Fashion from the Dirt 出于污泥的时尚

July 31, 2018 2018年7月31日

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Even before I met Christopher Hancy, the 31-year-old Australian fashion designer behind BEAUGAN, I could understand why he’d choose to make his home in Tokyo. Each time I visit, I start making plans to move there. To an outsider like me, the city has vast creative depths and seems to encourage exploring them.


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在与 Christopher Hancy,这位31岁、澳大利亚籍的 BEAUGAN 品牌设计师见面之前,我已经能理解为何他会选择在日本东京定居。每次当我造访此地,我就开始计划要搬到这里。对于我这样的外来者来说,这座城市具有足够的创意文化深度,像是在鼓励着人们去深入探索。

Hancy’s family arrived in Australia at the start of the nineteenth century, aboard one of the first ships from Europe. But Hancy looks nothing like the prototypical light-skinned blonde Aussie surfer, and when growing up, he was often asked where he was from. “That’s where my identity problem comes from, I guess,” he laughs. For him, his inability to fit in as a kid partially explains his interest in  how individuals define themselves through fashion, art, and music.


19 世纪初,Christopher 的家人成为第一批乘船登陆澳大利亚的移民。成长的过程中,Christopher 经常被问是哪里人,因为他看上去一点也不像浅肤色、金发碧眼的澳大利亚人。“这可能就是我的身份认同问题的由来吧。” 对他来说,少年时无法融入社会的困扰让他开始热衷于创造文化,通过时尚、艺术和音乐去定义自我。

In high school, Hancy wanted to become a doctor but failed the necessary exam. His backup plan was to become a lawyer, but he found solving other people’s disputes boring. He then tried his hand at something completely different by studying fine art at a school taught completely by practicing artists. At the time, however, he thought life as an artist would be full of struggle and unhappiness. Eventually he happened on modeling, which introduced him to the fashion world. “There’s this commercial aspect where everything is deadlines and crunch times to make some kind of product which then they want to sell,” he says,“but at the same time they’re creating a fantasy, so it has the same aspirations as art.” After ten years of experience in fashion, Hancy remains drawn to creating both quality products and beautiful things, but not mere fantasies.


高中的时候 Christopher 想成为一名医生,但并没有考上。他的备案是成为一名律师,但他发现要一直给其他人处理事故和金钱纠纷,是挺无聊的。之后,他又尝试了完全不同的领域:进入一家由在职艺术家教学的学校修读美术专业,但是当时的他认为艺术家生活只能是充满挣扎与不快乐。

后来他偶然成为了模特儿,开始踏入时尚界。Christopher 之所以对时尚感兴趣是因为其中的商业性,“所有事情都关乎最后期限,在紧凑的时间中制造出某种你想销售的产品。这也是在创造一种幻想,从这一点上来说,时尚与艺术共享着相同的渴望。” 从事时尚行业十多年后,Christopher 对于创造质感和美丽兼具的事物依然热情不减。

“There are so many young brands and everyone is trying to outdo each other, smashing out over-the-top stuff,” says Hancy. He concedes that there’s a place for spectacle-like work, but he wants no part of over-the-top style. “It’s boring to be doing that. For me, that’s the easy route. That’s the easy way to go, creating this extravagant showpiece stuff because that’s my background.”

Contemporary fashion is intent on “selling a fantasy, selling a dream that doesn’t exist,” he says.“I want to do something more difficult, which is showing beautiful things in everyday life.” That’s why, in early 2017, Hancy created BEAUGAN. He seeks to reveal the existing beauty of the natural world and everyday life, and wants to share this concept with other designers and creative people.


Christopher 告诉我:“现在有非常多年轻的品牌,每个人都想要超越别人,不断推出一些浮夸的作品。” 他承认,自己也是一位年轻的设计师,而浮夸的作品确实有其市场,但他完全不想参与这种竞争,也不喜欢这种纯粹夺取注意的噱头式设计风格。“这种做法其实很无聊。对我来说那只是一种捷径,是最轻松的路,因为这是我之前学的东西。”

在他看来,当代时尚界是以 “出卖幻想和不存在的梦想” 为目标的。“但我想展示出更难得的东西,那就是日常生活中的美。” 他补充道,这也成为了 Christopher 在 2017 年年初创立品牌 BEAUGAN 的初衷。他希望能展示出自然界和日常生活中既有的美,也希望这个理念能得到推广,传达给其他设计师和创意人。

“I want to do something more difficult, which is showing beautiful things in everyday life.”

“我想要做更难一点的事,也就是展示出日常生活中的美。”

BEAUGAN is Hancy’s vision of “clothing that’s very normal.” To him, “normal” does not mean simple, either in terms of concept or manufacturing. The first collection, Fall/Winter 2017, consisted of 42 separate brown and black variants of 22 designs. Each article’s unique color is produced through dorozome, a mud-dying technique from Japan’s Amami island. The art has remained largely unchanged for 1,300-years, thanks to the island’s distance from the mainland and the Amami artisans’ dedication to sustainability. Tree bark, dried coral, mud, and clay found on the island are used in the different steps of the dying process. Much like denim, Hancy’s dorozome clothing will develop character over time, changing in color and patina depending on the wearer.


BEAUGAN 代表了 Christopher 的愿景——创作 “正常的服装”。对 Christopher 来说,“正常”并不意味着简单,无论是在理念或是制作方面。他的首个作品 2017 秋冬系列共有 22 款设计,分别以棕色和黑色演绎成 42 件独立的作品。每件作品的色彩都是独一无二的,采用了源自日本奄美大岛(Amami)特有的“泥染”技术 (dorozome) 。因为奄美大岛与日本本岛隔绝,加上当地工匠致力于永续发展,使得这种已有 1300 年历史的染色工艺得以完整传承。这种独特的染色工序中会运用到的原料包括岛上的树皮、干珊瑚、泥土和粘土等等。和牛仔布一样,Christopher 的泥染服装也会随时间推移,在颜色上发生变化,随着穿者呈现不同的褪色效果,从而展现不同的个性。

Dorozome artisans labor over their materials and garments by hand, and the process has a built-in timeline that cannot be rushed. Hancy wants BEAUGAN to represent an alternative to the fast-paced cycles of flashy contemporary fashion introduced to him during his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. His graduate collection in 2012 consisted of dramatic streetwear-inspired pieces with big silhouettes. It was so well received that each item from the collection was snatched up by a different name in the fashion industry.

When he launched BEAUGAN, these same supporters were confused. “When you compare it to my previous work, it’s much more toned down,” he explains. After graduating, Hancy became disillusioned by the excessive way fashion designers create and the excessive way people consume. He decided to take a step back and rethink what he wanted to achieve. “I didn’t want to become a particular kind of person. I knew how to make all these showpieces, but I didn’t know how to make clothing. I knew fashion, but I didn’t know what goes into fashion.”


泥染工匠必须手工处理各种材料和服装,整个染色过程自有一套严格的流程,不能操之过急。在比利时的安特卫普皇家美术学院(Royal Academy of Fine Arts)就读期间,Christopher 接受的是讲求快节奏、浮华的当代时尚文化,但他希望 BEAUGAN 能成为这种时尚文化的对立面。他在 2012 年的毕业作品是以街头时尚为灵感设计的戏剧性大廓形服装。 这个系列非常受欢迎,很快就被时尚界人士一抢而空。

当他推出 BEAUGAN 时,这些曾经的买家都深感困惑。“因为和我以前的作品相比,它(BEAUGAN)的色调更柔和、更和谐。”毕业后,Christopher 对时装设计师夸张的创作风格、与人们过度的消费方式感到失望。他需要暂停一下,重新思考他想要的目标。“我不想成为特定的一类人。我虽然懂得如何设计这些浮夸得作品,但其实我不知道如何做衣服。我了解时尚,却不知道时尚的真正意义是什么。

BEAUGAN’s Tokyo studio is located in a small upstairs apartment across from a junior high school on a quiet street in Yoyogi, a district sandwiched between the bustling hubs of Shinjuku and Shibuya. The name BEAUGAN is a portmanteau of ‘beautiful’ and ‘bogan,’ Australian slang for someone who’s rough around the edges—or as Hancy puts it, “an uncouth or unsophisticated person regarded as being of low social status.” The term used to have a stronger negative connotation but has since evolved into a term used light-heartedly between friends.


BEAUGAN 位于东京的工作室坐落在代代木一条安静街道上的公寓楼上,对面是一间中学,夹于热闹繁华的新宿和涩谷之间。BEAUGAN 的名字是英文 “Beautiful”(美丽)和 “Bogan” 的结合。“ Bogan” 是澳大利亚俚语,指一些较为粗糙的人,或者如 Christopher 所说,“粗俗、单纯、社会地位较低的人。”这个词曾经有更强烈的贬义色彩,但后来逐渐演变成可以在朋友之间开玩笑说的话。

One source of inspiration for Hancy is ankoku butoh, a Japanese dance form created by Tatsumi Hijikata in the late 1950s as a reaction to the postwar fascination with Western culture. Hijikata wanted to resurrect the idea behind kabuki theater, which traditionally was entertainment for everyday people and similar to television soap operas. Unlike noh theater, which was for the elite in Japanese society, kabuki was for everyone. “Hijikata wanted to recreate that spirit of the man and woman on the street,” Hancy explains. “He was inspired by his grandmother walking through the mud when she was planting rice, working the rice field hunched over. He saw this kind of movement, this painful, slow, struggling movement, as something that’s beautiful.”

For Hijikata, ankoku butoh was the opposite of the ethereal lightness idealized by ballet. It’s about human struggle on Earth depicted as something beautiful. “It sounds horrible, but the world is a struggle. We have to live through the world somehow, through the struggle. He was being pure to that in a way,” Hancy explains. He’s inspired by its popular roots: “it’s born from the dirt. It comes from people themselves and their ingenuity.”


我想 Christopher 之所以选择 “Bogan” 这个词,可能与他对日本暗黑舞踏 (Ankoku Butoh,又称舞踏) 的兴趣有关。日本在二战战败后,整个国家在意识上再次追随西方社会和现代化(正如 1868 年的明治维新那样)。就舞蹈而言,这意味着芭蕾被视为是最美丽的舞蹈形式。而暗黑舞踏则是由土方巽 (Tatsumi Hijikata) 在 50 年代末期为了抗议人们崇拜欧洲文化多于日本文化而创作的。土方巽希望复兴歌舞伎剧场背后的理念。传统上,歌舞伎剧场的目标是娱乐普通百姓,这一点跟电视上的肥皂剧一样。能剧(Noh)服务日本社会的精英阶层,而歌舞伎则是服务所有人。Christopher 告诉我:“土方巽想要重现街头上平凡男人和女人的精神,激发他创作灵感的是他的祖母在种植水稻时,在泥中行走、弯着腰干活的动作。在他看来,这一种充满痛苦、缓慢的、挣扎的动作也是美丽的。”

对土方而言,暗黑舞踏是芭蕾舞那种理想化的轻盈优雅的对立面。暗黑舞踏讲述的是人们在地球上的斗争,并将之视为一种美。“虽然听上去很可怕,但世界本身就是充满挣扎。我们必须以斗争的方式来在世界上生存。在某种程度上,土方只是纯粹地展现出这一点。” Christopher 说,他之所以觉得土方的想法如此有启发,是因为 “它是从泥土中诞生的。它来自人们自身及其创造力。”

With BEAUGAN, Hancy wants to put something out in the world that’s beautiful and desirable in a way that isn’t gimmicky or excessive. “I want all the design processes to be there for a reason. There’s a reason the shape is cut like this or the pocket is assembled like that. Everything is really thought out,” he says. Like anoku butoh, BEAUGAN is “born from the dirt”: the dorozome process means the garments are literally transformed by mud. All the choices Hancy makes are intentionally focused, as much as possible, on origins. He starts his design process by thinking about the needs and life of the wearer, rather than envisioning a final surreal photo campaign or fashion week presentation. “I really think about the person that’s going to wear it,” he says. “I think that’s something that fashion has kind of lost.”


