Asia House
Cultural Programme February-March 2014
Cover Image from the film The Tale of Iya
Welcome to Asia House This spring’s activities offer new themes and introduce an exciting new series for 2014. Throughout the year our Arts and Learning programme will explore the theme of transnationalism through an ambitious series of talks, screenings and residencies. The Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival is back in February to showcase the best in Asian independent film, including renowned directors alongside bold new voices and reflecting the changing nature of Asia in a globalised world. Our new ARTiculations series will provide riveting discussion and insight from art practitioners and we have our first Artists in Residence series, starting with a project by contemporary artist Eiko Soga. Our Literature and Dialogue events will feature Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, as well as Rana Dasgupta discussing his new book on modern Delhi. Our Literature Festival preview offers a glimpse into this year’s fantastic festival and acclaimed authors Tash Aw and Yiyun Li will kick off our first pre-Festival event.
Image from the film The Tale of Iya
Image credit: Charlize YuTing Cheng
Pan-Asia Film Festival p9-11
Open Your Eyes to Asian Languages p13
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Yin Yang Collective – A Sheaf of New Year Music p7
This programme covers our events focused on arts and culture. For full details of our business and policy programme and corporate membership please see our website.
Arts and Culture
Date
Sophie Fiennes – Half Street
25 Feb
Eiko Soga Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld – The Triple Package
24-28 Feb 28 Feb
Rana Dasgupta – Capital: A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi 12 Mar Performance
Yin Yang Collective – A Sheaf of New Year Music
6 Feb
Pan-Asia Film Festival
Pan-Asia Film Festival 26 Feb-9 Mar Open Your Eyes to Asian Languages
Page
5 4 6
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9-11
Far East Asia
1 Feb
13
Near East Asia
15 Mar
13
South East Asia
22 Feb
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Calendar Asia House
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Asia House
ARTiculations A new series of ‘In-conversations’, will take place between Pamela Kember, Head of Arts and Learning, at Asia House, and invited practitioners across all art forms. Image Credit: Liu Xiaodong, Egyptian Restaurant 8, 2013. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London
Sophie Fiennes – Liu Xiaodong: Half Street Film screening and discussion Tuesday 25 February 18.45 – 20.30 Sophie Fiennes’ exploration of the creative processes behind artist Liu Xiaodong’s figurative work is the subject of Liu Xiaodong: Half Street, her 40-minute study of the Beijing-based painter and a leading figure within China’s contemporary art scene. The film follows Liu as he produced art on the streets of London, which culminated in a new body of eight largescale acrylic paintings capturing residents of Polish, Tibetan, French, West Indian and Arab descent.
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About the Director Sophie Fiennes is widely acclaimed for her unique observational eye and strong sense of cinematic form. Her award-winning works include Over your Cities, Grass Will Grow and The Late Michael Clark. Most recently her film The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (2012) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Admission Free but advance booking required
Asia House
Artists in Residence We are launching a new Artists in Residence programme, which champions young and emerging artists working in the fields of visual art, performance and the written word, and whose practices bridge Asia House’s vision to promote the rich diversity of transnational cultures from Asia here in the UK. An emphasis will be placed on traditional art forms combined with modern and contemporary influences. Residencies will offer an opportunity for creative practitioners whose approach is both experimental and explorative to engage with audiences here at Asia House. Visitors will experience and exchange ideas with them on their working process – either in person, via an online dialogue or through talks and related events.
Exhibition Project by Eiko Soga 24 – 28 February Eiko Soga’s interest lies in the relationship between space and the mind to explore the intangible world. Her site specific work and photographs are drawings that exist somewhere between reality and imagination. For her residency she will explore the relationship between language and communication. Born in Japan, Eiko Soga studied at UAL’s Chelsea College of Art and Design. She is currently at the Slade School of Art, UCL, London. The artist will present her work in situ at Asia House’s Studio. Admission Free
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Literature and
Dialogue Rana Dasgupta – Capital: A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi Wednesday 12 March 18.45 – 20.00 Through a series of conversations and encounters with billionaires, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, drug dealers, slum dwellers and psychoanalysts, Capital tells the story of Delhi’s journey from Walled City to World City through the eyes of its people. It is a story of extreme wealth and power, of land grabs and a city physically changed almost beyond recognition. Capital is significant not only for its portrait of Delhi and India, but for what it means for the West’s - and everybody’s - future.
Lunch and Literature The Triple Package Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld Friday 28 February 12.30 Lunch 13.00 Talk Exploring the conventional wisdom of success, The Triple Package is an eyeopening examination of how three cultural traits enable Asian groups to outperform others.
