Artists Respond to Three Gorges

Date: 
Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Liu Xiaodong, Newly Displaced Population, 2004
Liu Xiaodong, Newly Displaced Population, 2004
Photo and Homepage Image by Jeff Kelley

Join us for the International Day of Action for Rivers on March 14 with an evening of music, dialogue, art and activism.

No single dam project has displaced as many people as Three Gorges in China. While the numbers are staggering, the individual stories often get left out. Drawing on these experiences of displacement, artists in China and abroad have used various mediums to convey the anger, frustration and hope of workers, villagers, and farmers. What role do artists play in the debate around displacement-inducing projects? What lessons do they inspire for the growing movement to protect rivers and rights?

Special guests:

  • Li Miao Lovett, local writer and author of In the Lap of the Gods
  • Jeff Kelley, art critic and curator of contemporary Chinese art
  • Linda Butler, photographer and author of Yangtze Remembered: the River Beneath the Lake)
  • Michelle Kwon, cellist, and her quartet will perform the world premier of Yangtze Journey by Jeff Fallen

Monday, March 14, 2011
The David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA (map)

Special pre-program talk* with Linda Butler at 6:15 pm.
Main program begins promptly at 7 pm.
Live music, dim sum tasting and book signing at 8 pm.

Tickets are $15 at the door.

  • For ticket questions, please email karolo@internationalrivers.org or call (510) 848-1155 ext. 301. Ticket sales and 25% of book proceeds benefit International Rivers’ mission to protect the rivers and rights of communities in China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
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In partnership with the Asia Society, chinadialogue, China Rivers Project, Friends of the Earth, Greywater Action, Pacific Environment, Stanford University Press and Tuolumne River Trust. Special thanks to Sierra Nevada and Trader Joe's for providing drinks.

*A special early session will be held in the Goldman Theater at 6:15 pm with photographer Linda Butler, who will share her photos from the Three Gorges Dam Project made during nine trips to the Yangtze River from 2000 to 2010.