“What Art can Do - Art & Climate Change”

4-10 pm | August 20th, 2022 | C*SPACE

Carbon Neutral is becoming our next issue at a time when our daily lives are not entirely liberated from the epidemic and the threat of war.

What can art do? What can artists do? What can I do? Thanks to the time and solitude brought about by the epidemic, two of my major projects have emerged from the very exchange of the epidemic, one being a book completed with Zeng Zhe, 'Another Place, Some Other Time'. The other project was a gift from my friend, the famous Chinese writer Mian Mian, of all the old data on her computer hard drive. One project is about accumulation, the other about disconnection.

Between these two polarised points, numerous friends in Berlin will be sharing what they are doing on this day, with presentations by Berlin Asian artists: Shen Han, Yu Linhan, Yu Peng and others; on participatory art: Zhang Ruo and Zeng Yilan; on games and social psychology explorations: curator Yang Jing's project; on music and live: Song Yuzhe & Witch ‘n‘ monk; on Li Zhenhua and Thomas Eller's new exhibition Preview; with Mountain and River Jump! : a unique drink concocted by Huangshan and Huanghe; spicy hotpot courtesy of Li Zhenhua; There are steamed dumplings and ice tea from Han Feng, Zhang Jin and Han Mu； and many mystery guests who will join us for a summer evening of music, poetry and art in action.

Last but not least, Enjoy the Silence by Sarah Duffy.

碳中和，正在成为我们下一个议题的时候，我们的日常并没有完全从疫情和战争威胁下得到解放。

艺术能做什么？艺术家能做什么？我能做什么？感谢疫情带来的时间和孤独，我有两个主要的项目正是在疫情的交流中产生的，一个是和曾喆女士完成的一本书「她时异地，荏苒在衣」。另一个项目，则是我的朋友，著名的中国女性作家棉棉送来的礼物，她的电脑硬盘中那些老旧的数据。一个项目是积累，一个项目是断舍离。

在这两个极化的点之间，有在柏林的众多朋友会在这一天分享她们的所作所为，有柏林亚裔艺术家的介绍：沈翰、于林汉、于朋等；有关于参与性艺术的：张弱与曾亦兰；有关于游戏和社会心理学探幽的：策展人杨静的项目；有音乐和现场：宋雨喆与Witch 'n' Monk；有李振华和Thomas Eller的新展预告；有山河跳！：黄山与黄河调制的独门饮品；有李振华提供的麻辣烫；有韩峰、张瑾、韩木的蒸饺、冰茶。还有很多神秘嘉宾，将与我们一起共度一个夏夜，在音乐、诗歌和艺术的行动中去远方。

最后，与Sarah Duffy一起“享受安静”。

Zeng Zhe: Another Place, Some Other Time
曾喆 「她时异地，荏苒在衣」

"How would one understand time, no matter where one is, and how would one who experienced 2020 understand, as in the lines of the Swedish poet Thomas Tranströmer, 'Memories Look at Me', what about the future? And what about the present, as in OBEY's graffiti on the streets of Berlin, 'How long is now?'"—— Li Zhenhua

“无论身在何处，对时间的理解，经历二零二零年的人，会怎样理解，如瑞典诗人托马斯诗句中“记忆看见我”，未来呢？而柏林街头OBEY的涂鸦‘现在是多久’，那么，现在呢？”——李振华

The roots of this performance lie in my fascination with the art of ventriloquism, particularly with ventriloquism’s beginnings away from its modern incarnation as a variety act that makes use of a dummy. Instead, i'm concerned with the practice of belly speaking, or speaking without movement of the lips, which extends far back throughout various religions and spiritual practices, chronicling the complex relationship humans have had with the voice over time.

Women were particularly associated with the practice at its beginnings. Like The Pythia, The Oracle at Delphi, many women who were engaged in spiritual and necromantic practices utilised illusion, cunning and trickery alongside the practice of belly speaking. Their bodies were seen as supernatural vessels, a view that obscured the fact that these women were employing their beings as powerful performative instruments.

Fascinated by the history of these lauded and yet often vilified female figures, I set out to learn this discipline for myself. Enjoy The Silence is a live ventriloquist performance of Depeche Mode's seminal song of the same name; a song that, despite its lyrical eloquence, attempts to persuade the listener of the violence and uselessness of words. It has been staged in a variety of different enviroments, including a former interrogation chamber, an old office block in Moscow (turned Art gallery)  and a five star hotel room.

www.sarahcduffy.co.uk

Heung Hoi（香海）: My plastic fantastic Shanghai
香海：My plastic fantastic Shanghai

Presented on a mobile phone in a 'resting place' in an exhibition or gathering place...

