:: MEDIA Magazine (Asia) featured us (NeochaEDGE) in pretty good China-focused youth marketing piece. Link here for a hi-res / readable version. // AjS

:: Shanghai is the next stop for A Nice Set, a traveling exhibition of customized slipmats designed by leading artists from around the world. Presented by NeochaEDGE and Jellymon, A Nice Set | Shanghai will feature slipmat designs from international artists as well as the first showing of original slipmat designs from emerging Chinese artists. Further integrating the music + art theme, a set of Aerial7 headphones will receive a custom-design treatment by Chinese artists and displayed at the exhibition.

A Nice Set | Shanghai exhibition will open at 7:30 PM on September 12th at SOURCE’s gallery space, and run until September 28. Original slipmats, reproductions, IdN’s commemorative book, and custom-designed Aerial7 headphones will all be available for sale throughout the exhibition. // AjS

Exhibition Opening Party :: Sept 12, 2009, 19:30

Exhibition Dates :: Sept 12 – Sept 28, 2009

Location :: SOURCE (158 Xinle Road, Near Donghu Road)

Participating Artists ::

China

Raylei, B6, Tyakasha, Yan Wei, Nini Sum, Jellymon, Kidplastik, Chairman, Shinjil, 96k, Rubberpixy

International

Asif Mian, Ben Loiz & Carolina Chaves, Bob Kronbauer, Build, Carlos Rodriguez, David Ellis, Genevieve Gauckler, Gerry Villareal, Harmen Liemburg, Hanna Werning, Hort, Ian Wright, Ian “Swifty” Swift, Jeff Staple, Jeff Zimmermann, Jenni Kim, Jeremy Hollister, Jeremyville, Maki Kawakita, Marc Atlan, Ray Smith, Republic of Regina, Stephen Bliss, Judy Wellfare, Kai and Sunny, Kenn Sakurai, Kustaa Saksi, Luca Ionesco, Maceo Villareal, Stephan “Maze” Georges, Timothy Saccenti, Universal Everything, Value and Service, Yuko Shimizu and many more

What is a slipmat?

A slipmat is a circular piece of felt material that DJs use on turntables to manipulate a record.

The Concept ::

Just as DJs sample the work of many musicians into the new mixes, visual artists tap into their own cultural surroundings, sampling the influences they have accumulated and integrate them into their work. Both the visual artist and the DJ can be seen as “selectors” who draw inspiration from their respective environments, as well as its trends and fads, with the finished product of a painting or a mix being their interpretation of the world around them.

First conceptualised by Jeremy Hollister of New York creative studio Plus et Plus and Jeff Staple of Staple Designs and The Reed Space, A Nice Set invites leading artists to customize a pair of blank slipmats with dimensions of the canvas as their only constraints.

The Artists ::

The selection of participating artists for A Nice Set is not based on any universal visual aesthetic, but rather on talent, uniqueness and a passion for music – in both the work and the lives of the chosen artists.

Since its debut in Hong Kong, A Nice Set has been on tour for the past three years, travelling from Tokyo to Spain, Paris, Australia and Singapore hitting Shanghai this September. In each city, a selection of local talent is chosen to be included in each exhibition alongside the original collective. The works of the local artists then travel to the next city of the tour, ever expanding global pool of customized designs.

Organizers ::

NeochaEDGE

NeochaEDGE is a full-service idea and execution house passionate about helping clients understand, engage, and co-create with Chinese creative communities, trendsetters, and youth culture opinion leaders.

NeochaEDGE is a daily-curated, bilingual website and discovery engine dedicated to showcasing leading-edge creative content and emerging youth culture in China.

NeochaEDGE is a product of Neocha.com, an online community and social network that empowers Chinese creatives to promote their work, collaborate with other creatives, and engage with fans.

