ARTISTS TALKING

# 36 [8 September 2007]

Dr Liu, Chun-Xiang

The next day I had an appointment with Dr Liu, Chun-XIang, a colleague of Prof Liang, Ai-Ping’s. She is a cricket expert and listened to a number of my cricket recordings. Both she and Ai-Ping were reluctant to identifiy the creatures just by their singing, which is an interesting point. She has asked for an audio cd of them to take to some other colleagues to verify. I think this reluctance illustrates the absolute accuracy that scientists demand, and also, surprisingly perhaps, a comparative lack of interest in the songs these insects make. I am assuming that every species has a distinct song of course.

Like Ai-Ping, she was lovely to talk to and very generous with her time. She was very pleased I was so interested in her specialist area. She showed me photographs of a recent field trip she made to the western China – Xinjiang province. This is high land, 4000 metres above sea level, and she was exploring the Nalati grassland. The local people live in what look like yurts, those lovely circular structures, and Chun-Xiang stayed in one herself. She collects insects at night by suspending a large light from a free-standing ladder, and hanging a white sheet nearby. The insects are attracted to the light and tend to land on the white sheet. This is how she collects specimens for identification. During this trip she thinks she has found at least 4 new species.

# 35 [8 September 2007]

Shilihe Market

Returned to Shilihe for the insects again during Thursday afternoon. I thought the warmer time of day would bring more insect sellers and more singing from the insects – and yes, indeed it was the case. Sellers brought some huge bundles of cages of the guoguo'er [which is definitely the katydid Gampsocleis gratiosa, as confirmed by a cricket expert from the Institute of Zoology, Dr Liu Chun-Xiang, the next day]. The singing was deafening – an amazing sound – really too loud to do a decent recording. Though it is an incredible experience, it is better to record just a few, or one, insect at a time. My equipment could not effectively capture the surround sound or top volume nature of the experience. As you stand surrounded by the singing the experience becomes a physical vibration as your body resonates to the sound waves. Not unlike the experience beside one of the huge dub sound systems during the Notting Hill Carnival, where the sound is felt as much as heard. The insects are much higher in pitch though, with no bass element. I find it constantly surprising that such small creatures can produce such a loud sound – and these aren’t even cicadas, which are the loudest of all insects.

# 34 [4 September 2007]

Tourist Art

Have been having a few discussions about tourist art. As an artist visiting another country/culture it is very easy to fall into the trap of producing tourist art. The overwhelming experience can tempt you in this direction, but it is important to keep these responses private not public! I have seen this kind of work shown in galleries several times [not only in China but Australia as well] and it is very bland and superficial for local populations. While responding to the experience is important, having a solid direction and intent assists with avoiding this pitfall! [With any luck I am avoiding it myself…]

And

The ingenuity evident on every street corner is great. People adapt their vehicles [bicycles, beng beng, motorbikes etc] to the job required. The sense of community in Tuanjiehu Park continues to entice me to visit most warm evenings. Never have I experienced such a gentle and unthreatening feeling amongst so many people crowded into one place – it is lovely and addictive.

# 33 [4 September 2007]

Self-seeding plants

Have been doing some rough graphite rubbings of self-seeded plants in and around Beijing. It would be good to get some of these identified – some are offspring of huge ancient trees, while some are seeds on the wind landing and putting down roots where possible. It is quite likely many of these plants are classified as weeds here in Beijing, but one person’s weed is another person’s exotic plant. These plants will be fairly speedily removed during the vigorous sweeping that takes place across Beijing on a regular basis. These plants are another example of R-select species - R for Rapid. These species – animal, bacteria or plant – experience rapid growth, fast reproduction, short life, and tend to be undervalued by humans. The insects I have been looking at are also R-select species.

# 32 [31 August 2007]

I have learnt the value the Chinese place on luck and numbers/numerology at a basic level. I bought a SIM card the other day for 180 yuan, but it only had 50 yuan credit on it. I asked Kelly why, and she said I had chosen some very lucky numbers, which were 8696. So, I certainly learnt something there!

I am looking into the possibilities of exhibiting here. The reality of managing this before I leave is of course rather slim, but you never know. China Platform and the Long March seem to have spaces for experimental projects, so they could be an option.

I am now waiting for a call from my mother in London. We are 8 hours ahead in Beijing. I have not sorted out the phone card for international landline calls yet, so I wait at this end. As I wrote to my sister a few weeks ago, I have found it remarkably easy to settle in here. I have been planning this for some years and I suppose that makes a difference. Also the home sickness thing - well I often get that in Melbourne for London still, it does not get easier the longer I am in Melbourne, so I am no stranger to it. But here in Beijing, it sorts of breaks up the dual thing between London and Melbourne and seems easier in some ways...a neutral space you might say. Nice!