“出于污泥” 很好地诠释了 BEAUGAN 的品牌理念。Christopher 希望能通过 BEAUGAN,以一种非噱头式的方式,将世界的美呈现出来。“我希望所有的设计过程都是有原因的。为什么要剪出这样的轮廓、为什么要将口袋设计成这样。一切都是经过深思熟虑的。” 正如字面意思,泥染的过程就是让服装在泥土中蜕变,Christopher 在做选择时也会尽可能地有意突显其本意。Christopher 会先去思考穿著者的需求和生活,而不是先去设想如何拍出震撼的广告宣传照、或是如何在时装周上展示,“我会去考虑那些真正会穿上它的人。我觉得这一点是当下时尚界所缺乏的。”

“It sounds horrible, but the world is struggle. We have to live through the world somehow, through the struggle.”

“虽然听上去很可怕,但世界本身就是充满挣扎。我们必须以斗争的方式来在世界上生存。在某种程度上,土方只是纯粹地展现出这一点。”

Hancy takes a philosophical view of clothing. A person’s identity begins with the way they think, he says. Next, if you’re religious, it’s a person’s spirit. After that comes the way we perceive ourselves physically. And the last layer, coming between our physical perception of ourselves and the rest of society, is clothing.

“We always actively engage with, ‘Who am I hanging out with? Is this person a good person or a bad person? Am I being a good person? What’s . my relationship? How’s it working out?’ We stress about that,” Hancy says. Clothing is the layer that comes between ourselves and other people. “It’s like an amoeba. This kind of cellular organism has a cell wall that allows things to go in or out. The way we dress ourselves is like how we define that cellular wall.”

BEAUGAN is built around this view. “I feel that if we can be responsible for who we are internally, then we can be responsible for who we are externally. Why don’t we think about clothes in the same way?” he asks


Christopher 对于身份认同问题有过深入的哲学思考。他认为人的身份认同,应该从内心开始,然后向外推进。他告诉我说,身份认同始于一个人的思维方式,接着,如果一个人有宗教信仰,就是其精神世界。之后就是我们对自己身体的认知。最后,在我们对自我身体的认知和社会上其他人之间,所隔着的就是服装。Christopher 指出,个体常常会考虑他们与其他人交流的方式。

“我们经常会思考,‘我身边都是些什么人?是好人还是坏人?我是不是一个好人?我的人际关系怎样?我们相处得如何?’我们会很强调这一点。” 而服装是我们和其他人之间的隔层。“这就像变形虫。这种细胞生物有一面细胞壁,让外物进入或出去。我们的穿着方式正是我们对这个细胞壁所下的定义。”

BEAUGAN 正是他对这一理念的表达。“我觉得,只有当我们可以对自己的内心负责,才能对自己的外表负责。为何不在服装方面也用同样的方式思考?”

His belief that clothing is a part of one’s identity resonates most strongly with people outside but adjacent to the fashion industry: writers, graphic designers, architects, photographers, artists, and small business owners. Hancy wanted to create clothing for a new market not already targeted by the industry. Fashion, as he sees it, has a long history of telling people that they can’t be themselves, and now people are pushing back. “Why can’t I just be me? Why do I have to be a pop star or look like a magazine image? Why is it valuable to be someone else?” He sees choosing clothes as a creative process. “You can really bring the most out of yourself. You can create yourself visually, which is a beautiful thing.”


这种将穿着视为一种自我认同方式的思考,最能与一些邻近时尚的职业,譬如作家、平面设计师、建筑师、摄影师、艺术家以及小企业主产生共鸣。Christopher 想为一群新的消费群体设计服装 ,他瞄准的不是那些已经被时尚行业所瞄准的人群。在他看来,时尚有很长的历史都是在告诉人们 “他们不能成为自己”,而现在人们开始起身反抗。“为什么我就不能是我呢?我为什么要成为这个歌星、或者看起来像这本杂志上的模特?为什么成为别人就那么重要?” 关于时尚到底能为个体带来怎样的作用,他说:“你确实可以通过时尚呈现出自己最好的一面。你可以在视觉上重塑自己,这是一件很美好的事情。”

“Why can’t I just be me? Why do I have to be a pop star or look like a magazine image?”

“为什么我就不能是我呢?我为什么要成为这个歌星或者看起来像这本杂志上的模特?为什么成为别人就那么重要?”

Living in Japan has let Hancy recreate himself. He tells me he could live anywhere but finds Japan’s history and philosophy especially beautiful and interesting. “I’m glad to be in this situation, because it gives me so much fluidity and the possibility to move in different groups. I can be whoever I am. Theres a freedom of not being burdened,” he says.

In Japan, Hancy is figuring himself out first—away from places that would have more expectations on his behavior. “By investigating things historically, here or in Europe or wherever, I can start to work out how to do the same in regard to Australian history, or my own history,” he explains.“I’m trying to learn about myself through learning about others: other cultures, other groups of people, what others are doing.”


到了此时,在日本生活的经验已经重塑了 Christopher。他说自己可以在世界上任何地方生活,但日本这个地方有着深厚历史和哲学思想,特别迷人和有趣。“我的想法是,通过探索日本、欧洲、或是任何其它地方的历史,我可以了解到、或是明白如何去认识澳大利亚历史,或是我自己的历史。这是一种学习,这就是我想做的事情。我想借由了解其它事物、文化、人和其他群体,和他们所做的事情,来了解自己。”

按照 Christopher 的说法,比起生活在那些一举一动都要按照别人期望的地方,移居日本更能让他了解自我。“我很满意现在这种状态。因为它给了我很多的流动性和融入不同群体的可能性。我可以成为任何人。这是一种没有负担的自由。”

Freedom to form an identity independent of the expectations of history is an idea Hancy wants to unite other people under. “It’s building a community, really. Every group that creates some culture, they want that,” he says. “If you don’t have an identity, you want to find your global family.”

He seeks people who think the same way he does, rather than those who look similar or work in the same profession. “Since the beginning, I’ve had a desire to create a global tribe of people who are like-minded and share the same ideas, the same way of thinking. I want to make a base for that. And I really want it to be a space to encourage creativity, encourage collaboration, and have the idea of exchange.”

BEAUGAN’s designs are imbued with the belief individuals have to create their own identity. They also the embodiment of Hancy’s search for beauty in the natural world. In the future, he hopes BEAUGAN will be a community exchanging ideas to create culture in a way they can’t find elsewhere. “I want substance and I want quality,” says Hancy. “I created a brand to achieve that. Hopefully, I’m getting there.”


自由地去塑造自我身份,抛下过去或时尚界的期待,Christopher 想要将怀有这样渴望的人都聚集起来。“说真的,这是在建设一个社区;这是每个人的梦想。每一个创造某种文化的群体都希望这样。如果你缺乏身份认同,你会想找到属于你的大家庭。”

作为一个选择离井别乡的澳大利亚人,和一位厌倦于现状的时装设计师,Christopher 在寻志同道合的人,不仅仅是那些外表相似或在同一行业工作的人。“从一开始,我就有这样的愿望: 建立一个志同道合的全球部落,之中的人有同样的想法和思维方式。我想为此创建一个基地,然后在这基础上将它变成一个鼓励创新、合作与交流想法的平台。”

BEAUGAN 作为一股 “时尚逆流”,其服装蕴含着设计师让人重塑自我身份的意图。同时,它也是一种个人的思维和生活方式,诠释着 Christopher 对于自然之美的追寻。在未来,Christopher 希望让 BEAUGAN 成为一个让人们交换想法的社区,让他们以在其它地方无法实现的方式,共同创造一种文化。在我们的聊天中,Christopher 明确指出他已经抛弃的想法,以及他现在的立场。即使他的最终理念现在也未成形。“我想要言之有物的作品和好的品质。为此,我创立了一个品牌。但愿我能成功。”

Media Partner: MAEKAN

Contributor: Charis Poon
Photographer: Stanley Cheng


媒体合作伙伴: MAEKAN

供稿人: Charis Poon
摄影师: Stanley Cheng

Sketches of a Subculture 次文化的速写

July 30, 2018 2018年7月30日

“Beijing is a city of constant change. It is where anything can happen—the good, the bad, and the ugly.” This is how the third issue of Hole in the Wall Collective’s zine begins. In a colorful illustration next to these words, two people, a young woman in overalls and an elderly man hunched over a cane, watch the demolition of an old brick building amid piles of rubble and a towering construction crane.

It’s a scene familiar to anyone who’s spent time in a Chinese city: the constant cycle of destruction and rebirth in the race to modernize. This issue of Hole in the Wall doesn’t focus on the demolitions themselves but instead documents the disappearing life in Beijing’s hutongs, the traditional alleyway neighborhoods that are increasingly being destroyed to make way for new development.


“北京是一个不断变动的城市。在这里,什么事情都可能发生,不论好坏美丑。” Hole in the Wall Collective 发行的第三本刊物如此开篇,在课文一旁色彩丰富的插画里,一位身穿工作裤的年轻女人和一位驼背拄着拐杖的老头儿,眼看着古老的砖木结构建筑被拆掉,周边是一堆堆瓦砾和一架高耸的起重机。

这样的景象,或许任何曾在中国城市待过的人都不会觉得陌生。城市为了竞逐现代化,陷入拆迁和重建的无限轮回。这期《Hole in the Wall》杂志不把焦点放在拆迁本身,而是记录逐渐消失的北京传统巷弄街坊──胡同。眼下,越来越多的胡同因为城市发展而被拆除了。

Hole in the Wall Collective is made up of two illustrators, Shuilam Wong and Jinna Kaneko. “We record Beijing’s underground music scene, its night life, its street culture, its hutong culture, anything that’s under the radar and not very mainstream,” Wong says.

Wong and Kaneko went to the same high school in Beijing and both moved back after college. Reconnecting, they formed the Hole in the Wall Collective. “I didn’t know Shui had majored in illustration until I found her on Instagram,” says Kaneko. “I sent her a message and told her ‘I want to make a zine with you!’ When we met up, ideas came together and everything started evolving.”


