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The Indiana Daily Student

arts

"China Remixed" kicks off with video talk

Curator Isaac Leung gives a speech about his life's work at the School of Global and International Studies Wednesday as part of China Remixed at IU. A series of events from China Remixed will run throught out the week in Bloomington.

A months-long series spotlighting Chinese arts and culture at IU kicked off Wednesday night with a talk by video artist Isaac Leung.

Leung spoke at the IU Global and International Studies Building Auditorium about the public video art exhibition he curated as part of IU’s “China Remixed: Arts and Humanities in Contemporary Chinese Culture” series.

The exhibition is being presented by IU Arts and Humanities Council and produced by Media School associate professor Stephanie DeBoer.

The event will continue through March, and like all events in the “China Remixed” series, it’s free to the public.

In his presentation, Leung talked about his time living in the United States during Bill Clinton’s presidency and how he quickly noticed China’s global presence.

“China is everywhere,” Leung said.

The video art exhibition will consist of multiple categories: reappropriation, activism, personal memories, city exploration and the art of play.

Leung showed an example of activism and said protesting in China is not like what it is in the United States. When protesting in China, people tend to make songs about what they are protesting rather than chanting slogans, Leung said.

“I’m creating this program to promote knowledge,” Leung said.

Leung was appointed as the chairman of Videotage in 2013. Videotage is a media art institution in China that works to serve artists and communities in Hong Kong.

During Leung’s time at Videotage he had a hand in projects such as workshops, lectures, publications, online projects and symposia.

Leung said many artists in Hong Kong focus on micro personal features they can show in small screenings.

According to the IU Arts and Humanities website, “China Remixed” is the largest festival dedicated to Chinese arts and culture to ever come to the Midwest.

“The Bloomington campus attracts creativity from all corners of the globe,” said Lauren Robel, IU provost and executive vice president, in a press release last month. “China Remixed’ launches into the stratosphere from that base and gives our entire community an unparalleled opportunity to become immersed in the work of some of today’s finest Chinese and Chinese-American artists and thinkers.”

It’s also the first installment of IU’s Global Arts and Humanities Festival, which is planned to be a regular spring event, according to last month’s press release.

The “China Remixed” series will span 10 weeks and include more than 40 events on campus and in the Bloomington community.

Later events in the series include a reading by comic-book artist Gene Luen Yang on Feb. 23, a talk by National Book Award-winning author Ha Jin on March 2 and a performance by stand-up comedian Joe Wong on 
April 14.

Films by Chinese directors have been screening at the IU Cinema in conjunction with the series since late January.

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