# 31 [29 August 2007]

More images from Shilihe

# 30 [29 August 2007]

Shilihe Market, cricket section

Wow, hit the singing insect jackpot today [Tues], which was great. Kelly, the Red Gate translator came with me to Shilihe Market [which I had not been able to find on my own] and here amongst the imitation Qing buildings were all the cricket sellers and buyers. All sizes of insects were for sale, in small what looked like adapted tins cans with lids. Groups of men gathered around them and poked at the creatures inside to hear their songs. One group of men were encouraging two crickets to fight. The paraphernalia associated with cricket rearing is really quite exquisite and detailed – I bought myself one clay cricket pot. There are what look like paint brushes with about 3 hairs at the end which are unceremoniously poked at the cricket to encourage a song. There is food plus tiny ceramic patterned food bowls to eat from – similar in size to doll’s house objects. I considered buying one, but their life span is 100 days, longer than I will be here in Beijing now. This is longer than they generally live for. The idea of having a pet cricket is to still hear their song during autumn and even early winter - a gesture that prolongs the sounds of summer. I must say that there is not much consideration of the need for leaves or soil or anything natural in these set-ups. Probably not much fun for the pet cricket. Kelly told me that in her opinion it is only ‘old Beijing men’ who are interested in these creatures, no one younger, and I don’t think it was the highlight of her week to go there with me! There were a few women selling the creatures, and also some younger men listening and buying.

The crickets I identified with Kelly's help were the qu qu – the dark coloured fighting crickets [Velarifictorus asperses], the guo guo – which are katydids and big [Gampsocleis gratiosa], and also the zhu ling – the bamboo bell [Oecanthus longicauda].

# 29 [29 August 2007]

Laurens had his opening at Imagine Gallery, Bei Gao, yesterday [Sunday]. Interesting, highly polished work that looks at toys and gaming and global influences on local culture. For this show, he has done some work in 3d software inspired by the Beng Beng, the illegal taxis here in Beijing that are peddled by the owner [some have motor power]. He has also been looking at local traditional toys, which are likely to be less popular these days as kids, here as everywhere, have so much choice now. While much of the work is presented as 2d digital imaging plus an animation, he has cast some of his Beng Beng interpretations in reality [based on the 3d manipulations] and is hoping to realise a life size functioning version in the future.

# 28 [25 August 2007]

Platform China, Caochangdi Village

Found my way to Platform China an art space in Caochangdi Village today. Rather difficult to find [which doesn’t surprise me anymore] – further NE than 798 towards Bei Gao. From four lane expressways to wandering down lanes with high grasses either side, you suddenly find yourself faced with a large and impressive contemporary art space [or two]. Chatted with Xian Lei, the project manager, who kindly showed me around the space. The show on at the moment is Xu Ruotao – abstract paintings, quite interesting – working with digital and manual techniques. Platform China is more of an institute, Lei told me, rather than just a gallery. This village is where the cutting edge spaces are now located, with 798 being rather commercial these days in contrast. I asked about different media and she said they are interested in other art forms, and have shown a lot of video in particular, and plan to set up a Chinese video art library. I asked about the apparent absence of women in the Chinese contemporary art scene, and she said that, yes of course there are many female artists but often their work is not up to standard or tends to be about gender issues, which can get repetitive. This isn’t a terribly good explanation I don’t think, but of course things do get lost in translation, so it can be hard to tell. So far, there does seem to be a lot of evidence of [a] painting being the preferred medium [the most commercial of media, of course, a tradition that the West may just have shaken off by now] and [b] the idea of the ‘male’ ‘genius’, which seems to have a considerable hold over things.

Lei was on her way to an opening at the 798 site of Platform China and invited me along. The show opening was ‘Water Division’ by Jin Shan, some video and photographic work [not painting!]. The work was interesting, experimental but narrative performance work and seemed to be considering the influence of the West on China via religion and various philosophical texts. The photographs were stills of the performance/s. Unfortunately the sound of the two videos noticeably interrupted each other, a faux pas when presenting any kind of work with sound.

# 27 [24 August 2007]

Today I spent a very interesting and rewarding morning with Professor Ai-Ping Liang, Vice Chair of the Division of Systematic & Evolutionary Zoology at the Institute of Zoology in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He kindly agreed to listen to my recordings and identify the insects singing. There were mainly instances of the common Beijing cicadas, ie Cryptotympana Atrata [Hei Za Chan in pinyin – noisy black cicada] and Platypleura Kaempferi [Hui Gu - dedicated cicada]. Ai-Ping emphasised that these were his rough translations of the Chinese. He is not entirely sure about the crickets, and his colleague, a cricket specialist, Liu Chun Xiang is currently on a field trip so he suggested returning soon to meet her. He also suggested returning to look at the insect collection they have on campus – I am interested in high resolution images of these insects as well. Ai-Ping mentioned MS Moulds, the Australian expert on cicadas, whose book I own and refer to frequently.

Ai-Ping offered to take me to lunch, which was very good, and then to take me to the Bird’s Nest and Ice Cube [or is it the Water Cube – anyway the Olympic stadiums]. I had asked about them as I knew the Institute of Zoology was fairly nearby. It is not easy access to the Olympic Park at the moment as it is basically a building site, but Ai-Ping talked to the guard on duty and in we went. Quite amazing to see these buildings, and pretty close up too. They look quite astounding and are a great feat of engineering and design, great. Again, the workers live on site amongst the heat and dust – though not in tents here but pre-fab units.