Hole in the Wall Collective 由两位插画家组成,分別为 Shuilam Wong 和 Jinna Kaneko。 Shui 解释,“我们纪录任何低调的非主流文化,像是北京的地下音乐现象、夜生活、街头文化和胡同文化。”

Shui 和 Jinna 两人在北京上同一间高中,也都是读完大学后搬回这里。两人再次聚首,成立了 Hole in the Wall Collective。Jinna 说:“我在 Instagram 上找到 Shui 以前,不知道她主修插画。我发消息给她说,‘我要和你创办独立杂志啊!’ 然后在我们碰面时集结了各种想法,一切就开始启动了。”

In 2017, the duo released their zine’s first issue, which consisted mainly of interviews and portraits of people in Beijing’s offbeat artistic neighborhoods, such as Gulou. “Our interviews are very casual. We initially wanted something very structured, but my computer didn’t always work and Jinna’s phone would often run out of battery, so we just drew and wrote down quotes, and that became the structure of our interviews—drawing live,” says Wong.

They note that a live portrait is a unique way to get to know someone because it allows the interviewee to open up for a calm and authentic conversation. “One drawing may take 15-30 minutes, and it’s an excuse to talk to that person. You can sit down and take your time. They’re more willing to talk in depth, rather than just stick to surface-level topics,” Kaneko says.


2017 年她们发行独立杂志创刊号,主要内容为访谈和肖像画,对象都来自鼓楼和北京其他非主流艺术街区。“我们的采访非常随性。 一开始我们要的是很有组织的内容,但是我的电脑时常当机,Jinna 的手机也常没电,我们索性边画边写,记下对话之后变成采访的架构,就好像现场速写一样。” Shui 解释道。

她们指出,人物速写这种独特方式能让她们快速认识一个人,因为受访者更愿意以沉着、坦承的方式展开对话。“一幅速写画可能会花上 15~30 分钟,同时也是和受访者对话的好时机。他们可以好整以暇地坐着,因此更愿意深度倾谈,而非只是谈论肤浅的主题。” Jinna 说。

Wong explains that around the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, many hutong neighborhoods became revitalized, as independent shops, restaurants, cafés, bars, and other businesses opened up. “Hutongs are often home to tight-knit communities,” Wong says. “People often sit outside, just chilling, hanging out. Even the bathrooms are communal.”

“Some hutongs, like the ones around Nanluoguxiang, have always been touristy,” Kaneko adds, “but tourists have created their own community and opened up bars. In the future, we hope to cover art spaces, hotels, or cafés that mix traditional and modern architecture.”


Shui 解释,2008 年北京举办奥运之际,许多胡同开始复兴,开起了独立店铺、餐厅、咖啡店、酒吧等商家。 “胡同里的社区,彼此关系很紧密。”她解释道,“大家经常坐在外面消遣,打发时间。甚至连厕所都是共用的。”

“有些胡同,” Jinna 补充道, “例如南锣鼓巷周围一向很多游客,但是他们也创造了自己的社群,开了酒吧。未来我们希望能采访那些融合传统和现代建筑的艺术空间、饭店或是咖啡店。”

As Hole in the Wall’s interviews show, owners of bars and clubs share a resilience and a determined outlook on staying in business in Beijing. “Closings and demolitions have always been happening,” says Wong. “Maybe now the issue’s getting a bit more media attention, but for these bar owners, it’s always been a way of life, especially in the hutong neighborhoods. People find ways to work around it, and they’ve accepted it. I think that’s what makes the city interesting: there’s a lot of energy to find different ways to work around problems. I personally believe that if you’re too comfortable, you won’t create anything interesting.”


如同杂志采访里所呈现,酒吧和俱乐部的经营者都具有强大适应力和坚决态度,打算留在北京做生意。“关店收摊和拆除工程是常有的事,” Shui 说,“或许这类议题在现在获得更多的媒体关注,对于在胡同里开酒吧的经营者而言,这早已是他们的生活方式,大家已经找到方法,接受这种现象。我认为这个城市的意趣正在于此,碰到问题时大家都会全力找出变通办法。我个人认为生活过得太舒适,就无法创造出有趣的东西。”

From zine culture to independent art to punk music, Beijing has a rich environment for Hole in the Wall Collective to draw on. “Compared to all the places I’ve lived in, I see more potential here,” Wong says. “I’ve lived in Singapore, Beijing, and London, and I’ve spent a little bit of time in Japan, and I’ve done far more here than I’ve ever done in any other city.”

Despite their initial focus on Beijing, Wong and Kaneko also want to go on to cover other countries and cities. They’re planning a future issue on Hong Kong and Tokyo. “We’re visual journalists,” Wong says. “Our goal is to record the now, the youth, and the vibrant, urban culture.”


北京拥有丰富环境提供给 Hole in the Wall Collective 利用,从独立杂志、独立艺术到朋克音乐文化。“ 和其他我住过的地方比起来,我在这里看到更多潜力。” Shui 说,“我住过新加坡、北京和伦敦,也在日本待过短暂时间。我在北京做的事远比在其他地方做的事还多。”

即便一开始将焦点放在北京,Shui 和 Jinna 也想继续采访其他国家和城市。她们正在筹划以香港和东京为主题的刊物。“我们是以视觉记录为主的记者。” Shui 总结道,“我们的目标是记录当下、年轻人,以及充满活力的都市文化。”

Once Upon a Time in Jianghu 一个人的嘻哈 一群人的江湖

July 27, 2018 2018年7月27日
Has

Created by photographer Shen Yi, The Ganghood is an ongoing portrait series of notable figures in the Chinese hip-hop scene.

A conversation is what sparked the idea for the project. He and his friends—all diehard hip-hop heads—noted how there weren’t any professional photographers in China who truly understood hip-hop culture. In the US, individuals like Jonathan Mannion, who’s shot countless iconic hip-hop albums, and Chi Modu, whose photojournalistic works documented the golden era of American hip-hop, are both distinguished photographers in the hip-hop scene. So in 2016, full of ideas and ambition, Shen Yi began shooting hip-hop shows, and he’s been continuing the project ever since then.


《江湖》是一个长期的拍摄项目,拍摄的主要对象是活跃在中国 Hip-hop(或可称嘻哈)圈内的人。

这个项目的启发,源于沈易和几个同样喜欢 Hip-hop 文化的朋友的一次聊天。他们觉得那个时候国内十分缺少真正懂得 Hip-hop 的专业摄影人。而在美国,则既有类似 Jonathan Mannion 这样拍了很多出色说唱专辑封面的摄影师,也有类似 Chi Modu 这样用自己镜头记录了一个黄金时代的纪实摄影家。2016 年底,沈易有机会到一些说唱演出的现场进行拍摄,这一愿景终于得偿所愿,并且将一如既往地持续下去。

Bridge
Al Rocco

When I mentioned how much I loved the Chinese title he’d chosen, Jianghu (江湖), Shen’s eyes twinkled with delight. Coming up with a title isn’t particularly difficult, but finding one that’s easy to understand and captures the project’s spirit takes some thought. “Jianghu,” in fantasy martial arts novels, is the underworld of rogues and outlaws that exists on the fringes of society—China’s answer to the Wild West. Nowadays the term can refer to criminal gangs or to any scene or subculture outside the mainstream.

“I thought long and hard about what to name the project. Some titles seemed too plain, while others seemed too pretentious. However, one day when I rewatched Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster (2013), I had a eureka moment: China’s hip-hop scenes are just like different schools of martial arts! The stars of each faction have their own distinct styles, and they even do “battle” with their music. So why not call it ‘jianghu?'” He then pauses, taking a long drag from his cigarette, but he still can’t contain his excitement.


提起这个项目的名字,沈易平静的眼里突然亮起了光。起名字本不是一件很困难的事情,但若想让这个名字通俗易懂又能贴合主题,却还是要花费一些心思的。

“想了挺多,要么觉得太俗,要么觉得太装,后来有一天复习这部电影的时候,心里突然一阵哆嗦——中国的 Hip-hop 圈子岂不就像是各个武林门派?不同门派的高手都有着自己独一无二的风格特点,甚至有时还会以写歌的形式 “火拼”,所以干脆就叫 《江湖》算了。” 说到这里,沈易深深吸了一口烟,却还是难掩他激动的神情。

Eddie Beatz
Lil Jet
Jahjahway & Fac-D12 of Purple Soul

“In this circle, there’s an old saying: You don’t choose hip-hop. Hip-hop chooses you,” he says.

Shen’s interest in hip-hop began in 2001, the year he turned 11, when he stumbled across the music video for Michael Jackson’s “Jam.” Having listened to Jackson’s music throughout his childhood, one particular moment in the song differentiated it from all of Jackson’s other works. Unannounced, a heavyset man appears in the music video, unleashing a flurry of words and busting moves across the screen. It was the coolest thing Shen had ever seen. He later learned that the man was Heavy D, a Jamaican-born American rapper. This marked the beginning of his relationship with hip-hop. Since then, hip-hop has been a faithful, inseparable companion.

“In my young, rebellious years, hip-hop culture was a pillar of support. If my love life was in shambles or if I was having a rough time in school, it had my back,” he says, pausing for a moment in thought. “Hip-hop is like a mirror. It reflects all my rough edges. And the world you see in the mirror is really just your own reflection.”


“这个圈里老说一句话,不是你选择了 Hip-hop,而是它选择了你。”沈易说。

2001 年的沈易,刚过十一岁。喜欢迈克尔・杰克逊的他一天正在观看《Jam》的 MV,只见唱着唱着,画面里突然跑进来一个胖哥们儿,嘴里叨叨叨叨,身体龙飞凤舞。当时的沈易觉得这哥们真是太酷了,一来二去,就知道了这胖哥们儿是已故的牙买加裔美国说唱歌手 Heavy D。从此,Hip-hop 便开始不离不弃的陪伴着他,直到现在。

“Hip-hop 文化曾一度是我少年叛逆期时目中无物好高骛远的精神支柱,也曾是学业无成感情失败时的绝对依靠。她就像一面镜子,映射着我的所有棱角。你在镜子中看到的世界,其实就是自己的影子。”沉默了半晌,沈易缓缓说道。

Boom
Melo
Pharaoh
DJ Wordy
WARZ

The “hustle” mentality of hip-hop culture is what resonates the most with Shen today. “You can interpret the word as battling against hardship or as simply a way of getting money. Hustle is when the kid who grew up in a harsh environment gives it all he’s got to shake off poverty, to shake off people’s condescension. Hustle means never giving in, never accepting defeat, giving it all you’ve got.”

Shen’s own work ethos embodies the spirit of the hustle, and he’s stuck with the project despite running into his share of naysayers. Just as his series was getting off the ground, the reality show Rap of China turned hip-hop into a nationwide fad. Suddenly, haters came out of the woodwork, saying he was just jumping on the bandwagon and that certain rappers he shot weren’t “true” hip-hop artists.

To these accusations, he simply answers, “Trends are temporary, but the spirit of hip-hop endures.”

Shen’s response is simple, but I can tell it’s genuine.


