Culture of Asia

Art Journey launch Moment 1 exhibition in Hanoi, Vietnam

2011-09-07T00:23:00.000-07:00

On September 6th, 2011 at Viet Fine Art Centre, 96 Hang Trong, Hanoi, Vietnam. Art Journey launched the art book and exhibition titled Moment 1, featuring 51 charcoal sketches by artist Dang Viet Cuong.
Art Journey is an art and culture non profit promotion program initiated by Haki - the Design Alliance asia associate in Vietnam, with collaboration from Viet Fine Art Gallery and support from various organisations and individuals. The program’s objective is to introduce local artists and artisans to the public, especially world travelers through publications, events and networking.

Art Journey reflects local life and culture by selecting, displaying and publishing art works, which are less known to the public. Art Journey aims to help everyone discover the unknown talents who otherwise may have been missed. Finally, but importantly encourages young people to discover and to support the local art community.

We consolidate young people who love fine art and culture, with modest and simple purpose is to: discovering, sharing and promote endless efforts and hardworking in art and culture, as we see one of the case studies is Artist Dang Viet Cuong. With unique techniques and passion seem quietly but heartfelt and deeply love, Dang Viet Cuong with modest piece of black charcoal, dance on any piece of paper he got, with all part of a charcoal piece, really inspired us, when we seen the first time.

We convince him do not storage them as normal study sketches, encourage him sharing with us the idea of publish, display his charcoal sketches as a collection, and should bring it to art life, especially to young generation, overseas friends and travellers. We then are appreciated and pleasure with believe and passionate from Artist Dang Viet Cuong, which he gave us.

With modest resources, Art Journey and Moment 1 exhibition received the enthusiasm contribution and inspired by the unique sketches, from Mr Do Doan Thanh - Director, Ms Giang - Gallery Manager from VFA, Mr Pham Duc Si - an art framer and art collector, and many young friends are designers at Haki, each from different context... joining with Art Journey for Moment 1. With all efforts made of passion, we work together and work closely with the artist to produce Moment 1 collection of charcoal sketches.

With all of us, working with the artist is enjoying fun, and sharing with you is moment full of happiness, when the artworks take their own life for the first time as a book, an exhibition and an event for art lovers. In future, Art Journey, Haki and Viet Fine Art will continue the journey and we do hope to receive the support, contribution and sharing more from artists, and yet young art lovers.

Kieu Pham

Old and Wooden

2011-04-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

I was recently approached to give a talk at TEDx. The theme was Heritage, exploring ideas like “what do we want to inherit?”, “What needs preserving”, etc. Regrettably, I had to decline the invitation as the date clashed with other prior commitments.

However, a few days ago (Easter Sunday) I came across this tale of an old wooden church that addresses the issue very eloquently.

Old church in Butterworth - rare wooden public building from 1935

Wishing you all a happy and joyful Easter.

I am an old wooden church. You might even stroll past me without even a second glance. For if you look at me now, you might think I am nothing much to shout about. But I am a constant reminder of a bygone era of simplicity when the community was more important than concrete structures.

I came into existence in 1935, thanks largely to the efforts of Father Jean Baptist Souhait, parish priest of Assumption Church in Penang, and the local Christian community, after Catholics settled in the 1920s in the outlying northern areas of Butterworth.

I am made of hard treated timber that has stood the test of time and I blended in with the lush greenery all around me.

I started life as a primary school, just a few classrooms, during the pre-war years and on Sundays, the building was used for mass. A priest from the College on Penang Island would travel to the mainland to say mass before the war years. Later, towards the end of the war, a priest would cycle from the next town, Bukit Mertajam, to come and say Sunday mass here.

Those were the days when children used to come to school with three cents as pocket money. They would buy a small plate of bee hoon (rice vermicelli) for one cent, and a ball of ice scrapings coated with sweet coloured syrup for a quarter cent. And they would still have change of one cent left over.

Folks were a lot more humble and simple back then: the people who flocked to me on Sundays worked as civil servants such as those from the health department and the railways, or small traders such as cloth vendors. There was even a toddy inspector! To get to me for Sunday Mass, some had to use a sampan (small boat) to cross the Prai River to reach Batu Ujung and then walk up in their Sunday best.

It was Father Adrian Devalls who blessed me during the official opening in 1938. But my pride and joy was short-lived.

On 8 December 1941, the earth shook as Japanese planes attacked Butterworth and two days later, 70 aircraft launched massive air raids on Penang Island. In the distance, I could hear the faint thud-thud-thud of bombing all around me. By 13 December, people began ﬂeeing from Penang, as the British retreated towards Singapore. Shocked, many flocked to me and I heard their anguished prayers, entreating the Lord for mercy.

Those were difficult years during the Occupation. More bombing again in Penang in 1945 as the British tried to retake the area with the Japanese ﬁnally surrendering in September 1945. For a moment, a burst of relief and celebration but then came the dark years of the Emergency (the Communist insurgency in Malaya).

And then again, in 1957, I heard the expectant and fervent prayers of the community as they expressed their hopes and dreams as the country celebrated Independence.

Ah yes, I have been through a lot with the community during their ups and downs. I have witnessed their joys and sorrows.I now see around me the grandchildren of the original inhabitants and how times have changed. A culture of materialism has spread. All around me I see the trappings of ‘development’ and crass consumerism. Devoid of simplicity and spirituality.

What has happened to the simplicity and community solidarity of times past?

Today, like most old things and senior citizens who ﬁnd themselves unwanted, I ﬁnd myself feeling insecure. Will I be the next to go? How long more have I left they consign me to the ash-heap of history and spend millions to put up a ‘modern’ structure.

Often, I hear them say that they need better more and comfortable air-conditioned surroundings for catechism classes and meeting rooms. But I remember when I was opened, the excited looks on the children’s faces. Things were a lot cooler then with all the greenery around them.

