Beam Me Up, What's Happening with Bring Your Own Beamer
Bring Your Own Beamer was established by Rafaël Rozendaal in 2010. The concept is simple: Gather as many projectors as possible, then let artists fill up their appropriated venues with images, sound, and experimentation.
The Beijing edition of BYOB has been initiated by local curators Michelle Proksell and Solveig Suess and Dashilar Projects brings the international event to the heart of the capital this Saturday (June 28). The locations range from an abandoned newspaper press to a shanty courtyard and for one night only, these spaces will be augmented by free-form projected artworks.
The exhibition explores the topic of “rendering,” literally meaning “to become.”
A group of 30 artists, including Ophelia Chan, Tina Blakeney, and Chai Mai, plan to transform the architectural details of these Ming and Qing Dynasty era hutongs with their various types of projectors, to achieve a better understanding of their social value and future potential.
It is no secret that hutong culture is progressively disappearing to make room for a more modern and “civilized” Beijing. Though many of these old areas lack infrastructure and sometimes basic sanitation, hutongs have a rich historical importance to the cultural landscape of the city.
One such piece analyzing this demolition is titled Building Emotion. Developed by local designer Yi Zhou, it assigns human attributes to the space in order to project the range of emotions the structures will experience as they face their inevitable demise. While this imposes emotional response as its focal point, the piece also calls to mind how these changes effect the people being pushed from their homes.
The collective, doubleluckiness, with their project The Island, dissects the function of “rendering” by creating a “tropical” themed installation. They use digital projections to construct a sense of friction between their images and the opposing aesthetics of the hutong.
In many ways, BYOB harks back to a time before there were designated artist communities and artists were forced to get creative as to how and where they could display their work. It was through this kind of casual proactivity and DIY ethos that Beijing’s art scene developed into what it is today. So if this kind of happening continues to occur, what can we expect from tomorrow? Who needs the galleries’ white walls and cheese plates anyway?
Saturday's BYOB event will be held between 7.30-11.30pm at Spaces #26, #31, and #53 Yangmeizhu Xie Jie, Dashilar. More information can be found on our events page here or on the official page here.
