Review: CAFAM Future- “Sub Phenomea: Report on the State of Chinese Young Art”

Over the years, the future direction of contemporary Chinese art has been scrutinized; the country’s rampant development and overarching tendency towards western mimicry has challenged Chinese artists to establish a clear identity founded within their own cultural traditions and current, youth generation. Curated by CAFA’s chairman and linguistic installation artist, Xu Bing, along side the Guggenheim’s Asian art curator, Alexandra Munroe, CAFAM Future – Sub-Phenomena: Report on the State of Chinese Young Art seeks to explore six, modern phenomena that emerging Chinese artists must face and overcome for the stylistic and conceptual evolution of their work, and additionally dialogue in which their ideas takes place.

Sculptural Installation in Museum’s Atrium

These phenomena, namely, Rampant Growth, Self-Media, Micro-Resistance, Otaku Space, Shallow Life and Unknown, allow for a wide breadth of works that are representative of China’s youth. The exhibition’s large spectrum of media ranges, with works by the video artists Fang Lu, who explores both consumption and beauty in her film Rotten, to Ma Ke’s conceptual investigation of visual image through linguistic illustration, as he covers the surface of 10 large panels with handwritten descriptions of Mark’s Left Index Finger. Yet the incorporation of these six sub-themes renders the exhibition, which fills the museum in its entirety, challenging in phenomena navigation and overwhelming in both physical space and amount of works to process. It was as if the curators intended a seventh phenomenon, Mass Production, in which sustenance, information and that of a more material realm bombard the artists’ environment, rendering it difficult to organize and thus further develop logical thought.

Video Still from Fang Lu’s ‘Rotten’

Detail from Ma Ke’s ‘Mark’s Left Index Finger’

Regardless, this representative survey of young Chinese artists and notions that they encounter and incorporate into their personal dialogue has added a considerable dent into the continued conversation of the future of contemporary art in China.

‘Transforming Life into Art’ by  Gao Xiang Fa

‘Crystal City No. 001’ by Wu Chi-Tsung

‘One Bed Room’ by Jiao Meng

‘The Elephant No. 1’ by Zhang YiFan

Another work from ‘The Elephant No. 1’ by Zhang YiFan

‘Four Kinds of Grey’ by Xie Molin, Oil on Silk

Detail of ‘Transparent Monument’ by Ni Youyu

Installation View, Including ‘Transparent Monument’ by Ni Youyu (Left)

Detail of Atrium Sculptural Installation

Review: Shen Yuan’s Sky Ladder at Tang Contemporary

Having studied traditional ink painting, Shen Yuan’s sculptural and installational pieces have departed greatly from her early works. Shen’s newest work Sky Ladder, explores notions of endless personal and social growth in the face of modern day China. Welcomed by two large concrete structures that protrude from the atrium’s floor, the audience is immediately consumed by the ominous, grey edifices that resemble two unfinished buildings and are seemingly stuck in a state of perpetual ‘under construction.’ The spiral, steel stairway connecting these structures, seems only to continue in its circular ascent towards the sky in an anxious and perhaps wary foreshadowing of the future. Bridging the realms of architecture, nature, and urban development, Shen utilizes experiences of the everyday to acknowledge paralleling states in which the individual or a population as a whole, may be experiencing.

‘Sky Ladder’

The artist is also exhibiting three works that have not yet been shown in Beijing, namely Spices, Crust and Nanling History (1957-2005). The first of which incorporates both photographs and watercolor sketches of a site-specific installation in Bangkok. Alluding to the country’s violent history, Shen tries to create metaphor though vibrant, blood-red rose petals that litter the floor and imagery of both mosquitos and fields. Yet the lack of a tangible work and a solely 2D representation of the installation diminishes the power of her grandiose message.

‘Crust’

In contrast, Crust better aligns with the ideologies found in Sky Ladder, for a large stone from the Taihu Lake is mounted by a wealth of small, model skyscrapers. Juxtaposing both tradition and modernity, Shen discusses the rampant use of natural resources and the destruction of the beauty that laid still for thousands of years prior. However blatant in her metaphorical depiction of the world at large, she moves towards a more honest form of social engagement when using the calligraphic stories and histories of women who lived in Nanling from a newly Communist era to a modern day state.