Today much of my surroundings have been covered with concrete and tar. Why is it that modern churches think they have to be covered with concrete and tar all around them?

What do people think when they look at me? Do they ignore me, walk past me? Do they feel embarrassed when they look at me? Do they see an old building that is a nuisance to maintain? Do they feel uncomfortable when they look at me and compare me to the gleaming white concrete complexes that surround me – structures devoid of much soul and history with no tales to tell of the community around them? Or do they think a gleaming church complex would look much grander. Ah, the illusions of grandeur.

Today, when people look at me, are they reminded of an era of simplicity when faith was manifested in simple structures and the prayers of a humble community? How they respond to my humble structure tells a lot about they see their faith.

I remember Father Belville and his cough-cough-cough as he said his mass. Although he built a bigger church next to me for the growing community next to me, I suspect he was fond of me and didn’t have the heart to tear me down. Neither did the parish priests who followed him, including our Archbishop. Others even lovingly restored me.

Whenever I ﬁnd my wooden structure feeling feeble and vulnerable, I am reminded that when his closest follower had deserted him, the closest thing to our Lord on the cross was the wood of the cross.Today, I feel comforted by the thought I am still housing kindergarten classes and providing a haven for migrant workers to gather on Sundays. It is these simple people who still appreciate me. Just like, I am sure, the artisan carpenter from Nazareth who didn’t have a roof on his head, would.

But how much longer do I have before someone or some committee decides to demolish me – and along with it the history and memories of a community – the only lingering trace of me being, perhaps a fading photograph on the wall of some meeting room?

Originally published in The Herald

Quoted from the blog anilnetto.com

For a video about the Japanese invasion of Malaya, please go tohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09dGuZ6zQt0&feature=related

I am not able to upload this archival film.

Indian youth asking !

2011-03-06T04:11:00.000-08:00

Dear Businesses,

After ages of accepting what we could get, now we Indians have started looking for what we need & what we desire. Now we earn more, have surplus income, have no moral barrier in materialistic possession, we differentiate people in terms of there brands, economic class is the new cast, we are global looking for dramatic change in our life, we have no patience, no tolerance, always ready to move on to the next opportunity. We are selfish.

We are not simple folks anymore, we are happy with extremes, thrive on contradiction, looking forward to take risk, we are larger than our past, we are not what it seems like. We are constantly redefining our self. We are complex.

We love to work for the cause, hunger to polar bear, zero waste to frugality, we are eager to contribute towards common issues. Our friends are with us and together we are here to make world a better place. We are crusader.

Now the businessman of the world, please give us something we need. As you can see our wants are very different. We want different products and services, we want to be delivered to us differently and we want them now.

We are not sure exactly what we want but desperately we want something, which is not available. We can pay if it makes sense and deliver values. Please remember, we are young but not stupid.

In this century if India is your opportunity than focus on us. Build your business around us deliver us and we will love you. Rather we will love you before we want to do business with you. We are your future.

We are no more impressed with your high technology inventions, which we can not posses or use, we are no more impressed with your legacy and past glory, we are in the move please come and walk with us.

Thanking you in anticipation
Youth of India

P.S. Please use design research to understand us and design offerings that we love, deliver innovation, we are waiting with open heart and purse.

The cow and the flute

2011-02-24T23:50:00.000-08:00

The boy with the ceremonially decorated cow (for visual) is playing a traditional flute (for sound) during a religious time of the year to collect alms. There are many such traditions all over Asia and all of them is not about begging.

Miracle street doctors

2011-02-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Ayurveda has its believers. The woman in the photo sells plants, etc. as medicine and gives advice to people like a doctor. The price varies, depending on the individual buyer's ability to pay. The most common treatment is for chronic diseases. People from all walks of life (rich, poor, urban, rural) use these as alternative or sometimes in parallel with allopath treatment.

They are the miracle seekers.

This is a bamboo structure - Believe it

2011-02-09T22:33:00.000-08:00

Almost four stories high, this structure is made of bamboo & stretched fabric - having a life of 3/4 days the length of a celebration. All the materials will be reused for some other structures on another day. A great example of temporary architecture which is low cost but it is wow!

Hope this skill stays for long and will continue with future cultural needs.

truck graphics - "Popo Horn"

2011-02-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

India. Truck graphics are common expressions on the roads. Horn please, has various regional variations. But this one is really cool.

Color for praying 1

2011-02-02T23:58:00.000-08:00

The Design Alliance AsiaMeets Singapore 2010

2010-12-17T02:56:00.000-08:00

Present:

Hong Kong • Kan & Lau Design Consultants

India • Elephant Design

Indonesia • BD+A Design

Laos • BlueGrass Design Group

Malaysia • William Harald-Wong & Associates / Moment Font Studio

Singapore • Immortal The Design Station

South Korea • Ahn Graphics

Thailand • Pink Blue Black & Orange Co (Color Party) / Color Party Object Co

Vietnam • HAKI Group

Sadly missed:

Lebanon / The Middle East, Taiwan

Each year the Design Alliance (tDA) brings to the host country its signature ‘AsiaMeets’ programme, a series of presentations on recent developments in design, lifestyle trends, or key projects by each of our member countries. In half a day, one receives a snapshot of design and its inﬂuence on daily lives in Asia.

The Singapore AsiaMeets was held on 22–24 October 2010. Unlike last year’s event in Kuala Lumpur where we had invited a large audience, Singapore’s programme focused on an internal audience—the up-and-coming designers of tDA's associate companies.

This was an occasion to celebrate Immortal’s 20th Anniversary as well as The Design Alliance’s 10th Anniversary. More important, it was an opportunity to actively involve tDA’s young designers in its programmes.

AsiaMeets Singapore will be fondly remembered for Immortal’s superb planning and management of the event, their generosity, and their fat, succulent chilli and black pepper crabs. They organised guided tours of the restored heritage Baba House, the ancestral home of a Straits Chinese family in the 1900s, and the glamorous Marina Bay Sands and SkyPark. The two contrasting but strangely similar experiences complete the face of modern Singapore where the presentation of traditional culture is more polished than raw.

