My blog

Label... Category... Standard Entry Video Information Press Release Event News

• don't be deceived by the cool weather!

  Saturday, Nov 14, 2009 8:06AM / Standard Entry

  i still haven't managed to blog from my bkberry yet. waiting for the right, long cab ride. so, this is yet another backward-looking post...
  ...
  yesterday, one of hk's top movie stars wrote me that he wants to do "anything he can" to help CAN! that kind of made my day. other news: we will be holding an online sticker competition for kids sponsored by the SCMP Young Post in December; CUHK students will help us to do a sign-up on campus for three days next week; our first GUY started working at the office yesterday. HALLELEUIA!
  ...
  i attended a dinner with a bunch of hedge fund and finance guys (all possible donors) last night and met claire nouvian, too. she is one of the world's leading advocates of shark rescue. wow, marine conservation is so utterly arcane and thankless, as an ngo field. i got a palpable sense of that when i casually listened in from time to time on her conversation. thank GOD air pollution is so easy to explain and relate to.
  ...
  the weather's turned cold. it "feels clean" because we're not sweating buckets 24-7, but, in fact, we're now settling into the 6-month pollution trough brought in by seasonal winds from guangdong : ( really, you can't win in hong kong: the cleanest month, august, is the least tolerable from the standpoint of temperature. the most dangerous month, typically january or february, gives you a false sense of security. it's common for kids to develop an allergic cough during these winter months. my own son, sam, 10 years old, usually does. it's one of the main reasons i got involved with this issue.

  
  
  

  1 comment–  Add a comment

• it's nice to be back! but in my 3d incarnation : )

  Saturday, Sep 5, 2009 9:37AM / Standard Entry

  it's been terrible that i've been awol for so long! but since my last post, i've launched a consumer brand called BioFriend, which you can now find in Watsons. believe it or not, i was marketing a medical face mask that kills swine flu when swine flu broke out in april, explaining why i've been underwater for so long. the biotech company which created this mask has now gone from being a long gestating startup to a company well on track to doing an ipo on a major stock exchange. it has been nothing short of insane and amazing to be part of such a seminal phase of a company's growth, plus the ongoing swine flu crisis. never before had i actually received more than 1 email a minute for 24 hours straight! (that was in april, when my blackberry began giving off actual steam). during my time at the biotech company, the CEO encouraged me to take up a major pro bono role at a new NGO founded by civic exchange, the hk-based think tank founded by well-known activist and opinion leader, christine loh (陸恭蕙), to combat air pollution. fast forward to today: i am the CEO of Clean Air Network and will take up full-time responsibility as of 1 october. i NEVER EVER thought i would work for an NGO!!! but, having begun work half-time this week, i can easily say, and i mean EASILY, that i've never ever been happier! watch this space for much more in the coming months -- as i reactivate myself on AnD : )

  although i will be blogging a lot more about Clean Air Network (CAN), please join our Facebook Fan page and the alivenotdead fan page we will be building within the next two weeks:

  http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=clean+air+network&init=quick#/cleanairnetwork?ref=search&sid=656795967.2648673500..1

  
  

  4 comments–  Add a comment

• ZOUNDS!

  Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009 11:09PM / Standard Entry

  it's been unforgivably long since i wrote an update, but i wanted to announce to y'all that i've embarked on a brand new adventure: i'm now the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of a biotech company (HK's ONLY biotech company, i might add), Filligent. i joined it after learning that it had invented a CIGARETTE FILTER WHICH ELIMINATES CARCINOGENS FROM CIGARETTE SMOKE without affecting any aspect of the smoking experience (taste, draw, pressure, nicotine!, humidity, etc.) crazily, but, as usual in the pinball machine of my life, i met the CEO and founder, in october, when, after 6 years of research, they were ready to launch this technology! anyway, there's only one term to describe this dramatic life change: ZOUNDS! i'm loving every minute because i'm learning huge amounts. on top of that, i changed career, because i wanted to make more of an impact on everyday people.

  btw, i WILL BE SPEARHEADING THE LAUNCH OF AN ANTI-POLLUTION WEBSITE FOR HK SOON. we are meeting with the Civic Exchange Air Quality Concerned Citizens Group, founded by Christine Loh (http://www.civic-exchange.org/eng/), after CNY, and already have the blessing and enthusiasm of professor anthony hedley, head of the public health department at HKU. Dr. Hedley recently launched HK's most sophisticated real-time pollution index and advises the WHO on pollution standards. http://hedleyindex.sph.hku.hk/pollution/graph.php

  it's great to be much more than an armchair activist these days!

