Checking into the Lane Xang

IMG_0594, originally uploaded by New Territories.

What's good enough for Hunter S. Thompson is good enough for me. When my friends said their crew would be staying at the Lane Xang hotel in Vientiane, I knew that name rang a bell somewhere-- only later realized it's where the late, great HST stayed after skipping out on Saigon. He wrote a famous essay about checking in here and being unable to shake the persistent offers of "female company" from the staff. I didn't have this problem, but otherwise the place seems the same. Retro commie-aesthetic heaven!

Sookdy Apartements

IMG_0605, originally uploaded by New Territories.

My dream apartment in 1963 Vientiane.
Basically when not with the video crew, I just walked around this tiny, adorable capital taking pictures of old sixties buildings and eating croissants. How colonial!
More here:
http://flickr.com/photos/samanthaculp/sets/72157604824954350/

Chasing the Dreamchasers: Vientiane, Lao

IMG_0641, originally uploaded by New Territories.

I got to meet up with the Dreamchaser team in Vientiane, Lao for a few days-- if you're not up on your Thai television, the show Dreamchaser (now filming Season Two) features a man, a motorcycle, and his search for inspiring people and experiences on the road. Besides the exhilaration of easy-riding, the program also raises awareness about charity organizations throughout Southeast Asia, like Makphet in Vientiane (pictured here, a restaurant run by former street youths).

More info on this fun and meaningful project:
www.dreamchaserthai.com

Thanks to Juke, Nam, and the whole Pop Productions gang for letting me tag along!

(photoset: http://flickr.com/photos/samanthaculp/sets/72157604847867203/)

Bangkok Bliss

Vanilla Garden, Ekkamai, originally uploaded by New Territories.

So--- went to Bangkok during Songkran and had a lovely (and only minimally-soaked) few days. Highlights include: seeing a great show by Stylish Nonsense at No Space Gallery, watching Sang Sattawat (Syndromes & a Century) at the theatre in its censored but still-radical glory, discovering the joys of Vanilla Garden (pictured), seeing the few friends in town during the holiday, mild splashings, insane food as usual, checking out Tomyam Pladib at the Jim Thompson Art Center and catching up on the Bangkok Experimental Film Fest offerings that I missed at the William Warren Library next door (thanks Mary and David!), and shockingly making it from Thanon Wittayu onto my Thai Airways plane bound for Vientiane in ONE HOUR FLAT (alarm didn't go off and I thought I missed the flight for sure, go TG!) (click through to photoset here
http://flickr.com/photos/samanthaculp/sets/72157604824906020/)

HKIFF 08

HKIFF 08, originally uploaded by New Territories.

My fourth year in some way or another at HKIFF-- this time around as head English editor of the festival newsletter. Crazy but always worth it, especially when working with stellar peeps like Alvin, Wai Leng, legendary Li Cheuk-to, and the inimitable Jupiter Wong.

Fun run-ins: Malaysian indie rascals Liew Seng-tat and Woo Ming-jin (KL knows how to represent for karaoke), Guy Maddin's producer Jody Shapiro (Canadians rule!), a fiery-tempered Wakamatsu Koji, cherubic Pang Ho-Cheung, lightning-bolt-haired Eric Tsang, Louis Koo (less tan! Bravo!), elegant (can I say cougar-candidate?) Sylvia Chang, cute-as-a-button Kate Yeung, David Bordwell (if film studies had a Santa Claus, it would be him), effing Peter Greenaway and Bela Tarr (!), ohhhhhh others, and some who shall remain nameless. Good stuff.

The product of our sleepless days and nights here: http://www.hkiff.org.hk/eng/info/newsletter.php

(Photo: Jupiter Wong... Note: in the picture above I appear to be in serious contemplation about the state of the world or at least that of cinema, but was most likely just trying to scribble down the inane banter of an MC and some squeaky starlet)

Le Journal Purple

When I arrived back from Cambodia via Singapore last weekend, I had two surprises. One was an intense case of giardia that came home in my intestinal tract! (Or perhaps campylobacter; the test wasn't conclusive but the meds are working.)

The second, far-nicer one, was an envelope with two issues of the new Purple Journal waiting in my mailbox. My diary-entry for July 1st, the 10th anniversary of the HK "handover", is featured in it. Pretty exciting to me since I've loved this magazine (even when it used to be a "magazine", not a split personality between fashion mag and "le journal") back in high school, blowing my allowance on it at the Book Soup newsstand. Also, my first time being translated into French. It's not for sale in HK but if you're in the US, Europe or Japan it's probably around.

Cambodian Rocking and Singapore Consuming

For nearly two weeks, I was in Cambodia doing research on the 1960s Khmer rock music scene for an article. An incredibly difficult task, given that all artists, musicians and intellectuals were killed by the Khmer Rouge (or went into exile in France or Southern California).

A few dedicated people are working to revive this music, after it gained cult popularity on compilations like the Cambodian Rocks series (Available on Khmerrocks.com), most notably the band Dengue Fever in L.A. There are also a few films on the subject, like Greg Cahill's short The Golden Voice (about Ros Sereysothea), and John Pirozzi's highly-anticipated documentary on the entire scene, Don't Think I've Forgotten . With all this in the air, it seemed like a good time to do what I had wanted to ever since the opening track on the first Cambodian Rocks CD sent chills down my spine way back in high school (a song I now know to be Ros Sereysothea's "Sweet Sixteen"). Basically: to wander around Phnom Penh and try to figure out where this otherworldy psychedelia came from. And, more tragically, where did it go? (Answers still in progress, but in the meantime, pictures:)



More images from Cambodia here

And from a brief stop-over in Singapore on the way back-- a big contrast in its first-world calm and order. Slightly reminiscent of the luxer parts of Honolulu. Super-American tropicalia. But amazing food, well-funded art spaces, surreal kitsch at Haw Par Villa and the Night Safari, and insane consumption-culture at Kinokuniya and Topshop.




