The Creators Project returned to Beijing last weekend, drawing some 10,000 visitors to the Ullens Center of Contemporary Arts, the most acclaimed contemporary arts venue in China. During the four-day event, a new round of artists were presented in a diverse range of programs that included concerts, workshops, film screenings and, perhaps most notably, new installations from some of the best creative talent culled from all over the China and abroad.The exhibition at the UCCA served as a kind of testament to the latest trends in new media arts and the cross-disciplinary boundaries between contemporary art and technology. Visitors were dazed by the infinite LED landscape of UVA’s Room With A View installation, submerged into the hybrid audiovisual work of Joao Vasco Paiva, and experienced interactions between light and sound in the industrial-like Helioscope by Matt Hope.UVA Room With A View
Other works, treading the boundaries between audiovisual installation and musical performance were equally entrancing: Lou NanLi’s (aka B6) videos of Hangzhou and Shanghai featured surround sound soundscapes and, of course, Barney Clay’s collaboration with Mick Rock, reinventing David Bowie’s Life on Mars Revisited was a hit with the attendees. The meticulously curated exhibition embraced various art forms in a continuous dialogue between art, technology, city and nature.At night, the industrial 798 space held a blow-out party showcasing the Beijing indie scene, a roster that was rounded out by some amazing international acts like Glasser, Mount Kimbie and Glasgow veteran DJ Optimo.PK14GlasserMount KimbieDJ OptimoOver the weekend, UCCAs screening room was packed with visitors attending several workshops and premieres, like Spike Jonze and Arcade Fire‘s Scenes from the Suburbs, H5’s Logorama, the highly anticipated debut of Peng Lei’s Follow Follow, and MapOffice’s Runscape.Crowds waiting outside of the auditorium to see Follow Follow.Gaybird Leung performing Singing FaceIt was a blast. TCP Beijing 2011 successfully charmed an audience that searched for a thought-provoking discussion that contemplated the relationship between art and technology, and, perhaps even more importantly, a welcoming party atmosphere that made the whole thing lots of fun.Photo: Zhuang Yan
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