Water Sign No. 2: Shapeshifting

The annual paper experiment, "Be Water Journal" Issue 2,
Larger reading size, brand new paper and visual presentation. This time we launch:
284-page Chinese version, 76-page English booklet, 1 reusable notepad, 2 commemorative posters
Issue 02 TRANSFOR MING Through interviews with 10 cultural creators around the world,
Explore the current digital technology and other new technologies,
The impact on creation, life, and society, and extending the imagination of the future world.
+64 pages of special columns,
Focusing on the rebirth of tradition, fashion technology, and the social nature of music...
An annual experiment with paper, Be Water Journal Issue 02
Larger format, exceptional visual presentation with new printing paper
Now available:
Chinese version of 284 pages and English version of 76 pages.
Notebooks made from recycled printing paper,
2 editions of commemorative poster.
Issue 02
TRANSFORMING
This issue covers 10 cultural creatives from around the globe, who discuss with us how have digital technology and other emerging new tech been changing their creations, lives and societies. Some of them share their thoughts accordingly on the presumable future.
64 pages plus, special features focus on regeneration of traditions, clothing technology and the sociality of music.
"There are no passengers on this spaceship Earth; we are all crew members."
—Marshall McLuhan
This second issue of this journal explores the impact of today's rapidly developing digital technologies on creation, life, and society as a whole. This topic is particularly relevant in China today. New technologies, especially digital technologies, are profoundly changing our lives, bit by bit, from the smallest to the most fundamental aspects.
What will the future hold for us, who embrace emerging technologies wholeheartedly and unwaveringly? While we harbor many doubts and anxieties about this question, fraught with possibility and even unsolvable, we haven't adopted a preconceived position. Instead, we continuously observe and learn, attempting to dispel the fog. Ultimately, we interviewed 10 "cultural creators" from around the world. Some actively employ emerging technologies to create imaginative works, responding to the present and attempting to reshape new values; others, with a rational and critical perspective, closely observe and reflect on the impact of technology.
Fear, worry, complaining, and control won't make the world a better place. If everyone wants to live in a more imaginative and reassuring future, then starting now, perhaps everyone can take the initiative to drive positive change, even small steps—whether it's writing a song or cooking a meal. Like the 10 interviewees in this issue, and the friends who build bridges between contemporary and traditional culture, turn your beliefs into action.
In this issue
Part I: Imaginative Life: When Mathematics and Philosophy Meet. Zhang Zhoujie | Designer & Digital Artist. Independent designer and digital artist. A graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, he is a visiting researcher at the Institute of Architects (IBA). Since founding the Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab in 2010, he has been a pioneering practitioner in the field of digital creation.
"Humans may lose their sense of value. Currently, it seems that in the future, 'artificial intelligence' will be able to do everything within the realm of intelligence. What else will remain? Human emotions, feelings, and various physiological needs are animal attributes that computers do not need. Humans can be freed from the mutual service of service jobs like the service industry. Without serving others, they can have more time for themselves. Humans can live more purely, returning to the state of animals."
Poetic Technology, Reshaping Future Values
Daan Roosegaarde | Artist & Social Activist A Dutch artist and innovator, he founded the social design laboratory Studio Roosegaarde. As a social design maker, he collaborates with a team of designers and engineers to create a series of "future landscapes."
"At some point I realized that the world had enough money and technology, but not enough imagination. The world also needed some social elements, like clean water, air, and energy, and to show people what the future would look like."
River of Time
Hibanana | Creative Visual Arts Group
Hibanana was founded in 2011 by visual artists Liu Chang and Miao Jing. Based in New York and Shanghai, their work lies at the intersection of art and technology.
"The changes that digital technology has brought to people are revolutionary: imagine if the world's first computer hadn't existed 70 years ago; if the internet hadn't been invented in the 1990s; or even if smartphones hadn't been invented around 2000—what would your life have been like? Much like the theory of evolution, it seems we have no choice but to follow technology because it's inevitable."
A "neo-Luddite" who believes in technological progress and innovation
Duo Ning | Architect graduated from the Department of Architecture at Tsinghua University and previously worked at architectural firms such as Standard Architecture and Feichang Architecture. He then pursued graduate studies at the AA Architectural Association in London. Upon returning to China, he co-founded Dutai Architecture with architect Gao Yan. In 2017, he founded the furniture brand Dian Zao.
"In a modern society, you should understand how these technologies came about. When you understand technology, perhaps you'll have a more equal relationship with it and machines, or at least develop a sense of crisis, allowing you to evolve new survival strategies and solutions."
Future Craft Players
KOBAKANT | Artist Collective Berlin-based female artists Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson formed the art collective KOBAKANT in 2008. Their work responds to today's "high-tech society" by using textile crafts and electronic components.