Jellymon

Jellymon / JMGS is a multi-discipline design studio that creates Artwork, Toys, Fashion, Lifestyle products, Branding, Creative Direction. Jellymon was set up by Lin Lin and Sam Jacobs. The pair met at Chelsea School of Art in 2002 and have been working together ever since. Jellymon is about art and products with a fun and thoughtful twist. JMGS works closely with brands and advertising agencies. The projects we work on are very wide ranging but most focus mainly on the Youth Market.

Sponsors ::

Aerial7

Aerial7 was founded in 2008 based on the idea that great sound can be combined with awesome, eye-catching design. Our headphones are influenced by our devotion to art, streetwear, action sports, and DJ culture. They deliver unsurpassed audio quality in models that are as much a statement of individualism as they are a practical necessity.

Vedett

Vedett is a premium Belgian beer brand with a somewhat different attitude; taking itself not too serious (except when it comes to quality, then we’re damn serious!), a bit quirky, modest, not telling you what to do or how to behave.

:: live-action design knees-up Cut&Paste makes its Shanghai debut this Saturday, May 23.

The Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament is a globally touring competition that pits designers head to head, in a series of lightning-fast rounds, to prove their mettle. 2009 sees 16 cities on its roster – Shanghai is number 14 – plus a global championship event in June. 2D, 3D and Motion Design are represented, and contestants have a fixed amount of time – 15 minutes for 2D, 20 minutes for 3D, eight hours for Motion – to execute a creative brief on the spot. Their work is projected, live and in real time, on massive screens so the audience can ooh over every creative decision, ahh over every technical move, and get a glimpse into the ever-nebulous Creative Process.

Check the video from the last tour:

Pretty neat, eh?

Shanghai’s 16 contestants have been handpicked from tons of entries collected earlier in the year (they’re listed on the Shanghai event page, under their respective categories). Tournament judges include Chinese contemporary artists Ding Yi and Jellymon creative director Sam Jacobs for the 2D category, Asentio Design founder David Williams and adFunture founder Eddi Yip for 3D; and W+K’s Francis Lam and AKQA’s Johan Vakidis for Motion.
The afterparty – co-hosted by (they who brought Daedelus, People Under the Stairs and, most recently, Modular Records) – sees LA’s in Shanghai, rather fitting given Cut&Paste’s 2009 tour started in LA three months ago. (It’s been moving across North America, Europe and Asia ever since.)

Three audience design contests will allow folks not content just watching to get a taste of what those onstage are up against. Winners of these contests – selected from all global entries – get to go to global championships in June, along with the official winners from each city.
Whether you’d like to see the creative process somewhat demystified, or are just hankering for a good show, head down the Shanghai Sculpture Space Saturday evening.

Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament 2009: Shanghai. Saturday, May 23. Doors 6:30pm / Show 7:00pm. Shanghai Sculpture Space (570 Huaihai Xi Lu, near Kaixuan Lu). RMB 100 presale (RMB 80 for students) through Ticketmaster / RMB 120 at the door (tickets include entry to the at Yuyintang with Free the Robots). Full details: www.cutandpaste.com or . Facebook event .  // PL

[Panthea Lee is a guest contributor on 56minus1. Full disclosure: Panthea is the producer of Cut&Paste Shanghai, and Neocha.com – of which Adam Schokora (56minus1) is a partner – is a sponsor of the event.]

:: see below for some snaps taken at this weekend’s BLENDER: Digital Culture Festival in Shanghai; Popil and DEZIO doing some freestyle mark-ups. For the full Flickr set link here. DEZIO was kind enough to gift me a set of poker cards featuring his work. If interested, link here for a short documentary I produced about graffiti in Shanghai featuring Popil.  // AjS

:: Neocha.com and PSFK.com have joined forces and are looking for China cultural experts (broadly defined) to contribute to a book project focused on the latest trends and innovations coming out of China.

