Xiao Xi sat down on one of the little chairs and began sharing her thoughts with us about her passion and outlook for the Lomo subculture in China.

So what is Lomography?

According to the official Lomography website,

In the early 1990s two students in Vienna, Austria, discovered a small enigmatic Russian camera, the Lomo Kompakt Automat, and started a new style of artistic experimental photography of unorthodox snapshots… What started out spontaneously as an artistic approach to photography in the Vienna underground scene developed into Lomography, becoming an international socio-cultural movement using photography as a creative approach to communicating, absorb and capturing the world.

We asked Xiao Xi how she became such an enthusiast for this movement…
My first encounter was during a trip to Hong Kong, I purchased my first Lomo camera and fell in love. Lomography is simple, unique, and personal. There is no need to worry about technical details, and there is a lot of freedom in self-expression. My favorite camera is LC-A+, a true classic.

Best Selling Products?
Diana F+, LC-A+ are the best selling cameras. The Spinner 360° just came out and I believe that it will become extremely popular.

When asked about Polaroid vs Fujifilm Instax debate…
I think people would prefer Fuji over Polaroid because it is cheaper, the quality is great, and you don’t have to worry about it being discontinued again. Catering mostly to Asian youth, there is a Hello Kitty version of the camera, and cartoon characters film frames.

Regarding “Polaroid” and analog photography in general, Store Supervisor Aloho added that,

Although many think that analog photography is approaching its final days, we believe otherwise, there is a sense of beauty that digital photography would never be able to achieve, that true artists would always appreciate. It’s romantic.

About the Lomo community in China…
So far, we have stores in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. There is an official Lomography website for China. In Shanghai, we organize monthly member activities such as speaker panels and group picture-taking, in hopes Shanghai Lomographers can mingle and share the joy of photography. Besides the official website, we also promote ourselves through Douban, Weibo, and regular store exhibitions.

About the demographics of their customers…
Lomographers are people of all ages, all genres, and come to our store from all over the world! But I would say that the majority are 17-34 year-olds, creative, artist types.

About the future of Lomography in China…
We believe that it will continue to grow exponentially, we are just one step behind the Cantonese Lomo community in market maturity since they started before us, but with time, more Chinese people will embrace and join the Lomography family! LOMO ON!

And don’t forget the 10 Golden rules of Lomography!

The Shanghai Lomography Store is located on 126 Jinxian Lu. The six-story building is divided into camera products, reading lounge, lomaccessories, gallery space, cafe, and office. The friendly staff and quiet Lomo-walled spaces prove to be a nice spot to visit on lazy Sundays.

Big thanks to Aloho and Xiao Xi for their time and patience.

Chinese artists are increasingly developing businesses and jobs around their creative talents. This represents a departure from an earlier time when art was something to pursue in the hours when one was not earning a living, simply for the love of doing it. Instead of starving for their art, many young creative people have opted to bring their insight to big brands. But are you still an artist if you make your art to please the man instead of yourself? Doesn’t that change the way we make art? Or is working with a big corporation a pragmatic way of using the system to follow your creative dreams?

A designer on the NeochaEDGE creative collective nicknamed Elephant works for the advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy. Abby Lavin sat down with him for an interview with CNNGO. Artistic expression isn’t lost when Elephant works with brands. He combines the two seemingly competing goals to tell his own story in a way that infuses many elements from traditional Chinese culture and art.

“As Elephant will tell you, he’s not just an artist. He’s a Chinese artist. He undertakes each of his projects with one goal in mind: to ignite “the new beginning of Chinese old culture.
This is evident in all of his illustrations, many of which look like elaborate series of interlocking doodles, where traditional Chinese elements — Tang-dynasty style patterns and Buddhist Mandala circles — mingle with turntables, sneakers and other street-culture accoutrements.”

Elephant decided to work for the agency because it gives him the access to make a bigger impact with his art—he’s in position to design visual personalities for the likes of Nike and Coca Cola. In his mind, this is an opportunity for his art to reach many more people.

Takashi Murakami, best known as Japan’s Andy Warhol, has blurred the boundary between fine and commercial art. He studied traditional Japanese painting but more recently designed a candy-colored line of bags for Louis Vuitton. Is he just providing art at every price range whether it be a sculpture or a keychain? Is it still art if it’s wrapped up and packaged? Can you still be an artist if you play by the rules instead of trying to change them (like Warhol did)?

