workshop, performance, installation
commissioned project of the Pro-Helvetia 2008-2010 Swiss-China Cultural Explorations programme
Zürich & Beijing, 2008-2009
The term ‘overseas’ references those of Chinese heritage living outside of China, but rather than any claims to a particular identity, the OVERSEAS, close by project worked as a collaborative journey exploring identity as both a daily routine and a performance.
OVERSEAS, close by developed as a series of workshops, movement research and video explorations between Zürich and Beijing. After an initial phase of interviews and a performance in Switzerland, investigations brought the team to Beijing, where for three months in 2009 the initiators and a team of local artists and performers lived and worked intensively within a traditional siheyuan courtyard in the centre of Beijing, using the site as workspace, living space and point of inspiration for a series of confrontations and exchanges between daily life and representation, language and meaning, the ordinary and the extraordinary. A summer workshop with local members of the deaf community involved a series of exercises in cooking, narrative building, and visual explorations of gestural intimacy. The resulting documentation and videos were installed throughout the courtyard studio as part of the site-specific multidisciplinary dinner performance OVERSEAS, close by.
Artists and performers in collaboration
小河 Xiao HE (CN), 李珂 LI Ke (CN), 梁硕 LIANG Shuo (CN), 刘斌 LIU Bin (CN), 刘亚囡 LIU Yanan (CN), Aloun MARCHAL (FR), 萧薇 XIAO Wei (CN)
Workshop participants
小白 Xiao BAI, 陈延娜 CHEN Yanna, 邓利 DENG Li, 高向昱 GAO Xiangyu, 谷福英 GU Fuying, 贾永明 GU Yongming, 恒道福 HENG Daofu, 柯玉德 KE Yude, 利相亭 LI Xiangting, 刘瑛 LIU Ying, 王美林 WANG Meilin, 王硕 WANG Shuo, 王旭 WANG Xu, 汪洋 WANG Yang, 徐华 XU Hua, 杨鸽 YANG GE, 杨哓梅 YANG Xiaomei
Cinematography
Fotini LAZARIDOU-HATZIGOGA, 任杰 REN Jie
Project consultants
刘鼎 LIU Ding (CN), 卢迎华 Carol LU Yinghua (CN)
Production manager
裴延丰 Jam PEI (CN)
www.overseasproject.net
OVERSEAS, close by developed as a series of workshops, movement research and video explorations between Zürich and Beijing. After an initial phase of interviews and a performance in Switzerland, investigations brought the team to Beijing, where for three months in 2009 the initiators and a team of local artists and performers lived and worked intensively within a traditional siheyuan courtyard in the centre of Beijing, using the site as workspace, living space and point of inspiration for a series of confrontations and exchanges between daily life and representation, language and meaning, the ordinary and the extraordinary. A summer workshop with local members of the deaf community involved a series of exercises in cooking, narrative building, and visual explorations of gestural intimacy. The resulting documentation and videos were installed throughout the courtyard studio as part of the site-specific multidisciplinary dinner performance OVERSEAS, close by.
Artists and performers in collaboration
小河 Xiao HE (CN), 李珂 LI Ke (CN), 梁硕 LIANG Shuo (CN), 刘斌 LIU Bin (CN), 刘亚囡 LIU Yanan (CN), Aloun MARCHAL (FR), 萧薇 XIAO Wei (CN)
Workshop participants
小白 Xiao BAI, 陈延娜 CHEN Yanna, 邓利 DENG Li, 高向昱 GAO Xiangyu, 谷福英 GU Fuying, 贾永明 GU Yongming, 恒道福 HENG Daofu, 柯玉德 KE Yude, 利相亭 LI Xiangting, 刘瑛 LIU Ying, 王美林 WANG Meilin, 王硕 WANG Shuo, 王旭 WANG Xu, 汪洋 WANG Yang, 徐华 XU Hua, 杨鸽 YANG GE, 杨哓梅 YANG Xiaomei
Cinematography
Fotini LAZARIDOU-HATZIGOGA, 任杰 REN Jie
Project consultants
刘鼎 LIU Ding (CN), 卢迎华 Carol LU Yinghua (CN)
Production manager
裴延丰 Jam PEI (CN)
www.overseasproject.net