The boundaries of reality are the area of play…

 

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Chin-Chin Wu © 2006-2008

The exhibition contains 15 life-size photographs, sound files audible through headphones, one cabinet de curiosités, experimental videos, and the making-of film.

 

/le film 0307 avec ST1.flv

Making of - Femmes: Portraits Dé/Visagés

Camera: Linda

Editing: Jean-Marc Sanchez

 

Musician, psychoanalyst, graphic artist, police woman, professor of French, photographer, journalist, students in fine art, philosophy, literature… 15 women from different walks of life have accepted to pose for this series Vis-à-vis, a series in perpetual construction.

The exposure of the female genitalia implies an ontological vulnerability. Is this why it has remained as one of the last bastions of censorship in the field of representation? It seems to me that the female genitalia have suffered from the polar treatments of paternal protectionism, which excludes them from the social field, or male exploitation, which has demands perfectly “cultivated” and remolded vulvas. I wanted to see if there was a strategy that could neutralize traditional diametrical views of the female genitalia operating on these paradigms of attraction-repulsion. This series came into being in order to examine our capacity to look at the female genitalia as they really are, without resorting to a ready-made alibi.

Several axes of reflection were explored in this series:

Horizontality, verticality. I think this is the key axis of reflection when it comes to how to show the female genitalia. The vertical axis is considered the “noble” axis because it distinguishes us from all the quadrupeds. It is also the position that “condemns” the vagina to its invisibility. For this series, I have established a horizontal position of the body that aligns on the same horizon the face and the genitalia, the mouth and the vagina. At the same time, we have a sensation of verticality given that the frame is tight and that the frontal point of view forces us to “face” the picture.

Human, animal. If the vertical position renders us human, are the genitalia not the last vestiges of our animal nature? Simone de Beauvoir describes this ancient struggle of women between the propagation of the species and the desire for individuation and transcendence as such: “Woman’s individuality is constantly combated by the interest of the species; she appears possessed by strange forces… It is not without resistance that the woman lets the interest of the species settle in her body.”

Nature, Culture/Raw, Cooked (Lévi-Strauss). If nature condemns us to animality, the human species attempts by all means to erase traces of our animal nature: clothing, accessories, piercing, waxing, paranoia of body hair… The ultimate step would be to cultivate or “cook” our genitalia, supposedly the rawest part of our body.

Face, genitalia. The personification of the female genitalia is a very ancient theme (Baubô the mythical vulva). If we operate a 90° visual rotation of the photograph, we can see, by a visual contamination of sort, a face that superimposes on the structure of the genitalia. The face is often deemed the most human and the genitalia the most animal part of our being. This visual confusion destabilizes established hierarchies.

Baubô, the mythical vulva

Mouth, Vagina. In the essay “Mouth” by Georges Batailles, the mouth is a high place of individualization in human beings because it is capable of words, whereas in animal life, the mouth is understood as “the principle element in the system of capture, killing, and ingestion of preys where the anus is the point of accomplishment.” In these portraits of women, the “lips” of the genitalia are open and expressive, allowing them to ascend to the same status as the mouth.

Masculinity, femininity. The “faces” that we see superimposed on the structure of the genitalia convey very “masculine” traits. This questions the validity of the foundations that separate the masculine and the feminine.

Eroticism, academicism. The pelvis that one perceives as toppled over reminds us of the arched back that eroticizes the pose according to conventional erotic codes, whereas the frontal viewpoint neutralizes the images (a form of academicism since the Dusseldorf School). This provokes an instability in the reception of the photographs and leaves space for ambiguity and hesitation.

I invited my models to stay open to these tensions, fragilities, and paradoxes of existence that constitute us as women.

The following is an exchange of e-mails between me and my aunt, a Chinese-American living in Brooklyn, NY, following the reading of an article on Tibet called Tibet: Myth and Reality (author Foster Stockwell, article attached at the end of this post).

Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:29:41 -0400

Subject: some other history that I was told

Ge Ming:

The following is what Nie Fan told me.

In Tang Dynasty, Wencheng Gong Zhhu was sent to Tibet to get married, and that is a fact. But it doesn’t proof anything.

The last Czar of Russia, his wife was a German Princess. So, does it mean that Germany should belong to Russia, or Russia should belong to Germany? In the 19th century, the royal family of Denmark had four daughters, and they were all married to other royal families such as Russia, England and France. Elizabeth II, her husband Phillips was the Prince of Grace. You got the point?

