conclusion is that China is creating bases out of land formations reclaimed on top of coral reefs. Sad images, sad thoughts, and ironic resonances with The Fable of Donkey Island and Piggy Island. I’m especially distressed by the ongoing connections between booming economies and actual bombs.

society and space open access highlight papers updated

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Contextualize what’s happening in Shenzhen with respect to cities elsewhere. Love open source, wish the scholarship was as easily accessible–hee!

conspicuous construction

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It turns out there’s a word for the ongoing architecture of inequality: conspicuous construction.

深港通: it’s not a bus pass

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Three days ago, Premier Li Keqiang announced that 2015 was the year in which the yuan could be freely traded within an experimental area in Shenzhen. This Two Meetings (两会) announcement followed his January trip to Shenzhen, when he stated that the Central Government (中央) required three things from Shenzhen:

1) to continue to cultivate the fields of experimentation (继续种好国家改革开放的试验田);

2) to lay the road of creative development (打造创新发展的道路);

3) to become a model of a city that can accommodate development (成为包容发展的示范城市). Continue reading →