Popil (aka 糖果猫猫, Tangguo Mao Mao which translates to “Candy Cat” in English), also on Neocha, is a whimsical illustrator and graffiti artist that has been approached by agencies like W+K and Ogilvy. She is happy to support herself by drawing but still enjoys her personal work more and hopes to eventually have enough money to draw for herself according to another article by CNNGO.

These artists and many others seem to have found a compromise between art and economic reality. An art student myself, weighing the risks and fulfillment of a life in fine arts compared to say graphic design, I relate to this debate. I wonder if Elephant ever wishes he could do his own thing full time. What would Popil create if she could spray paint all day? At the end of a day in front of a computer toiling on Adobe Illustrator, does she still have the energy and inspiration to create art for herself’? I understand the logic—not many fine artists really make it. It’s risky. I have to wonder though if these brand designers are really making art that we can connect to on a human level. Old Chinese calligraphers and even Yue Minjun have said that they never thought they would be famous or had an interest in making art for money. They made it for themselves, to explore questions about the human condition that they were grappling with. That’s what makes your stomach jump when you admire Zhang Xiaogang’s portraits from the Cultural Revolution. The haunting vacant eyes of his characters bring you in. You relate to their story. You could know these people.

I was in the perfect position to observe our target market firsthand. Feeling refreshed to not to be in a crowd of expats, I was mind blown by how much the local scene has developed, mesmerized by the crowd’s energy, dance moves, chic attire, and especially their confidence. In the beginning, I was just interested because the Nengmao store-owner our street team interviewed last week was half-hosting the show and I really wanted to check out his 80′s China retro chic shirts designs.

As I arrived at about half past ten, a Taiwanese band named Go Chic was playing. On vocal was a sassy lady with short blonde hair jumping across the stage trying to hype up the crowd, but I was not too impressed.

Mao was the most packed I’ve ever seen it. Looking around, I wondered where all these trendy types are hiding during day time. It was the most hip/indie Chinese kiddies I have seen gather in one place, (guess I’ve been going to the wrong places…) Many of them were sporting Nengmao clothing, especially a lightning shirt that came free with the first 200 purchased tickets, good marketing strategy…

After a bit of wandering and chatting with strangers I seem to repeatedly encounter on the weekends, it was time to go back in and watch the main act- New Pants from Beijing. At first, it seemed a lot quieter than Go Chic, seducing the audience with a sweet little lullaby called “Being together.”

Then, out of nowhere, the keyboarder took off his bug-eye glasses, put on a Mao cap, and took over the center of stage, channeling a whole new vigorous atmosphere to the crowd. Their eccentric dance moves and rich instrumental sounds were driving the crowd and I was utterly surprised by their incredible performance. In fact, at that point I realized that I was a virgin to local Chinese acts and was astonished by how creative and musically talented Chinese bands could be. It was really refreshing to see such a passionate and energetic crowd, made up of 90% Chinese youngsters, basking in the glory of the lush sounds, rhythmical movements, and vibrant attires.

The fans at the front started mosh pits, a few attempted stage dives, and towards the end some even bravely climbed on stage, dancing madly with the band. It was a very “很HIGH” moment as the Chinese would say.

Finally, after a few encores, fans were satisfied, caught in the moment, and many rushed to the product booths to purchase more Nengmao shirts and other New Pants products. New Pants’ very own singer Peng lei wrote and illustrated one of the books for sell (Peking Monster). Its raw verse, childlike drawings, and imaginative content stand out as a great symbol of Chinese pop culture. When asked his opinion on the future of art in China, he explained,

“The Chinese government recently realized that investing in creative industries is much cheaper than subsidizing oil and coal. So they started to give money to young people to encourage them do the creative projects that might turn profitable. However, in China, the government still puts limitations on those of us who are “too” creative. For example we had some music performances that were shut down by the government because we were doing punk music, which those politicians thought was evil or something. So I would say there is still a long way to go before I can say that China is a country that supports its artists.”

Fortunately, from what we have seen on Friday night, even without the support from the Chinese government, the creative arts and music scene in Shanghai is thriving and doesn’t see a sign of stopping… yet.

The Creators Project is a network dedicated to the celebration of creativity and culture across media, and around the world. It is featuring Chinese creatives such as the singer and guitarist of Carsick Cars, and animator Ray Lei, and it is going to end with a big 3-day finale event in Beijing this September. Stay tuned for upcoming events info.

Please see flyer below or click here for more details.