现在的沈易,似乎更喜欢 Hip-hop 文化中的那种 “Hustle” 精神。“你可以理解为奋斗,也可以理解为挣钱。就像一个孩子生在一个不如人意的环境里,然后他拼了命地努力摆脱贫困,摆脱被人瞧不起的境遇。这个不服输不认命,靠自己打拼的过程,就是 Hustle。”

沈易自己的作品就结合了这种 “Hustle” 精神。在这个项目遭到质疑时,他选择与之直面。项目刚有起色的时候,正好赶上国内的一档综艺节目《中国有嘻哈》上线。一时间,冒出了一些的 Diss(轻视、不尊重)他的人,说他蹭热度、拍的某某饶舌歌手不够真,不算是 Hip-hop。

“热度是只是一时的,而 Hip-hop 内在的精神却是经久不衰的。”

沈易只是轻描淡写的答复了一句,但我已从这句话中感受到了分量。

门派之间有帮派,黑社会有地下党,但江湖就是江湖。刀光剑影,儿女情长,江湖豪迈,热血沸腾。

Blow Fever
C-Block
Young Dragon

In recent times, hip-hop has spread across China, and a new wave of talented musicians has emerged. As the quality of production, lyrics, and live performances continues to improve, Chinese hip-hop is reaching new heights.

Asked how Chinese and U.S. hip-hop differ, Shen says they’re “brothers from another mother.” The essence of the culture is the same, but the local context is different, and that means that hip-hop in China has developed in a radically different direction. Replicating American rap styles doesn’t quite cut it for today’s savvy listeners. As a result, more and more unique hip-hop music relevant to Chinese listeners is being produced.

As hip-hop’s popularity in China continues to grow, listeners and artists alike are still trying to figure out its place. It’s a thrilling time, with all the excitement of a martial arts novel. And Shen is here with his camera, capturing the hip-hop jianghu.


问及中美 Hip-hop 文化有何差异,他的回答是:“同一个妈生的,不同的爹养大。”其实本质上说来,嘻哈文化都是相同的,不同的只在于国情和制度,但正因这些不同,却导致文化发展的方向和深度有着天壤之别。越来越多人意识到,照搬美国地区的那套在中国行不通。同时,也有越来越多代表我们特色的优秀作品应运而生。

近几年的中国,Hip-hop 也在遍地开花,从而也诞生了许多厉害的歌手。不论是歌曲的制作、歌词的深度、现场的张力,都将华语说唱提升到了一个全新的高度。虽然大家还在摸着石头过河,有时候难免会要停一停,但长风破浪,总有来时。

Cloudy Tunnel

Weibo~/guimayi

 

Contributor: Li Zi


微博~/guimayi

 

供稿人: Li Zi

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Uncommon Sense 凡几的生活哲学

July 26, 2018 2018年7月26日

Common Rare is a Shanghai-based creative team headed by Taiwanese-Americans Tiffany Wong and Vivian Sze. After falling in love with the craft fairs they saw in the States, the duo set out to create a similar experience in China, organizing events where creators and artisans could sell their work. Since 2016 they’ve hosted a series of arts-and-crafts markets in Shanghai, featuring independent brands that share their conviction that “small things matter.” In addition to their events, the pair also runs a bilingual media platform dedicated to stories from creative start-ups in China and around the world.


凡几 (Common Rare) 是一个由台湾裔美国人 Tiffany Wong 和 Vivian Sze 领导的上海创意团队。他们爱上了之前在美国常逛的那种工艺市集,想在中国创造类似的体验,于是这个双人组合开始组织让创作者和艺术家可以贩售自己作品的活动。自2016年以来,他们在上海举办了一系列艺术和手工艺品市集,很多独立品牌参与其中,共同分享着他们的理念 “小事情也很重要”。除了举办活动,他们还经营一个双语媒体平台,专门讲述来自中国和世界各地的创意新创企业的故事。

Tiffany Wong
Vivian Sze

Common Rare made their debut in Christmas 2016 with “Not Your Typical Holiday Market,” a bazaar that showcased a festive collection of crafts, handmade homewares, artisanal food, interactive art, and live entertainment. In subsequent events, they’ve brought on new vendors to reflect seasonal themes and visions. Their springtime “Industrial Bloom Festival” featured nature-based products, while their 2017 Christmas market, “Into the Woods” offered whimsical gifts.

In 2018, Common Rare officially rang in summer with “The Sweet & Salty,” a market featuring hand-crafted sweet and savory delights from 50 independent businesses. The two-day event, a collaboration with the group Woodstock of Eating, took place at Shanghai’s historic Colombia Circle, a refurbished American colonial social club originally built in 1924.


凡几的首次亮相是在2016年的圣诞节活动 “这不是圣诞市集” (Not Your Typical Holiday Market)。这是一个集合节庆工艺品、手工家居品、手作餐点、互动艺术和现场表演的市集。在随后的活动中,他们带进新的摊商以响应季节性的主题。“春季工业盛会” (Industrial Bloom Festival) 以自然的当令产品为特色;2017年的圣诞活动 “森林里的圣诞市集” (Into the Woods) 则提供各种有趣的节日送礼选择。

2018年,“The Sweet & Salty 上海甜点节” 让凡几正式步入夏日的序曲,共有来自50个独立品牌手工制作的甜品和咸食参与,为期两天的活动是与伍德吃托克(Woodstock of Eating)团队的合作,在上海历史悠久的哥伦比亚公园举办。

Wong and Sze’s down-to-earth approach and eye for detail have also caught the attention of brands like Nike, which collaborated with them on a creative market inspired by the classic Nike Cortez shoe. Each unique brand and designer at the two-day bazaar was handpicked to represent the “Cortez lifestyle” and its iconic red, white, and blue aesthetic.


Tiffany 和 Vivian 两人脚踏实地的做事方法和对细节的要求引起了像耐克这样大型品牌的关注,他们在一次的创意市集上合作,灵感来自经典的 Nike Cortez。市集中每一个独特品牌和设计师都经过精心挑选,以能符合 “Cortez 生活方式” 及其标志性的红、白、蓝三色美学。

After two years sharing life’s simple pleasures through their media platform and market events, the Common Rare team have launched their very own online store, appropriately named The Common Store. Their goal is to cast a spotlight on independent brands based in China that make homewares, skincare products, fashion, jewelry, magazines, and other lifestyle products.

The Common Store aims to be a permanent platform for customers to explore and support small-scale creators beyond each event. Their WeChat store currently features over 15 brands, including their very own Common Rare handmade soap range, created in collaboration with Hong Kong-based skincare brand Savon 1993.


两年以来,凡几通过媒体平台和市集活动致力于分享生活中的简单快乐,目前还推出了自己的线上商店,名为 The Common Store。他们的目标是聚焦中国的独立品牌,生产家居用品、护肤品、时装、珠宝、杂志和其他生活风格产品。

凡几希望能成为消费者在活动之外探索和支持小规模创作者的永久平台。 他们的微店目前拥有超过15个品牌,包括他们与香港护肤品牌 Savon 1993 合作的 Common Rare 手工皂系列。

Wong and Sze are a two-person powerhouse, and they know by heart the stories behind every brand in the Common Store. What started out as a small idea between longtime friends has evolved into a platform for slowing down and finding joy in the small pleasures in life.

From now until August 12th, those in Shanghai will be able to see the Common Store come to life during its three-week-long pop-up at the Rockbund Museum’s Associate Mission Building. Products from Asia-based creatives, including Zowoo, Form Maker, PÂTE, and LOST Magazine, will be on sale, as will creations from over 30 other independent clothing, skincare, accessory, furniture, and homeware brands. The Common Store pop-up is open daily from 11:00 am to 7:30 pm, and its products are also available on Weidian


Tiffany 和 Vivian 是一个小而强大的团队,他们清楚地了解凡几里每个品牌背后的故事。长期是朋友关系的两人当初萌生的一个小小想法,现在已经演变成一个平台,让你我能慢下步调,寻找到生活中的小乐趣。

从现在起到8月12日,凡几的限期快闪店在上海洛克外滩源开幕,借此你将能更真实接触到凡几的品牌哲学。在这为期三周的活动中,来自亚洲各地的创意品牌包括 ZowooForm MakerPÂTE 和独立杂志 《LOST》,以及其他30多个独立服装、护肤品、家居品牌的产品将开始贩售。Common Store 快闪店于每天上午 11:00 至下午 7:30 开放,其产品也同步在微店上市。

Dates: July 21, 2018 ~ August 12, 2018
Hours: 11 am ~ 7:30 pm

Address:
Rockbund Waitanyuan
Room #104
No. 169 Yuanmingyuan Road
Huangpu District, Shanghai
People’s Republic of China

Website: common-rare.com
Instagram: @common.rare
Weibo:~/CommonRare
WeChat: CommonRare

 

Contributor & Photographer: Whitney Ng
Additional Images Courtesy of Common Rare


日期: 2018年7月21日——2018年8月12日
营业时间: 上午11点至下午7点半

地址:
中国
上海市黄埔区
圆明园路路169号
104室
洛克外滩源

网站: common-rare.com
Instagram: @common.rare
微博:~/CommonRare
微信: CommonRare

 

供稿人与摄影师: Whitney Ng
附加图片由凡几提供

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Pow Marin’s Floral Portraits 眼花撩乱的记忆

July 25, 2018 2018年7月25日

“Floral” might be the first word that pops into your mind when you see Manila-based artist Pow Marin’s work. Everyone’s face is a profusion of flowers and corals, arrayed so dramatically that they seem to be clamoring for your attention. Marin’s obsession with repeating patterns, along with a strong influence from Yayoi Kusama, one of his favorite artists, give his work a distinct and dazzling style.


眼花撩乱,也许是你看到 Pow Marin 作品心中浮现的第一个形容词,这些团簇的花和珊瑚绽放在每个人身上,戏剧性的程度就好像它们在放声地呼喊,以争夺你的目光。来自菲律宾马尼拉的年轻艺术家 Pow Marin,说自己是受到喜欢的艺术家草间弥生影响,再加上自己对重复图案的执着,最后总结出这样令人目眩神迷的画风。

The subjects of Marin’s paintings seem to be posing for a photograph, standing still and looking directly at the camera. His works give off a heady scent of nostalgia as if he were conjuring happy moments and preserving them in physical form on a canvas. “Sometimes I use my own family photos as reference,” he says. “Being around friends and other people is a huge comfort for me.” His paintings, like memories, pay tribute to significant people and happenings from the past.


除此之外,近似照片的构图,画面里的人看向镜头静止不动——你还可以从他的作品里品味出浓郁的怀旧情感。如同回忆被提领出来,帧在画布上,过往的美好时光就此留存在他下笔的那一刻。“我经常使用家庭合照作为参考,因为朋友和其他人的陪伴对我来说是很大的安慰。” 就像回忆录一样,他感性地用画把重要的人与事都纪念下来。

Instagram@powmarin

 

Contributor: Yang Yixuan


Instagram: @powmarin

 

供稿人: Yang Yixuan

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Captured Creatures 困生

July 24, 2018 2018年7月24日

Whenever you arrive in a new country or city, there are certain things you have to do, rituals you perform to experience a new culture or find new inspiration: visiting a museum, savoring a cup of local coffee, finding a lookout point and watching the sunset, picking up a knick-knack at a flea market. For Beijing-based artist Chai Mi, one of these little rituals, whenever she arrives somewhere new, is to visit the local zoo. Since she began performing her multimedia work Captured Creatures, Chai has visited over 30 zoos in several countries.


