The boundaries of reality are the area of play…

I just returned from the cardiologist. Apparently, one of my valves has trouble opening completely. Nothing serious, but is this why I often leap to that space between two heartbeats and linger there? It’s how I choose to suspend time, distill the moment, condense the infinity of the present. One day, it will be within that space that I cross to the other side, that eternity between two familiar heartbeats.

When I lied silent on the table, the doctor said to me, “don’t move.” I still tilted my head to watch the tiny machine output my cardiogram, so intrigued was I by its ability to captures the heart’s most minute movements, in curves and hieroglyphs - the secret codes of my heart’s crimes.

The 29th is my 4th wedding anniversary. We went to a tiny restaurant along the canal for dinner. The cold war was declared over, all grievances forgotten. It was very romantic, maybe the most romantic ever. I’m never sure if we are lovers desperately trying to be best friends or best friends desperately trying to be lovers, maybe all of those things and everything in between. 8 years is a long time to be together and unsure. Now we are friends again.

The heart has its own reasons that the reason cannot comprehend…

Currently re-reading :

Symposium
By Plato

 

 

As the laureate of Mission Jeunes Artistes (Young Artists Mission), I am invited to meet the following professionals over a period of three days in Toulouse in September:

I was selected based on my female genitalia project - Vis-à-vis. I really had trouble finding a space to exhibit this work in Paris. I will be exhibiting it in Arles, along with other more recent work. I also have a ongoing book project with a German editor near Berlin. Does anybody have any advice?

Many thanks go to Franck Maindon, Claire Bras, Linda, Jean-Marc Sanchez, Didier de Faÿs, William Ropp, Maxime Lacolley, Pierre Marilly, Sandrine D., Natacha.., and all the models.

OK I finally got the statement for this project and am departing in the beginning/middle of June with my friend Will. The itinerary will be Paris- Nancy (to meet Will) - Prague (for printing and portfolio boxes, several openings) - Brno - Prague - Berlin (to meet Alex, my German publisher for the book project Vis-à-vis, on the female genitalia) - Nancy - Paris. Schedule problems aside, I am really excited:

STATEMENT

Projekt Derniera is the title of a conceptual art project to be realized in the arms factory Zbrojovka Brno. Ten well-known European photographers will be invited to all work in the same space, each realizing their own concept on the site. The Derniera project procedes from the following conceptual thesis:

The world is an aggregate of monologues, dialogues, and scenes. Each of us is an actor playing a role; sometimes better and sometimes worse, we act in different roles. The Zbrojovska Brno factory is a stage on which for almost a century thousands of people played their parts. This stage, however, did not withstand the storms of time: the actors left, the scenery was sold or stolen, but the site with its incontrovertible genius loci remained.

The Derniera Project is the last staged event that will be produced in this space; afterwards, the site will be demolished and completely revitalized.

The Derniera Project seeks to be the bridge connecting the era that was and the era that will be.

The curator of the Project and the developer investing in the revitalization have concluded that it is impossible to erase, without emotion, the significance of the former industrial site, connected as it is with the fates of a thousand people. Such revision is natural; each way out is an invitation to new retrospection and fresh contemplation.

The documentary value of the project will also be far from negligible, although this is not the project’s priority.

By his support of the project, the redevlopment investor has evinced his sympathetic concern for the fates of the people so closely bound up with this space and the memory of their time there.

The participants in the project are not bound by any conditions except the requirement that each project be realized on the site of the Zrojkova Brno factory.

The opening of the project will be an exhibition of the realized concepts — presumably large-format photographs. An industrial hall from the Zbrojovska site has been chosen as the first exhibition space.

The subsequent exhibitions are also envisioned as being held in untraditional venues — in sites either before or after their revitalization.

The results of the project will be summarized in an illustrated publication.

The results of the project may be used in the investor’s revitilization activities.

Notes toward realization

–Reknowned European artists will be invited to participate
–Leading European photography galleries will cooperate in choosing the participants.
–Participants in the first phase of the project will include, among others: Galerie Vrais Reves in Lyon and Galerie Baudelaire in Antwerp.
–The organizer and technical facilitator will be the Atelier Zidlický
–The curator of the project is Vladimír Židlický.
–The organizers will defray the cost of room and board and cover the costs of production for the participating artists.
–We envision that the individual artists will realize their projects in the course of a 10-14 day residence in Brno, during which time the workspace, supplies, technical facilities and personnel of the Atelier Zidlický will be at their disposal.
–The project will be realized in the summer (June-September) of 2008.
–The participating artists will give one realized work to the project’s sponsor as well as grant reproduction rights — by mutual agreement and to a reasonable extent — for the promotional needs of the project sponsors.

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

And here’s my reply:

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

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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.

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