Taiwan Colour Code

As we enter the winter season in the Northern hemisphere and we've all come down with viruses, flues and other boo-hoo's, eRenlai is still on full speed and we have our very own cocktail of vitamins to ease you through the freeze. This month's edition has an artistic and contemplative flavour as we introduce you three talented and original musicians. Yaping Wang is a young Taiwanese female composer who tells us how she discovered her vocation, Luo Chao-yun (AKA Pipawoman) likes to merge her experimental music with musicians from all over the world, including Erdem Helvacioglu, a Turkish guitarist and musical engineer with whom she has recently recorded an album in Istanbul. This music, together with Yaping's is provided in the printed edition of Renlai Magazine in Taiwan (email me for more info or to get the CD).

In the editorial section, Benoit Vermander comforts us with his own interpretation of Bodily Pains, before taking on the challenges of the Catholic Church in Taiwan. From Nick's travels in Java he brings you back sun and poetry in a video of Yoyo Jewe on the Progo River. Furthermore, Marcos Gava depicts the murky world of Buenos Aires in the surroundings of the Recoleta cemetery and Adam Materna rants against the absurdities of the world.

Our Focus invites you to a poetic and pictorial exploration of Taiwan through its 'colour code': if you had to express one feeling or one recollection with a colour, which tint would it be? You could stop one moment, close your eyes and think of a landscape or the immediate environment you’re in, what is the first image to appear in your mind? Is it only a picture? Could it be a sound, a smell, a feeling? Here, we would like to offer you a synesthetic experience through associations of colours, sensations and memories, starting for example with Grey and Pink.

We hope that you will enjoy this issue as much as we did preparing it and we wish you an excellent month of November.

Imaginer pour changer Taïwan

Au mois d’avril, nous célébrons le pouvoir bénéfique de l’imagination. Qu’il s’agisse du domaine des sciences, des arts ou des mouvements sociaux, rien de nouveau ne peut émerger et encore moins survenir si nous ne sommes pas capables d’imaginer de nouveaux théorèmes, de nouvelles visions, de nouvelles manières d’agir ensemble et de nouveaux rêves pour le futur. En temps de crise, il paraît d’autant plus nécessaire d’imaginer de nouvelles solutions et de nouveaux modes d’action. Aussi le Focus de ce mois-ci est-il dédié à la manière dont certains emploient l’imagination comme force de changement, en Asie en général et à Taiwan en particulier :

Julia K. Anderson nous enjoint à exiger un peu moins de perfection et un peu plus d’imagination dans l’éducation des enfants, tandis qu’Andreas Gursch, dans une autre courte vidéo, nous raconte une expérience imaginative mise en œuvre dans la province du Guangdong et faisant appel à la participation civile.

La littérature et la science fiction ont souvent anticipé les inventions scientifiques ; Hubert Kilian partage sa vision futuristique de Taiwan, 25 ans après. Moi-même, je raconte l’histoire d’un vieil homme qui fait appel à son imagination pour remplacer sa mémoire perdue.



Nos contributeurs ont tous laissé libre cours à leur imagination : ne manquez pas les articles et les photos de Joe Russo, Bendu et Alice Lin.

Three weeks of silence

Dear hipsters gangsters and bandits pundits!

I am back on my blog after three (painful) weeks of silence, here is a brief summary of what I did during this long time running under cypresses:

- The conference about the "Cultural resources of sustainable development" was held in Shanghai on April 25 (read some of the highlights). Be reassured, we did not get stoned by a crowd in fury (although some might deserve it...) and it has been a passionating experience for me, on the professional and human level as well.

With Annette, Jeremie and Olivier from Lafarge-India,

- We also organized an exhibition with the photographs published in the Renlai magazine issue of April: the opening is already over but it is not too late to see it!!! You have until May 10th to discover Taiwan new wave of young photographers:

攝影的舞步
Picturing Music

十二位生活在台灣的年輕攝影愛好者以影像來表現音樂與生活的節奏，感謝法商東方匯理銀行贊助籌辦展出這一系列攝影作品。
Renlai Magazine, thanks to the support of Calyon, organizes a photography exhibition introducing the works of 12 young photographers living in Taiwan: a celebration of the dialogue between sound and vision.

開幕酒會:
2008年4月18日(星期五) 下午17.30

展覽時間:
2008年4月18日—5月10日
星期一至星期五9:00AM-17:30PM
展出地點：法商東方匯理銀行
台北市松山區105敦化北路167號16樓（宏國大樓）

Exhibit opening:
Friday 18 April 2008 at 5:30pm

The exhibition will last from April 18th 2008 until May 10th 2008
Open Monday to Friday: 9.00am -17.30pm
Address: Calyon Taipei Branch, 16th Fl, No 167, Dunhua North Road,
Taipei city

攝影者:
黃一玲，鍾偉杰，張修齊，柯蕾俐，和田多實，翁華志，許芯瑋，張顥馨，杜曼笛，余白，高樹邦。
鄭晴心： '在夢輿醒之間旋轉'（短片）

Photographs by:
Yiling Huang, Chung Wai Kit, Chang Xiu-Chi, Aurélie Kernaléguen, Tami Wada, Angelica Oung, Kate Hsu, Austin Chang, Amandine Dubois, Hubert Kilian and Andy Gao.
And a short documentary by Pinti Zheng: 'Between Dreams and Wakefulness'

Contact: Aurélie Kernaléguen
活動聯絡人: 柯蕾俐
Tel: 0287730773#12
Email: keleily@hotmail.com
http://www.erenlai.com/

Contact : Corinne Huang/ Calyon
活動聯絡人： 洪雅玲／ 法商東方匯理銀行
Tel: （02）2717－5252＃102
Email: http://corinne.hung@tw.calyon.com

La Chine entre 1979 et 1981

Dès que j’ai vu les photos de Yves Nalet sur la Chine entre 1979 et 1981, j’ai immédiatement pensé à mon oncle et à ma tante qui ont vécu en Chine durant exactement la même période ! Ils travaillaient en tant que profs de français dans le centre de langues de l’Université de Tianjin et ils gardent un souvenir inoubliable de cette époque. Je me permets de reproduire ici leur commentaire à propos d’une photo en particulier :

« La photo du parking de bicyclettes nous a rappelé notre première séance au cinéma : on se demandait pourquoi les gens se levaient et sortaient précipitamment avant la fin du film. On a
vite compris…après avoir mis 3 heures à récupérer nos vélos ! »

Selon eux, les photos d’Yves Nalet sont un témoignage d’un temps révolu mais qu’ils ont été contents d’avoir connu.

Suggestions du Jour
China, 1979-1981, photos par Yves Nalet

China 1979-1981

When I saw Yves Nalet’s pictures of China between 1979 and 1981, I immediately thought about my uncle and my aunt who lived in China exactly during these years. They were French teachers in the Language Center of Tianjin University and they keep an unforgettable recollection of this time. I would like especially to reproduce here their comment of this photo :

“The photo of the bicycles’ parking made us remember our first time at the picture. We were wondering why people would hastily leave the theatre even before the end of the movie. We finally understand when it took us three hours to get back our bicycles!”

According to them, Yves Nalet’s pictures are a good testimony of a revolved time they are very glad to have known.

Today’s favourites
China, 1979-1981, pictures by Yves Nalet