Photos from Yi Zhongtian Lecture
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April 29, 2007
April 20, 2007
War Photographer: James Nachtwey at UN
“The Sacrifice” runs through April 24 at 401 Projects, 401 West Street, at Charles Street, West Village, (212) 633-6202. “World Free of TB” runs through April 27 in the visitors’ lobby of the United Nations, First Avenue at 46th Street, Manhattan, (212) 963-0089.
China Institute Renwen Lectures: Yi Zhongtian -- "Three Kingdoms"
School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University
Room: 417 IAB
420 West 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
Apr. 28 2007
時間：下午1：00——3：00
題目：探秘中國漢字
演講人：趙世民
時間：下午3：30——5：30
題目：中國歷史縱橫談
演講人：易中天
The Renwen Society at China Institute is presenting a special program of two lectures in the afternoon of Saturday, April 28 at Columbia University by two star speakers from CCTV's popular Lecture Forum (Bai Jia Jiangtan): Profs. Yi Zhongtian of Xiamen University and Zhao Shimin of Central Conservatory of Music. This event is in collaboration with the Asian Cultural Center with the Asian-Pacific Development Society at Columbia University as the cosponsor.
Prof. Yi Zhongtian is a household name in China. With his wit, humor and unique way of delivery, he mesmerized the nation and millions of viewers with his lecture series on Chinese history. For the last two years, he has been named the Number One Cultural Figure of China and his books on the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms have been on the top of the best-sellers' list in China. In his lecture on April 28 from 3:30 to 5:30, he will be presenting a panoramic view of the Chinese history.
Prof. Yi Zhongtian's lecture will be preceded by one by Prof. Zhao Shimin. Prof. Zhao is an expert on Chinese characters. In his lecture from 1 to 3 pm, he will discuss the intricacies of the Chinese characters and reveal the embedded meanings of the Chinese characters.
April 19, 2007
TIE XI QU: WEST OF TRACKS
Opens today in Manhattan.
Written (in Mandarin, with English subtitles) and directed by Wang Bing; director of photography, Mr. Wang; edited by Mr. Wang and Adam Kerby; sound engineer, Lin Xudong; produced by Zhu Zhu; released by Ad Vitam Distribution. At the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, at Second Street, East Village. Running time for Part 1, “Rust”: 240 minutes. Running time for Part 2, “Remnants”: 175 minutes. Running time for Part 3, “Rails”: 130 minutes. This film is not rated.
From NYTimes:
Casualties of China’s Transformed Economy
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: April 18, 2007
Bracketed by stunning long shots taken from the front of a moving freight train, Wang Bing’s epic, three-part documentary, “Tie Xi Qu: West of Tracks,” is an astonishingly intimate record of China’s painful transition from state-run industry to a free market. Filming between 1999 and 2001, Mr. Wang and his sound engineer, Lin Xudong, painstakingly document the death throes of the Tie Xi industrial district in the city of Shenyang, in northeast China, a once-vibrant symbol of a thriving socialist economy. As factories close and workers lose not only their jobs but also their homes and social networks, the filmmakers patiently observe the end of an era and the fortitude of those left floundering in its wake.
In Part 1, “Rust,” we enter the decaying, state-owned factories where the few remaining workers toil in an inferno of smelting furnaces and particulate matter so dense they can barely see. Some are receiving medical treatment for lead poisoning, and most have not been paid in months. Using only natural sound and a fly-on-the-wall camera, Mr. Wang listens to their break-room worries about impending layoffs and disappearing pensions, catching the smoke from their cigarettes as it mingles with furnace gases and countless unidentifiable emissions. Filled with obsolete equipment and stagnating pools of toxic waste, these hazardous spaces of the factory floor project a forlorn beauty as poignant as the lives they shelter.
For the second segment, “Remnants,” the film moves to the cheerily named neighborhood of Rainbow Row to observe a group of teenagers and their families as they cope with imminent displacement. Scheduled for demolition, their factory-owned community of dilapidated shacks and rundown markets will be gone in a few months, and government compensation and relocation are uncertain. As walls crumble around them and utilities are cut off, a valiant few cling to the only home they have ever known, “remnants” in the eyes of a system that no longer needs them.