This article (see the attached) admits that Beijing set up an administration control in Tibet no earlier than the Yuan Dynasty. Yuan Dynasty was merely part of the Mongol Empire which controlled not just China and Tibet, it also controlled part of India, part of Russia, and most of the Central Asian countries, like Kazakhstan. Like all empires, it prospered and died. When the Empire collapsed, every part of the Empire went back to their own way. At the same time, there was an Ottoman Empire and the capital was Istanbul. It was consisted of Iran, Iraq, part of Italy, Grace, Saudi Arabia. At that time, everybody bowed to Turkish. So, can anyone from Turkey today claim that Iran or Grace is theirs?

That is why when the Yuan Dynasty died and the Ming Dynasty came in power, the Han controlled Ming Dynasty completely cut off its relationship with Tibet. When Qing Dynasty came along, Tibet became an autonomic region of the Qing. The Qing Dynasty was an empire too. They divided their people into different classes according to their nationalities, just like what the Roman Empire did. So, Manchus were # 1, Mongols # 2, Tibetans # 3, the Hans ….  Again, when the Empired died, people went back to their own ways.

Why did Tibetans bow to the Qing Dynasty so willingly? Because Manchus, Mongols and the Tibetans all believed in the same branch of the Buddhism, which was called 黄教or 喇嘛教. The Hans believed in another branch of the Buddhism such as 禅宗。

Any thoughts?

guo yuming

Hi Yuming,

How are you?

Very interesting article! I need to sit down and read it.

I’m currently in Beijing. I think that the Chinese government is not known for being the most subtle or diplomatic; however, I believe that the main mistake that Westerners make is to support a religious leader (with all due respect to the Dalai Lama) because 1) the entire foundation of Western democracy since the French Revolution has been about the separation of the Church and the State, and Tibet under Dalai Lama’s rule was a feudal theocracy with a caste system closer to slavery/serfdom than to any notions of human rights, and 2) unfortunately, the Dalai Lama cannot speak for the recent riots and violence in Tibet, nor can he represent the radical sector of the separatist movements in Tibet, the ones who are causing problems currently.

How can we speak for human rights and support the Dalai Lama as a political leader when we know that kids are chosen and forced to go to monasteries at the age of 5 to 8 and sometimes raped by older monks? These kids will be forever left behind by modern civillization (religious freedom can only be practiced by people who have the judgment to choose for themselves, meaning when they become adults). This would be classified as a dangerous sect anywhere else in the West, and because the West has a romantic, almost nostalgic view of Tibet, this is somehow permitted and tolerated in Tibet, but at whose cost?

The violence and the way the Chinese government reacted to it will make Tibet a problem area for many decades to come I believe, just like the Basques in Spain, the Corsicans in France, the Palestinian conflict, The list is endless… It’s not about who’s right or wrong or who belongs to whom. I’m constantly amazed at the incredible incapacity of the human race to resolve problems and finding peaceful solutions to cohabit this planet instead of pointing fingers at each other. Perhaps violence and conflict are crucial components of life on this earth?

Hope you are well and say ‘hi’ to Fan Fan and Nie Nie!

xoxo, chin-chin

Foster Stockwell is a publishing consultant for Chinese publishers and authors. He is also the author of Religion in China Today (1993), A Sourcebook for Genealogical Research: Resources Alphabetically by Type and Location (2004), and A History of Information Storage and Retrieval (2001). He lives in Des Moines, Washington.

Tibet - Myth and Reality
by Foster Stockwell

Western concepts of Tibet embrace more myth than reality. The idea that Tibet is an oppressed nation composed of peaceful Buddhists who never did anyone any harm distorts history. In fact the belief that the Dalai Lama is the leader of world Buddhism rather than being just the leader of one sect among more than 1,700 ‘Living Buddhas’ of this unique Tibetan form of
the faith displays a parochial view of world religions.

The myth, of course, is an outgrowth of Tibet’s former inaccessibility, which has fostered illusions about this mysterious land in the midst of the Himalayan Mountains — illusions that have been skillfully promoted for political purposes by the Dalai Lama’s advocates. The myth will inevitably die, as all myths do, but until this happens, it would be wise to learn a few useful facts about this area of China.

First, Tibet has been a part of China ever since it was merged into that country in 1239, when the Mongols began creating the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). This was before Marco Polo reached China from Europe and more than two centuries before Columbus sailed to the New World. True, China’s hold on this area sometimes appeared somewhat loose, but neither the
Chinese nor many Tibetans have ever denied that Tibet has been a part of China from the Yuan Dynasty to this very day.

