Chinese Artists (Aspen 2012)

Fan Lixin  范立欣

avatar for Fan LixinFan Lixen is a film director and journalist. His debut feature documentary Last Train Home deals with the world’s largest human migration by millions of factory workers every year during the Chinese New Year. Last Train Home won the 2009 Joris Ivens Award, was selected in the world documentary competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and won top prizes at RIDM (Montreal) and the Whistler International Film Festival. In 2006, Lixin worked as associate producer and soundman on the acclaimed feature documentary Up the Yangtze, a film about the world’s largest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam. He began his career as a journalist in his native China, where he traveled the country for CCTV and experienced firsthand the inequality caused by China’s rapid economic expansion. This inspired him to become a documentary filmmaker with a focus on social issues.

Hu Shuli  胡舒立

avatar for Hu  ShuliHu Shuli is editor-in-chief of Caixin Media, editor-in-chief for the weekly magazine Caixin Century, and dean of the School of Communication and Design at Sun Yat-sen University. Internationally recognized for her achievements in journalism, Hu was listed on the Top 100 Influential People in 2011 by TIME magazine. Under her leadership, the editorial team of Caixin Media won the 2011 Shorenstein Journalism Award by Stanford University. She was named by Foreign Policy as one of Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2009 and 2010. She received the 2007 Louis Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University. In 2006, Hu was called the most powerful commentator in China by the Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal cited her as one of the Ten Women to Watch in Asia.

Lu Chuan 陆川

avatar for Lu ChuanLu Chuan is considered one of the most talented young directors in China. Lu’s most recent film, City of Life and Death, won him great international renown. Cinema Without Borders of his directing: “Lu Chuan’s a master at choreographing action sequences. Like Kurosawa or Scorcese, he manages to personalize characters in the midst of the most chaotic violence. … Lu Chuan’s existential portrait of complicity and heroism forged in the realm of unspeakable fear, draws the audience into the madness of war.” Lu’s 2004 feature, Ke Ke Xi Li (Mountain Patrol), won numerous awards, including best film and special jury prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival and best picture and best cinematography at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, China. His 2001 directional debut, Xun Qiang (The Missing Gun), was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 and subsequently at the Venice and Sundance film festivals. 

Ou Ning 欧宁

avatar for Ou NingOu Ning is chief editor of Chutzpah Magazine, a literary bimonthly created in China. His cultural practices encompass multiple disciplines. As a curator, he initiated the biennale exhibition “Get It Louder,” curated the 2009 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture and 2011 Chengdu Biennale. As an artist, he is known for the urban research projects such as San Yuan Li, commissioned by 50th Venice Biennale, and Meishi Street, commissioned by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes. As an activist, Ou founded Bishan Commune, an intellectual group who devote themselves to rural reconstruction movement in China. As a publisher, he found the literary bimonthly Chutzpah! in 2011, and edited the document publication The China Thinking: Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist Interviewed China’s Leading Figures. He was the jury member of the 8th Benesse Prize at the 53rd Venice Biennale and the member of Asian Art Council 2011 at Guggenheim Museum. Ou is also a frequent contributor of various magazines, books and exhibition catalogues and has lectured around the world. 

Wu Tong 吴彤

avatar for Wu TongWu Tong is a musician and composer and has become his generation’s most visible proponent of traditional Chinese music. Wu has achieved an unparalleled following for Chinese music on three continents as a founding vocalist of the pioneering rock band Lunhui (Again), which merges Western and Asian traditions; a performer with the Silk Road Ensemble; and a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons, he has appeared with the Silk Road Ensemble at such prestigious venues as the Aichi World Expo, the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Millennium Park. In 2010, the album Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy & Peace, which Wu helped produce, won the Best Classical Crossover Album in the 52nd Grammy Awards. He also released his personal crossover album, The Sound from My Heart.

 

This post is also available in: Chinese (Simplified)