Jia Aili


Book Description

The work of the Chinese artist Jia Aili (*1979 in Liaoning) possesses an unparalleled intensity. Whether reflecting on China's inauguration of the atomic bomb or the first satellites in 1970, the theme of Aili's oil paintings is the dramatic transformation of Chinese society over the past 50 years. The works simultaneously also convey a feeling of wonderment and fascination for the achievements and new possibilities that technological progress offers. It is a feeling Aili has particularly developed in his apocalyptic-seeming desert landscapes, which only allow space for isolated masked figures, usually astronauts. The monograph documents Aili's exhibitions over the past 10 years and shows the young Chinese artist's disparate sources of inspiration with the aid of discussions of individual works.




Chinese Art: The Impossible Collection


Book Description

While readers will come away from Chinese Art with a nuanced understanding of Chinese culture, the volume is also a work of art in its own right—a must-have collectible for any devotee of Chinese art and culture. Assouline’s Ultimate Collection is an homage to the art of luxury bookmaking—the oversized volume is hand-bound using traditional techniques, with several of the plates hand-tipped on art-quality paper and housed in a luxury silk clamshell.




Seeker of Hope


Book Description

"Born in a time of open economy and increasing prosperity in China, Jia Aili represents a young generation worried about losing age old traditions and values in a fast evolving world, questioning the true meaning of life. The solitary figures in his epic-scale and visually stunning works seem to be searching for hope amidst the ruins of modern civilisation. In the midst of his desolate landscapes there exists a yearning and hope for a possibility of redemption and saving. 'Seeker of hope : works by Jia Aili' will showcase Jia Aili's works ranging from monumental oil paintings and installations to delicate paper works. The catalogue includes an essay exploring Jia Aili's practice relating it to China's modern history and how it has impacted his work, as well as an interview with Jia Aili and Chinese art curator and critic Zhu Zhu." -- book cover.




The Phoenix Years


Book Description

By following the stories of nine contemporary Chinese artists, The Phoenix Years shows how China's rise unleashed creativity, thwarted hopes, and sparked tensions between the individual and the state that continue to this day. It relates the heady years of hope and creativity in the 1980s, which ended in the disaster of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Following that tragedy comes China's meteoric economic rise, and the opportunities that emerged alongside the difficult compromises artists and others have to make to be citizens in modern China.Foreign correspondent Madeleine O'Dea has been an eyewitness for over thirty years to the rise of China, the explosion of its contemporary art and cultural scene, and the long, ongoing struggle for free expression. The stories of these artists and their art mirror the history of their country. The Phoenix Years is vital reading for anyone interested in China today.




Vitamin D


Book Description

A global survey of drawing today featuring over 100 contemporary artists Vitamin D offers a fresh and pioneering overview of the current state and underlying significance of drawing as an artistic medium. It highlights the originality and innovation with which contemporary artists in the genre - from across the world and in a vast variety of contexts - experiment with a diversity of styles and statements. Vitamin D features the work of 109 contemporary artists, selected by some of the world's foremost critics and curators for their unique outlook. It is in itself an artistic compilation of the endless possibilities that drawing offers an artist from any background. This book is a captivating composition of examples of the evolution of drawing in the twenty-first century. It reveals the energy of contemporary drawing, in a subtle presentation of the richness and versatility of the medium. With several pages dedicated to images of each artist's work and a deeply analytical parallel text, Vitamin D is at once a detailed reference book for art world aficianados and an absorbing introduction for newcomers to the scene. Highly informative and aesthetically stimulating, this book is an essential work in its own right, through its exposition of just how fundamental an artistic medium drawing continues to be.