The early Tibetans evolved into a number of competing nomadic tribes and developed a religion known as Bon that was led by shamans who conducted rituals that involved the sacrifice of many animals and some humans. These tribes fought battles with each other for better grazing lands, battles in which they killed or made slaves of those they conquered. They roamed
far beyond the borders of Tibet into areas of China’s Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Qinghai. Eventually one of these tribes, the Tubo, became the most powerful and took control of all Tibet. (The name Tibet comes from Tubo.) During China’s Tang Dynasty (618-907), Emperor Taizong improved relations with the Tubo king, Songtsen Gampo, by giving
him one of his daughters, Princess Wenzheng, in marriage. The Tubos, in response to this cementing of relations, developed close fraternal ties with theTang court, and the two ruling powers regularly exchanged gifts.

The princess arrived in Tibet with an entourage of hundreds of servants, skilled craftspeople, and scribes. She was a Buddhist, as were all of the Tang emperors, and so Buddhism entered Tibet mainly through her influence, only to be suppressed later by resentful Bon shamans. Some years later another Tang princess was married to another Tubo king, again to cement
relations between the two rulers.

The fact that the Tibetans and the Chinese had united royal families and engaged actively in trade (Tibetan horses for tea of the Central Plain) didn’t mean an absence of conflict between them. Battles occasionally occurred between Tang and Tubo troops, mostly over territorial issues. At one point in the 750s, the Tubos, taking advantage of a rebellion against the Tangs by other armed groups in China, raced on horseback across China to enter the Tang capital of Chang’an. But, they couldn’t hold the city.

In 838, the Tubo king was assassinated by two pro-Bon ministers, and the Bon religion was re-established as the only acceptable religion in Tibet. Buddhists were widely persecuted and forced into hiding.

Trade between Tibet and the interior areas continued during the Five Dynasties (907-960) and the Song Dynasty (960-1279) that followed the collapse of the Tang, although relations between the two ruling powers were limited. During this time Buddhism revived in Tibet as a result of the Buddhists’ willingness to accommodate some Bon practices. The form of
Buddhism that resulted from this merging of the two religions was quite different from that of China and other countries in Southeast Asia, as well as from the form that had been practiced previously in Tibet.

Tibetan Buddhism, often called Lamaism, appealed to the Mongols, who conquered most of Russia, parts of Europe, and all of China under the leadership of Genghis Khan. The Mongols, like the Tibetans, were tribal herders who had a religion of animism similar to Bon.

When Kublai Khan, the first Yuan emperor, appointed administrators to Tibet, he elevated the head of the Tibetan Buddhist Sakya sect to the post of leader of all Buddhists in China, thus giving this monk greater power than any Buddhist had ever held before - and probably since. Needless to say, the appointment irritated the leaders of the other Buddhist sects in Tibet
and the much larger group of non-Tibetan Buddhists in China. But, they couldn’t do anything to counter the wishes of the emperor.

The Yuan Dynasty divided Tibet into a series of administrative areas and put these areas under the charge of an imperial preceptor. Furthermore, the Yuan court encouraged the growth of feudal estates in Tibet as a way to maintain control there.

When the Yuan Dynasty collapsed, it was replaced by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which wasn’t composed of persons of Mongolian heritage. Tibet then became splintered because the Ming court adopted a policy of granting hereditary titles to many nobles and a policy of divide and rule.

Although the Ming court conferred the honorific title of Desi (ruling lama) to the head of one of Tibet’s most powerful families, the Rinpung family, they also bestowed enough official titles to his subordinates to encourage separatist trends within the local Tibetan society. One of these titles was given to the head of the newly founded Gelugpa sect, better known as the Yellow sect. He later took on the title ‘Dalai Lama.’

Tibet During the Qing Dynasty

The next and last dynasty, the Qing, came to power in 1644 and lasted until 1911. At the time of its founding, the most prominent Tibetan religious and secular leaders were the fifth Dalai Lama, the fourth Panchen Lama, and Gushri Khan. They formed a delegation that arrived at the Chinese capital, Beijing, in 1652.

Before they returned to Tibet the following year, the emperor officially conferred upon Lozang Gyatso (the then Dalai Lama), the honorific title ‘The Dalai Lama, Buddha of Great Compassion in the West, Leader of the Buddhist Faith Beneath the Sky, Holder of the Vajra.’ (Dalai is Mongolian for ‘ocean’; lama is a Tibetan word that means ‘guru.’)

The fifth Dalai Lama pledged his allegiance to the Qing government and in return, received enough gold and silver to build 13 new monasteries of the Yellow sect in Tibet. All successive reincarnations of the Dalai Lama have been confirmed by the central government in China, and this has become a historical convention practiced to this very day.