Installation View, ‘Nanling History (1957-2005)’

Watercolor Painting from ‘Nanling History (1957-2005)’

Although quickly losing its luster, as the weak metaphors of this loosely curated exhibition shine through, the grand scale of Sky Ladder is truly awe inspiring upon first sight.

Liu Xiaodong’s “The Process of Painting” Opens at Kunsthaus Graz

After a month in the desolate mining town of Eisenerz, Austria, Liu Xiaodong opened his new exhibition “The Process of Painting” at Kunsthaus Graz. Although I was slightly bewildered by the two new paintings’ setting, the exhibition quite accurately depicts Liu Xiaodong’s process of painting through painting, diary and film. Having accompanied Liu for the duration of the Austrian project, I became accustomed to seeing the paintings in their sheds en situ, quite literally amongst the overgrown fauna that surrounded a swimming pool, or beside a road in the middle of town. The pristine walls and perfect lighting of the Kunsthaus were unnatural in comparison to the dirty and paint covered floors of the painting shed.

Curated by Gunther Holler-Schuster, “Prozess Malen” brings together Liu Xiaodong’s newest Austria project with Hometown Boy, a series created in conjunction with UCCA in Beijing. Quite like the settings in both Eisenerz and Jincheng, Liu Xiaodong’s hometown, the exhibition’s floor plan is both open, like a large town square showcasing Liu’s larger 3×4 meter paintings as well as narrow, with walls more intimately dispersed to create a feeling of meandering streets, and showcasing smaller works from Hometown Boy. Further, there are a total of eight documentary films being screened at various points throughout the exhibition enabling audiences to gain a well-rounded perspective of Liu’s painting process from various projects, as well as spend upwards of six hours (if desired) to absorb the development and evolution of his method. Nevertheless, for those who prefer text, there was hardly a shortage of that as well. Incorporating all 116 pages of his diary from Hometown Boy as well as the 32 from Eisenerz, there was a plethora of emotions, anecdotical tales and photos to captivate readers for several hours.

 Peter Pakesch (Kunsthaus Director), Liu Xiaodong, Gunther Holler-Schuster (Exhibition Curator)

Liu Xiaodong (far right) with four students that modeled for the painting in background

Art for Arts-Sake, Liu Xiaodong in Austria

As Christie’s nears its spring Hong Kong auctions to follow the ArtHK fair, another essential component to the art world, an artist, works to produce two new paintings on the other side of the world. In the small town of Eisenerz, Austria, Liu Xiaodong, known for his on-site paintings that objectively document an often-decaying social milieu, paints two large canvases for his new project, The Process of Painting in conjunction with the esteemed Kunsthaus Graz museum.

Working away on painting #1

Frenzied buyers browse the endless white walls at this years’ Art HK, of which Basel, creators of Art Basel Switzerland and Miami, has purchased a majority share since the fair’s 2011 volume. Set over the course of two days and one evening, buyers also have the chance to acquire one, or several of the ­295 lots up for auction at Christie’s Asian contemporary sale (note: Sotheby’s Hong Kong spring auctions occurred in early April).  Yet, the chaos of fairs and auctions leave visitors and buyers in a mindset far from where the work itself, its process and its ideology stemmed.

It is quite seldom that an individual sees an artwork in any other state besides its final one, one that is surrounded by a frame and sensors, if being exhibited at a museum, or hung with a heavy price tag, if at a gallery. The environment in which a work is created is spectacular, some more so than others, but when it comes to Liu Xiaodong, watching the realist painter at work is mesmerizing to say the least. Watching excess paint drip on an unfinished canvas and layers of abstract color gradually form a clear image is intriguing; quite literally the addition of one or two brush strokes can decipher a subject. This project, exhibition and documentary film, which is being produced along side the paintings, will allow for an inside look at Liu’s painting process.

Contemplating his course of action

First stroke

Stepping back from the painting for a rest

This historic mining town, with settlements dating back 3,000 years, at one point occupied over 18,000 residents but has now dwindled to a mere 4,800. Once producing the ‘best’ iron used in both Europe and the US throughout and after WWII, Eisenerz was a bustling town that slowly lost its pulse due to the rise of machinery that outdated the manual labor force. In addition to the town’s historical significance, upon seeing an abandoned swimming pool with growth from over 30 years of desolation, Liu knew this would be one of his two paintings locations. The foliage grows in and around these fading turquoise pools that was once a retreat for mine workers and their families, yet in its decrepit state there is a beauty of the memories that remain.

