how far could designers play a part - recording "Kellerman"

Kellerman is really an amazing performance of what I seen, which combined film, animation and live action into a new performance. What's more, it interspersed with the past, future and present to tell the whole story at the sametime.

Last week, we discussed about the difference between film and TV, also talked about that among theatre and cinema. Then this performance makes me think again. As I said "performance", even though it combining so many kinds of form. Take another example, High School Musical, we are all familiar with it, that is a film combined with musical element, but we still defined it into film, why? What is the final rule of definition? Medium, I think.

Films using the photonasty of films to record the real situation, and dramas are seen by our eyes directly. Films are limited with the camera lens, audience can only see by the lens' moving and swiching, in contrast, we can make the choise to focus on different part in the stage. That's the first thing. The second is that, what we seen in the films are always actual location, but on the stage, that must be man made settings and screens. Sure,that must be other distinctions...

Turn to the performance...

Admittedly, the mainline of the story is ambiguous and crabbed, without any obvious ups and downs plot. However, i think that's a absolute visual performance, no wonder some observers commented that "near as dammit a total work of art".

Then I want to ask, how far could a designer play a part in performance?

In Chinese drama, we always dig and explore the fascination of language (actor's dialogue), and the stage, lighting, sound are not so multivariate, they are the accessories of the actors and acting. But here, i smelled that designers are playing more important effect in group works, or can be thought that form is more engagable than content in western. Hence, sensory stimulation is more powerful than the spiritual touching.

"climate change" continue

That's a great series of documentary photographs named "facing climate change", which tells the stories though local people's daily life. Although climate change is a global problem, every community has a local story, they are not great but they really touched me.


Noel Lyman-Saint Paul, Minnesota
Noel Lyman tries to keep cool during Saint Paul's 19th day above degraas in 2007. Elderly, low income, and socially isolated individuals are amongst the most vulnerableto heat waves, which will likely increase in number, intensity and duration by the end of this century.

photos by Benjamin Drummond, words by Sara Joy Steele

even dead - thinking about climate change

About the climate change, eastern and western people have a little bit different attitudes.

Yes, there is no doubt that we should do something for our earth, and for ourselves. We do have the law of plastic bags controlling in my contury, additional we are shouting the slogan of saving energy, we are increasing the green areas, and being encouraged to do so.

At the same time, the theory of Buddhism said that: everything have the causes and consequences, birth and death are in the inevitable cycle, and humans can not resist any natual phenomenaes. Imagine that, there will be one day that is human's lastday, ofcourse we will, as the end of dinosaurs, then there will be a kind of new living beings live on earth. We don't know that which way we will be die as, maybe same with the film "the day after tomorrow", who knows? And we don't know when, 500 years later, 100 years later, or ... the next morning after you wake up?

That reminds me a piece of art work called "the art of death". Werner Reiterer assumed various states of death of himself, as the same size as true, then he stood with them together. As far as i am concerned, that is a calm way of facing death, and that's a brave manner.Why not follow Werner's way?

By the way, Englishman prefer talking about climate, that is really true.

a expected start and end - recording 'The Author'

Visited so many experimental performance, but I havent seen such an experimental one before which being displayed without stage, without screen, without curtain, even actors, I mean the conventional actors that we get used to.

Simillarly, the play happened occasionally. Everyone was talking and laughing, waiting for the dark before the start, just like watching films in cinema. Unfortunately, there was a guy (looks crazy) speaking exciting to anyone next to him before the lated dark. Someone replied him with smile and someone embarrased under the eyes of the audience, as they had been aware of the play starting or not.

In this way, the audience participated in the play as an unsual way, as a part of the performance, not just the not interested spectators.

Like this, another person started talking, suddenly. Then one by one, shouting, singing, whisper... Most of the time, there is not direct connection between their speeches, just talking about their personal things, like loony tone soliloquy. So I said that could be another Waiting for Godot in some certain aspect. As the performance of every entered actor, the whole play was really... I would say expecting, you never know what will be happened next. As a result, even if four characters had all left out of the auditorium, I still sat there looking forward the last surprise, but there was not.

As I sat in the first row of one side of seating, I cant focus on the performance of TIM and VIC. Also, to be honest, I hadnt learn any vocabulary about masturbation, incest and sexual organs in english. Anyway, that could be understanded gernally. One of the main reason is that the form of performance under the audience's eyes is overweight the content of that play itself.

In fact, everyone was intoxicated in that new form and ignored the main core of the story, indeed. Then I put my hands to research the relationship between the two: content and form.

Which one comes first? Which one is more important? Which one is more attractive?

Our elders always say: "dont just focus on the surface, look inside of the things" . As an established knowledge though long social practice, content is always theveryfirst thing of any work in my experience. However, the accessories are better than the main part now. There is no right or wrong question essentially, in this day and age. See, those so-called contemporary art is just playing the the form for fun, isnt it?

Finally, quoting the dialogues of the actor, I would say——It's great, I love this, all this.