“Looking at the history of China over the past century, we see a society which has had its culture and politics changed and remade three or four times. Many of these changes have come with conflict and trauma for all the Chinese people. Connections with a long and proud past have been shaken and severed. [...]
Archives for posts tagged ‘China’
Yue Minjun
Sunday, 12 July 2009
In recent years, contemporary Chinese artists have rise to the main stage and are becoming critically acclaimed for the work they produce. I did not grow up in China, but having been through the tough Math/Science-focused curriculum typical of Asian education systems, I can say with confidence that artistic inclination is not recognised as such [...]
Opium War
Friday, 10 July 2009
At the beginning of the 18th century, five thousand opium chests a year were entering China; by 1838, that number had reached forty thousand. The fact that the import and use of opium was illegal in China meant it had to be bought with silver. The huge profits made from its sale gave rise to [...]
Stanley Wong
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
If you grew up in an Asian country, you will undoubtedly recognise the ubiquitous blue-red-white tarpaulin used in Stanley Wong’s redbluewhite - a collection of posters, photographs, artwork and installations centred around the material. Uprooted from my country of origin, this collection very much brought me back to those good old days when my grandmother [...]
Old/New
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
My education and upbringing were heavily steeped in tradition. I spent countless hours practicing chinese calligraphy, studied extensively classical Chinese, Malay and English, even learnt to play Guzheng along the way. So, it is hardly surprising that my design sensibilities and aesthetics are very much influenced by old world philosophies and ideas. How does meld [...]
Swedish Pavilion for Expo 2010
Sunday, 24 May 2009
The 2010 World Expo will be held in Shanghai between May 1 and October 31, 2010. The event is expected to attract 200 participating countries and organisations and around 70 million visitors. It is sure to be quite an event.
Sweden recently unveiled its design of the pavilion to be built for the Expo. The [...]