  on other fronts, i'm still working hard on Ooi Botos Gallery. and in fact, we just mounted a new show called Chinese Carnival, featuring hallucinatory, digitally recomposed pictures from a beijing-based artistic duo. anyway, please check it out soon, virtually, or in the flesh. respectively, www.ooibotos.com  or 5 Gresson Street (at 88 Queen's Road Eastel lik). Since the art market is tanking quite seriously right now, my partner and i recently made the decision to take the gallery in a much more extreme direction by representing artists whose work is much more controversial and difficult. why NOT? since we're not going to sell loads of art this year, we may as well take risks that would be impossible during healthier times. this isn't a strategy that would work in most industries, but it makes a lot of sense in the art world. anyway, watch this space for periodic updates on the crazies i bring into town! insofar as art is concerned, i'm welcoming the economic downturn, because it will winnow away the chaff from the wheat, FINALLY!

  as for new year's resolutions: i've decided to work less, pursue many things outside work, such as READING and WRITING. but, most important, i hope to spend more time with Sam, my son. so far, it's working.  look, i finally got to update my blog, didn't i? (i'll update my profile later. i hope patrick will allow me to add a new vocation to the list at AnD -- something like "cultural instigator", since i can no longer claim the title of "designer". for that matter,i hope he won't kick me off the site. this is one case where nepotism could be useful, for once. ha!)

   

  
  

  4 comments–  Add a comment

• my brain is fagged (already)/another chapter of catch-up

  Thursday, Aug 21, 2008 9:05PM / Standard Entry

  why is it that there is no such thing as a slow ramp-up back to daily life in hk, where you don't feel like you're hitting a brick wall as soon as you step out of the airport? i've only been back for less than a week and i need a vacation again -- already!
  ....
  as usual, i'm a bit sleep-deprived. therefore, i am just going to start with what i can remember.
  ....
  in july, i went on vacation to england.
  
  as soon as i arrived in england, i was whisked away by my boyfriend, whose house i stay at in suffolk during the summers, to glyndebourne for a world-class, bar-none performance of the comparatively obscure german opera, hansel and gretel. it was absurdly plutocratic, elegant and exclusive, with picnicking on the green in black tie before, during and after the opera. what with a generous intermission of 1.5 hours, one can actually decant good wine and let it breathe at the beginning of the performance before returning at intermission to enjoy it properly. wow! while it IS awfully snobby and expensive and impossible to get into. (it took our friends 16 years to get off the waiting list to become members!), it was an otherworldly, Old World experience, which i will never forget. on top of that, it was amazing to be around cultivated people, who enjoyed the surprising, avant-garde production which included a transsexual wicked witch character (a baritone sporting prosthetic breasts and a comical toupe) who gobbled up children in the deliciously apt, ironic mise en scene of a modern-day supermarket! it was civilized but mind-bending at the same time.
  
  after a few days of recovery, where i developed a very bad head cold, caused by, yes, relaxation and decompression, my girlfriend visited us in the country, accompanied by her new boyfriend, a crass, insecure yob who coudn't stop dropping hints about how much money he had. worst of all, though, he was only mildly amusing. while it was disturbing to see my girlfriend treated as a trophy, it was worse to see her entranced by the attentions of such a vulgar man. i am wondering whether she will see this blog entry one day..... no matter: i'm always ready lie in the bed that i've made. it's sad to see a beautiful woman who is so deeply insecure that she only chooses lovers who grovel at her feet in rapt adoration. ugh.... there are different explanations for a major imbalance in power between lovers - some better than others. domination for its own sake is something i can stomach, but not this.....
  
  [a lot of text excised here, because i felt bored while writing it and lost patience. but it includes an episode in st. remy-de-provence, which includes a side jaunt to the crucially important photo fair at arles and many unexpected encounters of "six degrees of separation", all within the  confines of my friend's home! not a shocker, because my friend inhabits a similar world (although her workaholism and focus make me feel like i have a serious learning disability!). she founded bliss spa, soap & glory and, most recently, the FitFlop. everyone, please go and buy a pair immediately at RUSH, the fitness gear boutique in hk!]
  http://www.thefitflop.com/
  
  around this time, my home was featured in the ny times, for anyone who wants to take a peek
  http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/22/greathomesanddestinations/
  20080722_IHT_SLIDESHOW_index.html
  here's my favorite pic! i also have an ovoid column, which rotates 320 degrees and houses a desk, tv, keyboard, among other stuff, which takes pride of place in my living room. if you like that sort of thing, check it out.
  