The Baba House www.nus.edu.sg/museum/baba/

Marina Bay Sands.

Our invited special guests this year were Leslie Lu and Dorothy Yim from Hong Kong Design Institute and Nanci Takeyama from Nanyang Technological University.

Invited speakers from the industry were Scott of Touch Media who talked about digital technology applications in signage and Jane of RJ Papers who explained carbon footprint and how this is changing the paper industry.

While the founding associates met behind closed doors to discuss the direction that will take tDA to the next level, after 10 years of successful collaboration, the young designers conducted their own AsiaMeets seminar.

The tDA AsiaMeets Designers’ Seminar

A Report by Adrian Koh, Immortal Design

The Designers’ Seminar was a three hour workshop session where representatives of each tDA member company took turns to present to their associates a summary of the latest design trends of their respective countries, followed by a case-study of a recent project; the objective of the seminar was to share experience and knowledge for mutual benefit. As it turned out, there was so much to share that not every country managed to keep to its allocated time slot!

Singapore

Host Immortal Design of Singapore kicked off with June describing how branding had penetrated the highest echelons of Singapore consciousness. She showed how the branding of Singapore itself had evolved in the past decade, in response to international marketing trends. And as an example of a complete branding story, Choo gave a clear and concise account of how ALT, a new alternative lifestyle concept store, had been created from beginning to end, juxtaposing the paper vision with the finished product.

Indonesia

Risart of BD+A Design gave a summary of recent and imminent design-focused events in Indonesia, before exploring the latest high-proﬁle creative project in Jakarta: an all-in-one strategic concept called Superblock, an integrated giant complex of residences, ofﬁces and commercial units. Designed as a solution to the trafﬁc problems of the city, the plan is slated for a comprehensive roll out to the rest of the country. And using their recent projects as vehicles, compatriot Anu demonstrated how the forecasting of design trends in areas including colours, shapes, international inﬂuences and consumer behaviour patterns were being applied to BD+A’s creative processes.

Thailand

Thailand was third up, with Ingkarat showcasing the latest creative work from Bangkok-based Color Party, and exploring design in a wider context—namely, its general application beyond speciﬁc projects. Her examples of how creative expressions can reﬂect society, the artisan community, and the human impact of national disaster highlighted the individualistic approach to design of an inherently artistic nation. Her account of Thailand’s internal conﬂicts during the year 2009, captured in a poignant short ﬁlm, did not fail to move everyone present.

Laos

Saeng of Bluegrass Design Group, Laos, gave an articulate summary of Vientiane’s urban regeneration programme, with the development of riverside parks the focus of the city’s current efforts. Colleague Shaun followed this with a recent Bluegrass branding success story: a stage-by-stage study of the creation of NÜDLE Takeaway, a noodle product and shop, a clear exposition of the processes that were involved in the branding of a local product.

Malaysia

Weng, representing William Harald-Wong & Associates, Malaysia, surprised everyone with the unexpected humour of his spontaneous presentation that focused on the many issues faced by graphic design companies in Malaysia, from staff recruitment and retention to the impact of politics and censorship on creative design and execution.

Vietnam

The lovely Asaki of Hanoi-based Haki Group took us on a picturesque journey through Vietnam’s cultural and physical landscape, highlighting the latest government initiatives to make the country more accessible to the international community in marketing and investment terms. Government-sponsored projects include the Cat Ba development, a fully integrated island resort rich in natural and cultural resources, with eco-tourism the international marketing objective.

India

Perhaps the most polished presentation of the day came from Prasad and Rochana of Elephant Design in Pune, expounding on the role of cultural identity in design and branding, and the challenge of producing graphics and advertising campaigns where the brand message had to be appreciated by communities of different languages and dialects; an insightful exegesis which resonated with many of the associates coming from countries where the emergence of English as the language of media and commerce is beginning to overwhelm the vernacular.

Ahn Graphics from South Korea was slotted to present last but both speakers were co-opted into the Founding Associates' meeting in the next room.

The Design Alliance (tDA) is a collaborative network of designers in Asia. It is currently represented in Hong Kong/China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Lebanon/Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Design Alliance works with organisations in the ﬁelds of design, research, education and art/cultural exchange with a focus on Asia and the changing lifestyles of its people. tDA participates in international design and cultural exhibitions, conferences and forums and provides consultation on design, brand and export strategy for governments, as well as for organisations reaching out across the Asian region.

tDA AsiaMeets was ﬁrst introduced by HAKI Group at the tDA meeting in Ho Chi Minh City in 2006. The last tDA Asiameets took place in Malaysia in August 2009 with invited guests from local organisations, educational institutions and government agencies involved in the promotion of design.

My three strongest impressions of Hong Kong

2010-12-08T06:27:00.000-08:00

(outside of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre)

Whenever I am in Hong Kong, I choose to stay in Wanchai (unless a luxury 5-star hotel accommodation is offered by my host... that’s very nice too!). Wanchai meets my sentimental notion of a modern, buzzing yet nostalgic 1950s slow-motion Hong Kong, layered with many possibilities, sights, sounds and smells... old and new, local and global. I would photograph people and details that catch my eye as I walk every morning to the MRT station and back.

But let me not divert. I am writing now to share my three strongest impressions of the city on my recent trip... things that locals probably take for granted.

1. There is gold in the pavements of Hong Kong

There is gold lettering on utility hole covers everywhere in Wanchai. Strange that I have not noticed this before. And I don't remember having seen this in any other city.

2. Best welcome / arrival at an airport

The picture says it all. When you arrive by train from the city, the luggage trolleys are all lined up ready for you.

Where else in the world do they do this?

