CCTV Project (video)

jg — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:55:43 +0000

I thought I would give a video slideshow a try, so here is my first attempt, a few of my photos from the OMA / Koolhaas CCTV Headquarters project. The music is from Red Unit, Shanghai, a techno CulRev mix entitled The Ideal of Maoism. The music is Open Source. The voice-over is Zhou Enlai from what sounds like October 1, 1974. Date correction is welcome.

Beijing with Koolhaas Background from Jim Gourley on Vimeo.

More on the CCTV Fire (vid)

jg — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:26:01 +0000

Here is a video shot by my daughter, Moira, while she and I were speaking on the phone – me in Tianjin, she just west of the Third Ring Rd. – while the Television Culture Center (TVCC) went up in fire and smoke. She mentions on the vid that the building appears to be in the process of collapsing, though, in fact, it did not. And as of this moment, it still hasn’t. This video was taken from the entrance to the Grand Millennium Hotel, west of NW entrance (B) of Jintaixizhao Subway Station. The camera’s looking east at the west side of the TVCC at 9:47 PM.

China Central Television has apologized to the people for burning down their own building, as well as violating the law by not having a permit for setting off such heavy duty fireworks in the middle of the city. If they had gotten a license, I assume that would have meant that fire trucks would have been present before the show began, thereby …. Why even bother. There is a veritable gold mine of local and international lessons here, but I am going to resist kicking the dog, at least today.

More vids here.

Absurdity, Allegory and China » video

CCTV Project (video)

More on the CCTV Fire (vid)