Throughout the years, Poland and China have been well known for giving the world great artists and enriching all of us with their unique cultural life. Nevertheless, interactions between artists from Europe and Asia have been rather limited and the possibilities of creating something new together, far and few between.
In 2006, Grzegorz Bojanek [PL] and Zen Lu [CN] started a humble project that was later called the ChoP Project, standing for “China - Poland”. It has become an ideal platform for artists from both countries to meet, brainstorm new ideas, perform concerts in China and Europe, and record albums characterized by a new approach to music in the contemporary world.
This year we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the ChoP Project. The past 10 years were full of contacts between Chinese and Polish artists, what certainly changed the way they think about art. Visiting each other and performing together was certainly the most important idea of the ChoP Project. Without it there would not be as many events and tours both in Europe and China, both with the well-known contemporary artists and aspiring young musicians. With the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland and the Art and Technology Foundation [PL] in collaboration with Shenzhen Teoisau Culture Development Co., Ltd. [CN] ChoP Festival is coming to Shenzhen again.
About ChoP Project
The ChoP Project is a unique transnational initiative that includes sound and visual artists from China and Poland. It was created in 2006 out of a passion for contemporary music by two independent artists, Zen Lu [CN] and Grzegorz Bojanek [PL], and it has provided an opportunity for many Polish and Chinese artists to interact and collaborate with each other across two different continents. In the beginning, both Chinese and Polish artists started collaborating with each other thanks to the possibilities given by the Internet. The first real meeting took place in 2007, when Zen Lu visited Poland for the first time. He met personally with Grzegorz Bojanek and they performed for the first time together. Their first live act in the city of Cz?stochowa [PL], as well as the personal contacts meant that the future of the project was seen in brighter colours. In 2009, artists from Poland together with their Chinese partners, took part in a two week Chinese tour visiting such cities as Shenzhen, Foshan, Changsha, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Thank again Zen Lu came to Poland in 2010, to perform in Warsaw, Cz?stochowa and Kraków. Also in 2010, the artists of the ChoP Project were invited by the British independent film director Isaac Julien to compose part of the soundtrack for his 9-screen video installation “Ten Thousand Waves,” starring Maggie Cheung. Later, Zen Lu and Grzegorz Bojanek were invited by Isaac Julien to join him during the 8th Shanghai Biennale and perform live improvised music for his one-screen version of the installation called “Better Life” that had a vast support from the British Council. The following year, the Chinese artists visited Europe and performed in Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany. Later in 2011, several new artists from Poland went to China and visited Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing and Wuhan during a two week tour. They performed a number of concerts, including a live-act at the Shanghai Electronic Music Week.