一个人每到新的国家或城市,都会有一些必须完成的事情。这些事在生活中就好像一种仪式,我们能通过它们去体验新的文化、得到新的灵感。例如去一间博物馆、喝一杯当地的咖啡、找到最高的观景台去欣赏日落的景色,或者去跳蚤市场买些有趣的东西。而北京艺术家柴觅的小仪式,则是每到一个地方就会去一趟当地的动物园。在《困生》多媒体项目期间内,她已经去了世界各国 30 多个动物园。

Chai’s art involves multiple media, including painting, animation, installation, and live performance. Captured Creatures, her third work of “audiovisual theater,” combines moving images, contemporary dance, and sound design. By creating an experimental atmosphere, she wants to draw viewers into a state that gives them a new perspective on the relationship between people and animals, and between living things and the environment.

Her recent performance of the show at Nanchang’s Snarte Space was her fourth. Chai arrived four days before the show and spent each day from morning to night constantly rehearsing or preparing the stage. Yet on the hectic evening before opening night, Chai readily agreed to an interview. We spoke about the creative concept behind Captured Creatures and about how the show has developed.


柴觅的艺术总是涉及多种媒介,包括绘画、动画、装置、现场演出等。《困生》是她的第三个影音剧场演出作品,结合了现场影像、当代舞蹈及声音设计。她想通过这种实验性的氛围,让观者进入情境,从不同的角度去看人与动物,以及生物与环境之间存在的关系。

这次《困生》在南昌的空间已经是第四次演出。柴觅提前四天就到现场准备,从早到晚一直在布置和排练。在紧张的演出前夕,柴觅爽快地同意了这次采访。于是,我们就与她聊了《困生》的创作概念和这个项目的成长过程。

 

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Neocha: How did the idea for Captured Creatures come about?

Chai Mi: Usually my works come about in a fairly accidental way, as a result of some perhaps very trivial thing or feeling. The idea for Captured Creatures came about when it occurred to me one day that I had really happy memories of going to the zoo as a child. I decided to visit one again and see what it was like, but when I got there I couldn’t find that childhood happiness. Instead, I found several other feelings. So it got me wondering, why did I react the way I did? I wanted to find answers to those questions, so I started going to zoos, taking a camera along with me to record what I experienced. I went to more and more of them, and I found there’s a certain subtle connection between every city and its zoo. In Captured Creatures, I hope to be able to let everyone see or sense the relationship between people, animals, and the natural and built environments. That’s how this piece came about.


Neocha: 《困生》的主旨是怎么产生的?

柴觅: 一般来说我作品的开始都挺偶然的。从一个可能很小的事情或感受出发,模模糊糊地就开始了。比如《困生》这个项目,有一天我突然想起来小时候觉得去动物园是一件很开心的事情,所以我决定去动物园看看,去了却发现以前开心的感觉找不到了,反而产生很多其他情绪。于是我开始思考,为什么会有这些感觉?我想去追寻这些问题的答案,开始去动物园用相机记录那些我感受到的东西。去过越来越多动物园,我发现每个城市与其动物园之间都会有一些微妙的联系。我希望通过这个作品可以让大家看到或者感觉到人、动物、环境、建筑之间的关系,所以就有了《困生》这个项目。

Neocha: You’ve performed Captured Creatures in Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, and La Rochelle. This performance in Nanchang is the fourth. How does each one differ?

Chai Mi: Underlying each performance is a fundamental structure, a graphic model I’ve laid out that’s based on the relationship between people and animals. Let me explain. On a graph, I draw two circles, one for humans and one for animals. These two circles are positioned in one of four possible relationships. In the first, the two are separate—they don’t touch each other. In the second, the circles intersect and share a common area. In the third, the circle for animals is larger than the one for humans, and it encloses it. In the fourth, the circle for humans encloses the one for animals.

Each performance has four parts, one for each possible relationship. For each part, I come up with a style of performance that corresponds to that relationship, and the dancers perform accordingly. But the order of the parts, and the details of the dancers’ movements, vary from performance to performance.

A second difference is that I constantly update the source images—the images of animals, images of spaces, and the live real-time composition effects. An attentive observer may note that the animals in each performance are rather different, as is the length of time an image might appear on screen, because here there are a lot of impromptu components.

A third difference is that every time, the collaborating dancers bring their individual styles. I’ve found that every dancer has their own body language, just as each person has their personality. This performance has a degree of freedom, but at the same time it also has rules, and in each performance, the scope of freedom bumps up against the boundaries of the rules.


Neocha:《困生》之前曾在马来西亚吉隆坡、拉罗谢尔、和北京演出过,这次在南昌是第四次。每一次演出有哪些不同?

柴觅: 这个演出背后有一个最基本的结构,即我基于人和动物的关系,所设定的一个图形化的模型。我大概形容一下吧,我会在图形上把人和动物都做成两个圆形。这两个圆形会产生四种位置的关系。第一种是人的圆形和动物的圆形是分离的,它们互不干预对方。第二种是这两个圆形相交,它们有共同的一个区域。第三种是动物大于人,动物圆形是盖住人的。第四种是人的圆盖住动物的。

每一场演出都有四部分,每部分对应一种可能的关系。而每个部分,我都会对相应的关系去设计一套对应的演出方式,然后舞者会按照相关的条件去演出。然而,这四部分的顺序以及舞者的动作都会改变,因此每场演出都不一样。

其次还有不一样的,是源自演出所使用的影像素材的不断更新,包括动物影像、空间影像以及现场的实时合成效果。细心的人可能会发现每场演出里面的动物都不太一样,各个影像出现的时间点也不同,因为这里面有很多的即兴成分。

第三个不一样,是我每次合作的舞者带来的不同。我发现每个好舞者都有一套自己的身体的语言,就像每个人都有自己的性格一样。这个项目有自由度,但同时也有一定规则,每一次演出是都在自由的范围内碰撞规则的边界。

Neocha: Could you talk a little bit about the projection and lighting effects? What role do they play?

Chai Mi: I’m fascinated by light and shadow. In this piece the projector is like a sun: it’s the most important, or rather the only source of light. Only when there’s light can we show images, and light is itself temporal. Watching the animals flickering across the walls, you enter a state of contemplation. A question then arises: are they real or not? At first, you think they’re not, but after watching for a bit you can no longer tell, and the images take on an illusory reality. The dancers are real, and in the performance, they’re right there in front of you, but when the performance is recorded on video, everything becomes an illusion. The subtitle of Captured Creatures is “spacetime illusion.” It highlights temporality, spatiality, illusion, and reality, and the possibility of combining or switching between them.


Neocha: 可不可以谈谈作品中的投影和光线效果?它们有什么作用?

柴觅: 我对光影本身很着迷。在这个项目里投影就像一个太阳,是一个最重要,或者说是唯一的光源。有光的时候我们才能显出影像,光本身就有时间性。看到墙上不断出现的动物影像的时候,人会进入一种观看状态。一个问题于是出现:那是真的还是假的?一开始你肯定觉得是假的,但看多了之后你会不再分辨真假,它本身就是一个虚幻的真实存在。而舞者又是真实的,演出时他们就在我们面前。但当演出成为录像,一切就又被虚幻化了。《困生》还有个副标题叫《时空幻象》,它就是在强调时间性、空间性、虚幻性和真实性,以及它们之间互相转换、结合的可能。

Neocha: Why do you use live performance in this piece?

Chai Mi: I wanted to create a work that could share my experiences. Around 2012 I started doing some pieces with live performance and quickly realized that it can easily immerse the audience in an atmosphere. This kind of immersion is very different from painting, video, or installation pieces because when a performance occurs in a space, that space seems to suddenly become a world filled with related experiences. With this performance, I’m not trying to tell you anything, teach you anything, or lead you anywhere. I want to achieve an arbitrary state, a state that’s confusing and suddenly divorced from reality. In such an atmosphere, it’s easier for people to gain a new understanding. It’s a bit like blurring your previous understanding and making you enter that blurriness. When you come out you just might have a new view on things.


Neocha: 对于这个项目,你为什么采取现场演出的形式?

柴觅: 我很希望去创造一个作品能够分享我一些感受。我大概 2012 年开始做一些跟现场演出相关的作品,很快就发现这种艺术形式很容易让观众融入到一个氛围里面来。这种融入感和绘画、录像、装置等作品很不一样,因为当一个演出发生在一个空间里的时候,就像是突然把这个空间变成了一个充满着相关体验的世界。我通过这个演出不想告诉你什么,去教你什么,或者去引导你。我想得到随想的一个状态,突然脱离现实的,会有一点点懵懵懂懂的状态。在这样的一个氛围里会比较容易让人去产生一个新的认知。有点像是把你原有的认知全都模糊化,然后让你进入这个模糊里。当你出来的时候可能就会重新对事物构建一个新的想法。

Neocha: How do you view zoos today? Do you plan to focus on animals in your work in the future?

Chai Mi: When I travel to developed countries, I see that not many people go to zoos. A lot of zoos are gradually merging with parks and don’t even charge for entry. I’ve also been to a lot of zoos in developing countries, and those are like playgrounds—everybody’s consuming the animals as entertainment. But do we really need to go to zoos? Now there are a lot of park-like animal preserves. There’s no need to put animals in cages, since we can experience them in their natural state.

As for the second question, very possibly. I’ve recently started thinking about the relationship between women and animals. What’s interesting is that humans really like white animals, albino animals. It seems things become especially fascinating when they’re rare, weak, and pure—which is how women have been imagined at certain times in history. Some pieces may come out of that, though it’s hard to say—a work needs constant thought before it takes a definitive shape.


Neocha: 目前你对动物园有什么看法?你会继续往动物方向进行创作吗?

柴觅: 当我去一些发达国家时,发现没有那么多人去动物园了,很多动物园慢慢地变成了公园的一部分,而且是不收门票的。我也去了很多发展中国家,那里的动物园更像是一个游乐场,大家更多的是在探奇、狂欢和消费动物。不过,我们真的需要去动物园吗?现在有很多公园形式的动物保护区,不必再把动物关进笼子里,可以去体会大自然的状态。

至于第二个问题,很有可能。我最近开始思考女性和动物之间的关系,有意思的是,人类特别喜欢白色的动物,有白化病的动物。当一个东西变得稀有、柔弱,又纯洁, 似乎是特别迷人的,类似于历史上某些时候对于女性的观念。可能会有一些相关的影像作品出现,现在还不好说,作品需要在不断的思考下确定形态。

Website: www.chaimiart.com

 

Contributor & Photographer: Julia Golysh


Website: www.chaimiart.com

 

供稿人与摄影师: Julia Golysh

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A Diary in Comics 日记本上的胡思乱想

July 23, 2018 2018年7月23日

“I guess you could call my work a dumping ground of uncensored thoughts.”