High Performance Computing for Big Data


Book Description

High-Performance Computing for Big Data: Methodologies and Applications explores emerging high-performance architectures for data-intensive applications, novel efficient analytical strategies to boost data processing, and cutting-edge applications in diverse fields, such as machine learning, life science, neural networks, and neuromorphic engineering. The book is organized into two main sections. The first section covers Big Data architectures, including cloud computing systems, and heterogeneous accelerators. It also covers emerging 3D IC design principles for memory architectures and devices. The second section of the book illustrates emerging and practical applications of Big Data across several domains, including bioinformatics, deep learning, and neuromorphic engineering. Features Covers a wide range of Big Data architectures, including distributed systems like Hadoop/Spark Includes accelerator-based approaches for big data applications such as GPU-based acceleration techniques, and hardware acceleration such as FPGA/CGRA/ASICs Presents emerging memory architectures and devices such as NVM, STT- RAM, 3D IC design principles Describes advanced algorithms for different big data application domains Illustrates novel analytics techniques for Big Data applications, scheduling, mapping, and partitioning methodologies Featuring contributions from leading experts, this book presents state-of-the-art research on the methodologies and applications of high-performance computing for big data applications. About the Editor Dr. Chao Wang is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Science and Technology of China. He is the Associate Editor of ACM Transactions on Design Automations for Electronics Systems (TODAES), Applied Soft Computing, Microprocessors and Microsystems, IET Computers & Digital Techniques, and International Journal of Electronics. Dr. Chao Wang was the recipient of Youth Innovation Promotion Association, CAS, ACM China Rising Star Honorable Mention (2016), and best IP nomination of DATE 2015. He is now on the CCF Technical Committee on Computer Architecture, CCF Task Force on Formal Methods. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, Senior Member of CCF, and a Senior Member of ACM.




Pentecostal Aesthetics


Book Description

Pentecostals have not sufficiently worked out a distinctively Pentecostal philosophy of art and aesthetics. In Pentecostal Aesthetics: Theological Reflections in a Pentecostal Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics, with a foreword by Amos Yong, Steven Félix-Jäger corrects this by reflecting theologically on art and aesthetics from a global Pentecostal perspective, particularly through a pneumatic Pentecostal lens. Félix-Jäger contends that a Pentecostal philosophy of art and aesthetics must comply with the global, experiential, and pneumatocentric nature of the Pentecostal movement. Such a philosophy can be ontologically grounded in a relativistic theory of art. Theological reflections concerning the nature and purpose of art must then be sensitive to the ontological foundations secured thereof. In this fashion, Pentecostals can gain ample insight about the Spirit’s work in today’s contemporary artworld.




Freedom in the World 2009


Book Description

Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 193 countries and a group of select territories are used by policy makers, the media, international corporations, and civic activists and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. Press accounts of the survey findings appear in hundreds of influential newspapers in the United States and abroad and form the basis of numerous radio and television reports. The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.




Vitamin P2


Book Description

A dynamic overview of the best new contemporary painting from around the world. The first volume of Vitamin P, published in 2002, inaugurated a vibrant period for painting. Since its publication, a whole new generation of painters has emerged, some inspired by the artists who appeared in that book, others taking cues from new sources. Vitamin P2 introduces this new wave of painters to the world. The vast medium of painting continues to be a central pillar of artistic practice, and Vitamin P2 presents the outstanding artists who are currently engaging with and pushing the boundaries of the medium. Over 80 international critics, artists and curators have nominated the 115 artists who have made a fresh, unique or innovative contribution to recent painting. All of the artists in Vitamin P2 have recently emerged onto the international scene, and none appeared in the first Vitamin P. An introduction by Barry Schwabsky, who also wrote the introduction for Vitamin P, provides a broad overview of recent developments in the medium while also looking towards its future.




The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories


Book Description

"With its literary foundations rooted in the political protests and social satire of the early 20th century, Chinese flash fiction offers a fascinating integration of vernacular and contemporary styles: the voice of a civilization at the brink of a standing and unprecedented transformation, using new and vibrant media like underground magazines, text messages, and blogs." "This collection features over a hundred short stories written by some of China's most dynamic and versatile authors, Dong Rui's "The Pearl Jacket" offers a glimpse of the real and surreal in human evolution. "Butterfly Forever" brings an ancient Chinese literary motif into a startling modern context, while "Concerned Departments" mocks the staggering complexity of life in the new urban China."--BOOK JACKET.