Narrowing his focus from a stricken community to one small family, Mr. Wang uses his third and most heartbreaking segment, “Rails,” to tell the story of Du Xiyun and his teenage son Du Yang. Unemployed scavengers whose survival depends on the old freight railway that transports raw materials to the factories, One-Eyed Du, as he’s affectionately called by the railway workers, steals scraps of coal and anything else he can sell. “I have connections,” he asserts pitifully, explaining how until now he has avoided jail — a streak of luck that will finally run out and precipitate the film’s most devastatingly raw sequence. “There aren’t many people who’d be willing to live the way we do,” he says matter of factly, and it’s hard to disagree.
Capturing moments both large and small — a blast-furnace “mishap,” a plaintive song on the radio asking “Baby, aren’t you tired of this yet?” — this profoundly empathetic and humanist work bears witness to a vanished way of life and the real cost of progress. “Get this place on film now, because it won’t be around much longer,” advises one of Mr. Wang’s stoic factory workers. Luckily for us, he did.
April 18, 2007
Sotheby's Auction: "Photographs"
Includes Photographs from:
Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Weegee, Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, Sally Mann, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and etc (you name it!!!)
Exhibition:
Thursday, 19 Apr 07, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday, 20 Apr 07, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday, 21 Apr 07, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday, 22 Apr 07, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Monday, 23 Apr 07, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday, 24 Apr 07, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday, 25 Apr 07, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Auction:
Session 1: Thursday, 26 Apr 07, 2:00 PM
This photo is from Iva's friend BOB SEIDEMANN.
a group of 302 photographs, including 94 Portraits of Seminal Figures in 20th-Century Aviation History, including Renowned Aviators, Designers, Engineers, Test Pilots, Inventors, Military Heroes, Cosmonauts, and Many Others, 75 SIGNED BY THE SITTER in ink on the image and of these, 61 also SIGNED BY THE SITTER in pencil on the reverse; and 208 Studies of Airplanes, Airplanes in Flight, Airplane Manufacturing, Airplane Graveyards, Views from the Air, and more; each signed, dated, annotated, and numbered '4/10' by the photographer in pencil and with his copyright stamp on the reverse, 1986-97, one photograph taken in 2000. Folio, in 3 matching clamshell boxes, the Portraits Signed by the Sitter no. 4 in an edition of 10, the Other Portraits and Studies no. 4 in an edition of 20, plus an edition of 3 artist's proofs (302 photographs in 3 boxes)
This remarkable project to document the 20th-century airplane and its creators began with Bob Seidemann's interest in abandoned hulks of airplanes in the California desert. Photographs of these abandoned flying machines led to photographs of aircraft in flight and ultimately to portraits of aviation designers and pilots.
What began as a casual project turned into an obsession, as Seidemann tracked down and persuaded the giants of aviation to pose for his camera, from World War II hero General James A. Doolittle to Douglas Daunless dive-bomber designer Ed Heinemann; from General Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier, to Sabura Sakai, the Japanese World War II ace; from Joseph 'Joe' Sutter, father of the 747, to the three great Russian aircraft designers of World War II, Radyi Papcovsky, Valery A. Borough, and Victor N. Semenov. Seventy-five of these portraits have been signed by the sitter at least once, and most twice. As whole generations of these pioneers pass on, the original signed portraits will become impossible to duplicate.
Bob Seidemann has written, 'The concept for this work sprang from the notion that the airplane is a quintessential manifestation of our humanness, tool-making. They are an ancient primal dream made real, to fly. The essence of the original desire to fly was, I believe, aesthetic. All subsequent uses of flying machines are by-products. I look upon the machines themselves as objects of art, a result of the creative process.
'This is not meant as dogma. It is simply one photographer's expression, a point of departure for a wonderful odyssey.'
A complete list of the portraits in this lot is available upon request. The photographer Bob Seidemann is perhaps best known for his photograph of a naked girl with a model airplane, titled by Seidemann Blind Faith, and used by Eric Clapton on the cover of the 1969 album of the same name.
April 15, 2007
Four Chinese Pagninis at Lincoln Center
Individually they are wonderful, together they are unbelievable! The most known member of four is Lu Siqing, features "Butterfly Love". Although I have listened to the music a thousand times, still amazed by the energy that Lu delivers. Feng Ning is probably the youngest, and I love his performance the best! Ms. Huang is very talented and come up the idea of a unique violin quartet.
Yan Chongnian (from Baijia Jiangtan)
Prof. Yan is a Professor and Expert in the History of Qing Dynasty. And he is especially good at giving lectures with interesting and easy-to-approach language, which features him on a very successful National Television Program "Baijia Jiangtan" in China, a truly national phenomenon.
