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-- Main.dada - 08 May 2006

News from the Head Room #2

7 May -- 13 May 2006

* The head room project

*Schedule of the second week

*10 at stakes of urban design by Anu Leinonen

*Home Boxing Images

*Practicalities

The head room project

7 hosts -- with very different backgrounds except for the city they live in -- stage 7 interventions in a public space in the city. Through the use of a Head Room home box, a box covering their heads yet leaving their bodies visible, they invite one person for a face to face conversation.

This home box, designed by architect Stephane Derveaux, is not just a box, but a reproduction of the hosts’ favourite room in their own houses. The Head Room, from this perspective, balances on the edge between so called private and public space.

The hosts themselves -- an artist, a shopkeeper, a scholar, a worker a.o. -- decide who to invite. The conversations they engage in are no interviews. There are no specific questions that need to be answered. The home box rather addresses an invitation for the actual experience of being in the Head Room, its performative aspect, the feelings, personal approaches, and reflections it brings about.

The Head Room home boxes, the hosts and their conversations are brought back to the project’s base camp -- the Head Room of the project -- located at the platform China studio in the 798 factory. Every box adds another “room” to the installation that is being created as the interventions proceed.

The Head Room in 798 is open 24 hours a day, during the Dashanzi International Art festival, and serves as a laboratory, archive and platform for lectures, screenings, discussions and More information on the exact schedule follows in this, and other newsletters or can be found on www.bilderwerfer.com or www.diaf.org. Or write to headroom@theatreinmotion.org.

Schedule of the second week

SUN 7 May. 10 – 12 BODY WORKSHOP #3 Head Room base camp

Daniel Aschwanden, Peter Stamer and Beiing based choreographer Wan Su are heading at the body in his qualities as tissue, bones, muscles, and mind. Wan Su is a choreographer and teacher at the Beijing Dance Academy: “I am making my dances not with concepts or terms but with my eyes, my mind and my way.”

SUN 7 MAY . 13:00 – 21 SCREENING “Goodbye Reality – Hello Reality” compiled by Zhang Wenjing Head Room base camp

Young curator and arts student Zhang Wenjing was asked to invite young film makers to contribute to a full afternoon and night of screening of yet unreleased videos. Under the heading of “Goodbye, reality - Hello, reality”, he is assembling some young and fresh Chinese video films. The first part takes place between 1pm and 5.30 pm, after a little break, the second part of the screening will begin at 6pm until 9pm, under the presence of the directors. The public is welcome to intervene.

CS Kiang, dean of the faculty of environmental studies at the Beijing university, opened up his living room and let Bilderwerfer produce a personal home box that represents his home. Hosting the box, the professor invites whoever passes by into this model for a talk. Feel free to join in.

MON 8 MAY . 19:30 SCREENING Darwin’s Nightmare Directed by Hubert Sauper, Austria 2004 Head Room base camp

In the 1950s or 1960s, the Nile perch was released into the Lake Victoria. In just a few decades, the large, voracious predator has all but eliminated the other species of fish, turning the lake into an ecological wasteland. Under the presence of some members of the faculty of environmental studies, this evening explores the complex impact of globalization on global ecology and local social stability.

Shu Yang works as an internationally acclaimed curator and performer in the field of contemporary art. Having just moved to the suburbs of Beijing, he invited Bilderwerfer to take some photos of his office which are glued into his personal home box. He will host his home box near the Jiuxianqiaocun market and is open for any kind of talk.

TUES 9 MAY . 19:30 TALK/SCREENING On China’s Performance and Live Arts [Lecture by Shu Yang, intervened by Huang Rui] Head Room base camp

Shu Yang talks about the background, concepts, and motivations of contemporary Chinese art. The artist and director of DIAF, Huang Rui will intervene in his talk and instigate a dialogue.

For this third body workshop, Aschwanden and Stamer invite Brussels based choreographer Arco Renz to work on the relationship of body and movement. After a career as actor, Arco Renz studied contemporary dance at a.o. P.A.R.T.S. Brussels and founded his own company Kobalt Works. His works are characterized by intense physicality and investigate the emotional potential of abstraction.

WED 10 MAY . 18:00 – 19:00 STUDIO BOX INTERVENTION #1 [Bilderwerfer] Dashanzi District

Bilderwerfer/Daniel Aschwanden & Peter Stamer will host their studio box somewhere at 798 and invite anybody to come in and find out. The studio box is a model of the project’s base camp.

WED 10 MAY . 19:30 TALK/SCREENING Approaches to Urban Design [Anu Leinonen, Rory McGowan^?, Neville Mars, Hao Dong] Head Room base camp

China based architects Anu Leinonen (OMA), Rory McGowan^?, Neville Mars and Hao Dong gather to talk about mega cities, urbanism, city design, architecture and its consequences in and for the Chinese context.

Rory McGowan^?, director of international engineering company Arup’s Beijing office. Arup recently signed a contract with Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC) to develop an ecological city Dongtan near Shanghai. Neville Mars, founder of Dynamic City foundation DCF. The Dynamic City Foundation is an international research and design platform investigating the rapidly changing urban environment of China. Hao Dong, Hutong-born and US-educated project architect in Beijing Institute of Architecture and Design BIAD. Anu Leinonen, associate of Office for Metropolitan Architecture and project architect of CCTV headquarters in Beijing.

