[-empyre-] Introducing Ellen Pau and Isaac Leung

[Melinda Rackham]

Hi list,

I just saw in the Guardian that Ai Weiwei's 2 month old Shanghai art  
studio is to be demolished after he had been officially asked to build  
it in a newly developed cultural district in an agricultural area. - http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/nov/03/ai-weiwei-shanghai-art-studio?CMP=twt_gu

Can sustainable cultural areas be planned and constructed? - or do  
they need to grow organically around a person, a group, a cause or a  
building? How are the redeveloped spaces - such as the galleries, art  
centers, artists' studios, design companies, restaurants, and bars of  
the 798 District in Beijing faring after 8 or so years?

Is stability and longevity a positive attribute in the media art area?  
Or is media art more suited to organizations which coalesce quickly,  
disperse when they have achieved a specific goal and reforming in new  
nodes? Does being an established organization enable the easy  
introduction of new art forms; present confronting or challenging  
content; promote emerging artists; and build new audiences?

Joining our -empyre- discussion are Ellen Pau who has vast experience  
in cultural production, having founded Asia's first media artists'  
collective Videotage in 1986 and the subsequent Microwave  
International New Media Arts Festival; and Videotage Board Director  
Isaac Leung whose work focuses on art, technology and sexuality.  
Together they form a Videotage collective intelligence, as well as  
bringing their diverse personal practices and research to this forum.

Welcome Ellen and Isaac!


--> Videotage
--> http://www.videotage.org.hk
--> Videotage is a leading non-profit organisation in facilitating,  
promoting and presenting new media art in Hong Kong. Since 1986,  
Videotage has developed itself from an umbrella for media artists to a  
media art and culture network for cross-disciplinary cultural  
productions and international exchange of ideas and knowledge. We  
conceive new media art as a cultural movement that brings art and  
technology productions to nodes of intersections. With the continuous  
support from Hong Kong Arts Development Council and other funders,  
Videotage organizes exhibitions, workshops, performances, exchange  
programs etc. to bring new media art closer to our everyday life.  
Starting from 2009, Videotage strives to preserve its extensive  
archive of local video art. Representing 20 years of development in  
media art, the archive is of significant educational value in the  
discourse of HK's media archeology and art history.


--> Ellen Pau
Ellen Pau is a filmmaker, media artist and curator. Her video works  
have traveled widely to numerous International Festivals and  
Biennials, such as Kwangju Biennial, Video Brazil, City On the Move,  
Johannesburg Biennial, Venice Biennale and Shanghai Biennial. In 1986,  
Ellen Pau founded Asia"s first media artists" collective, "Videotage"  
and the Microwave International New Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong.  
She is adviser to HK Museum of Art, HK Art Development Council and a  
number of festivals. She teaches part time in the Visual Art Centre  
and is a full time medical image technologist

---> Isaac Leung
Isaac Leung, who was born in Hong Kong, is an artist, curator and  
researcher, based in Hong Kong and the United States, whose work  
focuses on art, technology and sexuality. He is currently a Mphil  
student at the Cultural Studies Department of Lingnan University and  
is on the board of directors of the Hong Kong Sex Education  
Association and the Videotage Media Arts Organization. He received a  
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the New Media Art Department of the  
School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Central Saint Martins  
College of Art and Design and a Honorary Fellowship from the Art  
Institute of Chicago. He has given lectures about this project at the  
University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong), City University of Hong Kong  
(Hong Kong) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (USA).