This is a good opportunity for interested folks to “globalize” their favorite local Chinese spots and, maybe if they are lucky, snag a longer-term gig trendspotting. In any case, if you are interested, link here or check out the original casting call (Chinese & English) below. //

We are currently looking for culture experts, writers, and other in-the-know trendspotters from around China to contribute to our new book, to be published in association with Neocha.com: PSFK Snapshot: China. We are looking for creative thinkers with unique insight into the latest trends and innovations in any of the following fields:

• retail
• fashion
• art & music
• food & drink
• entertainment

If interested, please provide the following in your inquiry email:

• your name
• your city of residence and how long you’ve lived there
• your topics of expertise from the list (list all that apply)
• your age
• your occupation
• do you own a digital camera ?

As a consultancy, PSFK gets asked periodically to conduct innovation and trends research around the world. Contributors to this project may be asked to become official trendspotting scouts for PSFK’s future research projects. Contributors will also receive full credit in PSFK Snapshot: China, as well a free copy of the finished work.

Project begins: immediately
Please email your interest to .

PSFK在国际创意圈里面非常有名并受人尊重。PSFK提供创意共享，大胆开放地接受新的点子，且不论它出自何处。它产生的唯一的途径是彼 此的相互合作。它吸引了对当今人们在观念、生活方式、购物方式以及品牌含义理解方面持有独特观点的全球博客撰稿人。

目前新茶网Neocha.com与PSFK.com合作，我们一起寻找中国潮流意见领袖。你们的观点和文章将成为我们的新书《PSFK Snapshot: China》的组成部分。

我们希望研究的潮流领域包括：

• 时尚风潮
• 音乐电影
• 饮食烹调
• 大众娱乐
• 业余生活
• 文化艺术
• 商业营销/零售百货

如果您愿意成为创作组一员，请提供以下资料并email给我们：

• 您的姓名
• 您居住的城市，在那居住了多久
• 您对上面清单哪类话题感兴趣
• 你的年龄
• 您的职业
• 您的联系方式 (手机号码，MSN，QQ，等等）

项目已经开始，如果感兴趣，请立刻发送电子邮件联系我们: PSFK定期在世界各地进行创新和趋势领域的研究。本次活动的合作者将可能成为PSFK的全球趋势研究员，最终使用稿件的合作者同时将获得 稿费和最后的成品书。

[ is a guest contributor on 56minus1.]

[full disclosure: 56minus1 is a partner at Neocha.com]

:: Starting next Friday, a quartet of literary love-ins will be rolling out in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Suzhou, each lasting two to three weeks. (March is looking that much brighter now, yes?)

Over 50 international and Chinese novelists, journalists, and writers of many a stripe will be presenting workshops and talks as part of the International Literary Festival series. (Note: the events are all in English.) While the Shanghai edition (organized by the M Group) and the ones in the other three cities (put on by The Bookworm) are not officially affiliated, the festivals do share some names. (Though I am curious, after comparing programmes side-by-side: why not more?)

Past years – and only speaking for the Shanghai incarnation here – have seen some heavyweights on the festival rosters. 2007 had esteemed man of letters Gore Vidal, fresh-from-the-Bookers Kiran Desai, author Amy Tan (Joy Luck Club, Saving Fish from Drowning), lefty Canadian badass John Ralston-Saul, and travel writers Jan Morris and Simon Winchester. (The former mentored the latter, and if you ever get a chance to hear these master raconteurs tell their tales themselves, jump on it.)

Last year, attendees included Arundhati Roy with Pankaj Mishra (whose talk on being an activist/author got the crowd nicely worked up); Hari Kunzru (who then went on trip to Moganshan, resulting in, among other things, ); architect Paul Andreu; and the Atlantic’s man in China, the ever erudite James Fallows, who spoke on his adopted home of the past few years – he’s lived in both Shanghai and Beijing since 2006 – as well as the Iraq War (he’d just published ) and the 2008 US presidential campaign (then in the maelstrom of March primaries).

