Arto Lindsay "untitled" (colored filters) 2013. Image courtesy South China Morning Post

They say Hong Kong is a cultural desert, a city that only welcomes commercial high-brow art. Though I don’t completely disagree, that cliche is slowly  disappearing and for a performance curator coming from New York’s vibrant art scene, it is exciting to break through new grounds. I wouldn’t have missed the chance to create a massive public art project– an Art Basel commission, for the launch of its inaugural edition in Hong Kong. When I was asked to produce such an event, it seemed just a perfect fit, perhaps even a dream project, as I’ve been an admirer of the progressiveness of its cultural programming (think Basel Miami’s Oceanfront Nights and Art Parcours), and an excuse for me to work with many talented artists and performers all at once.

Cedric Maridet at Art Basel Hong Kong

Cedric Maridet "Messages from the Outer World" 2013, with CU Choir (image courtesy Art Basel)

Nadim Abbas: Barricades 2013

Heague Yang "Sonicwears" 2013. Kung Chi Shing performing solo.

Angela Su "Une Charogne" 2013

Alice Ma Dance Group

Kung Chi Shing

Otomo Yoshihide

Shane Aspegren (Parade soundtrack compositions with Arto Lindsay)

Otomo Yoshihide (left), Filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and artist Ming Wong (right) courtesy Art Forum

Piet-Jan van Rossum with Paul Clipson (Photos by Louie Metzner)

Subtwine – Entwine’s speakeasy-like downstairs space that has hosted musical-artists-in-residence such as Toucan (as profiled in the New York Times), video art exhibitions curated by CoWorkers Projects— for a limited time is home to the West Village’s only ongoing experimental sound art event, KINEMATIC Thursdays. Presented by Yulia Topchiy of CoWorker Projects, Kinematic Thursdays is curated by Helen Homan Wu of Opalnest. This is such a unique series of events blending video art, experimental music and sound art that I asked Helen for a bit of the backstory.

Noveller

Heike Baranowsky 'Monfahrt' (courtesy of Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin)

Helen founded Opalnest to provide exposure for artists — artists who work with time-based media — that do not necessarily fit into the typical art gallery structure here in the U.S.  She explains that in European cities like Berlin, interdisciplinary contemporary art such as sound art is a robust, thriving genre regularly reviewed and written about by theorists in the same manner of the traditional fine art disciplines of painting or sculpture.

Gill Arno

Opalnest produces events both locally and internationally. Recent projects include satellite events for the New York Armory Show (including an event with Audio Visual Arts for Passing Stranger, an East Village “soundwalk” created Pejk Malinovski, narrated by Jim Jarmusch), a group exhibition of new media artists in Hong Kong, and an experimental sound art event in Mainland China. The daughter of a classical musician (father, flute) who spent her childhood on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Helen steeps herself in the worlds of contemporary (and often interdisciplinary) video and sound artists, frequenting gallery openings, music and sound performances at venues like Roulette,  Issue Project Room and The Kitchen, and regularly schedules in-person studio visits.

Paul Clipson

Why create this sound exploration showcase at Entwine? Helen thrives on mixing diverse artists and audiences, creating events that cross boundaries, offering innovative, of-the-moment art that engages, startles, delights and surprises. Helen also mentioned that as Subtwine is a somewhat under-the-radar spot (and literally, under Entwine) at the nexus of the West Village/Meatpacking District, it feels organic to the overall Kinematic experience.

JUNE 14 – JULY 19, 2012
7:30pm Thursdays
Subtwine @Entwine, 765 Washington Street

Check here for a complete schedule and links to the participating artists.

Loren Connors, Julien Langendorff, Jim Jarmusch, Hiraku Suzuki (photo: Louie Metzner. courtesy of Opalnest)

Hiraku Suzuki (photo: Louie Metzner)

Photo: Amy Mitten

Hiraku Suzuki (photo: Amy Mitten)

Loren Connors (photo: Amy Mitten)

Julien Langendorff (photo: Amy Mitten)

Hiraku Suzuki (photo: Amy Mitten)

(photo: Amy Mitten)

Helen Homan Wu (Opalnest), Jim Jarmusch, Jozef van Wissum (photo: Amy Mitten)

Printed Matter (photo: Amy Mitten)

Printed Matter (photo: Louie Metzner)

Loren Connors, Helen Homan Wu, Julien Langendorff, Hiraku Suzuki (photo: Amy Mitten)

