http://www.culture360.org/culture360devCulture360en-USCopyright 2008 Culture360.orginfo@culture360.orgAs part of the Asia-Europe Art Camp series, 22 emerging artists from 19 countries in Asia and Europe converged in Bangkok, Thailand, from the 22nd to the 29th of March 2008 to participate in the 5th Asia-Europe Art Camp. The Art Camp was officially opened on Saturday, 22 March 2008 at Silpakorn University by Ambassador Saroj Chavanaviraj, ASEF Governor for Thailand. The project series Asia-Europe Art Camp is an initiative by ASEF and is committed to provide an opportunity to expose emerging student artists on the development of new media art in Asia and Europe through theoretical and practical approaches. The aim of this yearly event is to offer a platform for the exchange of information, the contextualisation of contemporary art practices and the sharing of experiences amongst art students and participating resource persons. The focus of the art camp is on the creative process (learning about others’ cultures and the contexts in which they live) and not on the final artistic product. The fifth edition of the Camp, anchored on the theme, RE-VISION BANGKOK|NEW MEDIA ART AND INTERACTIVITY, gathered Asian and European emerging artists in a process to explore the possibility of connecting new media art practices to the relational aesthetic concept. Through a week of lectures, workshops, field and cultural visits, the Camp also seeks to develop a platform to promote dialogue for young art students to learn more about each other’s contexts and cultures. This Art camp was co-organised by ASEF in partnership with The Art Centre of Silpakorn University and School of Fine and Applied Arts of Bangkok University. Two artistic advisers from Asia and Europe, Noraset Vaisayakul (Thailand) and David Kousemaker (Netherlands) exposed the participants to other ways of approaching their art while providing them with new technical tools shared during the workshop and presentations. The Camp included a public lectures and discussions involving guest speakers from the region specialisehttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspxFri, 18 Apr 2008 10:22:35 GMThttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ItemID=Projects_20080409_110900The 6th Asia-Europe Film Meeting strived to engage participants from Europe and Asia in a dialogue through comprehensive film issues and to encourage independent film producers to increasingly collaborate in the creation of common cross-cultural work in this field. The main aim of the film meeting was to give emerging producers the possibility to create a solid international network and to gain international expertise on how to present their projects in the international marketplace. The film meeting targeted emerging film producers from the two regions: up to 20 film producers from 15 ASEM countries participated. The meeting was facilitated by two main resource people, Lorna Tee (Business Development Manager, Variety Asia and Producer) and In-Ah Lee (Producer, Greensky Films), and counted with the assistance of up to 12 pannelists and presenters from renowned film companies like Homegreen films, Fortissimo films, Kenbiroli films, Cine-@, Films distribution or The Match Factory. The film meeting had two phases. In the first one, a two-days seminar was co-organised with RITS audiovisual and performing arts school in Brussels, and explored the reality of the current Asia-Europe exchanges on independent film and the initiatives to help emerging independent film producers to explore future collaborations between Asia and Europe. The second phase of the meeting, consisted on a workshop on Asia-Europe film issues co-organised with CineMart of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the framework of the 5-days programme of the Rotterdam lab of CineMart. Two Asia-Europe film co-productions were analysed during the workshop: ‘The Drummer’ by Kenneth Bi (Germany/Hong Kong SAR China co-production) and ‘Shanghai Trance’ by David Verbeek (Dutch Director/Shot in China). This meeting was co-organised by ASEF in association with CineMart of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and RITS film school in Brussels, and supported by Erasmus Hogeschool Brusselhttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspxFri, 18 Apr 2008 03:18:49 GMThttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ItemID=Projects_20080409_111442I’mPULSE is a programme of ASEF designed to provide a platform for young people to exchange their ideas on music, primarily aiming to encourage fresh minds to pursue the development of their music concepts by learning from each other. In 2007, ASEF implemented I’mPULSE Clandestino, Fourth Asia-Europe Music Camp on the sidelines of the Clandestino Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden. Fifteen emerging musicians from Europe and Asia engaged in a one-week dialogue through comprehensive music experimentation. A close-up on the representation, translation and migration of Asian and European dub music-culture was presented by guest musicians Aniruddha Das (a.k.a Dr. Das), Neil Fraser (a.k.a Mad Professor), Daito Manabe and resource persons like Steve Barker (On the Wire/BBC Radio). Aleksander Motturi (Artistic Director of Clandestino Festival) and Dickson Dee (a.k.a Li Chin Sung) composed the team of curators for this project. Four music workshops and more than 40 hours of rehearsals paved the way to eight public performances at various venues around the city: Museum of World Cultures, Storan Opera House, Berg211 Music Club, and The Music House in Gothenburg. Three of them were collaborative performances and involved at least five I’mPULSE musicians. The outcomes from the meeting will be made available to public in the