I’ll be frank – this philistine has not heard of many of featured names on this year’s bills, which seem to have fewer household names than in years past. This, of course, says nothing about the quality of the event, it merely that it’s time to do some homework. (In past years, all relevant titles have been available pre- and post-festival at Chaterhouse in Shanghai, and the Bookworm stores in the other cities. Call ahead, though, to make sure that’s the case for whatever you’re looking for.)

Some sessions that look interesting:

• “China on the Internet” with Andrew Lih, Vanessa Na and Simon Elegant moderated by Jeremy Goldkorn (March 3, 7:30pm, Beijing)
• James Fallows (), journalist, author, national correspondent for The Atlantic, and – random fact! – youngest presidential speechwriter in American history (for Jimmy Carter; yes, he was even younger than Jon Favreau) (March 7, 3:00pm, Shanghai)
• Mohammed Hanif (), the Pakistani journalist whose debut novel – a political mystery/comedy – was longlisted for the Booker (March 8, 3:00pm, Shanghai)
• The Inaugural FT Debate: China vs Obama’s America, with Simon Schama, Richard McGregor, Jonathan Fenby and Geoff Dyer (March 15, 5:00pm, Shanghai)
• Fuschia Dunlop (): chef and food writer on Chinese cuisine (various dates and times; Beijing, Chengdu, Suzhou)

There are plenty of others sessions that may be worth checking out: Israeli writer Alon Hilu (Death of a Monk); That’s founder Mark Kitto (who many know, and who recently published his China Cuckoo memoir); adventurer Robin Hanbury-Tenison (The Seventy Great Journeys in History); American essayist and translator (for Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz) Eliot Weinberger (An Elemental Thing); hot new Vietnamese-Australian writer Nam Le (The Boat); Shanghainese historian and author Lynn Pan (Shanghai Style: Art and Design Between the Wars); and a host of journalists (Ian Buruma, Barbara Demick, HS Liu, Duncan Hewitt, Paul French) in various arrangements for the Bookworm’s “Committing Journalism” series.

For those saying “pass” because “the writers aren’t as big as you’re used to” or bellyaching about why we can’t have bigger literary festivals, newsflash: as English is not the main language in China, the English-language literary scene is – no surprise – not all that big. (In the same vein, no griping about why Chaterhouse doesn’t have that first edition Neruda you’ve been hankering for, please.) If you want more English-language cultural events in future, show up and support what is happening when it is happening, and help build the scene you want.

Hats off to AsiaMedia, The M Group, and the Bookworm family for making these happen. Not sure how long the Bookworms have been involved, but the Shanghai edition has been a labour of love for its organizers for now nine years and counting.

Programmes vary by city, and the above information will not apply to all four festivals. Please check the respective websites for full details.

Shanghai International Literary Festival. March 6 to 22. The Glamour Bar and M on the Bund (6/F and 7/F, No. 5 The Bund, 5 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, near Guangdong Lu; Tel: ). Regular sessions RMB 65 (includes one drink), prices differ for season tickets and literary lunches. Tickets through MyPiao.com or at 400-620-6006. Full details on the website.

Beijing International Literary Festival. March 6 to 20. The Bookworm – Beijing (Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing; Tel: ). Most events RMB 50 (includes one drink). Full details on the website.

Chengdu International Literary Festival. March 6 to 21. The Bookworm – Chengdu (Yujie Dong Lu #2-7, Renmin Nan Lu #28, Chengdu; Tel: ). Most events RMB 50 (includes one drink). Full details on the website.

Suzhou International Literary Festival. March 6 to 20. The Bookworm – Suzhou (Gunxiufang 77, Shiquan Lu, Suzhou; Tel: ). RMB 30, pricing differs for workshops and literary dinners. Full details on the website.  //

[Image by Vipul Mathur, used under a Creative Common license.]

[Panthea Lee is a guest contributor on 56minus1.]