Nightlife & Activities
Chinese Shadow Puppet Masterpieces
Date: Aug 5 — 10:30 am
Venue: Bandai Namco Shanghai Base
In 2011, China shadow puppet was officially listed in representatives of human intangible cultural heritage. Masterpieces is a compulsory course for all Chinese children. In 5,000 years of Chinese history, masterpiece classics and fantasy myths, all of them contain profound art education. Worried boring text? Worried about the depth of the plot? There is no need to worry about. The omnipotent stage allows the classic deeply imprinted on the children’s hearts. Here, monsters, carriages, horses and sedans can be made. Cutting mountains, pouring the sea into the earth, flying and penetrating into the ground can be shown. Coupled with all kinds of shadow special effects and sound and light effects, it is more than “incisively and vividly”.
Hans Christian Anderson: Life’s A Fairytale
Date: July 26-29 — 7:30 pm
Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts
Led by famous Danish director Steen Koerner, dance superstars combine contemporary acrobatics and various dances to give a brandnew interpretation of fairy tales written by Hans Christian Andersen. The performance is offered to audiences of all ages. From the elderly, children to parents, all family members can enjoy a joyful feast together. It’s characterized by bold visual effects, super soundtracks, extraordinary sound effects and top-grade stage effects. They can enjoy the wonderful singing melodies by singers along with various stunt performances, which end with Andersen fairy tale, The Ugly Duckling. Six Andersen tales, i.e., The Nightingale, The Unwise Hans, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Princess and the Pea, Little Match Girl and The Ugly Duckling, are familiar to one and all. On the basis of various elements such as the theatre, dance, latest acrobatics, video, animation, music and singing, supplemented by narration and singers’ earnest melody, a dozen dancers and acrobats showcase their talents. The meticulously-designed physical form creates a stunning three-dimensional lighting sculpture and presents a fantasy world that is true to nature. Multiple projectors cover the stage, while front and rear areas are projected for full animation from beginning to end. The stage scenery is tailored so that dance jumping from one scene to another achieves the best stage effect. Flying lifting rope is another stage prop.
Hello, My Name is Paul Smith
Date: June 30-Oct 7 — 10 am
Venue: Today Art Museum, Beijing British fashion designer Paul Smith brings his simply titled “Hello, My Name is Paul Smith” exhibition to Beijing this June. Brought to you by Beijing Chuanbao Technology, the exhibition will be held in the Today Art Museum from June 8 to Oct 7. The exhibition is a touring exhibition showcasing the fashion designer’s journey in building his company, as well as his stylistic tastes and eye for design. It combines the artistic and the business aspects of running a fashion brand and gives the audience a glimpse into the designer’s world, helping people understand the interactions between operating within an industry as a business and within the fashion world as a designer and artist. From his company’s modest beginnings in Nottingham to its international prominence today, this exhibition reveals how Paul Smith’s intuitive take on design, together with an understanding of the roles of designer and retailer, have laid the foundations for lasting success and offers a unique insight into the magnificent mind of Paul Smith.
The Shadows Thief AuMents Malasombra Visual Theater Dance
Date: Aug 22-26 — 7:30 pm
Venue: Beijing Tianqiao Performance Art Center
An emotionally dark, richly visual fairytale for adults and heavy-metal kids. How would you feel if your shadow took over your soul and began exploring its own desires and urges? What would you do? How could you get it back? Are selfconfidence and friendship with others enough to defeat the evil of the shadowy Mister Malasombra? Internationally acclaimed Spanish company auMents combines visual theater, dance, video art, object theater, experimental shadow theater and rock music to create a beautiful, exciting, fantastical journey through a collective fantasy, plunging us through the human soul’s darkness and light. Malasombra is a production that was developed for the stage in collaboration with auMents dance theater (Spain); cartoonist Max (Spain) winner of the National Comic Book Award 2007. Max was responsible for the dramaturgy and the project’s artistic implementation inspired by the world of shadows.
Art Book in China at M Woods in Beijing
Date: June 30-July 6 — 12 pm
Venue: M Woods
Check out books, magazines, zines and art from a variety of imprints and artists with special spotlights on Indiemags from Germany, Japanese photo editions from Einstein Studio and the Desktop Art Fair.
UCCA Art Film Screenings This Is Now: Film and Video After Punk in Beijing
Date: June 30-July 1 — 1:30 pm
Venue: Ullens Center for Contemporary Art
UCCA brings This is Now: Film and Video After Punk, a major new touring project that looks at artists’ film and video from the post-punk era (1979—85). These programs focus on work from the early 1980s that explore the blurred lines between media images and identity, creating new dialogues between the self and the world. It was an uncertain, politically contentious time, a time in which — very much like today with the internet — technology appeared to ease life, yet also created gaps between people. Artists considered what images and technology could mean and be in their fullest sense. Works will be screened in English with subtitles.
Play: Equus
Date: June 30-July 16 — 7:30 pm
Venue: The Capital Theatre- Renyi Experiment Theatre
Dr. Martin Dysart, a dissatisfied and disaffected psychiatrist, is faced with a unique case when a young man, Alan Strang, is brought to him for treatment. Alan, a passionate and obsessive horse lover, has blinded six horses, to the horror and surprise of his family. In his efforts to coax Alan out of his shell and treat him, Dr. Dysart begins to unravel the complex psychological puzzle of Alan’s obsessions. Underneath Alan’s complacent manner, Dr. Dysart discovers a fervent, passionate, almost religious power that has both the power to destroy Alan, and perhaps, to save the doctor himself. English playwright Sir Peter Shaffer’s international hit is a dazzling, complex, and thrilling look at passion, sex, religion, and sanity.