"What fascinates me about the hybrid process of smart textiles is the vast possibilities and unimaginable applications they hold. This soft technology, initially devoid of preconceived form and function, is ultimately used to wrap around the human body."
Part II: The Supernatural Allegory of Fashion Styles in the Context of Digital Technology
Xander Zhou | Fashion Designer Trained in industrial design, he founded his eponymous brand, XANDER ZHOU, in 2007 after years of study in the Netherlands. He was the first Chinese designer to be featured on the official London Fashion Week Men's schedule and was listed on the BoF 500 in both 2017 and 2018.
“The diversity we are talking about now is not limited to human society, but the diversity of humans, non-humans, the Earth, extraterrestrials, the universe, and all intelligence.”
After being labeled online, Su Wukou | Fashion Designer lives and works in Guangzhou. He founded the Purlicue clothing studio in 2015.
"Some fashion designers focus on clothing, observing life and constantly nurturing it. My approach to creating is to periodically return things to zero and re-evaluate them."
Part III: Digital Body and Image in a Dream: Millennials in Chongqing and Liverpool
Teresa Eng | Photographer is a Chinese-Canadian photographer currently living and working in London, UK. She graduated with a Master's degree in Photography from the London School of Communication in 2008. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and photography festivals in London, Sweden, Germany, Warsaw, and Greece.

"Today, millennials have a fear of missing out (FOMO), which makes them anxious, especially when they feel they are not as successful as their friends. Millennials are experiencing even more anxiety and pressure because of social media and the need to look and feel better."
Under the Technological Revolution, Maintaining the Boundaries of "Humanity" - Dai Jinhua | Scholar Renowned scholar, Professor and doctoral advisor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University, and Director of the Center for Film and Cultural Studies at Peking University. She specializes in cultural studies and cultural theory, Chinese film history, and gender studies, and consistently engages with and proactively addresses cutting-edge social and cultural issues.
"The meaning of resistance isn't about winning the battle, because the widespread adoption of a new technology is already the result of a profound social game. Resistance is about making us reflect and understand what this change has brought us, and more importantly, what we have paid for this change."
Live Like Water
Earth Travel Guide Tan Bin | Musician & Designer Experimental electronic musician, DJ, and graphic designer. Hosts the mixtapes "COSMICSURFERS" (Cosmic Surfers @ Shrimp Music) and "sunmoonrain" (Sun Moon Rain @ NetEase Cloud Music).
"No matter how you change, no matter how you torment yourself, you will ultimately return to your roots: our spiritual world, to how we rediscover ourselves and the balance of our seven basic human needs. Only when these foundations are well cared for can subsequent possibilities emerge; otherwise, it will be nothing but castles in the air."
Attached with the publication:
Be Water Special 02 Illustration Booklet "These paintings primarily depict people and landscapes, interiors, and urban plants. This is what I'm interested in. Some paintings depict certain situations, seemingly normal on the surface, yet with a certain inexplicable difference. This difference is something I've always loved... I actually really enjoy classical art. The paintings in these books look like something from the agricultural period."
Author: Zhang Da
In 2005, he founded his clothing brand "Boundless" and expanded his creative work into visual fields such as digital painting and sculpture.
Attached with the publication:
The "TRANSFORMING" sticker set explores issues such as understanding oneself, the relationship between people, all things, and the universe, opening up alternative thinking and expanding imagination of alternative possibilities.

2019-05-05

Be Water Journal

284

9789996535123