Report: Live drawing at Beijing
This is ICC Chief Coordinator, Toshiya Kubo.
I visited Beijing from November 26th to 29th with some members of Sapporo City.
I had a few reasons for this visit. One was to determine how to promote cultural and economic exchange between Sapporo and Beijing, and another was to promote BAKU(Baku Maeda), an ICC award winner, by hosting a live drawing event.
The flight from Japan to Beijing is 4.5 hours, the time difference, 1 hour. Not a distant country. For me, it was a first visit, which makes it a close, yet far, foreign country.
Beijing Airport, which was built during the Olympics, felt like a larger version of the Kansai Airport.
At Beijing Airport. (left) BAKU (right) Kubo
From the airport to Central Beijing is about a half an hour drive. Large, modern buildings catch my eye. There aren’t as many signs as you see in Japan, but the neon decoration gives the impression of a foreign country.
That night we had a meeting over dinner.
The next day, through an introduction from the Beijing office of Sapporo City, we visited the Beijing Film Academy.
At the Beijing Film Academy.
We spoke with Zhong, Da Feng. Introducing Sapporo International Short Film Festival, we asked for the students to enter their work in the festival. They agreed to host events for Sapporo Short Fest and to promote exchange between students from each school.
Feng commented that further, specific planning would be needed, but that he would make sure his students submitted their work to the festival. We also plan to continue providing information about the Sapporo festival and film commission, as well as exchange personnel with Beijing Film Academy.
In the afternoon, we toured a brand new film studio built in August called the China Film Group Corporation. The recent film, Red Cliff, was also filmed here. Digital studios, open sets, and major sound stages were all that of an unseen scale in Japan.
China Film Group Corporation studios.
Afterwards, we met with BAKU, who had checked the site for his live drawing the next day, and toured around Beijing. That night, we went to a new live house called “Mao”, where BAKU performed some guerilla artwork. He titled his work “Raijin” , or Lightning God.
Guerilla performance, Raijin.
BAKU is not a musician but his live drawing, coupled with music, was a rare sight in China. We felt “Mao” could become a gateway to this new medium and the area in general, (Nanluogu Xiang/Dongcheng) was overflowing with young energy. It may be a good place to promote creators from Sapporo, as well.
On November 28th, we visited an area called Dashanzi Art District, about 12 km north east of Central Beijing. There is a massive warehouse converted to a gallery called “798” after its original factory numbering. The factory was built to manufacture weapons parts for the People’s Liberation Army by the government. Students from the nearby China Central Academy Of Fine Arts were the first to start converting it into an art studio. Since then, it has become a famous art gallery and studio recognized by most of the world. It is here, in this historical arts area, that BAKU will have a live drawing session. We used the BTAP gallery within 798, a Tokyo-based gallery that played a part in producing 798 when it was first getting started.
We took a walk around the gallery in the AM. With their 2,000 square meters of space, over 100 galleries are spread out throughout the building. In terms of scale, quality, and quantity, the international and dynamic scope of the facility rendered us speechless.
There was a massive exhibit displayed that day by Christian Dior called “Christian Dior and Chinese Artists Exhibit”
“Christian Dior and Chinese Artists Exhibit” at 798.
The power to astonish a global audience was applied strategically at this gallery. I felt overwhelmed, and it seemed I wasn’t alone. The question I asked my self was: Could this dynamic environment exist in Sapporo? A difficult one to answer.
Other than the Tokyo gallery, 798 had another gallery in Japan. It was the gallery, “No Border Space,” run by Sapporo born Tsubaki. He has also shown an interest in Sapporo Short Fest and promotion of local Sapporo artists, so we have been talking about future opportunities for collaboration.
At 2:00pm, BAKU’s live drawing session began at the Tokyo gallery in 798, BTAP.
BAKU’s live drawing.
The audience of 50 included marketing people from Art Guide Magazine, as well as artists, illustrators and students. They all took a liking to the live drawing, and some stayed for over an hour to watch BAKU draw. I felt there was room for marketing Sapporo to people in the area, considering practically no one had been to Sapporo before.
The finished product and BAKU.
Article: ICC Chief Coordinator Toshiya Kubo
Translation: David Neptune