3. A Fresh Look

Any visitor new to Hong Kong will undoubtedly be bowled over by the city's logic-defying mass of bamboo scaffolding at construction sites. I have grown used to it over the years and like Hong Kongers, now take it for granted.

So it was enlightening to learn that Kengo Kuma, one of the most celebrated Japanese architects today, acknowledged in his presentation at the Business of Design Week conference that his innovative work with bamboo was inspired by what he saw in Hong Kong 20 years ago.

Kengo Kuma's Great Bamboo Wall House uses ‘light and natural materials to get a new kind of transparency’.

Bamboo is also used as scaffolding in other parts of Asia—Mainland China, Macau, India, Cambodia...

Bamboo scaffolding at the foot of Phnom Sampeau, Cambodia, where a huge Buddha is being carved on the side of the hill behind the 'bamboo curtain'.

The two images from Cambodia are from www.gadling.com/2007/07/20/gallery-asias-crazy-bamboo-scaffolding/ — check it out!

State-of-the-Art Design

2010-11-17T02:34:00.000-08:00

I was in Singapore a few days before the F1 race. Yes, the car is a beauty.

But what attracted me were the congratulatory floral decorations which, in terms of design, has reached great heights... or should I say, ‘fright’.

This one in particular looks like its head has exploded, exposing the brain, with slimy green intestines spilling onto the floor. Is it mine, or the designer’s perverse imagination???

A Walkabout in Beijing’s Olympic Park

2010-11-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

Beijing Diary 2

There has been so many articles written about Beijing’s Olympic Park, I thought I just take you on a walking tour of this monumental Ode to Sports and the Party.

The ﬁrst sign of even bigger things to come...

The PanGu 7-Star Hotel, Private Residences and Plaza.

It’s not haze you see in the photographs but mist which dissipated by late morning.

The hotel brochure says “... below your room, the 66 columns of our ‘Dragon Corridor’, each topped by a 3-metre high dragon’s head carved from ﬁve million year old granite and weighing 50 tons, will bring you double prosperity”.

Well, if you aren’t already doubly prosperous, you probably won’t be staying in this 7-star hotel.

I was curious to ﬁnd out what exactly is a ‘7-Star’ hotel, if such a rating exists. Looking for the entrance of the hotel, it was a long, tiring walk from one end of the Dragon Corridor to the other.

Halfway there...

One can imagine the scale when service attendants had to zip around on a one-wheel personal commuting vehicle (unicycle). All the entrances along the Corridor were guarded with tough-looking men in black suit and dark sunglasses. When we ﬁnally reached the other end of the Corridor, we realised it was the Plaza end, and the hotel entrance was where we had started out!

Never mind. We’ll look at the interiors on the website when we reach home.

—————

Beautiful Subway Station. I like its simple design, choice of materials and the folding glass door etched with traditional Chinese lattice pattern.

And a high-gloss mirror-coated version of the old-style collapsible iron gate.

Nice ‘No Vendors’ pictograph.

Signs in the Olympic Park were orientated to point to the exact location. And that’s a mighty expensive Colonel up there—luckily the colours match.

Wide avenue. Later it’ll be crowded with noisy school children and gaping tourists.

I still can’t get used to the idea that each family has only one child. Everywhere you go, that one precious child is accompanied not by siblings but the parents and often grandparents, and sometimes by a train of assorted uncles and aunties.

Signage and Identity system at the Bird’s Nest (the popular name for the Olympic Stadium).

There’s a traditional Chinese knot hanging over your head, wishing you the best, as you head towards Security Check.

Night lamps, railings, trash cans, even the design of the concrete floor pick up on the crisscross lines of the Bird’s Nest.

Even this broken lightbox mirrors the design (just kidding!)

Love how essential functional utilities are housed. The sign on the red box reads ‘Please Protect Public Property. Beware of Damage’ (Don’t quite understand the last line).

These limits (boundary markers to exclude or divert motor vehicles) are made of solid granite or natural stone.

I tried moving one of them and it weighs a ton. It has an incised slot to allow for night illumination—very elegant.

I guess moving these heavy cubes around wouldn’t be much of a problem. Besides a whole contingent of workers, there are uniformed men marching by all the time. Each time I return to Beijing, these military personnel seem less uptight. They even smile at you nowadays—a sure sign this is a hot tourist destination.

I love Beijing for its infectious energy and bold vision in design.

The Beijing Olympics has changed the cultural landscape as much as the Cultural Revolution.

The Secret to Business Success in China

2010-11-16T06:43:00.000-08:00

After two days walking the streets of Beijing, my travel companion Weng noticed something unusual about many vernacular advertising in the city. Many businesses offer this one magic formula — the assurance of century-old traditional methods combined with modern technology... including this family-run street-side stall selling duck.

The text reads, “The Longevity Duck follows a thousand-year old traditional recipe, combined with the latest in modern technology...” We peered over the counter and in the kitchen hoping for a glimpse of the high-tech gizmo.

I think the technology part is still a well-kept Chinese secret.

INDIGO launches Mother Tongue

2010-06-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

1 June 2010

Montreal (Canada) – INDIGO, the International Indigenous Design Network, has launched Mother Tongue, an innovative online exhibition that seeks to capture the power of language – verbal and visual, formal and informal.

Language is not only a product of human life – it is a pre-requisite that humans require to form relationships. As a fundamental form of expression, language binds people together. But not all languages are spoken. A language can be visual – made up of complex ideas of truth deeply rooted in symbols, custom and imagery.

Intended to stimulate creative dialogue, Mother Tongue offers designers a forum to respond to the position that indigenous language iconography, process and design knowledge can and should play an integral role in contemporary design. This cross-cultural platform will honour languages at risk and encourage collaborative projects that deepen our understanding of people’s culture in our visual world of this 21 century.

“We need a culture shift. Can design reconcile differences?” says David Lancashire, Chair of the INDIGO Advisory Group. “Let’s begin a journey of understanding – fostering a new respect for life, nature and the natural world. Let’s value the principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity and kinship.”

