Shanghai / New York: Future Histories
Sam Wu, Qin Yi and Zulan (China)
In our fractured times, it is more important than ever that artists and audiences are brought together to share their work and ideas. Performance Space 122, Asia Society, and the China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) have begun an unprecedented institutional collaboration with these ideals in mind. Sam Wu, Qin Yi and Zulan come together in a music focused, multidisciplinary evening. These three emerging artists are articulating new forms – locally sourced but distinct in their engagement with the larger, international audience.
Please join us after the 5PM performance for a dialogue with the artists.
Co-curated with Rachel Cooper.
90 minutes
Co-presented with Asia Society and China Shanghai International Arts Festival
Jan 13 – 5PM & 8:30PM
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue, Manhattan
FREE; Reservations Recommended
Sam Wu is a self taught 18-year old wunderkind whose award-winning chamber music compositions have been described as “warm, sincere, and characteristic of a compassionate 21st-century metropolitan youth.” His chamber composition dolphin song is a lamentation on the recent extinction of Yangtze River “baiji” White Dolphins, and played by the violin, the viola, the cello, the piano, the bamboo flute and the percussion.
Mirror Mind, composed by a pioneer of Chinese contemporary electronic music Qin Yi, is a cross-over experiment combining dramatic performance, live percussion, interactive multi-channel electronic music and new-media visual arts. Mirror Mind explores the multi-layered nature of human existence with a “pan-acoustic” narrative approach.
Internationally recognized composer, Zulan, creates a special new music piece based on the Nobel Literature Prize Winning play Death and the Maiden using music to describe the ‘Six Desires of a Human Being’ – a Buddhism concept, which describes the six sensory pleasures derived from the eyes, ears, nose, body and mind.
Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. Across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, the Society provides insight, generates ideas, and promotes collaboration to address present challenges and create a shared future.
Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational institution with offices in Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Manila, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Sydney and Washington, DC. For more information visit AsiaSociety.org.
China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF), which is hosted by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and organized by Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, is the only states-level International Arts Festival in China. Since 1999, driven by the concept of “innovation and development” with the emphasis on brand-effect development, CSIAF has grown into a flagship project for cultural exchange as well as one of the most influential festivals in the international art circles.
The China Shanghai International Arts Festival is held from Mid-October to Mid-November every year. The Festival consists of several sections, including stage performances, exhibitions, the Arts Space performance Series, performing arts fair, forums and seminars, public cultural activities, festivals in the Festival, and the Young Talents Program called “R.A.W.!”(Rising Artists’ Works). With a Galaxy of artistic classics an well as a dazzling display of original works and creative cultures, the arts festival will consistently present the most fabulous and splendid art feast to the audience from home and abroad.
Many masters and superstars have presented their excellent programs on the stage including the great conductors Zubin Mehta, the pianist Lang Lang, the cellists Mischa Maisky and Yo-Yo Ma, the violinist Itzak Perlman, the choreographer Alvin Ailey, etc. Plenty of world-renowned orchestras and ballet companies including Berliner Philharmoniker, The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Nederlands Dans Theater, Bejart Ballet Lausanne, etc. have left their classical charms on the festival stage.
Asia Society is located in the Manhattan neighborhood of the Upper East Side, which is host to some of the most famous museums in the world including the Met and Guggenheim.
Shanghai / New York: Future Histories is a major arts project of Shanghai Municipal Government sponsored by Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation. All participating artists are within RAW (Rising Artists Works), a new series of the CSIAF and a platform that develops new ideas and emerging artists from across China.