Eisenerz’ mining mountain and Alps in the distance

From visiting and selecting a site, to erecting his painting sheds and from ensuring the timely arrival of canvases and paints, to printing his reference photographs, much goes into a painting before a stroke is even laid. Yet once the brushes have been dipped in a mixture of paint, linseed oil + turpentine, the manner in which Liu develops his canvas is truly mystical. His mastery knowledge of color enables him to slowly develop the scene’s subjects in the whimsical, somewhat impressionistic style for which he is so well known.

Painting shed construction begins, workers from Kunsthaus Gras onsite to help

The shed is finished! As Liu Xiaodong says, “Its so romantic!”

Bringing in his canvas

Paint mixing board

Reference photos for when he needs a close up image of detail

Liu Xiaodong’s exhibition, The Process of Painting, or ‘Prozess Malen,’ is set to open at Kunsthaus Graz on June 5^th. The show will be open to the public from June 6-September 2, 2102. For more information on exploring the museum and Liu’s painting process, please visit www.museum-joanneum.at.

Olafur Eliasson at The Pavilion

Known for his large scale sculptures involving a plethora of naturally occurring elements, such as light, water and air, Olafur Eliasson‘s work have come to Vitamin Creative Space’s Beijing location, The Pavilion. Having won the Unilever prize in 2006 to exhibit at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, the Danish born artist is most famous for his installations that are much too grand to fit into a gallery setting. Yet The Pavilion is currently exhibiting some of his smaller light sculptures that blur the line between art and functional design to enable viewing his work in a more private and homely setting.

It is clear that Eliasson and his team are gifted when it comes to flawlessly crafting his one of a kind pieces, as the polished steel and precision cut glass seamlessly fit together, as if designed by a celestial creature. Yet despite the smaller nature of his more functional creations, he is still able to enhance his audiences’ experience through the work’s mesmerizing and mystical qualities. This exhibition at The Pavilion comes as a precursor to a larger, yet still unbeknownst project that he will be doing in conjunction with Vitamin Creative Space‘s Guangzhou location.

Light Sculpture + Lamp

Kinetic mirrored sculpture

Dual mirror

Circular light sculpture created by the shadows of two half circle colored mirror plates and a light source found in the bucket

Lamp from ground view

PhotoSpring – Arles Opens in Beijing’s CaoChangDi

This past weekend Three Shadows Photography Centre teamed up with the Beijing-based Thinking Hands and the French photography festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles, to kick-off their 3^rd PhotoSpring – Arles, a month long festival dedicated to photography. With an opening four straight days of events ranging from artist talks, to a photo review for emerging photographer’s portfolios and from film screenings, to interactive photography sessions, the festival continues with a plethora of exhibitions at 30 venues scattered throughout Beijing. Running from April 21 through May 31, 2012, PhotoSpring will exhibit over 200 Chinese and international photography and film-based artists.

PhotoSpring’s opening weekend was chaotic, as a slew of visitors, both local Chinese and uprooted expats, flocked to CaoChangDi to see opening speeches by the festival’s directors and to peruse the multitude of exhibitions, including “Crossovers: The 2012 Three Shadows Photography Award.” The fourth installment of this award drew an eclectic range of young Chinese photographers, who, for the most part, seemed to have used a digital technology for their photographing or printing processes.

What stood out the most were those who pushed their processes and subject matter towards a more traditional perspective, one that was void of the blatant use of today’s digital technologies. Although anthropologic and thus somewhat dull in subject matter, Luo Bin successfully produced a series of ambrotype photographs.  A process readily used in the 1850’s, and one that outdated the first, yet expensive photographic process, the daguerreotype, it intriguingly juxtaposes the brightly colored inkjet prints. Further, a photographer by the name of Zhang Jin, who went on to win one of the two top prizes, exhibited a series on the Silk Road from Chang’an to Yangguan that he had photographed in a manner dedicated to the landscape’s form and evoking a very Edward Weston-like feel. Zhang Kechun, a young photographer from the emerging Chengdu art scene, also caught my eye with his series titled “The River Rushes North,” as he cinematically captured society’s fringe population at work in their muted, yet beautifully pastel worlds.