For Ji Sub Jeong, aka Geesubay, a Korean-Canadian artist working in New York, art has been a passion since childhood. “I’ve been drawing obsessively as long as I can remember,” he says. “I’d doodle on anything I could get my hands on, from textbooks and magazines to the walls of my room (which my mom did not appreciate!). Drawing was something that I enjoyed tremendously, and I could never get enough of it.”


“我想你几乎可以把我的作品称为 ‘一团没有经过审查的思想垃圾堆’。”

韩裔加拿大籍插画家 Ji Sub Jeong aka Geesubay,目前在纽约发展艺术事业。他对于艺术的热爱从小就展露无遗,自从有记忆以来,画画就一直是他最着迷的事情。“我会在任何我碰得到的东西上乱画,从课本、杂志、到我房间的墙壁,虽然对此我妈妈很不高兴。我一直非常享受画画,我想我永远不会有觉得画够了的那一天。”

Window Thoughts /《窗边随想》
Everything Is A Blur /《世界是模糊的》
Naked And Shy /《裸体与害羞》
Not Fall Yet /《還沒掉下來》
Getting Over The Hurdle /《跨栏》

Jeong’s art is simple and free, full of a humor that brings a familiar smile your face. The mischievous, pudgy little boy in his drawings, out exploring the world, seems to be a creature of his imagination. As he plays and gets into trouble, he discovers life’s smaller joys. “I’ve never been one to keep a steady diary, but I’ve realized that I feel the most satisfied when I draw something I’ve had on my mind for a while,” he says. “So I guess my illustrations can be viewed as a visual diary that showcases my most private and honest feelings about the world.”


他的创作简单、自由、充满令人会心一笑的小幽默。一个拥有浑圆身躯的小男孩喜欢到处闯荡,也许这个顽皮的男孩就是 Ji Sub Jeong 想像的投射,他总在无趣的规则边缘探索,惹一点事,嬉闹之间发现生活微小却显而易见的乐趣。“我从来不是能每天按时写日记的人,但我发现如果可以用画的把想法记录下来,这让我感到好满足。所以我的作品也可以被看作我的图像日记,诚实地展现了我个人对世界的看法。”

Headspace /《头上空间》
Cig Thought /《烟与随想》
Don't Ground Me/《不要拉我》
Clapping My Own Hands /《和自己击掌》
Peace Sign /《和平标志》
Finger Print /《指纹》
Who Am I /《我是谁》

Websitejisubjeong.com
Instagram@geesubay

 

Contributor: Yang Yixuan


网站jisubjeong.com
Instagram: @geesubay

 

供稿人: Yang Yixuan

The Two Sides of Li Daiguo 做个梦 游一游

July 20, 2018 2018年7月20日

 

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We caught up with Li Daiguo for an afternoon jam session, accompanied with vocals by Chacha and woven—perhaps—around the theme of sleep. Li’s music hovers on the edge of reality and nothingness, and listening to it you can’t tell, to paraphrase Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, whether you’re dreaming you’re a butterfly, or whether you’re a butterfly dreaming you’re you. We’ve taken a part of the music and paired it with images, and we invite you to come along in this sonic reverie.

“Improvisation isn’t a genre, because it’s hard to determine what’s going to happen,” says Li. “Even if we repeat the performance, we’re ‘resuming’ it, not ‘replaying’ it, so it’s organic. You find a path in your own habits, a way in, and you have to protect it, build it up, so you can always get back, and then freely go on toward somewhere you never imagined.”


这是李带菓即兴的一个下午,和 Chacha 的人声一起,即兴的主旨也许关于睡眠。它像是现实与虚无的一个交界,你可能是庄周,可能是蝴蝶。后来我们重新剪接了音乐、配了画面,你只当一起做个梦,游一游。

“即兴不是一种风格,因为很难界定会发生什么。即使是我们所谓的重复它,也是我们‘仍在做’,而不是我们‘再次做’,所以它是有机的。你以自己的习惯找到一条路径,从那里进入,你如何保护它、如何建立它,以便你可以随时到达那里,再自由前往意想不到的地方。” 李带菓这样讲。

Who exactly is Li Daiguo?

First and foremost, a musician.

Born in the US, he first began studying Western classical instruments at the age of five. In his adolescent years, he explored instruments from other regions, and in college, he studied Chinese regional music and its cultural roots, while also studying twentieth-century literature and philosophy. Today, he’s become an established musician with experience in over 20 Eastern and Western instruments, in addition to beatboxing, Tuvan throat singing, and other vocal arts. For years he’s been going head-to-head with musicians from around the world, and this multifaceted exploration has led him to stop using labels to define himself. Whenever something resonates with him, he uses it to sow seeds, raise ripples. You never know where inspiration might come from,” he says. “Everything can influence me in some way.”


李带菓是谁?

音乐人是他的身份。

出生在美国,5 岁开始学习西方古典器乐,少年时接触了更多的地方器乐,到大学阶段便深入研习各地地域性音乐及其背后的历史文化,同时研究二十世纪文学和哲学。如今在二十多种东西方乐器和 beatbox、呼麦等人声中游弋,数年来与世界各地音乐人的“摩拳擦掌”,多维度的探索使得他摒弃了标签式的表象标准,他听到什么信息有共鸣,就拿那些来播下种子、掀起涟漪,“你不知道它来自哪里,因为所有东西都会对我产生影响。”

Listen to select tracks from Li Daiguo below / 点击即可试听李带菓的几首歌曲


Side A: “Listen”

 

So what’s the best way to approach Li’s music?

“All kinds of theories could easily be applied to explain the ideas behind my music,” he says. “But they might not entirely be true. The truth is . . . I don’t know! I just do something that feels good from my heart to my brain to my body. I’ll stop there. I’m not going to oversell it.” In marketing, the pitch is usually better than the product, he quips, then gives a belly laugh.

“So a lot of things are there for no reason, or the reason lies in what they do. Too many words, too little thought. The things we want to grasp are often beyond our control, so it’s best to stop right at the edge of what you can feel but can’t understand. Experience it, hold on to your perception.”

It’s nearly impossible to shoehorn his music into a theory, of course. His music seems to touch the truth or essence, as though it were the natural sounds of notes or the inner connections between things. It approaches the dao, but you can’t grasp the truth itself.


Side A:听”

 

到底,听他音乐的打开方式是什么?

“如果要套各种理论来解释我的音乐理念很容易,但可能不太真诚。真诚的应该是,我不知道呢!我就做一个让自己从心里到脑袋到身体都舒服的,我就停在那个里面,不再推销了。”各种名义的推销,噱头往往大于本质,李带菓直指出来,然后抱以率性地狂笑。

“所以很多东西,它没有理由,或者理由已经在它的行为里面。话太多,因为想法太少,那些想抓到的东西往往是超越我们控制范围的,所以不如停在你没办法知道的边界,但你感觉到了。去感受它,保持你的觉知。”

若以理论来强名于他的音乐,当然不太可能。他的音乐似乎在触摸真相或本质,犹如音律的自然发声、事物的内在联系……几近于道,而你无法抓住真相本身。

For performances, Li’s most frequently used instruments are the pipa, cello, and mbira (an African instrument that’s played by plucking it with a thumb). “When I use an instrument, I’ll think about the sound and vibrations it produces. I respect its original sound more because there’s a historical context there. It’s able to tap into a higher frequency. Someone asked me once, ‘That mbira instrument you use, why don’t you recreate something similar yourself? Or experiment with distortion pedals?’ The answer is simple. To me, the way the instrument was originally constructed is already close to perfection.”


李带菓最常用琵琶、大提琴和 Mbira(津巴布韦手指琴)来弹奏和创作,“在乐器使用上,我会从它的声音和振动来考虑,我更尊重它的原生音乐,因为它有那个历史,它能接通能量的概率更高。有人问我,你那个 Mbira 的非洲乐器,怎么不自己创作?或者加效果器做各种实验?因为对我来说,它那个系统和乐器的结合已几近完美。”

He adds, “So why do I perform with the cello and pipa? It’s because they’re fairly common instruments that many people are used to hearing here. From silk strings to steel strings, there’s so much potential in these instruments themselves, but frankly, old songs aren’t as compelling anymore. I spent much of my youth with these instruments, understanding their aesthetics, so I’d say I’ve become fluent in that language. But the mbira is a more narrowly regional instrument. It’s evolved in its own way. If in the future, I have the chance to express myself within that realm, I’ll let it happen. If not, I won’t fake it just to make something new.”


他又补充,“那为什么会用琵琶、大提琴创作?因为它们在地域范围内已经传播很广,丝弦也成了钢弦,这些乐器本身也有更多的可能性,老曲子的整个编曲没有那么大吸引力了。并且我从小在那个器乐的体系里,消化了它的审美,知道怎么用它的语言说话。但是 Mbira 地域性更窄,那个地区有他们慢慢的进化方式。但如果以后我能自然地在它的体系里说自己的话,那我也会允许它发生,如果没有,也不会为了‘新’去假装‘新’。”

Li’s wide-ranging insight into blending Chinese and Western culture is what allows him to experiment and innovate with musical instruments. “The real fusion is when music’s different souls are combined. There’s no incompatibility between past and present, because everything flows in one stream. As long as this fusion is still happening, then it’s just the evolution of a traditional form.”

“Those who aren’t willing to evolve have lost their way. Same for those who blindly pursue change, changing their posture and their performance. Then they add some drums, mix the traditional and the Western, the old and the new—their environment has warped their sensibilities. They’ve lost their roots, forgotten what’s most true. Perhaps this connection to roots is a sort of instinct, but if you truly seize its essence, you can summon its spirit.”


他对中西方文化融合的不拘一格的洞察力,的确带来了器乐上的更多探索与创新,“真正的混搭,混的是音乐的灵魂。并不存在过去与现在不相容,因为都在一条河里流淌,只要是这个东西还在发生,它就是一个传统的进化。”

“不愿意进化,是因为他们迷路了。或者有些人盲目地求变,变着姿势演奏,然后动次打次,传统加西方、老加新,环境的洗脑影响了审美,他们丢了根,忘了最真诚的东西。有可能这种根源性的链接是一种直觉,但如果是真的抓到了它的内在,那么你就可以把那个鬼叫出来。”

As of late, Li’s music sounds very electronic. “These are all acoustic instruments,” he clarifies. “All I’m doing is amplifying certain frequencies of their existing sound. It sounds like a synthesizer. A lot of people can’t believe the sound is being plucked from a string since it sounds like a group of instruments. But the instrument’s original sounds are all there, layered and nuanced. If you manipulate sound with acoustic instruments, you can be more flexible and create different sounds. The instrument shouldn’t be something you’re dependent on, but rather it should be a tool that represents and serves you.”