  
  last week, i headlined a conference called Global Brand Forum with spike lee, the founder of wikipedia and the creative director of electronic arts. THAT was quite heady stuff. i was the ONLY woman, which was a gigantic honor. plus, i got to bond with those guys. i literally got 8 hours of sleep in the two days we were hanging out, but it was probably because it was life-changing and we couldn't stop talking! anyway, it was really inspiring. i decided to give a speech based on my personal reflections about the consumer world, rather than concrete branding advice or anecdotes of career experience. it was probably the first time that the true, totally Unvarnished Me got a chance to come out. god, that was fun! Joanne, the Professor! ha! here is a pic of me, spike and the founder of wikipedia, jimmy wales. (i love how spike is holding a glass of champagne and checking his phone. we were sitting on a mattress at the opening of Supperclub in SIngapore.)
  
  i'm now working on the huge month ahead:
  an exhibition for fellow AnD member, Wing Shya, whom my gallery represents, for Chivas Regal at their gigantic event, Chivas Studio, taking place 4-6 September in Hong Kong. Terence Yin, a founding member of AnD, also appears A LOT in the artwork being shown, SO PLEASE SUPPORT THIS EVENT! ;
  the ShContemporary art fair, 9-13 september. this will be our gallery's first art fair, so that's definitely a massive stress out. we are only one of 5 hk galleries showing at this fair, which was founded by the founding director of art basel, so it's a major feather in our cap
  then, mid-month, i will go to  istanbul for a speaking engagement, passing through london on the way back to hk so i can attend 100% Design, the UK's most important design show.
  
  omigod, i just realized that i forgot to blog about june's 100% Design Shanghai! i will no doubt have to pay penance for that.... ack! more on that tmo....
  
  [about to fall over now from the exhaustion of tonight's cyber-masturbation....]
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  7 comments–  Add a comment

• catching up is impossible but here goes!

  Saturday, Jun 21, 2008 11:21AM / Standard Entry

  i literally haven't written since i decided to open an art gallery in JANUARY!
  jesus!
  ...
  well, i OPENED IT!
  check it out at www.ooibotos.com
  and photos of the gallery are at
  http://www.jonathandsolomon.com/index.html?id=109,115
  (jonathan solomon is a professor of architecture at HKU. i let him do whatever he wanted pretty much, but i told him, please do something crazy and dramatic and radical. the origami-like red fiberglass facade was the result.)
  it's located at 5 gresson street - in the middle of nowhere, yet in the middle of absolutely everything. basically, the gallery is on the wet market lane located between 88-90 and 92-94 queen's road east.
  we have really weird hours, so if you care to drop by, please check the website first.
  my gallery is my major "fuck you, no compromises" statement to the world, the only thing i do in my life (besides blogging here every six months) which isn't meant to please anyone but ME -- a desperately needed antidote to my very commercial life of making stuff people love and buy.
  ...
  too much water under the bridge to attempt a recap. highlights were:
  shooting the shanghai tang ad campaign (april)
  visiting zhou yi, artist, during the installation of her monumental towers on place vendome, paris (april)
  checking out the milan furniture fair (april);
  opening the art gallery (may);
  shanghai tang party at legation quarter, beijing (june) -- i just came back from that.
  those are all the highlights my addled mind can remember at this moment, but, it's just the tip of the iceberg.
  .....
  i just came back from beijing, where i was fortunate enough to see the graduation projects of the central academy of fine arts, from all divisions - fashion to painting to photography to industrial design.
  CONCLUSION (with the concurrence of 3 deans of the school, with whom i was walking around the shows!): oil painting is dead. "so stale", "there's a problem with the teaching". HELL YEAH.
  there were plenty of graduates from the fine arts department who clearly possessed virtuoso technique. but not the vision or content to match.
   anyway, i can't look at a painting these days without feeling straitjacketed.  not only does NEW, CONTEMPORARY painting seem hemmed in by technique and materials, but its manifold expressions have been fully explored (and exhausted) during the last 300 years. PLEASE ARGUE WITH ME, because i'm saying something outrageously sacrilegious.
  (and please do NOT write a comment to this blog which is CUTE, approving, pat and servile. I HATE that!)
  not surprisingly, my art gallery is devoted to THE AVANT-GARDE in all categories, especially photography, because the latter is THE MOST DYNAMIC CATEGORY OF FINE ART these days, for many reasons, which deserve a separate, compelling expatiation.
  but, dammit, not now.
  gotta run.....
  but, PHEW, i wrote an update!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  4 comments–  Add a comment

24

2/5

<

1

2

3

4

5

>