In the case of mobile phones, there is a notebook section, a collection of reading books, photos, videos, emails... The content is taken from one of my past hard drives, and the viewer can leave comments, some of which the viewer can also share through the phone...

以手机等方式呈现在展览或者聚集地的“休息处”…

以手机来说，有notebook的部分，有收藏阅读书的部分，有照片、视频、email这里内容都来自我的一个过去的硬盘资料，观者可以留言，其中有些内容观者也可以通过手机分享出去…

Concept

When we talk about Shanghai, what are we talking about?

I haven't been back to Shanghai for more than three years, and I haven't lived in another city. I've lived in Castel di Tora all these years, and my window faces Lake Turano, an artificial lake, and in Shanghai, we have artificial beaches. We used to have electronic music parties at the artificial beaches...

Castel di Tora is a miracle for Lazio and a miracle for me. It offers me a perfect reflective life... My plastic fantastic Shanghai presents, from a hard drive I brought out of Shanghai in a suitcase.

I tried to approach, repeat, and deepen my plastic fantastic Shanghai is like storing memories for artificial intelligence called “My plastic fantastic Shanghai” or preparing the atmosphere and details for a science fiction play with a high degree of the juxtaposition of multiple realities...

当我们在谈论上海的时候，我们在谈论什么？

我已经有三年多没有回上海了，我也没有住在其他城市，这些年我住在Castel di Tora，我的窗外对着Turano 湖，这是一个人工湖，在上海我们有人造沙滩，我们曾在人造沙滩开爬梯…

Castel di Tora是拉齐奥的奇迹，也是我的奇迹，它向我提供了一种完美的反思的生活…“My plastic fantastic Shanghai”呈现的，是来自我从上海带出来的行李箱里的一个硬盘，我试图接近、重复、深化“My plastic fantastic Shanghai”,就像在为一个叫“My plastic fantastic Shanghai”的人工智能储存记忆，也像是在为某部多重现实高度并置的科幻剧准备氛围与细节…

MIAN MIAN

Shanghai-born novelist , now living in Castel di Tora, Italy. Her books have been translated and published in 16 languages and her creative career includes contemporary art, film, electronic music and more, Mian Mian is one of the most important novelist and cultural producer in China in the last twenty years.

棉棉

出生于上海的小说作家，现居住在意大利的Castel di Tora 。她的书被翻译成16种语言出版，她的创意事业还包括当代艺术、电影、电子乐等等，棉棉是中国过去二十年中最重要的作家和文化制造者之一。

Han Feng learned to steam dumplings during the epidemic, a development in his handmade cooking since he moved to Berlin, an inner awareness of himself and a human connection to his homeland. Zhang Jin loves tea and tea ceremony, children's theatre and education. Han Mu enjoys Han Feng's steamed dumplings and occasionally collaborates with Zhang Jin in painting small objects. They will bring the happiest everyday moments from their families and share a glimpse of their life in Berlin.

韩锋在疫情中学会了蒸饺，这是他搬到柏林以来，自己手工和厨艺上的发展，是一种自我内在觉知，也是人和故乡的联系。张瑾喜欢喝茶、茶道，儿童剧场和教育。韩木喜欢吃韩峰的蒸饺，偶尔也与张瑾合作绘画小物件。她们将带来家庭中最日常的快乐瞬间，也会分享她们在柏林生活的点滴。

宋雨喆，大忘杠乐队主创，木推瓜乐队主创，风格涉及世界音乐/摇滚乐/现代交响及影视配乐.

“来自中国的有传统意识并能引发幻象的先锋,独立的音响艺术叙事，充满力量，出神入化，完全当代 !” 德国唱片评论家奖

Song Yuzhe, Founder and main composer of the Dawanggang Ensemble and the rock band Wood Pushing Melon, his style is distinct and unique, incorporating world music and rock. His compositions range from modern symphonies to soundtracks for film and beyond.

