Image by Ekaterina Kachavina

 

EB Podcast #73 Post-Lockdown Clubbing Worldwide

In some countries around the world, the pandemic caused only a mere blip in the clubbing social calendar. Currently, Europe remains in the throes of an extended lockdown, some venues silent for over a year, that only mass vaccination will be able to rectify. But in China and Taiwan, the unmasked abandon of a packed dancefloor has been accessible every weekend. Meanwhile, in Accra, Ghana, people congregate at open-air venues. Why is this? An overlap of government policies, virus policy precedents, and cultural conduct play a major role. Artists Rui Ho, Tzusing, and Gafacci offer their perspectives on the state of clubbing in non-western countries.

 
Image by Ekaterina Kachavina

Image by Ekaterina Kachavina

 

EB podcast #71 Digital Art and Decentralized Collaboration

In the most recent episode of the Telekom Electronic Beats Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Whitney Wei speaks to Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti, an award-winning Los Angeles-based experiential art duo, and American sound artist Tony Cruise. They discuss the nature of decentralized digital collaboration that intersects fashion, art, music, and innovative technologies. Jumping off from their most recent collaboration titled “Automatiste,” a web browser and phone-centric presentation of Chinese luxury brand Mithridate’s Fall/Winter 2021 collection inspired by the subconscious dream state, the three take us through the intricacies of what makes a truly immersive user experience, meanwhile framing creative teamwork as a form of play. Critiques on the sudden “gold rush” within digital art and NFTs (or non-fungible tokens) are also within.

 
Image by Ekaterina Kachavina

Image by Ekaterina Kachavina

 

We Need to Address Anti-Asian Racism In the Music Industry

The phrase “Go back to China” haunts me. As a Taiwanese-American, I am reminded by this customary sting that try as I can to speak perfectly unaccented English and keep my head down, my social inclusion will always be tenuous. At one point in childhood, I realized the irony of being called a foreigner in my own home would follow me for the rest of my life. As I grew older, the remarks like “China doll” also matured, poised on the warped intersection of xenophobia and misogynistic perversion—a unique kind of humiliation that offers desire as the consolation prize for stealing away an already brittle sense of belonging. After the shootings in Atlanta, I know that these hypersexualized stereotypes of Asian women prove to be deadly.