Rana Dasgupta won the 2010 Commonwealth Prize for Best Book for his debut novel, Solo. Capital is his first work of non-fiction.
Amy Chua is the author of the internationally acclaimed Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. She is the John M Duff Professor of Law at Yale University Law School and one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. Jed Rubenfeld is the Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale and author of the bestselling The Interpretation of Murder and The Death of Instinct. For both events: Tickets £15 Concession £12 AH Friends £10
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Image credit Nina Subin
Tickets £10 Concession £8 AH Friends £6
Yin Yang Collective – A Sheaf of New Year Music Thursday 6 February 18.45 – 20.00 To celebrate the Chinese Year of the Horse in 2014, London’s East-West fusion band Yin Yang Collective will perform a transnational celebratory sheaf of New Year music from China, UK, Japan, France and Greece. Featured East Asian instruments will be the erhu, guzheng, yangqin, xiao, koto, shamisen, taegum and changgo alongside
the European piano and cello. Devoted to developing the understanding of Eastern and Western traditions, the Yin Yang Collective performs traditional music forms as well as collaborative pieces including an ever-expanding Folk Song Suite forging links between East and West folk traditions. Tickets £10 I Concession £8 I AH Friends £6
28–30 March Jewellery Textiles Furniture Art Books Ornaments Clothes Handicrafts
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Asia House
Pan-Asia Film Festival 26 February – 9 March 2014
Festival Sponsor
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The Pan-Asia Film Festival
returns for a sixth year with its most ambitious selection of films to date. The Festival presents the most dynamic independent cinema from across Asia, focusing on the most powerful new films from established and young directors and reflecting the changing nature of Asia in a globalised world. Apart from film screenings, there are also director Q&As and events, giving the audience an unrivalled chance to explore and understand Asian culture.The 2014 Festival will see screenings take place across London, as well as in Leeds, Glasgow and Brighton. Here is a taster of the film programme:
Closing Night Gala
The Tale of Iya
Dir. Tetsuichiro Tsuta, 2013, Japan, 169 mins
UK Premiere
A tunnel to be built in Iya threatens to disrupt the secluded lifestyle of an elderly man and his granddaughter in this ambitious film depicting the nobility of coexisting with nature. Shot on 35mm film by its young, second-time director in the mountains of Tokushima, this is a dreamlike visual poem that offers a truly cinematic experience.
The Missing Picture
Dir. Rithy Panh, France/Cambodia, 2013, 96 mins This film, based on Panh’s own book, won the Un Certain Regard top prize at Cannes 2013. It narrates Panh’s childhood memories of the horrific Pol Pot regime during the 1970s. The film is also a powerful meditation on the possibility of finding truth in the aftermath of a violent past. Exploring the scars left behind by the Cambodian Genocide, Panh uses a variety of storytelling techniques, including stop motion animation, to create perhaps the most powerful film to date on twentieth century Cambodian history.
Cover and main mage from the film The Tale of Iya
Join us at Asia House for a special presentation of this award-winning film, followed by a panel discussion.
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36
Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy
Dir. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, 2012, Thailand, 68 mins
Dir. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, 2013, Thailand, 127 mins
London Premiere
On the site of a derelict building, location scout Sai meets art director Oom, and they begin working together. Sai records everything on her digital camera, until her computer crashes and the images are lost. Consisting of 36 shots, 36 is a delicate contemplation on the nature of memories in the digital age.
UK Premiere
Mary is at high school. With graduation a few months away, she is faced with crises in life, love, and friendship. Meanwhile, strange random things keep happening to her. An inventive narrative of an uncontrollable life, the film is an adaptation of a Twitter stream of 410 real Tweets from an anonymous girl. A take on the contemporary Asian teenager, it is also an intriguing companion to 36.
The full programme will be announced in January 2014 on the Asia House website.
#PAFF14 11
We want to encourage young people to think about how Asian languages will impact on their education and their careers and help them prepare for a future in which Asian countries play a significant role. In February and March 2014, we are inviting young people who are finishing school, studying at university, or starting their careers to spend a Saturday afternoon in our free workshops ‘Open Your Eyes to Asian Languages’ to get a flavour of the very basics of some of the world’s most important languages. Created by Asia House and the British Council, each workshop offers the participants an opportunity to try out three Asian languages from one region of Asia.