THURS 11 MAY . 15.00 – 18.00 HOME BOX INTERVENTION #3 Gwynn Guilford invites Near Starbucks at Ping’an dajie, Houhai

Gwynn Guilford is one of the editors of That’s Beijing, being responsible for the arts section of the magazine. Born in the States, she has just arrived in Beijing a couple of months ago and moved into an apartment of which she says: “My favourite room in here is my – bathroom.” If you want to find out why that is so, meet her near Starbucks at Houhai. She will for sure explain it to you.

THURS 11 MAY . 19:30 LECTURE In the Storm of China’s Industrialisation, Modernisation and Urbanisation [Changjiang Yu] Head Room base camp

How will the Chinese society get along with the challenges of the future being exposed to both fast economic and social changes? What do these civil alterations imply for the construction of „Chinese identity“ that is (re-)formed at the very moment?

Changjiang Yu is associate professor at the Institute of Sociology and Anthropology of the Peking University. His research ranges from urbanisation, folklore and ethnicity, tibet study, to sociology of art or cultural comparative study.

FRI 12 MAY . 18.00 – 19.00 STUDIO BOX INTERVENTION #2 Dashanzi District [Bilderwerfer]

Bilderwerfer/Daniel Aschwanden & Peter Stamer will host their studio box somewhere at 798 and invite anybody to come in and find out. The studio box is a model of the project’s base camp.

FRI 12 MAY . 19.30 TALK/SCREENING BAO #2 / EXPLODING CLICHES – A Discourse Party [BAO is Beatrice Leanza, Philip Tinari and Li Naihan] Head Room base camp

BAO is an integrated Beijing-based platform for curatorial, editorial and design production. During the Head Room project, BAO will organize three evenings, each starting from a different character rendered by the Pinyin syllable "bao."

BAO #2: Discourse party A Friday night cliché-based soirée, featuring an audio-visual backdrop, blending footage of trite monologues and dialogues with danceable beats.

SAT 13 MAY . 13:30 – 16.30 h HOME BOX INTERVENTION #4 Zhang Han invites Nanluoguxiang Hutong, close to the Drum Tower/Gulou, Dongcheng district

Zhang Han is an accountant and lives in a Beijing Hutong together with her family. After her studies in Dalian, she recently came back to Beijing, her home town, which she soon but will leave again. She says: “Dubai, Syria, or else in the world – Beijing is my home.” For the head room home box, she opened up her bed room and let Bilderwerfer produce a representation of it. Whoever passes by is invited into her box for a talk. Feel free to join in.

SAT 13 MAY . 19:30 FLASH BACK/SHOWING HOME BOX CINEMA TALK Head room base camp

After the second week of the head room project, it’s about time to reflect upon the premises, impacts, and assumptions that go alongside with these urban interventions. Let’s show some films that Bilderwerfer have taken during the interventions, see them, talk about them. There will also be some couples of drinks around.

10 at stakes of Urban Design To be discussed on Wed, 10 May in the head room

by Anu Leinonen

1. Who makes Urbanism? Why do we discuss it?

2. What is the old Chinese city? Is identity erasure as in generic city to be supported? Micro-urbanism a la FCJZ?

3. What is the contemporary Chinese city?

4. What are China's urban goals? What is the future of Chinese city? Mega cities and high speed urbanism? Eco-cities?

5. How does western urbanism influence Chinese planning? Does Chinese urbanism influence Europe?

6. Are buildings urbanism or architecture?

7. Is urbanism art or architecture? Social sciences or history?

8. What are we designing, spaces or politics?

9. For whom do you design, what is the image of citizen you start off from, which kind of human being is the point of reference?

10. What happens after Olympics?

Home Boxing

Practicalities

The Head Room base camp is located in the Platform China Studio in the Dashanzi Art District, also known as the 798 factory. The district is situated in the north of Beijing, Chaoyang District, Dashanzi region, Jiuxianqiao Road number 4, close to the Dashanzi Roundabout and the Lido Holiday Inn Hotel.

The Platform China studio can be found in front of the Cave Cafe, in the same building as the Beijing New Art Projects Art Space of the Gao Brothers, on the third floor.

The Head Room base camp is open 24 hours a day during the Dashanzi International Art Festival 2006 (DIAF 2006), from the 29th of April till the 21st of May 2006. All events are free of charge.

Check out the following newsletters, www.bilderwerfer.com and www.diaf.org or write to headroom@theatreinmotion.org if you want to know more about the Head Room home box interventions downtown.

Head Room is a project by Bilderwerfer/Daniel Aschwanden and Peter Stamer in collaboration with Stéphane Derveaux, Theatre in Motion/Els Silvrants and Platform China for DIAF 2006.

With contributions of Daniel Aschwanden, Peter Stamer, Stephane Derveaux, Els Silvrants, Qing Qing, Disen Cai, Shu Yang, Wu Wenguang, Phil Tinari, Beatrice Leanza, Li Naihan, Anu Leinonen, Wan Su, Arco Renz, Rory McGowan^?, Dong Hao, Neville Mars, Cao Kefei, Huan Rui, Ou Ning, Leng Lin, Georg Blume, Bérénice Angremy, Marrigje de Maar, Zhang Han, Gwynn Guilford, CS Kiang, Leon Lee Baoyan, Bao Jiang, Zhang Wenjin, Changjiang Yu and others.

Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum, City of Vienna, Bundeskanzleramt, That’s Beijing, Tanzquartier Wien. Thanks to offiCina, Phoenix, Jean Bernard Koeman, and Thinking Hands.