Zhang Kechun’s Work (Above + Below)

Zhang Jin’s Work (Above)

In a new space adopted by Three Shadows for the duration of PhotoSpring and whose entrance was made known by a newly created hole in the wall, Jillian Schultz curated an intriguing exhibition on the world’s poverty lines. Having started in Beijing, the project examined the poverty lines of fifteen countries around the world by photographing the foods one could buy on a daily basis living at a country’s poverty line. Photographs of these foods, such as nine manto (a bready food often eaten in China), seven croissants (France), six bagels (US), enabled the audience to quite literally understand the meaning of living in poverty, a concept unknown to many who are able to afford the downtime luxury of perusing art.

Finally in Three Shadow’s newly designed +3 Gallery, Leslie Hook curated “Symphony of Time & Light,” photographic works by the Japanese Hisaji Hara. In a series that juxtaposes the same images in both large, digital inkjet prints and smaller, albumen prints, Hara uniquely recreates scenes from Balthus’ paintings. Yet unlike the French-Polish painter who rejected the standard art world notions of critical assessment, Hara delves deep into questioning the significance of photography as a means of “reproduction of the immediate world.” Thus resulting in his desire to show his works as a production of both a modern technology and a traditional craft.

Hisaji Hara’s Work (Above + Below)

Given the lack of infrastructure to support not-for-profit organizations and events in China, we can only hope that festivals such as PhotoSpring continue to flourish in the years to come.

Beijing’s Heiqiao Artist Commune

On a breezy and sunny Spring afternoon, I made the 10 mile trek via bike out to Beijing’s Heiqiao artist commune to visit a colleague and new friend’s studio that she shares with her boyfriend. 吴丹 (Wu Dan) and her boyfriend, 姜波 (Jiang Bo), are respectively photographers and sculptors by training, hailing from the acclaimed Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing. Passing by the arts districts of 798 and CaoChangDi, the National Film Museum, mass plots of bulldozed land with cranes scattered and soaring high into the sky, Heiqiao is a remote cluster of housing where many emerging, but resultantly poor artists have flocked for large studios that cost roughly 1500 RMB (USD$240) annually. Although a long bike or bike + bus ride to the outskirts of the city, I found the area to be rather relaxing and ideal for an artisan to contemplate and produce his newest creations.

Artists 姜波 (Jiang Bo) and 吴丹 (Wu Dan)

Staircase leading up to lofted living space in the artist’s studio

Another view of their studio

Upon arriving I was greeted by lofty ceilings that enclosed a decent sized studio with room for various sculptures, a sitting area, kitchen + bathroom as well as an elevated living area. Littering the main working area laid Jiang Bo’s works that widely varied in medium from glass to phosphorous and from plaster to sheer plastics. However, it was the glass work titled 夏天 (Summer) that particularly caught my eye. First igniting found and used bottles (both from wine and beer), the artist quickly submerges the glowing red glass into cold water, shattering the bottle and returning the glass to its original state of sand-like bits. Another fascinating material that Jiang Bo utilizes, among the diverse array through which he shows his adept skills, is yellow phosphorus, a delicate element which is actually flammable above 25 degrees Celsius. Carefully manipulated in water, Jiang is careful to wear gloves when sculpting and is required to suspend the sculpture in a temperature controlled box so to ensure a safe storage temperature. Wu Dan herself is quite a talented artist producing smaller more delicate works, in which she finely sews thread to cover found images from newspapers or magazines, thus hinting at the rather superficial models and superfluous sexuality easily found in today’s advertising campaigns.

夏天Summer by Jiang Bo

Detail of glass from 夏天 (Summer)

Remains of bottels used for 夏天 (Summer)

Yellow Phosphorus used to mold a bone found in the scull

Light 1 by Wu Dan

Light 2 by Wu Dan

The rest of the afternoon was spent sipping tea in the couple’s living room, which was merely an off shoot of the main studio floor, playing with the neighboring artist’s child, Mumu and their dog, Pipi, as well as visiting the adjacent studio for artist 黄震 (Huang Zhen). Although the artist wasn’t present upon our peer into his studio, we were warmly welcomed by Huang’s studio assistants who were fervently at work, wrapping small wires around and around, slowly forming spirals that in turn became large sculptural objects that mimicked rocks and trees readily found in traditional Chinese landscape paintings.

