21:37A: Go for it!
21:37B: it was at ACMI I don't know if you've ever been...
21:38A: I haven't but they often exhibit some of the most exciting things that come to Australia, Melbourne isn't quite the uber ride awayWhat show was it?
21:38B:anyway it is a retrospective of the work of a Chinese artist called Yang Fudong
21:38A: Ah great! What's his background? Could I do a quick wiki search?
21:38B: Very interesting, there were four pieces I thinkyes you should
21:39A: He is young to have a retrospective!
21:39B: yes I think he's already worked a lot though
21:40B: this is the link to the show at ACMI
https://www.acmi.net.au/exhibitions/current/yang-fudong-filmscapes/
21:40A: Wikipedia lists four works, which were displayed?Great, thank you!Do you think that ACMI produced this show for the current climate that kind of leans towards cultural diversity in Australia?
21:42B: possibly, the Chinese community is quite large in Australia, isn't it?
21:42A: I'm sure you know, and I think this has been a consistent bit of demographic data since the 70s but the Chinese make up 4% of the Australian populationI think, considering how close we are, it should be more...
21:43B: yes trueI think anyway his work is very interesting regardless of his nationalityfrom a film making point of view
21:44A: What was the focus of the work?
21:45B: the four works were completely separated, but all of them, apart from the one in the first room, which I think was also the earliest one, were projected on large multi-screens. Basically all of the films were filmed on different channels
21:45A: what was the duration of each?
21:45B: it varied, but not very long, some went on for something like 10 minutes
21:46A: did yang fudong visit melbourne?
21:47B: the second film was projected on, I believe, seven screens, as the actual film had been shot with seven different angles, but all of the angles had been shot at the same time. So basically what you saw was one scene shot from seven different points of view
21:48A: I have read about this 7 screen experience from Kanye West, perhaps he has been inspired? I think a q. for googledid you find it effective? Did it reflect any intention of Fudong?
21:48B: yes? for one of his videos?yes definitelyI found the films themselves were very beautiful, almost in a classic sense and the installation of the screens was interesting as wellsome of the screens were leaning against supports placed in the middle of the roomsso that the projection became almost sculptural
21:51A: it sounds beautiful and I'm looking at images and they re reflecting this too... Concrete Playground is commenting that perhaps Fudong deals with Chinese isolationah lovely!We have such an incredibly dark history in Australia of chinese isolation.. I wonder if the choice to have Fudong's work shown is to reflect thisill show you some of the racist cartoons from the 19th century during our goldfishgold rush ***
21:53B: sure
21:54A: http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/1910-the-bulletin-magazine/ an image of the chinese octopus, it's sort of high school/text book famousI think Australia has come a long way...
21:55B: yes I saw that
21:56A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiLpFG5uUc0
21:58A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBdYvN49eRU
21:58A: shockinganyway... I think it's necessary in australia to still push for cultural diversity when really it should already be embedded in our culture
21:58B: terribleyes it still seems a fairly insulated countrywhere people are almost scared of the 'outside'
21:59A: yes but also scared of the the inside of australia
21:59B: yes true
22:00A: which treats indigenous as second class citizens, still....should we talk further?perhaps about the staging of the exhibit?the 7 screens or is it kind of self explanatory?
22:03B: I was looking up some things from the leaflet I got at the show about the artist's lifeand his work
22:03A: anything in particular?
22:04B: it's kind of interesting that he was raised in a military compound as his father was an army officer
22:04A: ah right! did his work represent this at all, or deny it?
22:04B: I think in a way it both represents it and denies itit seems like he wants to deny it, and it does
22:05A: what's an example
22:06B: well for example the unusual use of camera angles, it seems like he wants to break out of a pre-existing 'order' so to speak
22:07A: ah cool
22:07B: I guess I'm thinking still of this film called 'The Fifth Night' that I talked about before
22:07A: thank you
22:08B: but at the same time all the elements are rigorous
22:08A: i follow... it sounds reflective of his past
22:08B: oh and since we were talking about isolation
22:08A: yes
22:09B: there was this film in the last room titled East of Que Village, made in 2007
22:09A: yes
22:09B: kind of different from the others, still multi-channel but it looked more like a documentary type filmit was in fact a false documentary
22:11A: oh right, i am trying to find it online but its not so easythere is a fragment on youtube from the Sydney Biennale 2010
22:11B: anyway it depicted this small rural village in China, and the attention was focused, especially in two of the screens, on a group of starving wild dogs
22:12A: I can hear the dogs howling on the clip but that's about all I can get from the very lo-fi youtube
22:12B: the dogs basically were so desperate for food that ended up eating each other
22:12A: oh right
22:13B: and in the other screens was footage of villagers...
22:13A: there is something quite military in that thinking, maybe?
22:13B: it was very effective and it created a sense of isolationyes and an idea of absence of humanity
22:14A: yes
22:15B: I'm reading from the leaflet I have and it says that the film's title refers to the only road leading from the village to the outside world
22:15A: do you think that element is true?
22:16B: the absence of humanity?
22:16A: that there is one road leading to that village?or is it entirely fictional?
22:16B: I don't know, after all it is a fictional documentary
22:16A: yeah....
22:16B: so I guess it is true in the fiction
22:17A: the idea of a fictional documentary is a paradox
22:17B: now that you make me think about it, ALL the works were about isolation. Yes, I've always found that very very interesting
22:17A: I think it must be a culturally conscious choice
22:18B: yes definitelyand political
22:18A: it's strange considering how close asia issuch an exhibition shouldn't be so foreign
22:19B: I'm sort of surprised I'd never heard of his work
22:19A: neither but Im really curious now!would you like to chat with me this time tomorrow perhaps?
22:21B: really liked the way he played with different genres, false documentary, fantasy, noir, etc...
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