UCCA Beijing

“The New Normal: China, Art, and 2017” Artist Talk Series
Sonic Fiction Sinofuturism in Contemporary Music

2017.5.20
14:00-16:00

Conversation
Location:  Nave
Language:  English with Chinese translation

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) welcomes electronic music producer and DJ Kode9 and “The New Normal” participating artist Lawrence Lek for a talk that explores the notion of sinofuturism which has gained momentum in recent discourses, focusing on its expressions in recent music productions including the two artists' latest collaborative project, "The Nøtel."

Influenced by Afrofuturist music and literature, Kode9 has a general interest in the emergence of non-western futurisms, in particular Sinofuturism – a specifically Chinese vision of the future – and how that might manifest within electronic music, art, and culture. His 2005 "Sinogrime” mix tied together a number of London-based grime producers’ hallucinations—filtered through video games, martial arts films and US hip-hop—of what a Chinese electronic music might sound like. His latest work is “The Nøtel,” a collaboration with London-based simulation artist Lawrence Lek that sets Kode9’s 2015 album Nothing in a post-human, first-person video game. Lek has become known for exploring the concept of Sinofuturism —“a science fiction that already exists” — in a 2016 work of the same title currently on view in the large-scale group exhibition “The New Normal” at UCCA, and in his latest work, Geomancer, which will make its Asia premiere at UCCA on May 28th. The talk will be moderated by “The New Normal” co-curator Alvin Li.

Ticketing: Free

Note:

*Collect your ticket from reception 45 minutes before the event begins;

*Please no late entry;

*Seating is limited, and tickets must be collected individually;

*Please keep mobile devices on silent.

UCCA Membership Benefits

Scan the QR code below to sign up for UCCA membership and enjoy exclusive member benefits.

会员

For this event, UCCA members will enjoy:

• Exclusive seats reservation service

• Members-only guided tour

For UCCA members, please send us your name and mobile number to RSVP (ve@159.138.20.147) or call UCCA membership hotline: +86 10 5780 0200

Schedule

13:00-13:20 Ticket pick-up at the reception desk (for UCCA members who RSVPed)

13:20-13:50 Exclusive UCCA members-only guided tour

13:30-14:00 ticket distribution at the reception desk (for UCCA members who didn’t RSVP and non-members)

14:00-16:00 Conversation

*Please arrive promptly.

Guests

Lawrence Lek (“The New Normal” participating artist)

Lawrence Lek (b. 1982, Germany) is a contemporary artist living and working in London. He is a graduate of the Cooper Union, the Architectural Association, and Trinity College, Cambridge. Lek creates speculative worlds and site-specific simulations using gaming software, video, installation, and performance. Often based on real places, his digital environments reflect the impact of the virtual on our perception of reality. Contrasts between utopia and ruins, desire and loss, and fantasy and history appear throughout his work to symbolize this exchange. Lek’s recent exhibitions include “All Channels Open” (Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, 2017); “SeMA Mediacity Seoul Biennial” (Seoul Museum of Art, 2016); “Secret Surface” (KW Institut, Berlin, 2016); “Software, Hard Problem” (Cubitt Gallery, London, 2015); and “The Uncanny Valley” (Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, 2015). He is recipient of the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2016, the Tenderflix/Tenderpixel Artist Video Award, and the 2015 Dazed Emerging Artist Award.

Steve Goodman (Kode 9, electronic music producer, DJ, founder of Hyperdub)

Based in South London, but originally from Glasgow, Scotland, Steve Goodman produces electronic music under the name Kode9, and founded/runs the record label Hyperdub, known for artists such as Burial and DJ Rashad. Initially inspired by what has been called the ‘hardcore continuum’, he was one of the founding members of the early dubstep scene, running the Fwd>> show on Rinse FM from 2003, although has now drifted musically onto other interests. He has produced 3 albums, 2 with the late vocalist, The Spaceape: Memories of the Future (2006) and Black Sun (2011), and the solo project, Nothing (2015). He has also released on Aphex Twin’s label Rephlex, remixed MF Doom and Lee Scratch Perry and released mixes in the DJ Kicks series on K7, Rinse FM and the early dubstep label Tempa. Outside of his music career, in the 1990s he was a member of the infamous Ccru (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit) and in 2010, published the book Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect and the Ecology of Fear (MIT Press) which investigated the use of sound to modulate population behavior.

Alvin Li (“The New Normal” co-curator)