最近他又在做些听上去很电子的东西,“那些都是原声乐器,我只做了一件事,就是放大已经存在的声音的某个频率,听起来就像一个合成器。他们不相信那是一根弦弹出来的,感觉是一大堆乐器,其实那些原声状态都在,每一秒都和你的身体有共振,听起来更多微妙的层次。你用原声乐器去控制的话,更有选择更自由,也会有更多内容在那里面。是它在代表你、为你服务,而不是去依赖它。”


Side B: “Look”

 

What’s this kind of person like in everyday life?

As we chatted face to face over the table in the backyard of a vegetarian restaurant, his waist-length hair, sometimes gathered with a pin in a topknot, hung around his neck in a braid. The light breeze sprinkled parasol leaves onto our table and dishes. He brushed off the leaves and continued to eat with relish. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from. Everyone loves Chinese food,” Li surmised. “But 90% of the actual cuisine, most people probably can’t stomach. Many people have a limited palette.”


Side B:视”

 

这样一个人,在日常中会是什么样子呢?

我们在功德林后院的饭桌上面对面聊着,他及腰的长发盘在脑后、插上发簪,有时也会编起麻花辫绕在脖子上。风吹散的梧桐絮飘落在饭菜上,他撇一撇继续大口吃饭,“各种肤色的人,基本上都喜欢吃中国菜,也百分之九十吃不惯,他们的味觉比较窄。”

Curiously enough, Li—despite being a food lover—has actually been a vegetarian since he was 19. He believes we’re all animals. “People refuse to eat cats or dogs in many countries, but they’ll happily eat beef, pork, or poultry. They don’t view these things as related. But if you take the time to befriend a cow or a pig, you’ll discover the emotions they experience are the same emotions we experience. Their actions and feelings are similar enough that we shouldn’t be seeing them as only meat. I’m not a vegetarian because of dietary restrictions or an opposition to killing. It’s because these animals are products as soon as they’re born. That’s pretty bad.”


我却是好奇那么爱吃的一个人,却从 19 岁就开始奉行素食,他认为我们都是动物,“比如说很多国家的人,他不吃猫狗,但他会吃牛和猪、吃鸭吃鸡,他不会把那些当成有关系的东西,但如果你去试一下,跟一头牛或猪有感情,然后反射一下人与人之间的那些感情、各种行为,已经够接近到我们没必要去这样分。我吃素不是吃或者杀的问题,是因为从它们一存在就是一个商品,这个不是特别好。”

As we walked along the sidewalk after our meal, he carried his pipa on his back and lugged his cello behind him. Craning his neck to speak, he stumbled on a step and nearly took a tumble, but he recovered his balance with a series of comedically theatrical movements. Having spent the afternoon together, I was already quite familiar with his silliness, but the absurdity of the maneuver still left me laughing. “You know Charlie Chaplin?” he asked. “You could say that he’s a pessimist. But he wanted to make the world a better place with his comedy. I’m the same way. I know all of his choreographed movements come from the heart. I want to be the Charlie Chaplin of music. It’s my dream,” he said with a decisive glint in his eyes.


茶余饭后的路上,他背着琵琶、拖着提琴,顾着讲话就没留意人行道的上下台阶,绊了个踉跄,刚反应过来就顺势做起戏剧化的夸张肢体动作。其实聊了那么会儿,我们已在一个频道里见怪不怪,但仍旧被逗乐了,他讲:“你知道卓别林,你也许可以说他是一个悲观主义者,但他通过他的喜剧是想做些好事情,我也是。他所有的那些动作那些编剧,我知道他是用什么心在做,我跟他是一样的,我要做各种音乐卓别林,这是我的梦想。”李带菓尤其肯定的闪着光芒在说。

Later on, as I combed through all of the audio and video footage, I noticed that he would often approach the camera or the microphone to add a high-pitched “Ah!” as a coda to something he’d said. Li’s playful quirkiness, mischievous tendencies, and contagious charm have won over those who’ve been fortunate enough to get to know him.

In the past, Li used to be fond of words and language, but then he grew tired of writing and concluded that true expression didn’t need very much actual language—and that language itself could be another musical form. So he then blended words into his music, either through singing, recitation, speech, laughing and crying, or in duets with one instrument and one voice, telling a story, singing a story in the music. He also began making film shorts and theater pieces.”


在后期整理时,我发现在录音或影像的收尾,他常常会凑近镜头或者话筒发一声短促音高的“啊”作为结束。这些小细节让见过李带菓的人,也大多会被他的调皮、他的趣味、乃至他的妖娆所感染。

他以前很喜欢语言和文字,后来写多了,就觉得真实的表达不需要那么多实际的语言,它也可以是另外一种音乐表现形式。于是他接下来会把词融进他的音乐里,从好好唱,到朗诵、说话、哭笑,或者一个乐器加一个人,在音乐里讲故事、唱故事。同时,他也开始做小短片和剧目。


Li currently lives in Dali, China, a town known for its beautiful mountains, clouds, and scenery. There he can enjoy the brilliant splendor of the great outdoors.

In the natural world, all sound is improvised. What we call music is adding to or subtracting from these existing vibrations.


如今李带菓居住在大理,那里的山、云、日月都很美,可以在大太阳底下奔跑。

声音在自然声场里即兴涌动,我们对振动传播的信息做了加减法,便成了那个被叫做音乐的存在。

“Nobody can create music that resonates with everyone, everywhere, at all times,” he says. “Only the sounds of nature hold this universal appeal: the sounds of cascading waterfalls, chirping birds, rolling ocean waves, and the pitter-patter of rain. In terms of transmission strength, nature is definitely the most powerful. If you want truly stereoscopic sound, you might as well go into the wilderness and take in the sounds rather than purchase a bunch of fancy equipment. It’s extremely pure. Your mood or mental state can only affect how much of that beauty you can take in. Or from another perspective, the cars outside, the fruit vendor’s call—if you can listen to how they come together, that’s also a kind of natural beauty. Or again, if you’re not influenced by your body, by material values, but can tune in directly to the universe, that’s also a way. In that case, music and art are unnecessary—they’re superfluous, they become self-expression. So I’m just a bird, and all I’m doing is chirping.”


“没有人可以做出让所有人在所有地区所有时代都接受的音乐,只有瀑布、鸟叫、大海、雨声,可以让人应该都会产生共鸣。从传播能量的角度来说,肯定是大自然提供的是最有力的。你搞立体声,搞各种声音装置什么,不如去森林里面,没办法,那个东西是非常纯粹的,那个根是在声音里面,你的状态和情绪只会影响你能吸收那个美的多少。换个角度来讲,外面的车、卖水果的吆喝,如果你能听到他们结合的一个点,那也是他们完成的一个自然美。再或者如果你不受五脏六腑、物质价值体系的影响,而是直接从宇宙里接收信息,那也是一种方式。那样说的话,是不是什么音乐什么艺术都是不需要了,都是多余的,都是为了自我表达。所以我也只是一只鸟,我也在叫而已。”

Music is a journey for your senses, it’s a vessel, a medium that allows you to visit unknown realms. It’s something that allows you to tune into internal and external experiences. Music is indescribable.

“In a sense, music is a conversation with another universe,” Li says. “One that goes beyond all the small talk of our daily lives.”


音乐是当下的感官旅行,是一个载体、一个渠道,停在不知的边界,引你进入更内外的体验,不可描述。

“那是在另一个世界的交谈,在某种意义上,胜过今日我们听到的许多交谈。”

Website: lidaiguo.com
Xiami: ~/lidaiguo

 

Photographer & Contributor: Chan Qu
Videographers: Anais Siab, Damien Louise
Special Thanks to ChaCha & Yongfoo Elite


网站: lidaiguo.com
虾米~/lidaiguo

 

图片摄影师与供稿人: Chan Qu
视频摄影师: Anais Siab, Damien Louise
特别鸣谢 ChaCha 与雍福会

Poy Sang Long 不一样的成年礼

July 19, 2018 2018年7月19日

When the Shan people fled Myanmar’s civil war to seek refuge in neighboring Thailand—itself already home to a large Shan community—they brought with them their Buddhist faith and their unique traditions, including the ceremony known as Poy Sang Long. One of the largest and most important Buddhist ceremonies in Shan culture, Poy Sang Long is a rite of passage for Shan boys, who as early as age seven are ordained as novice monks and introduced to the study of Buddhism. We visited Mae Hong Son province, the northern Thai province that’s home to one of the largest populations of Shan people, to learn more.


当掸族人为了逃离缅甸内战,逃到原本就有许多掸族人口定居的邻国—泰国时,他们也将佛教信仰和独特的传统文化带往当地,其中包含名为 “波伊桑隆” 的仪式。波伊桑隆节是掸族文化里,规模最大、最重要的佛教庆典,也是掸族男孩的成年礼仪式。掸族男孩最早会在七岁时就出家成为沙弥,学习佛教教义。为了深入了解,我们拜访了位于泰国北方的湄宏顺省,这里是掸族人口最多的省份之一。


Preparing for the Journey

 

One day before the ceremony begins, the boys have their heads shaved in turn by their parents, their relatives, and Buddhist monks. They are then bathed in water, and yellow thanaka powder is applied to their heads and bodies.


为旅程做准备

 

波伊桑隆仪式前一天,男孩的父母、亲戚和佛教僧侣会将男孩的头发剃掉。接着他们泡在水里,头和身体会涂上黄色的 thanaka 粉(一种草药粉)。


A New Life Begins

 

On the first official day of the ceremony, the boys don a traditional costume and have their faces painted with a heavy makeup. These lavish adornments are intended to make each boy look like a prince, like Buddha before he began his ascetic life. Once ordained, the boys, or sang long, are considered sacred, and their feet may not touch the ground, and they are carried by a servant, or ta pae sang long, anywhere they need to go. Riding atop the servants’ shoulders, the boys visit important community figures and nearby elderly relatives to ask forgiveness for their sins.


开始一段新生命

 

仪式开始第一天,男孩们会穿上传统服装,脸上画浓妆。他们身上穿的华丽服饰是为了要让每个男孩看起来像王子一样,如同踏上苦修道路之前的佛陀。这些男孩,也可称为 “桑隆”(sang long),一旦出家就会被视为神圣的,因此双脚不能触地,仆人(ta pae)会背他们到要去的任何地方。这些男孩跨坐在仆人的肩上,拜访社区里重要人物和附近的年长亲戚,请求他们宽恕自己的罪恶。


The Celebration Parade

 

The sang long parade occurs all around the town to celebrate this rite of passage. It’s a loud and joyous affair that lasts throughout the day. Following the parade, the boys are blessed in a ceremony called the hong kwan. They then eat a special meal of 12 dishes that have been prepared by their parents. This is the final night of their sacred status.


庆祝游行

 

“桑隆” 会在城里各处游行,庆祝这场成年礼仪式。游行会喧嚣欢腾一整天,男孩们跟着游行队伍,在 hong kwan 仪式里接受祝福。接着他们会吃由父母准备的十二道菜肴。此时是他们神圣身份的最后一晚。


The Transition

 

On the last day of the festival, the sang long intone a special psalm to accept their new status as novice monks. Next they shed their colorful garb in exchange for a humble monk’s robe. This is when they officially join the temple, leaving behind the status of sang long as they dedicate themselves to studying Buddhist teachings. With the conclusion of the ceremony, most of the boys will stay at the monastery for a minimum of a week, but some may stay longer, even upwards of several years.