form of DVD, CD and accompanying booklet co-developed by ASEF and Clandestino. The DVD will contain a 30 minutes documentary prepared for the for the ‘Go West’ music programme at the Shanghai Oriental TV station (SMG). The CD will contain the music created ad hoc for the three public collaborative performances. These outcomes are expected to be ready by February 2008. For more information, please contact Mr. David Ocón at david.ocon@asef.org.http://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspxFri, 18 Apr 2008 03:16:12 GMThttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ItemID=Projects_20080407_172801The Virtual Collection of Masterpieces (VCM) website was launched on 13 September 2007 in Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, Yongin City, South Korea. This event was co-organised by Asia-Europe Foundation, the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum and Asia-Europe Museum (ASEMUS) Network. As part of one of Asia-Europe Museum (ASEMUS) network pilot projects, Virtual Collection of Masterpieces (VCM) is a web-based selection of images and accompanying information on Asian masterpieces from Asian and European museums. With around 1,000 masterpieces contributed by over 50 leading museums in Asia and Europe, VCM is a one-click-away tool to connect cultures that can inspire people from around the globe to understand and appreciate Asian heritage as well as the strong relationship between Asia and Europe. Led by National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden (The Netherlands) and Gyeonggi Provincial Museum (Korea), VCM provides easy access of this information for both the general public and professional alike. The website triggers questions of the definition of a masterpiece: every participating museum explains why its masterpieces are considered as such. The website also provides new tools which can be used for various educational activities. It offers a unique virtual working and meeting place for museum professionals, a platform for collaboration and co-operation between the museums from both regions, and a virtual showcase of Asia-Europe museum network in cyberspace. The grand launch was organised to immediately precede the ASEMUS General Conference on 14 and 15 September 2007. The meeting gathered over 40 prominent museum professionals from 25 countries, both from current ASEMUS membership as well as from museums in the extended group of ASEM countries. The meeting aimed at gathering old and new members of ASEMUS in order to review the development and chart future plans for the network and to get a new membership from non-ASEMUS member. The meeting served successfully as networking opportunhttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspxThu, 17 Apr 2008 08:54:43 GMThttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ItemID=Projects_20080407_173631ASEF joined hands with COMICA (the London International Comics Festival) to bring together 14 emerging graphic novelists from 14 ASEM countries in LINGUA COMICA. In this second edition of the Asia-Europe Comics Project, the participants took part in an online artistic project and engaged in a five-day dialogue using the medium of graphic novel as main tool of communication and artistic work. Organised in two phases, the project started off as an online artistic project, the Asia-Europe Collaboratory, in which the participants were broken down into seven Asia-Europe pairs and worked together via the Internet. They continued their collaboration in London from 20 to 24 October 2007, where the artists met, attended panels on comics collaboration between the two regions, shared their experiences on their online works and continued it. The work online and offline collaboration was facilitated by internationally-renowned comic artists and lecturers Sarnath Banerjee (India) and Gerald Gorridge (France), and supported by a high-level number of resource people and guest lecturers, including Benoit Peeters (Belgium), Kosei Ono (Japan), Igort Tuveri (Italy) and Titus Ackermann (Germany). Paul Gravett (UK) was the Artistic Director for this project. The outcomes from the meeting will be made available to public in the form of a graphic novel. The graphic novel will contain the very relevant and innovative works from the talented Asia-Europe artists that for this project worked in Asia-Europe pairs, as well as solo works from each artist. The graphic novel is expected to be published by mid-2008. This project was implemented in co-operation with the COMICA International Comics Festival in London and was supported by the Institute of Contemporary Arts London, the Goethe Institute London, the Institut Francais London and the Japanese Embassy for the UK. For more information on the artistic outputs of the project please visit www.asef.org/linguacomica07 or contact Mr. David Ocóhttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspxThu, 17 Apr 2008 08:18:45 GMThttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ItemID=Projects_20080407_174838In the past two decades, art and culture centres born from citizen initiative have multiplied in many regions in Asia and Europe. These places are created and managed by people who come from different backgrounds and, in many cases, do not receive formal arts management training. Nevertheless, their so-called Independent Creative Art Spaces are often leading cultural organisations that exercise a great cultural influence in the local context. Recognising this, ASEF in close partnership with Artfactories and Trans Europe Halles co-organised a five-day intensive workshop for 21 artists and managers from 19 ASEM countries. The workshop concentrated on the role and importance of the artists and manager in multi-disciplinary Independent Creative Art