All photos courtesy of Opalnest

Photo by Mikhail Iliatov

Next Tuesday, Sept. 21, I curated a one-night performance event to happen at the new multi-media culture space Culturefix, located close to the brim of the Lower East Side. The show entitled Happy Oasis is an interesting blend of Hi/Lo Fi instrumentals and electronics with live projections, featuring experimental noisician link (Thessia Machado), electronic composer Ezekiel Honig collaborating with visualist Joshue Ott (superDraw), and sound/visual artist Mikhail Iliatov. The percussionist Hyun Moraes opens the show with an intense shamanic beating of a taiko drum. I’m really curious to see performance artists Kristin Reger and Martha Moszczynski (part avant-garde, part punk) collaborating for the first time to do an entrancing act with attributes to Middle Eastern women. If you have an iPhone or iPad, please bring it for a real-time interactive audio/visual experience. Complete details at opalnest.com

Metal Rouge. Photo by Lemule Barbour

Matthew Mcauley. Photo by Carissa Pelleteri

When I arrived at White Slab Palace, a stripped down art space in the heart of the lower east side on Saturday night, I had little idea of what to expect. The event, Paradise Now! curated by Artcard’s own Helen Homan Wu, proved to be a cultural tour de force, combining the work of six musicians, three visual artists, and the improvisational poetic styling of poet/writer/DJ Anavelyse.

Sam Hamilton

Jack Kubizne

The performances were collaborative, technologically advanced, and for the most part exuded an aura of intuitiveness. Strewn along the bare walls of the ruff edged venue/art space was the expected array of pedals, wires, instruments and impressive looking amps. This made electronic musician Dalot’s performance all the more impactful. Seated calmly at a table, laptop at the ready, she was the rock in a sonic downpour of ethereal noise. The swirling, ebb and flow blended overhead with the accompaniment of Jack Kubizne’s inspired visuals. That the, shifting, pulsing, vibrating projections – which also accompanied most of the artists – in a real-time performance made them all the more impressive. I was reminded of Takeshi Murato’s carefully edited video pieces, and wondered at the mastery of this digital happening. New Zealand based Sam Hamilton’s dream-inducing electronic sounds, and awe inspiring self produced video piece seemed to reach out from across space and grab me by the face. Indeed, throughout his performance I felt as if I were being pulled head first into a mystic trance.

Dalot

Driphouse

Metal Rouge

Metal Rouge

Perhaps the most surprising performance of all was collaboration by saxophonist Matthew Mcauley and performance artist David Bernstein. Mcauley’s sounds were mesmerizing and shifted between contemplative, melancholic, and jarring. They accompanied a starkly lit performance by Bernstein, who in farmer’s overalls glided blithely through the room, in a graceful yet slapstick struggle to build a house of balsa wood and twine. What started as a constructive act, ended in struggle, as the ramshackle frame was manipulated to and fro, pulling its creator across the “stage”, ending as a collapsed assemblage of wood, twine and tape. Bernstein ends the piece gazing down at a pile of detritus, ultimately planting a “for sale” sign to walk away without a look back.

David Bernstein and Matthew Mcauley

Though more traditional in its medium and delivery than other performances in this showcase Mcauley and Bernstein’s collaboration symbolized what was great about “Paradise Now!.” What started for me as a night of lighthearted cultural dalliance revealed itself to be an experience of true discovery, and a credit to the latent emotional potential of performance as an art.

Photos: Carissa Pelleteri

Artists include KATJA LOHER, SOL KJØK, CHAW EI THIEN, CARISSA PELLETERI, KELLY STURHAHN, ALIONA YURTSEVICH

Outside the Invisible Dog it seemed like any normal quiet night, but stepping inside the huge space the atmosphere shifted. In front of me was a looming white ball with raw steel sticking out from all sides. I was totally amazed at how bare they kept the gallery space to accomodate this giant. It seemed almost sad, but after reading the touching story behind it, I can see how it fits in to the theme. The ant was created to symbolize the trains transporting Jews and other nazi victims to concentration camps, and was inspired by the poet Robert Desnos. I didn’t get to meet the artist Xavier Roux, who conceptualized the project, but ran into Lucien with congratulating words.

I liked the ant. I’m sure the children running around it enjoyed it even more. And the hat was a nice touch. My only wish is that they set the ant free when it gets warmer outside.

the ant head

the sculpture is at least 60 feet long

Helen Wu with the owner/gallery director Lucien Zayan