#week 94

Hello all! We are so excited to announce this week’s creator of the week, the brilliant @casthewise​.  We hope you enjoy her beautiful writing throughout the week.

Please feel free use our tag #spncreatorsdaily tag if you would like us to reblog your original creations on Saturday.

2009–05–02 by Gu Dexin. 2009. Installation.

First displayed in Beijing’s 798 Art District, Gu Dexin’s frieze of panels display 11 lines repeated over and over that translate into: 

“We have killed people. We have killed women. We have killed old people. We have killed children. We have eaten people. We have eaten hearts. We have eaten human brains. We have beaten people. We have beaten people blind. We have beaten open people’s faces.” (Translation courtesy Guggenheim Museum).

The text is inspired by Lu Xun’s 1918 short story, A Madman’s Diary. Considered a major work of the New Culture Movement, the story serves as an allegory for fear of authoritarianism and is interprected as a criticism traditional Chinese culture. At the advent of the twenty-first century, when Gu Dexin was working, there was a call for moral integreity not unlike that of Lu Xun’s time. Gu’s red lacquer words on wood also urge for new morally responsible culture. Finally, on the panel in the middle of the floor of the installation are the words echoed: “我们能上天堂” which means “We can ascend to heaven” (trans. by Jessica Ho). 

Gu Dexin is a self-taught contemporary artist and founder of the New Measurement Group from Beijing.

Harry

live performances of Two Ghosts and Girl Crush (Little Big Town cover) recorded for Spotify (Spotify link, HQ pictures)

Live On Tour concerts in Nashville, Chicago, New York City and Boston including new setlist additions (Girl Crush and Story Of My Life)

wearing Vans in Chicago aka big deal

rumours of H performing at this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Shanghai

Liam

Bedroom Floor officially out on October 20

new French interviews released (favourite break-up song Once In A Lifetime “from my band”; the album title’s sorted!)

Louis

for SID Magazine

behind the scenes of the photoshoot for Noisey Music

iHeart Radio Music Festival performance

Helene Horlyck’s Instagram

Niall

covers of ShortList Magazine and 1883 Magazine (pre-order a copy of 1883)

Flicker available to pre-save on Spotify

iHeart Radio Music Festival performance

“When you write a song about a person, do you think about them when you’re singing it?”

Justin Bieber and Helene Horlyck’s Instagram

Flicker Sessions concert in Mexico City cancelled

papped in LA

Flicker vinyl at Urban Outfitters

Instagram posts (1, 2, 3, 4)

We would like to thank @casthewise for letting us share all of her wonderful and moving fics this week! If you enjoyed reading them as much as we did, please consider following @casthewise or keeping up with her fanfic tag so you don’t miss out!

If you want to see your creations reblogged here, don’t forget to tag #spncreatorsdaily so that we can reblog your works this weekend!

To Live (活着) by Yu Hua (余华). 1993. Republished by Anchor Books in 2003.

Initially banned in China but later named one of the nation’s most influential books, Yu Hua’s To Live is considered a classic staple of post-Cultural Revolution scar literature. It was adapted by Fifth Generation director Zhang Yimou into a film of the same name which received the Grand Prix at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Spanning decades, To Live follows the Xu family through cycles of reform and nation-wide struggle during one of China’s most fraught periods of history.

After squandering his family’s estate in brothels and gambling dens, Xu Fugui is forced to turn towards farming. He is conscripted into the Nationalist army, where he witnesses the human privations of the Chinese Civil War. Years later, he and his family are thrown into turmoil again by series of Communist reforms, portrayed in stark succession as the country turns towards, against, and towards tradition in unpredictable sociopolitical shifts. As his entire family succumbs to illness and accident, Fugui is left with an ox as his only companion at the novel’s close, but he is filled with hope for a new generation and stands as a symbol of the people’s tenacity during times of tragedy and doubt.

Leave Blank (留白) by Ivana Wong (王菀之). 2012.

Leave Blank is a chart-topping track off Ivana Wong’s experimental album, Atmosphere: 霧. This album marked her transition from her debut girl-next-door voice and tender image into a cold, rock-and-roll persona. 

Leave Blank’s bold lyrical message, hypnotically smooth beat and Wong’s soft, dreamy voice garnered heavy praise for its creativity and received a number of music awards. The lyrics compare people’s lives to a painting, shining a light on Hong Kong’s negative attitude on stress, worry, anxiety, and simply being too busy. Just as blank spaces are necessary in a painting to express the beauty of colours, people need to jump out of their dense schedules and create room to express themselves.

Ivana Wong, born in 1979, is an award-winning Hong Kong Cantopop singer, composer, songwriter and actress. She is best known for her role in the film, Golden Chicken 3, where she won Best Supporting Actress and Best New Performer in the 34th Hong Kong Film Awards. Her performance with Jacky Cheung (張學友) of I am really hurt (我真的受傷了) garnered positive attention. She is an artist that does not compromise creativity for popularity. Her poetic, quirky and picturesque charm propels her remarkable Cantopop career, and her ambitious and non-linear creativity is a breath of fresh air in the industry.