A later Qing emperor suspected the intentions of the seventh Dalai Lama, so he increased the power of the Panchen Lama (also of the Yellow sect). In 1713 the Qing court granted the title ‘Panchen Erdeni’ to the fifth Panchen Lama, thus elevating him to a status similar to that given to the Dalai Lama (Panchen means ‘great scholar’ in Sanskrit, and Erdeni means ‘treasure’ in Manchu.)

The largest part of the Tibetan population (more than 90 percent) at that time was composed of serfs, who were treated harshly by the landlords and ruling monks. All monasteries had large tracts of land as well as a great number of serfs under their control. The ruling monks’ exploitation of these serfs was just as severe as that of the aristocratic landlords.

Serfs had no personal freedom from birth to death. They and their children were given freely as gifts or donations, sold or bartered for goods. They were, in fact, viewed by landlords as ‘livestock that can speak.’ As late as 1943, a high-ranking aristocrat named Tsemon Norbu Wangyal sold 100 serfs to a monk in the Drigung area for only four silver dollars per serf.

If serfs lost their ability to work, the lord confiscated all their property, including livestock and farm tools. If they ran away and subsequently were captured, half their personal belongings were given to the captors while the other half went to the lords for whom they worked. The runaways then were flogged or even condemned to death.

The lords used such inhuman tortures as gouging out eyes, cutting off feet or hands, pushing the condemned person over a cliff, drowning and beheading. Numerous rebellions occurred over the years against this harsh treatment, and in 1347 alone (the seventh year of Yuan Emperor Shundi’s reign), more than 200 serf rebellions occurred in Tibet.

Foreign Aggression
Foreign nations made numerous attempts to invade Tibet and take it away from China. These were repulsed by Chinese troops and Tibetan fighters. The first such invasion took place in 1337 when Mohammed Tugluk of Delhi (in what is now India) sent 100,000 troops into the Himalayan area.

During the second half of the 18th century, troops from the Kingdom of Nepal invaded Tibet twice in an attempt to expand Nepal’s territory.

During the 19th century, Britain competed with Russia in pouring large sums of money and many spies into a struggle to see which of the two might eventually occupy and control Tibet. When the British finally invaded Tibet, first in 1888 and again in 1903, the Russians were so involved in conflicts at home that they couldn’t stop the British troops from pushing all the way to Lhasa. And the Qing government, having recently lost the Opium War to the British, did nothing either.

The Tibetans, using spears, arrows, catapults and homemade guns, fought valiantly but to no avail against the invading British army and its big canons and machine guns. The British withdrew after imposing ‘peace’ terms and before the harsh winter began because they feared the Tibetan resistance would prevent supplies from getting through to the occupying troops, thereby causing them to starve to death.

The British signed a Convention with China in 1906, the second article of which stipulated that the British would no longer interfere with the administration of Tibet and that China had sovereignty over Tibet. But, they conveniently forgot the terms of this agreement when, the very next year, they signed a Convention with Russia that specified British ’special interests’ in Tibet. It would probably fill a book to detail the many ways the British from that point on tried to take over Tibet and make it a part of their colony of India.

Yet, something needs to be said about the conference held at Simla, India, in 1914. Conference participants included representatives of the new Nationalist government of China that had overthrown the Qing Dynasty just two years before, plus Tibetans, and British-Indians. The British had blackmailed the Chinese into attending by threatening to withdraw their recognition of the new nationalist government and by saying they would work out an agreement with the Tibetans alone if the Chinese didn’t participate.

The Simla Conference failed because the Chinese and the 13th Dalai Lama both opposed the British plan to divide Tibet into two parts (Inner and Outer Tibet). The conference, however, did produce one document that since has caused dissension — a map drawn by the British representative Arthur H. McMahon that never was shown to the Chinese, although it was revealed secretly to the Tibetan delegates.

McMahon’s map showed a new boundary line that included three districts of Tibet — Monyul, Loyul, and Lower Zayul — within the territory of British- India. This so-called ‘McMahon Line’ first became public 23 years later when it appeared in a printed set of British documents related to the conference and other diplomatic matters. The McMahon Line became the basis for India’s failed attempt to take over this part of Tibet in 1962. The British, who made a great show of their desire to have ‘independence for Tibet’ at the Simla Conference, in drawing this map were adding 90,000 square kilometers (an area three times the size of Belgium) from Tibet’s natural territory to their own Indian colony.

During and after World War II and shortly before Britain’s departure from India, the American Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S., the forerunner of the C.I.A.), operating under Cold War guidelines, joined the British Foreign Office as the instigator of the Tibetan ‘freedom movement.’

