12 episodios
Of the Earth 本土 Cortney Chaffin & Ellen Larson
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Of the Earth is a podcast created by Cortney Chaffin and Ellen Larson, two art historians who have dedicated themselves to the study of over 5,000 years of material culture from China. The program’s title comes from the Chinese word 本土 (bentu), meaning “native soil.” In each episode, Of the Earth digs into a wide range of topics, introducing listeners to the many connections, complexities, and contradictions of Chinese art and culture, across time and space.
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China's Southern Paradise: An interview with Dr. Yiwen Liu of the Cleveland Museum of Art
In this episode, Cortney & Ellen interview Dr. Yiwen Liu a research assistant at the Cleveland Museum of Art about the special exhibition China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta (open till January 7, 2024). If you are in the Cleveland area, be sure to check out this extraordinary exhibition! The exhibition catalogue is currently available online and in the museum store. Thanks for listening to our podcast!
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Hidden Letters: A Conversation with Violet Du Feng (Part 2)
Part 2 of our conversation with award-winning director and producer Violet Du Feng. We talk about her recent documentary film Hidden Letters, which follows the stories of two millennial Chinese women connected by their love of Nushu, a secret language of sisterhood that dates back hundreds of years. For more on Feng's film see: www.hiddenlettersfilm.com. Hidden Letters is available for viewing on Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play and Amazon Prime Video. Follow Hidden Lett...
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Hidden Letters: A Conversation with Violet Du Feng (Part 1)
In part 1 of this two-part conversation, we sit down with award-winning director and producer Violet Du Feng to talk about her most recent film Hidden Letters, a documentary that follows the stories of two millennial Chinese women connected by their love of Nushu, a secret language of sisterhood that dates back hundreds of years. For more on Feng's film, which is currently shortlisted for an Oscar, see: www.hiddenlettersfilm.com. Hidden Letters is available for viewing on Ap...
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Zhang Hongtu: "Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?"
What does Bodhidharma (founder of Zen Buddhism) have to do with Van Gogh? In this episode Cortney & Ellen sat down to talk about NYC-based artist Zhang Hongtu, political pop, and a series of ink paintings where Zhang Hongtu merges Bodhidharma and Van Gogh to challenge "East" and "West" dualities. The question "Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?" is a koan, or a thought riddle, used in Chan/Zen Buddhist practice to help practitioners break through rational patterns of thinking a...
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Xu Bing: The Art of Non-Being
In this episode of Of the Earth we chat about one our all time favorites, contemporary artist Xu Bing 徐冰. We share our experiences co-curating his 2012 exhibition at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, along with the artist's many Wisconsin connections. Considering works like Book from the Sky (1987-1991) and Background Story: A New Approach to Traditional Landscape Painting (2004-ongoing), we explore the relationship of Xu's works to the Chinese concept of Wu (non-being, emptiness). F...
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An Otherworldy Murder Mystery: The Ghost Bride with Special Guest Yangsze Choo
Just in time for Halloween, Cortney & Ellen sit down with New York Times Bestselling author Yangsze Choo to talk about her debut novel The Ghost Bride. We dig deep into the origins of this ghostly murder mystery that takes us on a journey from late 19th century Malaya into the Plains of the Dead and beyond. How would you feel if you received a proposition to marry a ghost? Why are offerings to the dead so important in Chinese culture and Chinese diaspora cultures? How do modern deat...