Spring 2017
CHINA
Remixed:
Presented by the Indiana University
Bloomington Arts & Humanities Council
artsandhumanities.indiana.edu
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The Global Arts &
Humanities Festival is
designed to support
global learning,
international cultural
exchange, and IU
ambassadorship.
Over the course of
ten thrilling weeks,
the Spring 2017
festival focuses
on contemporary
Chinese arts and
culture in a global
context, through
campuswide exhibits,
performances,
screenings, and
lectures.
“Indiana University Bloomington
has a rich history of cultural
engagement with China. There
are now nearly 2,800 Chinese
students on our campus, and
more than 200 IU students
study in China each year. This
festival serves to amplify and
celebrate these connections as
they enrich the work of dozens of
departments, groups, and units
across campus.”
– Lauren Robel, Provost
and Executive Vice President,
IU Bloomington
cover artwork courtesy of Gene Yang
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FEATURED GUESTS
February 23
March 2
March 31
April 14
Gene Yang is a beloved comic book artist and
MacArthur Fellow. His American Born Chinese became the first graphic novel to be nominated
for a National Book Award and the first to win the
American Library Association’s Printz Award.
Ha Jin is a celebrated Chinese writer. His novel
Waiting won the National Book Award for fiction
in 1999, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award
for Fiction in 2000. His story collection The
Bridegroom won the Asian American Literary
Award in 2001.
Wu Man is a pipa virtuoso and the first artist
from China to perform at the White House.
Named Musical America’s Instrumentalist of
the Year in 2013, she has a discography of more
than 40 albums, performs around the world with
many major orchestras, and collaborates closely
with the Kronos Quartet.
Joe Wong is an uproarious stand-up comedian
who has made multiple appearances on The
Late Show with David Letterman and The Ellen
Degeneres Show. He now hosts “Is it True?”
on the Chinese state-run TV network CCTV2,
attracting 5 to 7 million viewers per episode.
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PERFORMANCES
The Taipei National University of the Arts is
sending 22 students from the Focus Dance
Group to perform a thrilling new set on a joint
bill with students from IU’s Contemporary Dance
Program.
An acclaimed update of a classic play,
Thunderstorm 2.0 includes a large crew
that films the actors on stage during the
performance, creating a movie that is edited
and screened above the stage in real time. The
Beijing News ranked this production as one of
the 10 best performances in China of the past
30 years. The IU Bloomington production is
sponsored by a grant from the Beijing Municipal
Government and the Office of the Vice President
for International Affairs.
World famous pipa virtuoso Wu Man will perform
with students and faculty from the Jacobs
School of Music, including the Vera Quartet and
New Music Ensemble. She will also participate in
the Lotus Blossoms program at area elementary
schools.”
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The first live Kung Fu spectacular of its kind,
Shaolin Warriors has audiences around the
world gasping in disbelief at death-defying
feats. This program has amazed over 700,000
people with its highly charged choreography,
atmospheric music and scenery, and spectacular
lighting and costumes. Hosted by the IU
Auditorium.
The student-run Concert of New Chinese
Music presents all original musical compositions
featuring contemporary interpretations of
traditional Chinese forms, remixing classical Han
culture with contemporary pop culture, minority
culture, and westernized Chinese music tradition.
Our festival also features readings by acclaimed
novelist Ha Jin and poet Marilyn Chin, as well as
a stand-up set by Joe Wong, and a musical set
featuring Beijing indie rockers Birdstriking and
Bedstars.
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EXHIBITS
Exhibits extend across the entire campus, highlighting the ways in which many
schools and departments intersect with the arts and culture of China.
An awe-inspiring visual installation by the artist Beili Liu will appear in the Grunwald
Gallery, while a dynamic video art exhibit curated by Isaac Leung, and featuring
the School of Art + Design’s Arthur Liou, will extend from The Media School to the
Indiana Memorial Union to the Scholars Commons and the Cyberinfrastructure
Building.
The Mathers Museum of World Cultures is hosting a stunning showcase of work
from Beijing’s 798 Art Zone as well as a groundbreaking exhibition on the Quilts of
Southwest China, while the Departments of Gender Studies and Anthropology will
host Above Ground – 40 Moments of Transformation, a photographic exhibit on
contemporary women’s rights activism.
