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SUN DRAGON HARDWARE

After sharing a studio wall in Beijing for years and watching this amazing work develop, we are looking forward to the opening of ACE Gallery's exhibition of Matt Hope's work: "Sun Dragon Hardware", Saturday July 11, 2015 7-9 PM, ACE GALLERY BEVERLY HILLS, 9430 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90212

#matthope

PrUtility Designs and Garments Collected from the Jiuxianqiao Market

The BASE 9.0 James Madison University group is producing "PrUtility Aprons" as hybrid apron/smocks for Bike/Night, Work/Meet and an All-in-One Jumpsuit. "PrUtility", coined by Evelyn Tickle, is a hybrid of Prissiness and Utility. Tiffany and Megan's All-in-One is modeled after the Mao Jacket and Rodchenko's Jumpsuit.

STUDIO VISIT and INTERVIEW with HE CHENGYAO

He Chengyao is part of the radical Chinese Performance Arts scene. She breaks through socially rehearsed boundaries: In Kiss, she invites visitors to suck a lolly with her, and the further they go, the more intimate the situation becomes … Auction of the Soul is a performance dating from 2006. In contrast to the days when He Chengyao offered her metre-long hair to the highest bidder back– an ambiguous gesture at a time when sales of contemporary Chinese artworks were booming – she has now decided to sell a different part of herself: her soul. He Chengyao is very controversial in China, her home country, especially for displaying her naked body in her early works. She believes that the differences and debates she has with this highly expressive society were inspired by her mother: ‘If I hadn’t had a mentally ill mother who used her madness to be free I might never have become an artist.’

ROBERT ADAMS Lectures at Tongji University and Shanghai Jiaotong University

Robert Adams presented the work of BASE 9.0 Beijing by the University of Michigan Taubman College Design Health Research Studio. The lecture was titled "We Have Serious Problems" and the opening image was a Baby Beast Animation still from Uterus Man.

ONE RIB

He Yunchang showed us the piece that started with the removal of one of his ribs. He then set his rib in a 24K gold housing and photographed all of the women in his life wearing it (with his mother above). He then passed around the piece of rib jewelry for all of us to touch and hold. The rib has become polished by the touch of many visitors.

He Yunchang : Touring Round Great Britain with a Rock

He showed us the photos from his 3,000 mile walk around Great Britain with a stone that he picked up, carried and then returned to its original location. The photos are stored in a .007 think stainless steel case.

He Yunchang with Zhang Fang

At 14:00 Zhang Fang come over to take us to He Yunchang’s studio for a visit and exchange. Zhang Fang spoke about his work and acted as an interpreter to translate as "A Chang" drifted in and out of the studio to get cigarettes, fidget, and then would speak a few words. He and Zhang Fang sat down and they spoke at some length about the history of his work and his background. The students asked some good questions about physical and psychological pain, which he addressed head-on and honestly. During his performances, he says it usually hurts to the point of nausea.

June 4, 2014 CAOCHANGDI

The day started at 5:00AM with pairs of white military helicopters circling over CCD, with a special emphasis on our area. They circled perpetually all day long into the evening. It was non-stop. A pair of white birds in perfect synchronicity scanning, grooming, and cultivating a state of exception on this exceptional day. I’ve noticed over the week a centenary posted at the Airport Sideway/CCD West intersection 24 hours a day. Always at least 2 uniforms with a jeep nearby.

INTERVIEW with Mr. ZHANG GUOQI BOOK COLLECTOR AND SELLER, PANJIAYUAN MARKET BEIJING

“I thought we would do the interview in the market, but he immediately led us on a 10 minute walk into a social housing compound where his book collection was located in the fallout shelter in the basement of one of the buildings. As soon as we met I knew he was an incredibly unique person….. The room had amazing energy. The first book he presented was originally by a Russian/Soviet author called The Tempering of Steel. The author was paralyzed by an injury during the war [which one?], and the narrative accounts for the struggles of being a disabled person. The book was translated into Chinese, and Mr. Zhang had a first edition 1946 copy. You could see it was one of his treasures…. I asked about the future, and what he would like to do with the collection. He wants to make a multi-media center so that people with disabilities could show their artworks, have a library / videotheque, and a creative space to collect their energies to generate more awareness in China around disability concerns.” Robert Adams with the U of M Taubman College Master of Science in Design and Health Students

BASE 9.0 2014 Visits the Studio of Wang Qingsong and Zhang Fang

"Like Dream of Migrants, (and also in another work Dormitory) (2005), I like to depict the pursuit of personal dreams and work opportunities in this big capital city of Beijing. In the Beijing Film Studios, we constructed inside the studio a “Dream of Migrants” structure, the height of a three-storey building. At first glance, this structure is like Chinese-style architecture. But upon a closer look, one finds it combines the former Soviet Union architecture as well as European architecture in addition to the Chinese traditional civil house making. We can see the past brilliance and the potential danger of this hybrid architecture. I also depict a dirty moist land in front of the building to make hints at the hardships of living in cities and fulfilling dreams. I tone down the colors to create a very disappointing scenario. The general feeling of this work will aim to reflect the inherent conflict the floating population experiences when their dreams are in conflict with reality. I insert various details so the viewers can discover from this photograph the array of unsettled and conflicting feelings of the migrant populations." Wang Qingsong

Fodder Factory

The way to end the day in Caochangdi Beijing.....dinner at Jason Zhao's Fodder Factory.

Eagison Studio and Gallery

A visit to Eagison's Studio and Gallery. His work is influenced by Scandinavian modernism and Cultural Revolution era official Chinese furniture.

Three Shadows Photography Centre

With Evelyn Tickle and Robert Adams, the James Madison University (JMU) and U. of Michigan Taubman College group visits the Three Shadows Photography Centre - the brainchild of Rong Rong and Inri with Ai Wewei as their architect - to see the stunning as always annual juried exhibition.

Traditional Chinese Pharmacy

With Robert Adams, the U. of Michigan Taubman College Master of Science in Design and Health (MS_DH) group visits a traditional Chinese pharmacy as a part of their ongoing research.

Wang Anda

The new and lovely addition to our BASE family!

The Grey Box BASE Studio Foot Framed

On a visit to the Beijing Planning Museum, the G-Box Studio is singled out from the vast model and aerial photograph that covers the floor of a large hall.

Film Screening of Stratum 1: The Visitors at BASE

One night, two men meet in an abandoned building and share memories of their past lives. They leave the building and roam into the night, wandering through a heavily textured landscape of ruins, and then find themselves returning back to the abandoned building, only to see that it has changed, collapsed, disappeared. With a visual approach that blends fictional and documentary elements, Cong Feng's Stratum 1 is a rumination on ruins and the trans-formative roles and space and place in Contemporary China.

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