不知道 i don’t know

So here I am in Starbucks in Beijing SOHO, of all places, which makes me such a 老外 (foreigner). Only westerners and those Chinese who wish to show off frequent this place. Apparently it’s quite expensive for locals and hence something of a status symbol to be seen here.

I’m having a great time here with my fiancée and have many photos to sort out and upload but, as was the case last time I was here, it looks like they will have to wait until I get home to the UK as computer-time here is limited.

再见! Bye-bye!

Me with some monks

I got back from China on Thursday and I’ve now pretty much unpacked and settled back into the flat. As I expected, while I was away there was little opportunity for the sustained thinking and concentration that I need to write blog posts, but having those three weeks away from the computer was a good break from working.

For all its problems I’ve really taken a liking to China, or at least to what I saw of it, and it’s kind of boring to be back in London (this last is probably just post-holiday blues).

As is probably evident from my recent posts here, I’m becoming more and more interested in the art scene in China. It’s at a very interesting stage of development, right now in the process of creating the systems and structures which will potentially become its future institutions. This is in comparison to the West where these institutions are entrenched and have been for a very long time, with little room for manoeuvre. I’ll be writing some posts on what I saw while I was in Beijing and I’ll be trying to synthesise my existing interests with this new-found subject-matter.

To really understand China though and to be able to be involved with it, I have to learn the language. I feel that unless I can speak the language I will never be able to fully immerse myself in the culture or be able to work with it in an appropriate, productive and respectful fashion. To that end, I’m looking into courses in Beijing at the various colleges there. If anyone has any recommendations or comments, please let me know.

I realise that I’ve been very bad and haven’t written about my fiancée and what she’s been up to recently.

Shi left for China on the 2 May to join the curator Li Zhenhua as his assistant. She’d first worked with him a few years ago on ‘Out The Window-Space of Distraction‘ show he curated in Japan. Shi’s ability to speak Chinese, Japanese and English was obviously a great help to her in this. She’s now in Beijing helping with a new show he’s developing.

From what I’ve heard the show is going to be huge. It’s split across three sites in the city (maybe more) and features a large number of contemporary artists and musicians from Japan. As soon as Shi arrived in Beijing she was whisked off to begin work and she’s not really stopped since, bless her.

But her work on this show is only one side of Shi’s activities in China – she’s also developing her own professional practice. The first fruits of this is an article she’s been asked to write for an American journal. I’ve had a look at her draughts for the piece and it’s looking good. It’s in the peer review process at the moment, so fingers crossed it’ll go through without too many problems.

All in all, I’m really proud of my baby. She’s doing really well, managing the workload and creating new opportunities for herself at the same time.

And I’m also really happy because I’m going out to China on Tuesday to see her for the first time since she left. I’ll be there for three weeks during which time I’ll do some sightseeing and take a look at the art scene over there. I’ll try and post while I’m in Beijing, but I’ll only have access to Shi’s laptop and she’ll be needing it to work on and that takes priority, so my time may be limited. In any case, when I return to London at the end of June I’ll be able to upload the photos I take and do some reporting at my leisure.

I’ve just got back from a short holiday in the South of France.

I went with a group of friends to the Languedoc-Roussillon region and stayed in a cottage in Fenouillède, a small hillside hamlet nestled between two rocky peaks with ruined Cathar castles at the top.

You basically have a wide glacial valley flanked by ranges of tall mountains on which the Cathar built their strongholds, all of which are perched at the top of the highest points and are very difficult to get to. The landscapes are what I imagine Switzerland looks like.

One thing that struck me was how French towns are full of very old, dilapidated buildings. In England I think they would have all been tidied up or redeveloped. But they add a great deal of charm to the place.

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