The Beijinger Blog - Stella Jackman

New Openings: Cosmo Bar

thebeijinger — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +0800

It’s not often that taking the waters (aka the spa) comes with a cocktail chaser, at least not in my world. So I was inspired to journey to the west recently by an ingenious piece of bar-spa promotion at the new Pullman West Wanda Hotel, which gives discounts at their Cosmo Bar to those who have had a rubdown first at their Touch Spa (and vice versa).

Stage Previews: May 2009

thebeijinger — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:00:00 +0800

Romeo and Juliet
With all the international talent in town, let’s not forget the artists who call Beijing home. Over the last three years, under the direction of Chris Verrill, Beijing Playhouse has brought a touch of Broadway to Beijing with a series of lively classic productions from A Christmas Carol to this month’s Romeo and Juliet. Beijing Playhouse likes to keep it lighthearted and promises to find the humor in Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy of star-crossed love. The Bard’s original three acts and 3.5 hours have been cut to a sprightly two acts and two hours, and spiced up with musical numbers and a change of scene from Verona to Shanghai.

Thinghood at 798

thebeijinger — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:00:00 +0800

“Thinghood: Object-related Themes in Contemporary Art” Magee Art Gallery, Iberia Center, 798

Despite the obscure title, this group show of 11 young and emerging artists is one of the freshest and most entertaining exhibitions you can visit this winter at 798. The show is cleverly curated by Bao Dong, who in my view should win an award for the comprehensibility of his curatorial statement. In a world not noted for clear writing, his concise explanation of how he went about formulating the idea behind this exhibition, which you can pick up from the gallery’s desk at the door, is a model of clarity. Each of his chosen artists plays with the idea of what a thing actually is. As he says, if we can say that “philosophy was born of astonishment, then the earliest astonishment was born of the question, “what is this?”