Mother Tongue is an open, multi-disciplinary, online exhibition. It is open to designers of all disciplines, students of design, poets and writers. Participants are invited to submit responses in the form of a poster, a photograph, a poem, a product, a piece of architecture – that interprets the spirit of Mother Tongue. Submissions will be accepted in image, video and audio formats.

To nurture inclusiveness and promote dialogue, all submissions will be presented as a digital gallery on the INDIGO website.

www.indigodesignnetwork.org/

INDIGO is an Icograda-led initiative of the IDA (International Design Alliance). The INDIGO Secretariat is headquartered in Montreal (Canada).

A Ghost + a Host = a Chinese Ghost

2010-06-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing 798 Art District.

Beijing Diary 1

Made the obligatory visit to Beijing’s famed 798 Art District. As you will ﬁnd in any huge collection of paintings, sculptures and installations by different artists, the works varied considerably in quality. I chose to comment on a particular installation by Thai artist, Surasi Kusolwong, Golden Ghost (A Ghost + a Host = a Chinese Ghost) because the experience of it still lingered on my mind many weeks later. As well as its inter-disciplinary approach which seamlessly merged art, product design and typography, resulting in a totally immersive experience and a sharp rebuke on society’s overconsumption, represented by 13.5 tons of discarded yarn from textile mills in Guangdong Province, the “meltdown of the world economy”.

At the entrance to the exhibition room was a poster with the following text:

----------------------------------------

GOLDEN GHOST INSTRUCTIONS

12 90% pure gold necklaces with one of two “Golden Ghost” symbols designed and made by the artist are secretly hidden in this room. Amongst this thread waste landscape we invite you to search for the necklaces. What you ﬁnd you can then take home.

The lucky visitors will receive a jewel box for their found treasure with the artist’s signature from the UCCA staff. Name, address and photo will be recorded for the artist’s own documentation.

----------------------------------------

Type and Typographer... my companion on this trip to Beijing, Weng

Rummaging through the mess of tangled yarn looking for gold trinkets suddenly made me feel like the forager you remember in documentary photographs; scrawny, sweaty dark bodies searching for castaways that could be exchanged for some rupees in an Indian landﬁll wasteland, or malnutritioned kids in a mountain of refuse in Philippines. Or, to an Asian, the shocking sight of a destitute white man rummaging through the trashcan of a restaurant in Soho, London.

One could also interpret the experience metaphorically: scouring the internet for bits of useful information, or seeking clarity among the sticky cobwebs that clogs up one’s mind.

Surasi Kusolwong

Golden Ghost (A Guest + a Host = a Chinese Ghost) (solo)

Installation: Industrial thread waste, mirrors and gold necklaces

2010.04.18 – 05.20, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China.

A review of the artist’s work can be found at http://www.artlinkart.com/en/exhibition/overview/701ayzlo?x=s&a=ongoing&b=01

Postscript—the Experience (quoted from UCCA)

A group of young people rushed to rummage through the colorful yarn when Golden Ghost opened at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) last Friday.

“It was really exhausting to dig through and turn over the thick yarn which were tightly tangled … [It was] like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Ma Anning, 26, who spent an hour searching without success.

“Even if we don’t find a necklace, we can consider this aerobic exercise,” Zhang Li, a college student, said while clawing through the tangled yarn, perspiration streaming down her face.

Surasi said he designed the exhibition as a social activity. “Feelings like desire, hope, sadness, excitement and happiness that emerged during the treasure hunt completed my work. This is an approach to reveal the real world,” he said.

The first winner emerged an hour and a half into the hunt. “I was just lying on the mounds of yarn, taking a break and watching a friend who was furiously digging when, all of a sudden, I felt something between my fingers,” said Wang Chong, a 25-year-old salesman. He said he will give the gold necklace to his mother on May 9, Mother’s Day.

“People can touch and participate in the artwork in a way that normally never happens in exhibitions,” Jerome Sans, director of UCCA, said.

Taxi Tales... the View from the Back Seat

2010-06-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

What does a city and its people offer you, based on the messages that face you squarely when you settle down on the back seat of a local taxi?

In Beijing, services to help you realise your dream body (females only) and there’s no need to be subtle about it.

As these services were not relevant to me, my attention was drawn to the driver's mannerisms. The Olympics did a world of good for Beijingers’ social graces. All the taxi drivers we encountered over three days were courteous, amiable and, to my surprise, did not haggle over money. They gave the general impression that life is good and there is much to look forward to (but I am not sure about the millions of migrant workers in the city).

In Kuala Lumpur, you sometimes come across a blunt reminder that at least some of the city's taxi drivers are really a decent lot. Considering the fact that Malaysian taxi drivers are rated the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise and ‘a serious threat to tourists–rude bullies and extortionists’ (a 2009 survey by local magazine The Expat). Even a cabinet Minister Nazri Aziz recently slammed Malaysia’s taxi drivers as a problem “worse than dirty toilets”.

While most locals would nod in agreement with the above statement, that’s not completely true. If you are lucky, you’ll get picked up by an older Malay Muslim gentleman from a small town where a more gracious way of life prevails. Here, no hassling, no haggling, no cheating, and no kissing come in one complete moral package.

Translation: PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL (WELL-MANNERED). DO NOT DO ANYTHING INDECENT IN THIS TAXI.

(The graphic also seems to caution you against biting off your partner’s nose).

In Nagoya, a brilliant piece of communication is found on a modest card placed at the back of the front passenger seat. Here, you can read about the driver’s interests and hobbies (for example, ﬁshing, karaoke, etc), providing you with an opportunity to start a conversation if his interests coincide with yours.

(...no, this driver wasn’t interested in F1 speed racing. My camera’s auto-focus got jammed).

In Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, some taxis offer you, not a printed message, but a whiff of lemongrass or some other scents. Natural deodorizers found in Vietnamese vehicles include pineapple (tucked in between the front seats), pineapple leaves, coffee (in a strainer bag), Vietnamese green tea and activated carbon. They come in their natural state and are not commercially processed and packaged. They do their job and are environmentally friendly as well. Something for us to think about.

While looking up lemongrass I found this fascinating article, Lemongrass prompt cancer cells to commit suicide. http://my.88db.com/my/Knowledge/Knowledge_Detail.page/Health-Medical/?kid=11068

Die Standing

2010-03-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

I have never seen a fish meal presented like this.

We decided to call the dish ‘Fish Die Standing’...

Nobel House Restaurant, Kuala Lumpur

The occasion was the post-Media Conference dinner for the Kuala Lumpur Design Week 2010 (in May) which, to my knowledge, will be the biggest design festival ever held in Malaysia.

www.kualalumpurdesignweek.com

The bemused gentleman is Akinori Kojima, the founder of Asterisk Agency, Tokyo, who created the celebrated database of leading Japanese illustrators, PICT-WEB.

One Hour’s Observation on People's Response to Design

2010-03-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

At the entrance to AirAsia’s Departure Lounge, Kuala Lumpur

On flight — scribbling in the in-flight magazine.

This passenger is obsessed with giving non-Asian women (on several pages) the traditional tilaka (or tilak, bindi), a mark created by applying powder or paste on the forehead, a common practice for most Hindus... plus a missing tooth for effect.

This other passenger is obviously in a state of elevated bliss — ﬁnally fleeing the office?

Big Message

2010-02-11T22:46:00.000-08:00

Wish everybody a prosperous and happy Chinese New Year 2010!

There’s no auspicious red and glittering gold in the following images — just big statements about the big country. Superb information design on the walls of International Finance Centre (IFC), Hong Kong, Dec 2009.

Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism /Architecture

2010-01-02T23:58:00.000-08:00

Here are my personal favourites of the Biennale (4 Dec 2009 – 27 Feb 2010). I had time to see only two-thirds of the works (some installations had ﬁlm or multimedia presentations which were screened only at night) so I am sure I missed some good ideas. (Text below adapted from the Biennale programme book).

Two Wongs Going to Sea

With its delicious sprinkling of wiry humour, Paddling Home was an installation piece I could really identify with (...and nothing to do with my family name!)

Paddling Home

Kacey Wong | Stanley Wong

Paddling Home is a 4' x 4' apartment ﬂoating on the sea. The concept of this project was inspired by the extremely expensive living conditions in Hong Kong where people can only afford a tiny apartment, and having to spend their lifetime repaying the mortgage. The artists think the image of a helpless little house paddling away in a vast dangerous ocean towards an inﬁnite shoreline is similar to 20–30 years of repaying a huge mortgage loan; it creates a sense of helplessness and despair. Paddling Home is about mobility and compact living, freedom and the search for a better place.

Front

Back

Front window with crystal stone for healing and a traditional Chinese round mirror

Side window with kitschy Balinese wooden cat (for companionship?)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

BYOBench: Urban Adapter

Christian J. Lange, Rocker Lange Architects

The Urban Adapter seeks to provide multiple design solutions instead of just one single arrangement. It is based on a virtual parametric model and uses data to interact with surrounding environment, therefore, rather than having a ﬁxed form, the furniture can generate various shapes with the same DNA depending on different site conditions.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Hyperbolic Rattan Bench

Haewon Shin / Kelly Chow (Design Procurement)

A crossover between a planter and a bench. It offers eight seats with two different positions and a planter at the centre, its form coming from studies of hyperbolic geometry. The circular form of the bench allows various views of the site and the shadows created by the large leaves of the plant provide shade.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

BYOBench: Abandoned Furniture

Rosly Mok / Vanessa Chan

The stories behind abandoned furniture are precisely what makes them come alive, with their mystery and layers of history. As street furniture, they are certainly more intriguing and meaningful than rows of monotonous public benches.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

West Kowloon Walled City

Douglas Young / G.O.D. Limited

What is the indigenous architecture of Hong Kong? Which are the buildings that best represent local culture? The answer lies in the legendary Kowloon Walled City, home of Hong Kong’s untouchables and social outcasts until it was demolished in 1993. It was Hong Kong’s forbidden city, built not by royalty but by the city’s underclass. Yet people were still able to survive and thrive. It is the story of Hong Kong itself encapsulated in architecture, a place that has succeeded despite the odds.

Image: The original ‘Walled City’ and cover of a publication downloaded from flotsamjetsamligan.blogspot.com

* * * * * * * * * * * *

One other highlight is the High Line (New York) project/information installation by Diller Scoﬁdio + Renfro. Ms. Elizabeth Diller gave a presentation of this project at the Business of Design Week Conference.

http://www.thehighline.org/

Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism /Architecture – Welcome

2010-01-02T23:32:00.000-08:00

What a colourful and exuberant welcome to the Biennale at the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade (4 December 2009–27 Feb 2010). The dazzling signs were based on the traditional ﬂoral decoration for greetings and celebration common in Hong Kong society.

Above: Photo of street scene: www.flickr.com/photos/pink-dolphin_blue-elephant

I came across an artist’s interpretation of this popular form of communication on the grounds of the Hong Kong Arts Centre in 2004.

(Artist unknown)

Malaysia Design Archive

2010-01-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

I met Ms. Ezrena Marwan, a graphic and web designer, at the recent Thinklab Design Conference The Local Design Culture held at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. http://think-lab.blogspot.com/

Ezrena initiated the Malaysia Design Archive project in 2008, which documents, archives and reads the role of graphic design in Malaysia’s complex history during the periods of colonialism, emergency and independence, to better surface the undercurrents of contemporary social, political and cultural contests and negotiations in the country.

This is a timely and signiﬁcant contribution to the understanding of Malaysian design history.

If any of our readers know of similar web-based archives of Asian design (all disciplines), in any country – East or West – we would like to publish the links in this blogspot.