黄震 (Huang Zhen) Wire Sculpture

Wire Sculpture Detail

Wire Sculpture Inspiration

Sculptural piece produced by inspirational branches (image above)

Although my legs were rather exhausted from the 20 mile round trip ride out to Heiqiao, I would say it was one of those Beijing experiences that I would love to have again. And, most likely I will, as I only uncovered the tip of an iceberg when it comes to exploring artist communes and studios scattered throughout the endless nooks, crannies and far flung spaces around Beijing.

Beijing Art World: Spring Has Arrived

This past weekend, the newness of spring permeated the air. Hoards of people emerged from their hibernating worlds to enjoy the warmth of the sun’s rays and celebrate the season opening for Beijing’s art world. Both 798 and CaoChangDi crawled with individuals who visited openings at the Ullens Center of Contemporary Art (UCCA), Tang Contemporary, Galleria Continua, and Pékin Fine Art, amongst others. There was certainly a buzz of excitement, as finally the white walls were filled works of art and exhibitions that were unlike their somewhat dull counterparts of winter’s filler exhibitions.

Phil Tinari’s second exhibition at the helm of UCCA, a retrospective for the great Gu Dexin entitled The Important Thing is Not the Meat, proved a curatorial feat. Born in Beijing in 1962, Gu entered the art world without any formal training, yet was able to communicate his vast understanding of artistic discourse through his usage of varying mediums. From his first works on paper and canvas reminiscent of Chagall’s colorful and dreamlike works, to the unembellished animations that ridicule the automation of modernized society, the show includes over 100 works that span the artist’s 30 producing years, prior to his retirement and retreat into “normal” life in 2009.

Galleria Continua equally prevailed with their solo exhibition, The Tunnel, for the Egyptian multi-media artist, Moataz Nasr. Clearly influenced by his childhood in a culturally rich region of the African continent, yet frustrated by the hindrance of the sociopolitical milieu, Nasr allows the varying sounds, colors, ideologies and traditions of his culture to influence his video, sculptural, photographic and installational works.

Further, out in CaoChangDi, Meg Maggio’s Pékin Fine Art opened RAZE, a collaboration between SEEK-art and Thinking Hands. Although a group show including artists Huang Rui, S/N Coalition, Zhang Dali and Zhang Ding, the exhibition’s core, quite literally, as it not only occurred in the gallery’s spatial center, but also was conceptually based on centripetal certainties of the world. In its practical essence, this performance installation, Rumor Mill, by Huang Rui is used to grind five native grains that are then bottled and sold on site. Pulled by a live donkey, this stone mill is set atop another circular, stone counter that is inscribed with the world’s ultimate truths, as told by the I-Ching.

The evening concluded with the second installment of the Black Eyeliner parties hosted by Parson’s design professor, Benjamin Bacon and Vogue China’s artistic director, Alex Chow. Spinning a variety of music from tripped-out hip-hop, to electronic beats that defy top-40 remixed tracks, the duo is set to throw monthly parties that will tickle one’s senses with their self-created visual stimuli, infectiously danceable beats and an unbeatable crowd that gives Beijing the pulse its known to have.

“Everything Beautiful is Far Away” Photography by Jean Bernard Koeman

Traditionally, a landscape photograph can be quite formulaic in its composition. Usually divided by thirds to form a grid of nine squares, two-thirds of the photograph, whether from a horizontal or vertical perspective, should be filled with a large portion of the subject matter, thus leaving negative space in the remaining one third. However, over the decades, many photographers, myself included, have tried to redefine the traditional components of landscape photography. Whether manipulating the balance between negative and positive space or the subject matter to include objects traditionally unfound in this genre of photography; landscapes tend to exclude human forms, unless used in a practical manner to give the viewer a sense of scale.

In contrary to the often “environmental documentary” context that the medium lends itself to, Chinese landscape, for centuries, has gone deeper into these backdrop images to bring forward a representational meaning. To an untrained eye, Chinese landscape paintings are wistful in their subject matter, often incorporating pristine mountains and water that meander down the length of the scroll, while the Chinese inks and watercolors facilitate the soft and often neutral color pallet. Yet, in fact each mountain, stream, and village that lay in its valleys, oozes with underlying emotions and metaphors.