Both the Wells Library and the Lilly Library will display highlights from their print
collections, and the IU Eskenazi Museum of Art is curating a special program titled
Tendrils of Design: Chinese Arts Past and Present and a new exhibit by artist
Chee Wang Ng.
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FILMS
Throughout the semester, IU Cinema will present 20 film programs linked to mainland China, Hong
Kong, and Taiwan. These programs are curated to engage students and speak to today’s world, while
looking at the past, embracing tradition, and dealing with migration, identity, and community. The series
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will include several director talks, screenings, and discussions with LGBTQ filmmaker Popo Fan, and the
special screening of a new Bloomington/China documentary on the first international Little 500 team
from China titled Bingbing and The Young Pioneers.
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WEEKLY SPEAKER SERIES
The speakers series features world-renowned scholars and journalists on contemporary topics. Talks and
receptions will be held each week in the Global and International Studies Building.
February 15
March 1
Isaac Leung is an artist, curator, and
researcher in art and culture who is currently
Lecturer in the Department of Cultural and
Creative Arts of the Hong Kong Institute of
Education. His art has been exhibited across
the globe, and his works have been featured
on National Public Radio, and in Agence
France-Presse, the Chicago Tribune, the NY Arts
Magazine, and the South China Morning Post.
Jiayang Fan is a staff writer for the New Yorker
magazine, where she reports on China, American
politics, and culture. She is also a contributor to
the New York Times Book Review, Slate, The Paris
Review, and the LA Review of Books.
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March 8
March 22
Gordon Chang is professor of American
history, the Olive H. Palmer Professor in
Humanities, and director of the Center for East
Asian Studies at Stanford University. His most
recent book is Fateful Ties: A History of America’s
Preoccupation with China (Harvard University
Press).
Hua Hsu teaches in the English Department at
Vassar College and writes about music, sports,
and culture. His work has appeared in The
Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, The Village
Voice, The Boston Globe and The Wire. He is
the author of A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and
Failure Across the Pacific (Harvard University
Press).
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WEEKLY SPEAKER SERIES
March 29
March 31
April 6
April 12
Lui Dalin is a retired professor of sociology
at Shanghai University who pioneered the field
of sex studies in China. From 1989 to 1990,
he organized a nationwide survey on sexual
behavior and attitudes in China, not unlike the
Kinsey Report in the United States. In 1997, Liu
published the English edition of Sexual Behavior
in Modern China. Also in 1997, he opened China’s
first sex museum, now located in Tongli.
Kelly Tsai is a poet, artist, and performance
activist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work
has been featured at over 700 venues worldwide,
including the White House, and on HBO and
MTV. She has been inspiring audiences with her
powerful voice and her singular dedication to
social justice, political change, and the diversity
of world culture.
Judith Shapiro is the director of the Natural
Resources and Sustainable Development
program for the School of International Service
at American University. Her research focuses
on global environmental politics and policy,
the environmental politics of Asia, and Chinese
politics under Mao. She is the author, co-author
or editor of seven books, including China’s
Environmental Challenges (Polity) and Mao’s War
against Nature (Cambridge University Press).
Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New
Yorker and a contributing writer for National
Geographic. He is the author of River Town: Two
Years on the Yangtze, which won the Kiriyama
Prize, and Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time
in China, a finalist for the National Book Award.
He won the 2008 National Magazine Award
for excellence in reporting and was named a
MacArthur Fellow in 2011.
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The Arts and Humanities Council is excited to present a
program that highlights the most diverse and dynamic aspects of
contemporary Chinese culture, from mainland China to Taiwan,
Hong Kong, and America.
China Remixed reflects all the ways that the arts and
humanities of China impact IU, and IU in turn engages
with the arts and humanities of China.
The festival would not be possible without the support and vision of
hundreds of scholars, artists, and organizations all across campus.
The people we would like to thank are too numerous to note by name,
but we are extremely grateful for their contributions.
We invite the whole Bloomington campus, all friends of Indiana
University, and all lovers of culture to join in our celebrations.
— Ed Comentale, Director, IU Bloomington Arts & Humanities Council
Have questions? Email the Arts & Humanities Council at [email protected].
artsandhumanities.indiana.edu
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