Eyeing that tree?

2009-11-16T03:00:00.000-08:00

On a recent trip to Cát Bà island, Vietnam, (135km from Hanoi) I came across this marking in red on the side of a limestone hill.

(translated from Vietnamese... thanks to the HAKI team)

------------------------------------------

N O T I C E

This mountainous area (was planted) 50 years ago.

Do not burn, chop down, ruin the forest or occupy the forest land illegally.

------------------------------------------

Well put, and in no uncertain terms.

Cambodia however seems to have taken a different approach in protecting her natural environment, appealing instead to the people’s Buddhist sentiments.

But will you be punished now or in the next life???

Above: Photograph taken en route to Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.

Top: Photograph of Cát Bà landscape with goats is in a different location from the rock face with red markings.

Hands-free Pee?

2009-10-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

Spotted... new pictograms for toilets at a Petronas petrol station in Malaysia. I thought ‘Refreshrooms’ would lead to something refreshingly new, but they are just standard male/female toilets.

Can anyone guess at the meaning of the symbols? Or is this a new technique to prevent spread of H1N1?

Come ’ed, soft lad

2009-09-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hi William

Great to hear from you.

My KL visit was brilliant: really informative, surprising and (most importantly) fun. Very different to life here in London, though our pavements can be obstacle courses too! I’m very much looking forward to my next trip out in a month or two. By then, I should have recovered from the slightly hair-raising experience navigating your roads.

Please do use the blog entry: I'm glad you liked it.

Very best, Matt

Discovered! A previously hidden linguistic link between the citizens of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and those of Liverpool, Merseyside.  Hell’s teeth, I hear you cry, what could possibly link the Mersey Estuary with the Klang Valley? Well, the answer lies in a small but significant quirk of language. Locals in both Liverpool and Kuala Lumpur have a tendency to use the word ‘lah’ at the end of a sentence.  Like me, older readers familiar with the big-in-the-80s Channel Four soap Brookside will remember Jimmy Corkhill frequently uttering phrases such as “Ar ay, lah”. And if, like me, you’ve ever attended a Coral, Shack or (whisper it) Cast gig, you’ll certainly have heard the phrase “This is our new single, lah” slurred from the stage. However, the KL locals’ use of this little word came as something of a surprise during the 300million trip to Malaysia last week. We were in town to attend focus group workshops with new client Land Lease, and felt immediately at home thanks to the use of ‘Lah’ by our hosts. As an illustration of how commonly ‘Lah’ is used, the above shot was taken of an interactive display in KL’s science museum, urging the visitor to ‘Try, Lah!’. As one purpose of our trip was to immerse ourselves in Malaysian consumer culture, it was little observations like this that made the time we spent there extremely fascinating.  So, if blog readers have made similar linguistic discoveries on trips overseas (the use of “Ay up, me duck” in Ulaanbaatar perhaps, or an unexpected “Why aye man” in Bogotá), we’d love to hear from you, lah.

Posted by Matt Baxter, Mon 14th September 2009 at 11.48AM

http://www.300million.com/newsblog.php

Soil as a Medium of Expression

2009-09-29T03:17:00.000-07:00

Reﬂecting on an earlier blog entry Reading Our Soil by Ashish Deshpande, I remember Kimukatsu, a restaurant in Ebisu, Tokyo, which was shortlisted for the ﬁnal round of judging at the Design for Asia Awards 2006 in Hong Kong.

The designer used soil for the restaurant’s façade — a rare medium in today’s world of contemporary design. Acrylic plates were randomly inlaid on a mortar wall and, placed on top of each plate was a layer of 0.5 mm soil, mixed with seaweed and straw.

The façade of the restaurant changes naturally with time and weather. During daytime, it looks like a normal clay wall, but inside the restaurant, the walls alight whenever sunlight pierces through the holes. At night, the exterior of the restaurant glows, lantern-like, radiating warm light from within. The effect is multiplied internally from each private dining room.

The design is a flawless union between the traditional Japanese plasterer technique (sakan) and modern design. Someone made a remark during the judging about the restaurant’s owner (or designer... I forgot who...) romping in different playgrounds in old Tokyo during his childhood days, experiencing in a very intimate manner the many textures of soil in the city.

Kimukatsu heightens people’s awareness of their surroundings and their roots. Seems to me that as society advances, its people, lifted by new knowledge and technologies, walk with their feet not touching the ground anymore.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kimukatsu was a Grand Winner of the Design for Asia Award 2006

Company: Integration Co, Ltd, Japan

Design Firm: Hironaka Ogawa & Associates

Designer: Hironaka Ogawa

www.dfaaward.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. The restaurant serves tonkatsu, which is a classic example of yoshoku, or western cuisine that Japanese have interpreted in a unique way and made their own. My own abused tongue reports that Yoshoku Pizza — at least the one offered to me in Nagoya — tastes really strange.

Kimukatsu is well known for its pork cutlets. A recent google search reveals that, despite the recent financial turmoil and the demise of many beloved dining establishments in Esibu, there’s always a queue of people outside the restaurant.

tDA AsiaMeets Kuala Lumpur – Event Identity

2009-09-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

The two images used for the event came from the covers of a novel and a recipe book from the early ’50s. They express our collective expectations, joy and the pain of modernisation.

Primary image

Translated from Jawi, a writing system used in Malaysia based on the Arabic script.

Harun Amin Al Rashid

presents

Seeing the Light (Vision).

‘The chronology of the story is presented in a new way. Questions of the economy and the old Malay life is spoken of clearly; sadness, regret, awakening, are the feelings one gets upon reading this story.

Read this when you are calm and at peace with yourself, do not read this story when your mind is distracted or nervous.”