Much of what the O.S.S. did in Tibet remains hidden in secret files at C.I.A headquarters near Washington, D.C., but one of their plots has been widely reported. It involved a smear campaign launched against the regent who had been appointed to act for the young 14th Dalai Lama after the 13th Dalai died in 1933. The regent was hostile to U.S.-British intrigues in Tibet, so the O.S.S. spread rumors about his alleged incompetence and criminal activities. Eventually these charges led to the regent’s arrest and murder in a Tibetan prison. The 14th Dalai Lama’s father subsequently was poisoned because he was a friend and supporter of the regent.

Tibetan Buddhism
Before considering Tibet today, some words should be said about Tibetan Buddhism as a religion. The accommodations it made with Bon resulted in its becoming very different from other forms of Buddhism, particularly from the more common and much larger Chan Buddhism of China (called Zen in Japan). Images found in Tibetan Buddhist temples are much fiercer than those found in other Buddhist temples, and some Tibetan ceremonies that once used human skulls, human skin, and fresh human intestines clearly reflect the animistic elements of Bon.

Also, Tibetan Buddhists rely a great deal on prayer wheels, which most other Buddhists scorn. These are mechanical devices with prayers written on them that are constantly turned by water or wind so the forces of nature do the work of sending prayers to heaven.

The reincarnation of Living Buddhas, which is unique to this form of Buddhism, began as early as 1294 with the Karma Kagyu sect, a sub-sect of the Kagyu sect (known as the black hats). It then spread to all of Tibetan Buddhism’s other sects and monasteries, but it didn’t reach the Gelugpa sect (the one that includes the Dalai and Panchen Lama lines) until after 1419.

From the beginning, the system of selecting Living Buddhas was open to abuse because it was easy for clever members of the monk selection committee to manipulate the objects presented to potential child candidates in order to make sure a particular child was chosen. In the case of the fourth Dalai Lama, the child selected was the great-grandson of the Mongolian chief Altan Khan. He was chosen at a time when the Gelugpa sect badly needed the protection of the Altan Khan’s followers because the Gelugpa were being persecuted by the older Tibetan sects, who were jealous of the Yellow sect’s rapid growth.

Tibet Since 1949
In 1949, the Chinese Communists won the revolution and overthrew the Nationalist government. But they didn’t send their army into Tibet until October 1951, after they and Tibetan representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama and 10th Panchen Lama had signed an agreement to liberate Tibet peacefully. The Dalai Lama expressed his support for this 17-point agreement
in a telegraphed message to Chairman Mao on October 24, 1951. Three years later the Dalai and Panchen Lamas went together to Beijing to attend the first National People’s Congress at which the Dalai Lama was elected vice-chairman of the Standing Committee and the Panchen Lama was elected a member of that committee. After the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) entered Tibet, they took steps to protect the rights of the serfs but didn’t, at first, try to reorganize Tibetan society along socialist or democratic lines. Yet, the landlords and ruling monks knew that in time, their land would be redistributed, just as the landlords’ property in the rest of China had been confiscated and divided among the peasants.

The Tibetan landlords did all they could to frighten the serfs away from associating with the PLA. But, as the serfs increasingly ignored their landlords’ wishes and called on the Communists to eliminate the oppressive system of serfdom, some leaders of the ‘three great monasteries’ (Ganden, Sera, and Drepung) issued a statement, in the latter half of 1956, demanding the feudal system to be maintained. At this point, the PLA decided the time had come to confiscate the landlords’ property and redistribute it among the serfs. The landlords and top-level monks retaliated by announcing, in March 1959, the founding of a ‘Tibet Independent State,’ and about 7,000 of them assembled in Lhasa to stage a revolt. Included were more than 170
‘Khampa guerrillas’ who had been trained overseas by the O.S.S. and airdropped into Tibet, according to a former C.I.A. agent. The O.S.S. also gave them machine guns, mortars, rifles and ammunition.

The PLA put down the revolt in Lhasa within two days, capturing some 4,000 rebels. The rebellion had the support of the Dalai Lama, but not of the Panchen Lama. After it failed, the Dalai Lama, along with a group of rebel leaders, fled to India.

The most disruptive event of recent years was the ‘cultural revolution,’ which lasted from 1966 to 1976. It turned most of Tibet’s farm and herding areas into giant communes and closed or destroyed many monasteries and temples, just as it did elsewhere in China. At its end, the communes were disbanded and the temples and monasteries were repaired and reopened at government expense.

The idea that most Tibetans are unhappy about what has happened in Tibet and want independence from China is a product manufactured in the West and promoted by the dispossessed landlords who fled to India. Indeed, to believe it is true stretches logic to its breaking point. Who really can believe that a million former serfs - more than 90% of the population - are unhappy about having the shackles of serfdom removed? They now care for their own herds and farmland, marry whomever they wish without first getting their landlord’s permission, aren’t punished for disrespecting these same landlords, own their own homes, attend school, and have relatively modern hospitals, paved roads, airports and modern industries.

