Скачать или смотреть Threads, Texture, Translation, Tactility 'Oriental Silk 鄉綢' Book Launch

"Oriental Silk 鄉綢" - Threads, Texture, Translation, Tactility
Digital Book Launch
Speakers: Xiaowen Zhu (Artist and Author), Nicky Harman (Translator), Michael Mason (Designer)
Moderated by Inka Gressel

Published by Hatje Cantz in 2020, Xiaowen Zhu's English-Chinese bilingual artist book 'Oriental Silk 鄉綢' is a memoir, a biography, a company history and a visual elegy . The Oriental Silk emporium, founded by Kenneth Wong's family in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, has become a productive place to reflect on the astonishing histories of Asian migration and to critique the idea of the American Dream. Through her multi-sensory works, Zhu opens up a multifaceted view of a firm that is distinguished, like its silk products, through its own haptics, style, colors, and values. The people, places, and stories that make up the phenomenon of Oriental Silk form a fascinating, vivid tapestry in which the past and present, art and life, are closely interwoven.

The digital book launch will embody four conceptual elements, derived from 'Oriental Silk' – threads, texture, translation, and tactility. Each of these elements corresponds to the non-linear narrative structure, design and aesthetic exploration, language and translation, as well as a new collaborative performance artwork associated with the project. Through conversations and exchange, the story of 'Oriental Silk' and its rich context are meant to stimulate wider engagements and open discussions that link people and places – and provide purpose – across time and borders.

Biographies:

Xiaowen Zhu is a Berlin-based artist and writer. Her work is concerned with how things and beings migrate across time (historical and contemporary) and space (borders and boundaries) with a particular interest in personal witness and testimony. Zhu has received the Civitella Ranieri Visual Arts Fellowship, TASML Artist Residency Award, Marylyn Ginsburg Klaus Fellowship, Jury Award of DOK Munich, among others. She has lectured at Heidelberg University, Rhode Island School of Design, New York University, University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles, Syracuse University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, and more. She is the assistant director of Times Art Center Berlin. (zhuxiaowen.com)

Nicky Harman lives in the UK and is a full-time translator of Chinese literary works. She has won several awards, including the 2020 Special Book Award, China, the 2015 Mao Tai Cup People’s Literature Chinese-English translation prize, and the 2013 China International Translation Contest, Chinese-to-English section. When not translating, she promotes contemporary Chinese fiction literary events through teaching, blogs, talks and her work on Paper-Republic.org.

Michael Mason is a freelance Designer & Director based across London and Copenhagen. With a focus on visual identity, graphic design, and art direction, he’s worked with brands such as Apple, BBC, Facebook, Google, National Film Board, Nike, SF Design Week, and Squarespace to produce considered, concept-driven pieces of visual communication. (mmason.co)

Yon Natalie Mik is a dance artist and dance historian based in Los Angeles and Berlin. Born in Germany. Followed by an apprenticeship in Korean folk dance and training in Dayak-Indonesian folk dance later as an adult. Graduate degrees in Asian and Korean Studies from Universität Bonn and Seoul National University. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in Dance and Performance Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. (nataliemik.com)