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Comment by MWiseman on February 12, 2009 at 5:44am

100 Beijing Journals Project:
When faced with a blank journal page, what would you add? Designer Mary Wiseman wanted to find out on an international level. A resident of Beijing, China, for 15 years, Wiseman distributed 100 blank journals, for 100 days, throughout the city of Beijing. She invited participants to add to the books anything they desired-words, sketches, collages, and beyond- then pass the books to another. “I wanted to see what would happen when people were provided a means to connect creatively with others,” Mary reports.

On March 13, 2009 large scale prints of pages from 15 of the returned 100 Beijing Journals will be displayed along with several of those actual journals at the March artHappening, in Northampton, Massachusetts. “When I began the project I had no idea what the results would be,” Wiseman describes, “The journals passed through the hands of artists of all nationalities and age groups who contributed their ideas and images.”

The 100 Beijing Journals Project was an ambitious citywide art experiment in Beijing, China which took place during the 100 days from 1 March 2004 to 8 June 2004. At that time, blank journals [including bilingual instructions on journal use] were handed out at gallery openings, passed out to students, scattered randomly about the city, and left at the Timezone 8 Bookstore in the Dashanzi Art District and the Red Gate Gallery of Beijing, which served as drop-off/pick-up points for the journals. “I was striving for collaboration through this sort of anthropological artistic study,” Wiseman explains.

Come see more pages from these journals, March 13, 2009 at the artHappening.