An objective measure of this progress is found in the population statistics. The Tibetan population has doubled since 1950, and the average Tibetan’s life span has risen from 36 years at that time to 65 years at present.

Of course some Tibetans are unhappy with their lot, but a little investigation soon shows that they are, for the most part, people from families who lost their landlord privileges. There is plenty of evidence that the former serfs tell a quite different story.

You will find some Tibetans who hate the Hans (the majority nationality of China) and some Hans who hate the Tibetans, a matter of ordinary ethnic prejudice - something any American should be able to understand. But, this doesn’t represent a desire for an independent Tibet any more than black- white hostilities in Washington, D.C., Detroit, or Boston represent a desire on the part of most African-Americans to form a separate nation.

Tibetan Culture Today
The final part of the Tibetan myth has to do with Tibetan culture, which the Dalai Lama’s supporters say has been crushed by ‘the Chinese takeover of Tibet.’ Culture is an area that requires great care because it is fraught with biases and self-fulfilling judgments. The growth of television in America, for example, is cited as killing American culture by some and as enhancing it by others.

Regarding the field of literature, prior to 1950 Tibetans could point with pride to only a few fine epics that had been passed down through the centuries. Now that serfs can become authors, many new writers are producing works of great quality; persons such as the poet Yedam Tsering  and the fiction writers Jampel Gyatso, Tashi Dawa, and Dondru Wangbum.

As for art, Tibet for centuries had produced nothing but repetitious religious designs for temples. Now there are many fine artists, such as Bama Tashi, who has been hailed in both France and Canada as a great modern artist who combines Tibetan religious themes with modern pastoral images.

Tibet now has more than 30 professional song and dance ensembles, Tibetan opera groups, and other theatrical troupes where none existed before 1950.

No, Tibetan culture is not dead; it is flourishing as never before.
END

Dear Friends and Family,

The Chinese magazine “Hope” (希望）just published an article on the female genitalia project in its March issue. I thought it would never make it with the hypersensitive attitude of the government with the coming of the Olympics, but here is the article.

When I was in India this past winter, a 22-year old freelance journalist called Riva contacted me from Shanghai about doing an article on the project. She had read about it on a well-visited art and culture blog in China (the blog continues sending me traffic until this day even though much of the message of the project is unfortunately distorted as censorship prevents people from viewing the video in China). She explained to me that the readership of Hope is mostly cosmopolitan, independent-minded young women, and could I please talk about my artistic intentions to China’s youth? I was equally intrigued. Besides being a freelance journalist, Riva is also a successful entrepreneur and owns her own boating magazine. She is truly the exemplification of what I find so incredibly exciting and refreshing about today’s China.

In the article, I talked about growing up in Communist China in the 80’s, migration and displacement, the Chinese diasporic experience, how I arrived at the idea of the project, difficulties that I encountered, reactions of the models and the public, recent fads in plastic surgery for the vulva and my experience working with plastic surgeons, my ideas of feminism and female fulfillment… She’s even run a small advert for interested models at the end of the article. For the Chinese-literate, all of this is obviously self-explanatory.

I am going to be in Shanghai from the 11th of April. The family has opened up a gallery on Changde Rd in the Jing An District, and we will have a stand at Art Shanghai. I am bringing some of my prints, many of which are not available online. I am also bringing two artists, one Czech, one French. And then of course I’ll be stopping by in Beijing where I hope to see many people I love and miss.

Then going to the Czech Republic to work on a group conceptual art project in situe in an arms factory, about 14 days in June.

And of course I’ll be appearing in Arles with Better World under the guise of Etranges Etrangers for the opening week in July. Look forward to some new VJ sequences at Cargo de la Nuit, the place where cool people congregate.

Thank you for reading until this far. I hope that this e-mail finds you joyful and in good health and that our paths will cross again soon!

Much love,
Chin-Chin

Work will not set you free. Education will not set you free. Money and status will not set you free. Your therapist will not set you free.

The only thing that you can do to realize that you ARE free is if you de-hypnotize yourself from believing that somebody/thing will set you free and begin breathing the freedom that you have been depriving yourself of.

You might just like it. If not, you can always return to holding your breath in.