Charm Café is a youth focused creative centre located in Zhongshan Bei Lu, the creative street of Hangzhou. They provide a platform for Chinese artists and designers to present and sell their artwork, as well as regularly hosting offline activities to encourage creative thinking amongst Chinese youth. Some of their main activities include monthly West Lake Idea Mart (DIY Mart) and weekly Charm Café creative class and exhibition. They also help with organizing China Hangzhou Cultural & Creative Industry Expo in every October and China International Cartoon and Animation Festival in every May.

Creative class in Charm Cafe

Shu Chang

Shu Chang is co-founder and manager of Chame café. He is 26 years old and studied Finance at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics. He used to work for Hunan TV station as a TV host for one year, later he worked at a user generated content website for two years. Since he cannot give up his strong passion for youth cultural as well as design, in September 2009 he decided to start Charm café with the Hangzhou government’s support and investment from his partner. His dream is to promote creative culture and encourage creative thinking by educating Chinese youth and providing a platform for creatives from all around China to share and market their products.

Interview

During our weekend trip to Hangzhou, we sat down with Shu Chang and chatted over a few cups of joe. Here are some highlights from the conversation:

How do you describe the current youth culture in Hangzhou?

There is a phrase called “Hang’ Er Feng” which describes a trend following phenomenon in Hangzhou. A lot of young people are following and copying trends from outside of China, but I think it’s good, we can learn by following and copying, at the end we will discover our own style.
Hangzhou is more conservative than Shanghai in terms of accepting new things since we have a very deep and distinctive culture, but I think right now it’s the time for innovation and development based on our original culture.

What is the future outlook of youth culture in Hangzhou?

I think we will still be in the process of learning and copying within the next 3 to 5 years, but you can see there are more and more creative activities and parties in town amongst local youth. In 5 years, you will see much more youth focused indie brands as well as opinion leaders. Local culture will be the key influence and I think we will have our own and distinctive style by then.

In 2005, she founded After 17, an online magazine dedicated to giving female artists exposure. Then later, 2006 to 2007 she and fellow photographer boyfriend Patrick Tsai launched the acclaimed My Little Dead Dick project, which ended just before their break up. Her works have since been shown internationally — in galleries and events like France’s Hyeres Photography Festival — as well as frequently appear in publications. She was recently featured alongside photographers like Tim Barber and Peter Sutherland in Shoot: Photography of the Moment.

Be sure to check out her website.

As a reporter and editor, writing was my main form of expression, but I was always interested in more visual creations. Eventually I surrounded myself with several photographer friends. We spent tons of time together, and eventually decided to launch a creative magazine together. Working with them on the mag I started to learn photography and never stopped.

Where did you go from there?

At first photography was just a hobby, but eventually I started shooting for magazines, then brands, and so on. I’m still not accustomed to being a “professional photographer.” I enjoy being involved in many things, so pigeon-holing myself as just a photographer actually goes against what I believe.

What influences your photography, and how does photography influence you?

My photos relate to my personal life. You look at my photos, you’re looking at me. You see the changes in life; the ups and downs. I take fewer pictures when I am bored. I don’t enjoy going out and looking for subjects; I prefer focusing on the people and things around me. But now that I’ve become a freelancer, projects have forced me to get in touch with the people and things that are not related to my life. It’s interesting.

How do the post-80′s generation of “indie” Chinese photographers differ form their predecessors?

Younger Chinese photographers come from a different background, and focus on different themes than past generations. Look at their photographs, and you’ll see much more youth themes. They document their lives and surrounding sub-cultures. It’s much more about us, our personal spaces.

Do you see any notable differences between the emerging Chinese school of indie photographers and their foreign counterparts?

The way I see it, European photographers focus more on ideas and concepts. Meanwhile American photographers are doing great things in fashion, documentary, and “snap shot” photography. You can see the differences in people’s mindset and lifestyles in their photos. Foreign photographers can be simple and direct with their images, meanwhile that goes against the Chinese culture. We’re not simple and direct. Chinese photographers will incorporate seemingly arbitrary elements in pictures.

We were honored to have Sonnet (十四行詩), Momo, Little Nature (小自然), Pinkberry, Yin (印), DJ Yen and DJ Fish to play for us live, and also Connie, Liz, Nino, Kelvin, Left, Cola, and Chris to show us live illustration. It’s always great when young artists give us a fresh dose of creativity and inspiration. eno has been and always will be standing behind the China’s young creative forces.

Here were some of the highlights: