the text and images below are posted from beijing, berlin, buenos aires, hong kong, los angeles, new york, sado island, shanghai, tokyo and zürich. there are a few of us, and this is the space in between.
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community building


Our recently-met companions say, unfortunately, that Christians cannot really be friends with Buddhists.

(video courtesy of members of the Beijing Chaoyang Church)

Posted by 丫 | more »


debatable

debatable

Excerpts from 10 conversations that I have recently either been a part of or have overheard.

1. “so the 10 or less line is quicker?”

-in regards to a grocery line

2. “…you’re an artist, your tastes are refined”

3. “would you rather date someone with a head half the size of a normal one or twice the size?”

4. “…so 90’s…”

-in regards to photos of empty lots in an urban setting

5. “…let the audience fill in the blanks…”

-in regards to that anxiety-ridden moment when art leaves the studio and enters the public realm

6. “…pasta or beef?”

-on a recent flight

7. “…this country is based on individualism and the idea of not having to rely on anybody but yourself is still very much alive…”

-in regards to socialism and universal being 4 letter words in the U.S.

8. “…there is no good mexican food in NYC…”

-in regards to the most ridiculous/absolute conversation that constantly presents itself

9. “…i just learned that my new roommates entire country, that is 3 times the size of Texas, has about half the number of people than the 11211 zip code here!”

-in regards to Greenland.  Not really debatable but that’s a nice combination of references

10. “…then maybe failure doesn’t exist?”

-in regards to learning from our mistakes

Posted by joe | reply »


the translator (for a song of one notion)

translator

In terms of the linguistic aspects, i think it has to do with my hesitations about the propagation of ideas and beliefs in the first place… how we live and die and shun and fraternise and conspire and love and love and loselove by these things, all framed for and to one another by these very fragile things such are words. Please excuse my feeling a bit pessimistic tonight, but it all feels very silly and futile when looked at from this context, as most of the time we’re simply misunderstanding one another in language, not so much that you or i or we or other are necessarily so different.

But through this comes the power of the translator as an in-between, a conductor, a metaphorical parlay and/or very possibly subversive player. We cannot ignore the importance of this in the thinking about why we should translate texts, but also maybe why we shouldn’t. There is no one-to-one here, no 辅导, not even you and me. That parlay is neither yours nor mine, yet what stakes should we play to come to something new, to something better?

As he speaks, his gesturing hand inadvertently slaps a loaf of bread.

I laugh in my own thoughts;

he won’t stop talking to me about the better.

I leave, feeling upset.

He likes discussion. I keep thinking of productivity. Yeah, yeah, yeah… boil it all down to 语言, to 文化区别. So where is the translator? Can we add to meaning? Can we destroy it? What was that term of vital nourishment, about boiling the thing down until only its essence is left? Oh right, so sorry. I’m neither the chef nor the translator. But let’s put that in motion, a blurry train ride, a thought of chasing down your unmade sculpture. What is hidden laid bare behind our backs. Like the difference between a solitary fish leading the others, a single fish swimming in front of a shoal.

Posted by 丫 | more »


the unfolding or the folding, always halfway

frame021

“to say nothing, to say everything, to say the thing itself and to sink the word into its pure presence as a thing, it is all the same, the same fury. it is always to forget the caress of the sign, the light touch of meanings always distorted, never fulfilled. neither the explicit nor the implicit ever attest to anything, other than the unfolding or the folding, always halfway. not to say everything but to let something be said of everything.” (jean-luc nancy)

(one frame captured from the pile of rotting (porn) film reels, a work-in-progress with toby, more info here soon..)

Posted by f | reply »


yesterday, exactly three years since he arrived, exactly three years since he left


Posted by f | reply »


sitting still in concentration, hindi-arabic, as the plane takes off

younity

Posted by a | reply »


不用老对我那么乐观, will i ever get tired of trying?

it’s been a long time (每只蚂蚁都有眼睛鼻子)… southside neighbour says our house’s coffee is so fragrant (它美不美丽偏差有没有一毫厘有何关系), and i can smell your breath every time i think of you, the last shock that you’ve been a grown man for a long while now, and it was something i never knew (每一个人伤心了就哭泣). does being near you change, the smells of the same old street at different hours of the day (饿了就要吃相差大不过天地), does it feel comfortable over the phone (有何刺激), even if she is waiting?

it’s been a long time (太多太多魔力太少道理)… a 500ml jar with a rubber stopper (太多太多游戏只是为了好奇), it was nicer to be a bit more abstract but he wanted to smell it. unfortunately, it was exactly that supposedly removed. Scent travels through air (还有什么值得歇斯底里). Your hair is longer and more done-up now, even in the windy streets out there, the clicking of your low-heeled boots, I like the awkwardness of getting to know you. It’s almost as good as knowing you too well, when we don’t have to speak anymore, and it doesn’t feel bad to not know what you’re thinking (对什么东西死心塌地). Thank you and no, no no.

It’s been a long time (一个一个偶像都不外如此) …to feel ill (沉迷过的偶像一个个消失), my throat hurting after sitting with you all wet through dinner. You didn’t know I was completely soaked, but the food was spicy and you asked awkward questions after I showed you my work (谁曾伤天害理谁又是上帝), and then I met your friend and we didn’t eat until just before the moment of missing the last train (我们在等待甚么奇迹). It’s been a long time since I came this way, and he uses his new car to pick up rides in the evening, A bit of extra spending money (最后剩下自己舍不得挑剔). don’t fall asleep on your way home, okay?

It’s been a long time (最后对着自己也不大看得起)… I try to use the right pronouns in the right places this time (谁给我全世界我都会怀疑), your loving of my use of “we” means that it is all i can offer, all that i hoped for (心花怒放却开到荼蘼). We is I or I is we. We is I is we is I is we. I thought about it in the shower when I came home (一个一个一个人谁比谁美丽), I thought about the most memorable showers I’ve ever taken (一个一个一个人谁比谁甜蜜), I thought about what it would be like to be you, I thought about taking back some of the things I’ve learned over these years (一个一个一个人谁比谁容易).

the sky, really, they say…

(又有什么了不起/每只蚂蚁和谁擦身而过/都那么整齐有何关系/每一个人碰见所爱的人却心有余悸)

[《开到荼蘼》 曲编: c.y. kong 词: 林夕]

Posted by 丫 | reply »