Currently reading picture book: Red Light: Inside the Sex Industry By Sylvia Plachy Release date: June, 1996

Spirits call upon the living, the verticality of love leaves one breathless, heart soaring to a still. Happiness is a gifted smile, accepted and returned freely. Rite of spring washes everything anew, eases the strains of last year’s sorrows. Spring morning, rainfall, hips beating down the hard of the soil, moistened by the sowing season, fertile soil, everything obeying to nature’s rhythmic calls.

Another seemingly banal morning, birds gathering, farmers rising, you and I frolicking, Columbus preparing to sail off to the wrong shore…

© 2008 Post-Modern China Doll

Currently re-reading : The Golden Days (The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Volume 1) By Cao Xueqin Release date: 30 March, 1974

OK I finally finished the editing for my trip in India: Delhi - Agra - Varanasi - Sarnath - Bombay - Hampi - Goa -Cochin - Backwaters - Munnar. As trite as it sounds, a picture is sometimes worth a thousand words …

THE FRAME

The most important thing in art is The Frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively - because, without this humble appliance, you can’t know where The Art stops and The Real World begins.

You have to put a “box” around it because otherwise, what is that shit on the wall?

If John Cage, for instance, says, “I’m putting a contact microphone on my throat, and I’m going to drink carrot juice, and that’s my composition,” then his gurgling qualifies as his composition because he put a frame around it and said so. “Take it or leave it, I now will this to be music.” After that it’s a matter of taste. Without the frame-as-announced, it’s a guy swallowing carrot juice.

…

- Frank Zappa

LET’S ALL BE COMPOSERS

A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.

Want to be a composer? You don’t even have to be able to write it down. The stuff that gets written down is only a recipe, remember? - like the stuff in Ronnie Willimas’s MACHA book. If you can think design, you can execute design - it’s only a bunch of air molecules, who’s gonna check up on you?

Just Follow These Simple Instructions:

1) Declare your intention to create a “composition.”

2) Start a piece at some time.

3) Cause something to happen over a period of time (it doesn’t matter what happens in your “time hole” - we have critics to tell us whether it’s any good or not, so we won’t worry about that part).

4. End the piece at some time (or keep it going, telling the audience it is a “work in progress”).

5) Get a part-time job so you can continue to do stuff like this.

-Frank Zappa

I HATE it when people show up at my apartment uninvited. If I have invited Joe Blob, it does not mean that I have invited his secret girlfriend, roommate, or dog.

Whatever has happened to etiquettes? People should at least have the decency to pick up the phone and call me ahead of time to ask if it’s ok, so that I’d have the opportunity to tell them “no it’s not OK”! Unless of course if it is.

Even if it is, it’s still much more pleasant to get an advanced notice. That’s the way I conceive social interactions, and I was brought up in boarding schools - the most un-private of all places. So I don’t care for your excuses. Next time, I will only let in whoever is invited, period.

And that statement is categorical.

Currently reading : Orlan: The Narrative By Lorand Hegyi Release date: 01 January, 2008

Currently watching : Destricted [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ]

I got this because of Larry Clark’s new work “Impaled,” but the highlight of this set is really Marina Abramovic’s Balkan Erotic Epic - funny, wry, erotic, impeccable cinematography.

Unfortunately, for a group of films that is supposed to reflect on the intersect between art and pornography (what a brilliant idea!), I think it largely misses its mark, although again, Clark was the only one that managed to at least stay on topic in my opinion (I had hoped that he would push the envelope further). I guess I should have never expected to bridge the dichotomy brought on by the millennial separation between body and soul with an artsy-fartsy film project such as this.

My Milk and His Wine

Can anyone please explain to me why when you are freelance artist/independent worker, or even if part of your revenue is generated by regular income (from say a school), you always get your payment from 1 to 3 months (too) late? I just got my cheque in the mail from this musician (whose name I will omit here) with a New Year’s card and an excuse note, 5 months behind schedule! But when it comes to getting equipment for ourselves, or looking for payment solutions in say installments, or paying outstanding taxes, we don’t get any breaks!!

This is of course only one of the myriad ways we are victims of this “market economy” where it is always easier for people with capital to exert power over those who have no means of reclaiming their fair share. People with capital include institutions like schools (yes, teachers are exploited and students scammed and this is how schools squeeze a profit), the IRS, stores like Apple who uses different videoprojector cables for each laptop that they create, and each cable costs the obscene amount of 37 euros…

This is why I am so passionate about open source, free knowledge, pirated software, the universal plug, and legal means of finding loopholes in the tax system (ok you need an accounting degree for that ). I’d also like to hack into a G5!!