Singapore gallery here

Lastminute Bangkok

IMG_3826.JPG, originally uploaded by New Territories.

Went to Bangkok this past weekend for about 48 packed and awesome hours... including baby elephants in the street, a Cyndi Seui concert (favorite...band...of...moment), tagging along with Thai indie-film circle kids to shoot urban landscape on Saturday, spicy som tum and fried chicken and roti, endless iced coffees, group aerobic dancing, a salt-scrub massage, and late-night Isaan honky-tonk.

More here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samanthaculp/sets/72157601973002428/

VENICE REDUX: Cao Fei's China Tracy Pavilion

Will gradually be posting some pictures and thoughts from the crazy Venice/Documenta trip Adrian and I took this summer...


Here are a few snaps from Cao Fei's "China Tracy Pavilion" at Venice, and a short piece I wrote up about it for short piece I wrote up for Tomorrow Unlimited.




Also, just looking at Cao Fei's blog today and spotted a picture of me and Adrian hanging out in the igloo-like structure, taking a break from the Venetian heat.

New Issue of BIDOUN

A small piece I did on Chungking Mansions is in the new Bidoun Magazine. Haven't seen it yet (not sure where they sell it yet), but if you come across it have a look.

Newest Issue

97+10: HK HandBaggage

The special exhibition project "97+10: HK Hand Baggage" that I organized with Adrian (Wong) and Isaac (Leung, of Videotage) is currently up at the Shanghai MOCA as part of the Handover Anniversary show "Reversing Horizons" (we're listed as "Videotage", I think for the sake of simplicity).

Though it was a long crazy process to get it made, it came together at last. Pictures from Diana (Freundl, at Shanghai MOCA) and Isaac from the opening, that I had to miss because of the GetItLouder HomeShow that same day back in Hong Kong...

More details on the project, the fabulous artists who contributed, and the future travels of this box to come!

And more photos currently up
here







“97+10: HK Hand Baggage”
A Special Project by Videotage (Curated by Isaac LEUNG Hok-Bun and Embassy Projects [Samantha CULP, and Adrian WONG Ho-Yin])

Featuring Works by:
Kurt CHAN Yuk-Keung, CHOI Yan-Chi, CHOW Chun-Fai, LAM Tung-Pang, LEE Kit, Ocean LEUNG, Isaac LEUNG Hok-Bun, Otto LI Tin-Lun, Magdalen WONG, Doris WONG Wai-Yin

Featuring Videos by:
Danny YUNG N.T., WONG Chi-Fai, Ellen PAU, Johnny AU Tsz-Keung, KWAN Pun-Leung, Keith LEE, CHOI Yan-Chi, KWAN Sheung-Chi

in "Reversing Horizons", July 8-August 8, 2007
Shanghai MOCA

The Big Man: Ai Weiwei Awesome

The latest issue of Artkrush is up now, with my interview of Chinese contemporary art heavy-hitter Ai Weiwei. He doesn't normally do phone interviews, so I felt really lucky to get one (he and his people kept being like "Can't you come up to Beijing?" and I was like, "No, sorry, this weekend I can't"). In the end, he was a generous and thoughtful subject.


Click to read the interview

Fo Tan Art Talk Marathon/The Art of CUHK

As part of "The Art of CUHK" which started on Saturday, there was a mini-Open Studios event at Fo Tan this past Sunday. It was mostly geared toward CUHK-affiliated artists and alumni, but some other events were up, like an exhibition called "Autobibliophiles: Artists Who Make or Use Books", at the new studio of Singaporean artist Michael Lee.

Adrian and I made a book for the show as "Embassy Projects". It's called "Why I Like You and Vice Versa: A Book About Us", and I'll post some scans later perhaps. It's sort of like a twisted children's book, made with construction paper and felt and offensive in-jokes. You can see it on the shelf here (red with yellow/black felt head).



I also appeared in a marathon series of art talks held at the studio of Warren Leung Chi Wo and Sarah Wong. In the past year I've ended up doing a handful of art talks (not really sure why people invite me), but never before in Cantonese, so I was straight-up terrified. I think Warren and Jeff thought it would be funny to have me up there, sort of like a trained seal doing tricks. But I survived, and though I'm sure I sounded like a six year old, I'm glad I did it. And at the very end, Sarah Tse (another Fo Tan artist) brought around rabbit-shaped rice cakes she cooked for us. It was almost too pretty too eat (almost).




The schedule of the talks, most moderated by Warren or Jeff...
3:00-3:30 梁展峯 Jeff Leung, curator/ 黃頌恩 Magdalen Wong, artist
3:30-4:00 方敏兒 Janet Fong, curator/gallerist
4:00-4:30 黎健強 Edwin Lai, art historian/writer
4:30-5:00 葉旭耀 Ip Yuk Yiu , filmmaker/curator/teacher
5:00-5:30 何慶基 Oscar Ho, curator/teacher
5:30-6:00 楊秀卓 Ricky Yeung, artist/teacher
6:00-6:30 黃思源 Gina Wong, art lover/business woman
6:30-7:00 三木 Chen Shishen, artist
7:00-7:30 Samantha Culp, writer
7:30-8:00 張康生 Enoch Cheung, artist/teacher

Magdalen talking with Jeff at the beginning...

(Just Like) Starting Over

Hou noih mouh gin, internetblogworld. I recently felt it was time to get this going again. So here we go.