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Designed especially for 18-24 year olds, Open Your Eyes to Asian Languages workshops will be held as follows: Far East Asia Saturday 1 February Chinese Japanese Korean
South East Asia Saturday 22 February Bahasa Indonesia Thai Vietnamese
Near East Asia Saturday 15 March Arabic Farsi Turkish
Workshops are free and run from 14.00-16.30. Advance registration required. See online for more details: www.asiahouse.org Delivered with the support of:
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Navigating Asian Markets Whether entering an established market or looking to enter one of Asia’s emerging economies, learning the culture and customs as well as the business and policy landscapes is essential. The Navigating Asian Markets guides are designed to offer British businesses thinking about entering Asian markets insight into the business environments of each country. Pick up a free copy at Asia House or download online
Volume 1 includes: China
Singapore
India
South Korea
Indonesia
Thailand
Japan
Vietnam
Volume 2 includes:
Supported by
Azerbajian
Myanmar (Burma)
Kazakhstan
Pakistan
Malaysia
The Philippines
Mongolia
Turkey
Business and Policy Highlights The Asia House Business & Policy programme presents private briefings, events and public conferences throughout the year. Asia House takes a lead in highlighting Asian countries and regions of commercial and political interest that are currently under-represented in the UK. Coming up in 2014: Focus on ASEAN – Our series of events targeting South East Asia continues as we emphasise the need for UK businesses to have a better understanding of the ASEAN Secretariat and its 10 member states.
Central Asia & the Caspian Corridor – Considering the Caucasus nations of Central Asia, we provide a platform to explore the relevance and importance of Central Asia to the UK.
Asia Risk Outlook – Join our yearly conference on the key financial market and political risks shaping the panAsian region in 2014. Asia House collaborates with our corporate members to ensure that our programme reflects the most relevant themes and geographic areas. Corporate members of Asia House gain exclusive access to business intelligence and events to widen their network of contacts. If you wish to learn more about our corporate offering, please contact charlie.humphreys@asiahouse.co.uk
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Festival Preview
Asia House Bagri Foundation Pre Festival
Wednesday 2 April 18.45 – 20.00 Changing China Yiyun Li – Kinder than Solitude Tash Aw – Five Star Billionaire Yiyun Li launches her latest novel, a tale of attempted murder, deception, honour and the power of the digital technology to shape the present and future. Tash Aw’s Man Booker long-listed novel charts the overlapping lives of migrant Malaysian workers in Shanghai, counterpointing their adventures with the old life they left behind. Book now online www.asiahouse.org Tickets £15 I Concession £12 I AH Friends £10
Thursday 10 April Partitions with Korean, South Asian and Singaporean Writers In partnership with British Council and London Book Fair Wednesday 23 April Burma – A Work in Progress with Peter Popham Wednesday 30 April India: Election and Democracy Mukulika Banerjee – Why India Votes Patrick French – India - A Portrait And others with Salil Tripathi
Literature Festival Festival
Tuesday 6 May Opening Night Hanif Kureishi in conversation with Razia Iqbal Wednesday 7 May North Korea – Threat or Bluster? with John Sweeney, Paul French, James Scanlon and others Thursday 8 May Kamila Shamsie A God in Every Stone Friday 9 May Lunch and Literature Packing Up – Further Adventures of a Trailing Spouse with Brigid Keenan Evening: British Asian Humour with Sathnam Sanghera, Saurabh Kakkar and others Saturday 10 May Family Events: to be confirmed Saturday 10–11 May The Shroud (at Rich Mix) with Siddhartha Bose and Avaes Mohammad. In partnership with Penned in the Margins Monday 12 May China 25 Years After Tiananmen with Jonathan Mirsky, Yuwen Wu and others
Wednesday 14 May Midnight’s Descendants with John Keay Thursday 15 May Freedom of Expression and Digital Technology with speakers from China, Thailand, India and Vietnam. In partnership with English PEN Friday 16 May Lunchtime Cookery: The Vietnamese Market Cookbook with Van Tran & Anh Vu Saturday 17 May Asian Reading Jungle – family events tbc Monday 19 May Changing Sexual Mores Across Asia with Shereen el Feki, Sally Howard and others Tuesday 20 May New and Notable Fiction with Romesh Gunesekera, Xiaolu Guo and others Wednesday 21 May Closing Night A very special guest! Full programme will be available online in March
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Image Credit: Matt Chung
Asia House is a centre of expertise on Asia. Our mission is to bring the UK and Asia closer through our pioneering events on business, policy and culture. We are the leading pan-Asian organisation in the UK, having built our reputation on our extensive network, our objectivity and our independence. We aim to deepen understanding of the cultural contexts in which we live, work and do business while preparing the next generation for greater engagement between Asia and the West. Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter @asiahouseuk How to book Telephone +44 (0)20 7307 5454 Email: enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk Online: www.asiahouse.org
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