April 13, 2007
Photos from Libena Rochova Fashion Show
April 09, 2007
Libena Rochova Join Fashion Show at Bohemian National Hall on April 12, 2007
Acclaimed Czech artist and fashion designer Libena Rochova, fresh on the heels of her triumphant New York debut this past winter as one of the featured designers in a showcase of talent from the Czech Republic, has created a limited edition set of haute couture dolls, which will be sold in a silent auction at a fashion show to benefit the UNICEF Project “Adopt a Doll, Save a Child.”
The fashion show and silent auction will take place on April 12, 2007 from 7 pm to 9 pm at the New York Bohemian National Hall, a landmark 1895 building at 321-325 East 73rd Street (between First and Second Avenues) that will be the new permanent home to the Czech consulate and the Czech Center, a non-profit organization sponsored by the Czech government to promote Czech culture in the United States. Approximately 300 people, including artists, high society doyennes, business people and members of the New York diplomatic and NGO communities will come together to participate in this one-of-a-kind charity art happening.
Libena Rochova, Czech-born fashion designer, has an outstanding career spanning more than 20 years. Well-known in Europe as a couturier, Rochova specializes in striking dramatic colors, unique fabrics, artistic cuts and lots of paper and glass. She has exclusive boutiques in Prague and Paris.
In addition to couture dressmaking, Libena works with many government institutions, not-for-profit organizations and corporate foundations on social and global issues. She is also a big advocate and voice of inspiration for young designers, and devotes nearly half of her time to helping them reach their goals.
Rochova has received numerous art and fashion awards, including Designer of the Season in the nationwide Fashion Fair Style contest, as well as several prestigious Outstanding Design awards. She was ranked as the #1 Czech Fashion Designer 2006.
April 07, 2007
Village Barbershop
April 06, 2007
Family Portraits
Loretta Lux, Isabella, 2001. Silver dye bleach print (Ilfochrome), mounted on aluminum, A.P. 2/3, edition of 7, 19 5/8 x 19 5/8 inches. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Purchased with funds contributed by the Photography Committee and the Harriett Ames Charitable Trust. 2004.79. © Loretta Lux
Featuring works drawn from the Guggenheim museum's permanent collection, Family Pictures explores the representation of families and children in contemporary photography and video. Since its inception in the mid-19th century, photography has always been used to represent the bonds of family, whether through portraiture or documents of important milestones like weddings. In these images, fleeting moments of childhood are captured and preserved, and the family unit is fixed for posterity.
Many contemporary artists create portraits of children—often their own—in works that expand on photography's vernacular tradition as well as the representation of youth in the history of art. Other artists look to harness the power of childhood memory in adult life through fictionalized renditions of past traumatic events; in order to plumb psychological truths, these artists portray a more revealing image of family dynamics and the emotional tone of childhood.
Family Pictures includes both documentary-style and more clearly staged or manipulated work by 16 artists: Janine Antoni, Patty Chang, Gregory Crewdson, Rineke Dijkstra, Nathalie Djurberg, Anna Gaskell, Nan Goldin, Loretta Lux, Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tracey Moffatt, Catherine Opie, Collier Schorr, Thomas Struth, Hellen van Meene, and Gillian Wearing. A version of this exhibition, accompanied by a catalogue, was presented at the Galleria Gottardo in Lugano, Switzerland in 2005; in New York, Family Pictures includes additional artists and recent acquisitions.
When Koudelka was giving a lecture at Aperture Foundation
We are playing with Sam's SX-70 and Speedgraph in Sino-TV's studio.
April 04, 2007
Book Signing: Josef Koudelka
The biggest lesson which we can learn from the photography is that from negative we made a positive. -- Koudelka
Josef Koudelka
Conversation and Book Signing
Thursday, April 05, 2007
7:00 p.m.
Free
Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555
One of the masters of twentieth-century photography, Czech-born Josef Koudelka has made a unique contribution to the language of photography with his eloquent and transformative images that stand outside time and place. Coinciding with the publication of his stunning new monograph Koudelka (Aperture, March 2007), Aperture Gallery is proud to host a rare intimate conversation between Koudelka, art critic and writer Vicki Goldberg, and an audience of fans. This is an unprecedented and unique opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the photography world’s living legends.
April 01, 2007
Prof. Woods come in Town
image/jpeg
B.E.st -willow