转变时刻

 

庆典最后一天,“桑隆” 会吟咏一种特殊的经文,代表自己接受了沙弥的新身份。隔天,他们会退去五颜六色的服装,换成朴素的僧侣袍。此时他们正式成为沙弥,丧失 “桑隆” 身份。接下来的几周或几个月,他们将在寺庙里研读佛教教义。庆典结束,大多数男孩则会至少在寺庙里待上一周,而有些则更长,甚至会待上几年。

Contributor & Photographer: Will Wiangchai


供稿人与摄影师: Will Wiangchai

Magazine B 一本读出色彩的杂志

July 18, 2018 2018年7月18日
Issue No. 46 "Pantone"

“Colors can be read.” This was my stunned takeaway from reading “PANTONE,” the 46th issue of B magazine.

That a simple print publication could so thoroughly alter my perception, comprehension, and attitude towards a subject—a brand, no less—astounded me. Long an admirer of Pantone, I came away with an even deeper appreciation of it. But even readers unfamiliar with Pantone, or any other brand featured in an issue of B, will be left inspired and hungry for more.

B is an independent, ad-free publication produced in South Korea. In each issue, it offers insightful stories on a specific brand, but it abides by a strict editorial policy and receives no financial compensation in return. Recently we caught up with editor-in-chief Eunsung Park to learn more about his vision for this one-of-a-kind magazine, and about his thoughts on the future of print media.


“我竟然能读出色彩。”这是我第一次读到《B》杂志第 46 期的感受,那一期的主题是“潘通色卡”。这个看似普通的出版物,却神奇地影响了我对一个品牌的认知、理解和态度。加之原本就对此感兴趣的心态,再去探索杂志内容背后的意义,我会对它越爱越深;而哪怕是原本不熟悉它的人,在看完整本杂志后,我相信你们也会更想要了解它的故事。

《B》杂志是一本无广告的、独立出版的月刊杂志。它用其独有的调性为读者介绍全球值得推荐的品牌和它们的故事。独特的选题标准,独特的撰写角度以及独特的视角,组成了这本独一无二的杂志。

Issue No. 44 "Vans"
Issue No. 13 "Lego"

Neocha: Your official criteria for featuring a brand are price, practicality, beauty, and philosophy. What do these mean to you?

Park: Our publisher, Suyong Joh, created those criteria in the initial planning stages of the magazine. But that doesn’t mean we use price, practicality, beauty, and philosophy as metrics to evaluate the brands we choose. Instead, we believe a good brand can’t rely only a single factor, whether that’s its price point, its usefulness, its design, or its ethos. All these factors must combine to form a balance that fits the brand. What we want to convey is that each brand has its own way of achieving that balance—just as every beautiful person has their own balance of different charms.


Neocha:你们对于品牌的筛选标准是价格、实用性、美学和品牌理念。这些标准对你来说代表什么?

Park:这些标准是杂志创始人 Suyong Joh 在筹办杂志的初始阶段所订立的。但是,这并不意味着我们在选择品牌时会将美学、价格、实用、品牌理念作为评价品牌的指标。相反,我们相信,一个好的品牌不能依赖单一的指标,不管是价格、实用性、设计或是品牌精神。所有这些因素都必须结合起来,达至适合该品牌的平衡。我们要传达的理念是,每个品牌都有自己独特的方式来达到这种平衡,正如每个人的美丽都是各种魅力组成的平衡。

Issue No. 13 "Lego"
Issue No. 13 "Lego"
Issue No. 13 "Lego"
Issue No. 13 "Lego"

Neocha: What’s your best-selling issue? Do you have a personal favorite?

Park: “Lego” and “Muji” are our best-selling issues. Our newer issues like “Acne Studios” and “Monocle” have had a good amount of sales. Our city issues always do well. If I were to choose an issue from that pool, it would be “Monocle.” It was a meaningful experience to cover a fellow media brand, and we got positive energy simply by following their journey and observing their achievements.


Neocha:你们最畅销的杂志是哪一期?你个人最喜欢哪一期?

Park:“乐高”和“无印良品”是我们最畅销的两期杂志。我们最近推出的杂志,如 “Acne Studios” 和  “Monocle” 销量也很好。我们的城市主题杂志也卖得不错。如果一定要选一本个人最爱,可能是 “Monocle” 这一期。以一个同行媒体品牌为主题是一次挺有意义的经验,我们在了解他们的发展历史和成就这个过程中也获得了满满的正能量。

Issue No. 44 "Vans"

Neocha: How much time do you spend researching a brand when starting a new issue?

Park: We always approach the brand as if we knew nothing about it. If we think we already know it well, we run the risk of falling into boxed thinking, but if we keep an open mind, we discover new perspectives. That’s why we try not to overstudy the brand beforehand. We believe that rich stories should come out of the people we meet, and we try to keep a keen eye for observation by limiting our own voice.


Neocha: 筹办新一期杂志前,你们一般要花多少时间来研究一个品牌?

Park:我们始终坚持以“一无所知”的态度去了解品牌。如果我们认为自己已经很了解这个品牌,很容易就会掉入固定的思维,但如果能够保持开放的心态,就有可能有新的发现。这也是为什么我们尽量不事先过度深入研究品牌。丰富的故事应该来自于我们遇到的人,同时,我们会努力限制我们自己的声音,以保持敏锐的观察。

Issue No. 42 "Star Wars"
Issue No. 42 "Star Wars"
Issue No. 42 "Star Wars"
Issue No. 42 "Star Wars"

NeochaB is perfect for aspiring entrepreneurs, people in search of unbiased information, or anyone interested in brand marketing and management. But not all readers may be equally familiar with every brand. How do you appeal to a diverse audience?

Park: The point is not how well readers know the brand, but rather how well we, as creators of the magazine, refrain from taking a know-it-all attitude. Instead of providing answers, we hope to help people pay attention to what’s happening. I believe you can do that regardless of your depth of knowledge.


Neocha:《B》杂志非常适合有抱负的企业家,那些想寻找有关品牌客观信息的人,或是任何对品牌营销和管理有兴趣的人。但并非所有的读者都熟悉每一个品牌。你们要如何吸引如此广泛的读者群?

Park:问题的关键不在于读者要多了解一个品牌,而是我们作为杂志的创造者如何避免采取一种“已知”的态度。我们希望能帮助读者去注意当下,而不是提供答案。我相信不管你懂多少都是可以做到这一点的。

Issue No. 61 "Acne Studios"

Neocha: You’ve done countless interviews. Which would you say is the most memorable?

Park: We’ve done too many memorable interviews. But if I were to choose one from the past year, it would be the interview with architect Andreas Fornell in the “Acne Studios” issue. He worked at Acne Studios in the past and now manages his own firm. As someone with experience from both the inside and the outside, he could look on the brand with affection and provide a pointed assessment all at once.


Neocha: 你们做过非常多的采访。哪一次对你来说是最难忘的?

Park: 我们做过太多令人难忘的采访。但如果要我从去年的采访中选一个,那应该是在 “Acne Studios” 那一期里与建筑师 Andreas Fornell 的采访。他曾在 Acne Studios 工作,现在在经营自己的公司。作为一个有来自内部和外部经验的人,他可以对这个品牌提供充满感情又一针见血的评价。

Issue No. 61 "Acne Studios"
Issue No. 61 "Acne Studios"
Issue No. 61 "Acne Studios"

Neocha: Since its launch in 2011, B has released more than 60 issues. What sort of challenges has it faced along the way?

Park: We face different difficulties with every issue. We may have published 66 books, built up a sales record, and made a name for ourselves, but that doesn’t mean the process has become any steadier or more peaceful. And it will continue to be a challenge in the future. Creating a brand, especially sustaining a media brand, is like a battle. Fighting through unexpected issues and seeking solutions gives us an outlet for our creativity.


Neocha: 自2011年推出,《B》至今已经发行了 60 多期杂志。在这个过程中,杂志面临过什么样的挑战?

Park: 我们办每一期杂志都会面临不同的困难。即便我们可能已经出版了 66 期杂志,有了不错的销售记录,也有了一定的知名度,但这并不意味每期杂志的筹办就能变得更顺利或简单。在未来,我们依然要面临各种的挑战。创造一个品牌,尤其是维持一个媒体品牌,就像是一场战役。在应对各种意想不到的问题、寻求解决方案的过程中,我们也是在发挥创意。

Issue No. 46 "Pantone"
Issue No. 46 "Pantone"

Neocha: “Independent” is a label that’s thrown around a lot nowadays. What qualities do you think make a magazine truly independent?

Park: In my opinion, independent magazines don’t rely on typical advertising models the way legacy media do. Instead, their creators take more risks taking a freer and bolder approach to content planning and creation.


Neocha: “独立”是现在常用的一个标签。你认为一本杂志应该有哪些品质才能真正称得上独立?

Park: 在我看来,独立杂志不应像传统媒体那样依赖广告。相反,他们的创办者要勇于承担更大的风险,在内容策划和创意方面会采取更自由、更大胆的做法。

Issue No. 46 "Pantone"

Neocha: Where do you see print media headed in Asia?

Park:  I think it’s important to see print media outside a regional context—to see it as its own thing. In countries where English isn’t the main language, people might think language is a barrier. Yet if we leverage the power of the content itself, that limitation becomes meaningless. As for the future, we should focus on what print media can do best, instead of doing the same things as digital media. I believe in the lasting strength of the printed word, the flow and pace of stories told on paper.


Neocha: 你觉得亚洲纸媒的未来如何?

Park: 很重要的一点是要抛开区域来思考纸媒,把它单独地来看待。在非英语国家,人们可能会认为语言是一个障碍。然而,如果我们利用内容本身的力量,这种限制将不再存在。至于未来,我们应该专注于纸媒的优势之处,而不是与数字媒体做同样的事情。我相信印刷出来的文字,以及纸媒呈现的故事节奏感是有着持久性力量的。

“Lego” is now available on the Neocha Shop in limited supply. The “Star Wars,” “Vans,” “Acne Studios,” and “Pantone” issues will be made available soon!

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现在,“Lego” 专刊在 Neocha 商店中限量贩售。另外,“Star Wars”、“Vans”、“Acne Studios” 和 “Pantone” 也即将面世!

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《B》第 13 期 “Lego”

¥130

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Product Details:

  • Year of Publication: 2013
  • Number of Pages: 160
  • Dimensions: 17 cm x 24 cm
  • Price: 19 USD

详情

  • 出版年份:2013
  • 页数:160
  • 尺寸: 17 x 24 厘米
  • 价格:130 RMB

Website: magazine-b.com

 

Contributor: Handowin Ho
Photographer: David Yen


网站: magazine-b.com

 

供稿人: Handowin Ho
摄影师: David Yen