Spaces, by encouraging discussions on issues such as cultural management strategies and contemporary artistic practices. It also aimed to be a launch pad for eventual future collaborations between Asia and Europe. Various interactive sessions examined different aspects of managing an art space in relation to real life case studies. Challenges in planning, human resources, budgeting, fundraising, communication as well as issues around community involvement and audience development were discussed and presented by external facilitators, namely: Audrey Wong (Singapore), Howard Chan (Hong Kong SAR), Birgitta Person (Sweden) Camille Dumas (France), Paul Bogen (UK), Sigrid Niemer (Germany) Raoul Grunstein (Finland), Annette Wolfsberger (Austria), Tay Tong (Singapore) and Guy-Andre Lagesse (France). This training empowered the participants as leaders in their field and created a basis and opportunity for long term exchange and co-operation. An online publication prepared by John Fitzgerald (Ireland) will enable to share this experience with an even larger group of enthusiastic artists and managers of independent creative spaces in Asia and Europe. For more information on this project please visit http://indepartspacestraining2007http://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspxThu, 17 Apr 2008 08:16:16 GMThttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ItemID=Projects_20080407_180115The fifth edition of Pointe to Point, Asia-Europe Dance Forum explored the relationships between tradition and contemporary, dance in urban and rural contexts, as well as the interaction between dance and music. This challenging twelve-day project was held in Beijing and various cities in Guizhou Province, China, aiming to provide an avenue for new inspirations, discoveries and to instigate questions. Organised by ASEF and the China Dancers Association, the project gathered 12 choreographer and dancers together with six composer-improvisers from 14 ASEM countries. A team of Chinese and Dutch film documenters recorded closely the overall process. This recording will then be aired on CCTV3, CCTV9 and at the European Documentary Film festivals. In Guizhou Province, the participants had the unique opportunity to undertake five-day research trip in a remote rural area where Miao Minority group lives and preserves its ancient traditions of dance and music. Following these inspiring observations and impressions from the community, the artists then carried out a series of intensive workshops in Beijing, China. The artists’ creative process received advice from choreographers Susan Buirge (France-USA) and Wen Hui (China) and composers Fabrizio Cassol (Italy-Belgium) and Joyce Koh (Singapore). In less than 24 hours of workshop, the artists were able to create pieces which were conceptually built on their experiences in Guizhou. As one of the outcomes of the project, a public presentation was held at the Theatre of the China Arts Academy in Beijing on 24 November. This event was attended by more than 300 people, including Ambassador Lu Yongshou (ASEF Governor for China) and several embassies’ representatives. The presentation encapsulated the artists’ experiences and observations through their exploration of the Miao Minority. Additionally, observers Jan Goossens (Belgium), Seong Hee Kim (Korea) and Jiang Dong (China) presented their thoughts and comments on the whole procehttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspxThu, 17 Apr 2008 07:48:36 GMThttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ItemID=Projects_20080407_175308A group of 20 emerging photographers and photography curators from 18 ASEM countries convened in Cork and Dublin to learn about and exchange information on the Asian and European photography scene and to launch new formats of virtual and actual collaboration and exchange best practices. The focus of this year’s exchange, entitled “Create – Communicate – Promote” was on the changes in photography through the impact of digitalisation. It started in Cork, where the group attended lectures delivered by photography professionals Alex Moh (Malaysia), Celina Lunsford (Germany-USA), Gao Lei (China), Prof. Ralph Jacobson (UK), Kimmo Lehtonen (Finland) and Suh Jinsuk (Korea). The lectures gave substantial foundation for deep analysis and discussions on issues arising from current developments in digital photography technology, as well as incurring implications on contemporary photography art and the curating of photographic exhibitions. The session was continued by several workshops to examine the aspects of creation, communication and promotion of photography in the digital era and to develop an enhanced understanding to achieve excellence and new aesthetical approaches in a digital environment. In these workshops, the participants and resource people were able to discuss the intended outcome of this project and to explore possible avenues to work on future projects. In addition to this, two public talks were held by Nick Galvin (Archive Director, Magnum London) and Prof. Ralph Jacobson (outgoing President, Royal Photography Society). It gave the opportunity for participants and the public of more than 150 people to learn about digital changes in the professional field of photography. The exchanges in Cork concluded with an exhibition showcasing one-month collaborative and individual works the participants had created prior their online exchange period. In Dublin, the meeting was rounded up with a final exhibition of 21 slideshow projections presenting individual works ohttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspxWed, 16 Apr 2008 17:18:06 GMThttp://www.culture360.org/culture360dev/create/projects/tabid/111/language/en-US/Default.aspx?ItemID=Projects_20080407_175830