Bound beautifully in an aquamarine, velvet-like cotton, “Everything Beautiful is Far Away” by photographer Jean Bernard Koeman is able to bring new meaning, or rather lack of meaning to his 96 landscape photographs. Prior to opening the book, the title alone entices you and fills your imagination with the potential journey you are about to embark on. You remains of all the far off lands that you have once visited, but are now a distant memory that is occasionally revisited when flipping through an album of 4 x 6” snapshots.

Koeman has clearly visited all corners of the Earth, as he includes photographs of the raw and barren lands of Iceland and Kosovo, to the vivid and lush scenery found in Thailand and Turkey, to the busy and commercialized cities in China and New York. Each photograph has its own unique beauty that reminds you of your distant travels. Whether rows of colorful flags and buildings that bisect a concrete foreground with the mountainous background, or the bursts of color, a red ball on a telephone wire and a bright yellow lane divider, found paralleling a desert highway that disappears into the distance, Koeman’s intimate and somewhat candid photographs intrigue the mind and lure the eye with small details, which at first glance remain unnoticed. But that is merely Koeman’s intent; his lack of favoritism towards any one photograph, despite his careful composition, enables the works to blend together into a family album of sorts, documenting recent travels.

It is clear that Koeman has a systematized pattern to his explorations, as he roughly documents it in his “Road Map” included in the book. He also allows the reader to participate in his voyage while engaging in their own, as there is a small sticker-book found imbedded into the book’s back cover. These small-scaled images of his work with a gummed back are an amusing way to bring the corners of the world a little closer, as if we don’t already live in a small world.  For those who roam the world and seek the nooks and crannies that the planet has to offer, “Everything Beautiful is Far Away” has the ability to momentarily satisfy one’s wanderlust.

Publisher: Timezone 8

ISBN: 978-988-17144-9-7

Year: 2008

Click Here for Where to Buy

 

Sound Performance at Vitamin Creative Space

Thank god for vitamins, especially when living in a far off land that lacks sufficiently strong medication in the midst of flu season. There is another type of vitamin to be thankful for, this time it is a space, specifically, Vitamin Creative Space. The brainchild of Hu Fang and Zhang Wei, Vitamin has both a commercial gallery in Guangzhou and an alternative project space in Beijing called “The Pavilion.” With a slew of alternative + educational programming, ranging from artist lectures to live performances and from cooking demonstrations to paper making workshops, Vitamin is a rare find in Beijing’s uber-commercialized art world. Unbeknownst to me, I recently discovered that similarly to the mission of The Zandie Project, Vitamin believes that “In order to nourish life, The Pavilion might have to be a void with Yishi (where Yishi is a Chinese term, close to the meaning of “consciousness” but slightly different from consciousness; it’s more about the awareness of consciousness.)” 很有意思！

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to experience one of these interesting live performances, to be specific a sound performance. The aftermath of a workshop put on by electronic sound artists Nicholas Collins and Yan Jun from SubJam, an experimental art organization focused on publishing and curating music and sound projects. The basis of their workshop was to deconstruct conventional, yet “favorable” sound producing objects, such as a radio or speaker, and to reassemble them into an instrument of their own. The following evening, the orchestra of newly formed musicians tuned their instruments in the most unusual of ways. Connecting and reconnecting electrical lines to batteries and speakers, there was a consistant and rather unrelenting noise that filled the air. 

However, as the evening progressed, this noise slowly dimmed and a rhythmic pattern could be deciphered amidst the static. A lanky fellow in glasses steadily pulsed at the silver knobs that protruded from a green soundboard. His instrument, a radio with the backing removed to show the inner-mechanical workings of the machine. Other instruments included a varied array of speakers attached to batteries or motherboard-looking components, all connected with a mis-match of wires.

I found there to be a comforting lull within the monotonus high frequencies, as perusing Vitamin’s Facade Library, an exchange of publications between the space and other arts organizations, or conversing with other attendees became more manageable since the commencement of the performance. There is a hidden beauty within the notion of disassembling these “favorable” noise producing devices in order to construct another yielding anything but a melodic tune, for it is the destruction of the perfected that allows an organic creativity to shine through.

http://www.subjam.org/

http://www.nicolascollins.com/index.htm

http://www.vitamincreativespace.com/