Some interesting things I have been looking
at (including various links):

General Shanghai Information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai

Shanghai Art Fair Website.
http://www.cnarts.net/sartfair/2008/eweb/

Shine Art Space, an art gallery in
Shanghai.
www.shineartspace.com

The Asia Pacific Contemporary Art Fair.
http://www.shcontemporary.info/

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai.
http://www.mocashanghai.org/

Long March Space.
http://www.longmarchspace.com/english/homepage.htm

Virtual Shanghai: I have found this website pretty interesting. Full of photographs, various pieces of writing, maps etc.
http://virtualshanghai.net/

It’s interesting to look at some of the government websites for Shanghai, to see what they have to say about urban regeneration, culture, the Arts etc.
http://www.shanghai.gov.cn/shanghai/node17256/node17432/node17447/userobject22ai22047.html

‘The Importance of Caoyang Villiage’.
Some interesting information of how a
Shanghai urban community is designed, and some problems they now face.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zinka/2858099349/
























Some research into the “platforms”:




















GAMES
I have been looking into traditional Chinese communal games that are popular in Shanghai.

Mahjong (most popular). A game involving tiles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong























Pai Gow. A Chinese domino game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pai_Gow























Sic Bo. A dice game based on chance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic_bo















Fan-Tan. A card game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan-Tan

Keno. A type of bingo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keno
























































































TV
I have been looking into Chinese TV, especially soap operas. I’ve been trying to get still images of actors engaging. I like the idea of playing with translation and language. I want to get some images and add what I think they are saying underneath. I love the idea of students from Shanghai getting stills from British soap operas and adding what they think they are saying underneath. To see how we could possibly read images differently and how audio languages affect our communication.


















CINEMA
A brief history of Chinese film.
http://www.llc.ed.ac.uk/cinema-china/briefhistory.html

More history.
http://qag.qld.gov.au/cinematheque/cinema_resources/2007/resource_shanghai_film_history_before_1949

This site has various links, stuff to do with British/Chinese and outdoor cinema.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/feature/silkscreens/

Interesting resource I have found is the Shanghai International Film Festival website.
http://www.siff.com/

This link mentions a few experimental films from Shanghai and Beijing.
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN17228

The experimental animation called ‘Coal Spell’ by Sun Xun, worth a watch.
http://eng.artandartist.cn/News.asp?bigclass=731

I have been looking into early Chinese cinema which originated in Shanghai. Early films were referred to as “electric shadow play” by the Chinese. So, cinema history links to Chinese leisure for over hundreds of years.

Wiki link to shadowplay:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_play

















I have been doing some drawings (that’s I hope to put up soon) of ideas of how to view moving images. I like the idea of putting up sheet of material (local material, patterns etc?!) that would be tied to the surrounding trees. They would act as a sort of projection screen for video and film work. Tying into the shadow play work that I’ve been looking into, these screens could also be used to cast shadows of people behind them. (Maybe simultaneously showing video and having live action shadow work, interesting interactions?!). Light sources (local constructions?!) could also me manipulated in order to help create distortion of images. I like these ideas as it overlaps video, (possibly music), live movement (time to put your dancing shoes on?! Oh and the possibility for costumes, I know everyone likes to dress up as much as me!), creative lighting and local materials.



















RADIO
I found radio an interesting format because it is pure audio language. I would not be able to understand a word of it. I like the idea of having a radio that’s talking Chinese and having live interpreters telling us what its saying, always leaving the possibility that they might not be telling the truth or they might be changing the
interpretations to suit and English audience. I feel many language/sound dialogues are possible.

A few random websites that I’ve been looking at:

http://www.earnshaw.com/shanghai-ed-india/tales/tales.htm

I love old myths and legends, I have been looking into traditional Chinese and British tales, to see if I could possibly write something that crosses the two.

http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/mythold.html

Some interesting passages and poetry:
http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:nB88X1xgRLAJ:www.fragments-media.com/download/DL08China1_en.pdf+experimental+cinema+shanghai+regeneration&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk

Some interesting information on some leading Video Art artists working in China.
http://www.flypmedia.com/content/shanghai-reels-video-art