I am reading a photocopied version of Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I got it in India for 20 roupees only to realize that it was in fact entirely photocopied, complete with the “original” covers. Inspired by Andrew Carnegie, the book covers a lot of terrain in positive thinking and auto-suggestions. If it sounds like you’ve already read it, it’s because all the modern motivational literature (Anthony Robbins and whatnot) plagiarized from this book…

Currently reading : Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller–Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century By Napoleon Hill Release date: 18 August, 2005

Hailing from the most lavish monument built in the name of love. Wishing you a 2008 full of joy and light.

Namaste,
Chin-Chin

Currently reading :
The Upanishads (Penguin Classics)

By Anonymous
Release date: 30 November, 1965

It is 2:42 in the morning, and I am still wrapped up in last-minute packing, project writing, and general panic. I am still unsure if I’ll get my Indian visa in time for my departure Thursday morning - this is what happens when you parents give you birth in China, even when you hold an American passport…

Packing used to be utterly uncomplicated when I only had to worry about looking cool. Now I have to worry about what camera to take - cables, memory cards, iPod, laptop or no laptop, film or no film. Endless decisions, compromises, and headaches. Perhaps tomorrow when I wake up, I’ll opt for a good ol’ FM2 with a 50″ or a Rollei (you can’t afford to forget the lead bags for the films these days though). Still I think life will be easier without all the electronic appliances. I have become over-equipped and dependent on technology (sigh).

The only book I’m bringing is the Gita, with all the highlights. The entire book should be highlighted, btw:)

Currently reading : The Bhagavad Gita (Penguin Classics) By Anonymous Release date: 25 February, 2003

It is not the language but the speaker that we want to understand.

Veda Upanishad

I have noticed that between plans for the holiday season, end-of-the-year work and art obligations, I have been very absent on the blogging front. I have also been spending way too much time on Facebook planning my trip to India (why is everybody on Facebook these days?), so this is my occasion to say “hi.”

Here’s the itinerary stripped down to the bare essentials, with some further fine-tuning needed (Everything in bold is SET IN STONE!):

* * *

13 Dec, 23:00 Delhi, arrival at Gandhi International Terminal 2 (Air India 7148)

15 Dec - 22/23 Dec: Rajasthan: Udaipur, Jaisalmer, (Pushkar?), Jaipur (transit), Agra (Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri)…

22/23 Dec: overnight train from Agra to Varanasi (Benares, holy city on the Ganges).

23/24-29 Dec: days in Varanasi, day trip to Sarnath (Buddhist holy site)

29 Dec: overnight train to calcutta, fly to Goa

30 Dec - 2 Jan: Days on the beach

2 Jan: Jaie returns from Goa to Delhi, flight back to London.

3-7 Jan: either take the train to Hampi, Karnartika or follow Anita to Kerala (undecided!!)

3-4 (maybe 5) Jan: 48-hour drive through the Karnataka and Kerala coast to meet Anita’s mom in Cochin!

after: south India stuff - Anita, Sammi, Amanda, Ahmad and CC - the Lakshdveep (I think this may be too ambitious for me given the time frame).

7 Jan, fly from Cochin or Bangalore to Delhi

8 Jan, 1:20 Delhi, departure from Gandhi International Terminal 2 (Air India 7147)

8 Jan, 5:40 Paris, arrival at Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2E

Things I don’t want to miss:

- Meet a Vedic astrologer. Anita do you know a good one?
- I need to buy some Indian traditional music as well as meditation music. BTW, what are some gifts that Indian people appreciate?
-Good ayurvedic massages
-Meditation and yoga
- I need to buy some sculptures, preferably in wood or stone, silver jewlery…
- Many more things that I’m too tired to think of now…

Anyone been to India? Any good advice?

Am making a flyer now for an international medical congress that I’m going to be participating next Wednesday entitled, “Esthétique de la vulve: critique et techniques” (aesthetics of the vulva: critiques and techniques). Some 150 doctors and plastic surgeons around the world are going to be gathering together to discuss the ethical implications of plastic surgery on the vulva, a recent global phenomenon in vogue.

My short film on the female genitalia project will be screened at the end of the conference, and I hope to learn new things and meet people of interest for my research. I also got a stolen Powerpoint presentation of a renowned plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills called Dr. Matlock. His slogan? - “Medicine is business.” Dr. Matlock holds a M.D. as well as a MBA in medical business. The Powerpoint is hilariously engaging and unintentionally parodistic to the plastic spirit of Beverly Hills, THE mecca of cosmetic surgery in the world.

Report coming shortly on that front. I am also cleaning up my thesis for possible publication in France. That’s a lot of work before I leave for Delhi! And my head is full of India, and needlessly to say, of pussies .

Currently reading : The Birth of Tragedy and The Case of Wagner By Friedrich Nietzsche Release date: 12 April, 1967