"Psychedelic Avantgarde rooted in traditions from China, sovereign sound-art stories, filled with strength, un-conformist, and very contemporary." —— Juergen Frey, Jury of the German Record Critics Awards

“dedicated to breaking down musical and cultural boundaries.
It brings together the past and the present, in the form of Asian folklore, sound art, Chinese opera and rock.”—— BBC

“má là tànɡ” Spicy Hot Pot
麻辣烫

Vegetarian, healthy, spicy, happy, eat as you wish. A way of cooking and eating is the way of everyday philosophy.

素食，健康，辛辣，快乐，随心所欲地吃。烹饪和饮食的方式是日常哲学的方式。

Our works are about our own lives. After moving to Berlin in 2017, through the local art practice of "Temporary Faith" in Berlin, "Windy House" in Lübz, and "Falling Flowers" in Terezín, Czech Republic, we are going to redefine our self-identity process. The result is not only healing for us but also an expression of the local participants. —— Zeng Yilan & Zhang Ruo August 08, 2022

我们的作品是关于自己的故事，2017移居柏林后，通过柏林街头《临时信仰》，小镇吕布兹《风房子》，捷克特雷津《落花流水》等一系列在地性的艺术实践，去重新确定自我身份过程，结果不仅是我们心灵上有所疗愈，也是发生地参与者彼时的表达。

曾亦兰&张弱 2022.8.8 柏林

Mountain River Jump! is an artist duo founded in 2016 by twin sisters Huang Shan and Huang He, who were born in 1985. The duo has a variety of creative formats in art, often applying “divination consulting” as a performance to examine the potential of such art medium, and to interact with the audience at the intrinsic level. With their studies into Oriental mysticism and folklore, the artists pry open the topics of identity politics, labor issues, feminism, life politics, modernity and others. They pay attention to the embodiment of mythological clues in a daily context, attempting to carry out “psychoanalysis” of reality and reflecting on the materialist culture of our times and its psychological status.

Huang Shan and Huang He presently work and live in Foshan, Guangdong. Currently, they attend an Applied Psychology post-graduate programme at Jinan University, Guangzhou while in 2008, Huang Shan received her B.F.A degree at Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts and Huang He received her B.F.A degree at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. The Recent participated projects of Mountain River Jump! include: the second part of We Do Not Dream Alone, Asia Society Triennial, New York, 2021; The Exhibition of Annual of Contemporary Art of China 2019, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen; More, More, More, Tank Shanghai; A Thunder and Eaglewood, Canton Gallery, Guangzhou. Their practice was introduced by ArtAsiaPacific issue 108, ArtForum online, etc. They are the artists of the 2022 residency programme, Pro Helvetia Shanghai, Swiss Arts Council.

I have always been committed to making 'fake-abstract' works because I can't make them up out of thin air. I'm not a romantic person. ——Yu Linhan

“我一直致力于做‘假抽象’作品，因为我无法凭空捏造，我不是一个浪漫的人。”——于林汉

“Feeling with every cell. Expressing with every stroke.” ——Shen Han

“用每一个细胞去感受，用每一笔去表达。”——沈翰

“What seems to be a ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ in moving images, is a reality depiction in focus, and a thoroughly elaborated approach of various visual languages, textures and perceptual psychology.” ——Li Tingwei

“在移动影像中看似荒谬的戏剧性其实是一种糅杂了视觉语言、质地和感知心理的现实描绘。”——李亭葳

Thomas Eller X Li Zhenhua
an introduction of the project

Ride a roller coaster through the ravines of your mind. — Meng Zhang

在大脑的沟壑中玩过山车。—— 张萌

Painting is a way of showing an unfinished chapter in a finished book. — Zhang Kaitong

绘画是一个可以呈现书本结束之后但未完成章节的途径。—— 张恺童

Initialize, work for everything to zero. — Zhang Ruo

初始化，为一切归零而工作。—— 张弱

Technology increasingly shapes our perception and embodied existence – painting has the ability to address posthumanist ideas on a very basic level, given its material nature and physical working process. — Ce Jian

I want to make a kind of painting which is calm, slow and dense. — Yuzheng Cheng

我希望我的绘画平静、缓慢而致密。—— 程昱峥

I like to wander through my work. I can create a world for myself and experience freedom and joy while wandering in this fantasy world. My sculptures are models of gigantic, unknown buildings as if they were not of earthly culture but the remains of an alien civilization. In my long rolls of paper, I can get lost in the mountains that appear like crystals. This sense of wandering comes from a very important tradition of Chinese painting, "游". This tradition is reflected in Chinese painting and poetry. I hope to inherit and develop this tradition through my artistic work. — Yu Peng