---------------------------

Original Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) text

Harun Amin Al Rashid

menghidangkan

Melihat Terang

‘Jalan ceritanya cara baharu kupasan soal ekonomi dan masyarakat Melayu lama berterang-terang, sedih, insaf, sedar bermain di watak ketika selesai membaca ceritanya naik, gara-gara untuk membelanya, datang runsing nasib yang terlepas.

Hendaklah baca ketika untuk tenang dan tenteram. Jangan baca ketika fikiran kusut dan cemas.’

Secondary Image

A delightful, sophisticated composition of elements expressing tradition and modernity. Cover of a recipe book published in 1953 entitled Hidangan Wanita Sekarang (Modern Woman’s Dishes).

tDA AsiaMeets Kuala Lumpur 2009

2009-09-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

The Design Alliance AsiaMeets Kuala Lumpur

10 August 2009 • Royal Selangor Visitor Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Asia’s top designers from ten countries across the region met in Kuala Lumpur to give a series of presentations on new developments in design, emerging lifestyle trends, or landmark projects in their respective countries.

This region-wide exchange of ideas, called AsiaMeets, aimed to give the audience a sense of how Asia is evolving in relation to the design world.

The presenters are partners of The Design Alliance (tDA), a collaborative network of prominent Asian designers. The Alliance was founded in 2000 and currently has 11 representatives, hailing from China/Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Lebanon/Netherlands, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

At AsiaMeets Kuala Lumpur, tDA partners shared information and insights with organisations and individuals from the Malaysian creative industries. The objective was to promote effective, thoughtful design that not only enhances a nation’s competitive edge but more importantly, improves the lives of its communities.

Though the presentations at AsiaMeets Kuala Lumpur clearly showed different stages of development among the Asian countries, many issues are common and relevant to each country.

The large young populations of Vietnam and Laos look optimistically to a comfortable future defined by a popular notion called “modern lifestyle”. It remains invariably consumerist in approach. Praseuth Banchongphakdy and Saengkeo Touttavong of tDA Laos cautioned that rapid development may end up destroying much of the local heritage, a thought expanded on by Subrata Bhowmick of tDA India who believes that we don’t have to solve all our problems the Western way.

Ashwini Deshpande and Partho Guha, both from tDA India, questioned why the world had suddenly awaken to a fervent interest in India when the country has been in existence for thousands of years. The answer is most likely because India is on the threshold of becoming one of the world’s biggest middle-class consumer market, with a growing population that will soon overtake that of China.

Irvan Noe’man of tDA Indonesia presented the case-study of Bandung as an officially designated ‘Creative City’, re-igniting the creative communities and helping them to forge a new relationship with the city’s residents. William Harald-Wong of tDA Malaysia showcased Nusajaya, the new regional city in Johor, adjacent to Singapore. Many new Asian cities and integrated townships are now being planned and developed all over the region, raising questions as to what constitutes ‘a modern Asian city’, as well as issues of sustainability.

Freeman Lau of tDA Hong Kong / China revealed China’s astounding ambition and urgency to become the world’s most powerful economy through its concept of ‘independent innovation’ and the establishment of three world-class design clusters; Beijing-Tianjin, Shanghai and Shenzen.

Design and culture are often intertwined and the natural environment of each country is the root of its culture.

Saxone Woon of tDA Singapore dissected the semantics of the unique Peranakan (Straits Chinese) culture while Ingkarat Arunthammasak of tDA Thailand had the audience laughing aloud with images and snippets of video that captured the Thai people’s special brand of humour reflecting their collective creative imagination and unique outlook on life.

Tarek Atrissi of tDA Lebanon / Netherlands discussed the twin aspects of tradition and modernity in the Middle East and gave us a glimpse of the eternal beauty of Arabic typography and aesthetics.

Ahn Sang-soo of tDA South Korea, a popular figure in his homeland because of his pioneering work in the re-design of the Korean written script, presented an elegant solution to the design of school text-books. This is an area generally overlooked by prominent designers even though the work is far-reaching as text-books also impart significant cultural and historical knowledge to young minds.

Each tDA presentation at AsiaMeets Kuala Lumpur provided some answers to what Asian design is. Taken together, they add to the now extensive body of research, knowledge and case-studies that provide a convincing argument that good, thoughtful design is a vital component in business success, as well as for a sustainable, higher quality of life for all; for Asia, and for the World.

Culture is change

2009-08-25T03:09:00.000-07:00

East wants to become rich, higher GDP, material affluence, see aspiration dream and live it, accumulate, live beyond means, become self-centered, stress up, get aggressive, get speed … because that is development.

West is slowing down, thinking green, co existence with nature, cultural & economic tolerance, frugality, inner peace, love … because … (I am not sure).

We all are re aligning our collective goals, changing our cultural fabric and morphing fast into something we do not understand.

That’s exciting!

Reading our soil

2009-08-25T02:55:00.000-07:00

One of the sights that always tickles me, whenever I travel across the Indian landscape is the presentation of the soil. The brown from the himalayan front gives way to a patchy, pale and dusty version in the western parts of India. The dark black soil in the central districts of Maharashtra turns red as you slip into Goa and Karnataka. The texture changes, the smell changes and even the pebbles, dirt that mix into the soil are so different. The soil acts as the backdrop against which stands the entire cultural framework which gets a different meaning everytime it gets proped against the backdrop of the soil.
The soil changes the air which flows over, the nature of water that flows through, the kind of plant, animal life that grows and hence the nature of human who grow on this soil. A reason why humans show regional flavors and preferences, subtle nuances, changes in habits, looks and language.
The idioms change as you cross over a few hundred kilometers and so does its reresentation and use. One sees a seamless evolution of the language through scripts, changing so subtly and its use in day to day life. Are'nt scripts mirroring the very soil they were sown ?
Or rather they should, when one sees the myriad of computer friendly fonts that crop up every day.Is technology isolating us from the soil that held us from generations or is it our inability to bridge the gap ?
Reading a culture through a script is no different than holding a hand ful of soil and sensing the years of wisdom, history and life that has been held within.