It seems that we are full of offers lately. Hmm… presumptions aside, it’s not really an offer, because everyone wants reciprocation. To communicate and to understand. To love and be loved. Are skills naturally to be shared? If you know, will I know better?
So what is on offer today? Let’s attempt skill-sharing set number 1. HomeShop’s very own Twist QU is now offering language instruction for those of you interested in Chinese culture and history and hoping to improve your Chinese or English skills. This is the offer. What is the return?
We learn about Twist via the return, the things he could be interested in (French, documentary film, etc.), and through these (hopefully) common dialogues, we create the bonds that make an offer into an exchange, into something sustainable, into something like an understanding between people. Twist is most interested in communication.
About his offer, Twist is a graduate from Liaoning University with over 15 years of experience in language instruction, both in Chinese and English. His students have ranged from post ’90s Tongxian teenyboppers to expat architects and even a few liu mang-kind of artists, and his interests include philosophy and literature. For more information, you can download Twist’s CV here [PDF, 45kb].
His language lessons are taught one-on-one or in small groups, and meetings can be held at your convenience in the neighbourhood of Gulou/Nanluoguxiang. If money is the easiest way to go, lessons begin from RMB 60 per hour, but Twist’s exchange could also involve French lessons, or video assistance for his new documentary project involving a series of dialogues with members of Beijing’s artist community. If you are interested to pursue one or more of these kinds of “sharing” or “exchange” (where do the two intersect?), Twist is happy to meet with you for a free trial lesson. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact him directly:
mobile: 138 1180 9604
e-mail: qu@homeshopbeijing.org
您对英语感兴趣？希望提高您的英语交流或应试能力？“家作坊”的曲一箴愿协助您！
曲一箴，毕业于辽宁大学，对哲学与文学兴趣浓厚，在英语和汉语方面有着17年的教学经验，辅导过的学生有90后青年学生，建筑师，以及艺术家。欲知更多，请下载他的简历：［PDF格式, 45kb］。
教学方式可以是一对一或小班式，地点可按您的方便选定。本教学的目的重在交流，首次上课可以免费，若感兴趣，学费可商定（你真的那么愿意跟人说可以免费作吗？！我觉得你还是需要把skill-exchange强调多一些！如果你能找一个人帮你拍，你教英语，那样最好）。
免 费上第一次，互相认识一下，对大家都有好处。另外，我想把英文广告中的技能交换改成法语，你看行吗？因为请一个不认识的人来帮我做记录片我不知道他的技术 好不好，也不知道他有没有负责心（靠普）怕他耽误我的机会。我下周想把录像机买了，大家都说便宜的也可以用，这样我随时可以去录制，更方便，你说是吗？希 望你能有时间帮我选录像机。
若有问题欢迎直接和曲一箴联系：
手机: 138 1180 9604
e-mail: qu@homeshopbeijing.org
时间 posted on: 17 May 2010 | 
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May 17th, 2010 - 01:33
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by iwish icould. iwish icould said: [家作坊 HomeShop] with a Twist: It seems that we are full of offers lately. Hmm… presumptions aside, it's not reall… http://bit.ly/cpIgGJ […]
May 17th, 2010 - 03:26
“sharing” and “exchange”…..don’t forget “risk” in your models of micropolitical interaction!
the global markets certainly understand the concept of risk at a macroscale: is it nowhere to be found in the project of Mr. Twist or any of the other offers on hand at the level of the micro? and if so, who bears the risk: the one who “makes the offer”, the one who “must reciprocate”, or both?
it all sounds so very much like the “invisible hand” is steering the linguistic ship…..have we escaped a market mentality or is that even the point?
where does “imagination”, “memory” and “forgetting” play a role in the micropolitics of the offer? or is simply about avoiding the taxman?
May 17th, 2010 - 10:09
oh… this is by no means at the level of model yet, so yes, surely many parameters left out of the mix! that is the problem i think with the theorising of the microscale, i think, that it should be mistaken as a model to extrapolate back on top of the macro.
that said, your points are well-taken, thank you. i have far from escaped the market mentality, unfortunately, and have not yet a reasonable solution. this sort of attempt in ‘barter systems’ is not really a viable solution, but it’s where begin to play, i suppose…
and risk. perhaps it needs to mentioned (does it?), but it’s also integrally built into every relation, is it not? picking up the phone for the first time, the suspiciousness of the “free trial period”. nothing’s ever free, and imagination is always there to magnify or play down that risk. Memory is about forgiving and forgetting, maybe, but let’s start simply at the level of acknowledgement. I hope.
thank you…
May 17th, 2010 - 12:27
imagination is there to magnify or play down risk, as you say, yes, but it is capable of so much more than that, no? capable of conceiving possible but unlikely futures simply for the fact of having imagined them — or perhaps for finding new possibilities somewhere/when in between there/then and stasis?
and this is why, in my opinion, imagining these barter systems can precisely be described as “viable” if not a “solution” — eventually one might stumble towards possibilities that are not stasis. this is the risk you take: to imagine.
May 19th, 2010 - 22:07
have you read Boris Groys’ text on the loneliness of the project? this is the idea of the isolation that imagination gives, new possibilities that exist for you (trying to share), not yet put forth as their own object/subjectivities…
“viability”, i had to look up more precisely is a hint at “success” perhaps, actually a kind of solution. but everything that exists is there, attempts as well, even if they go on without response.
is imagination enough?
September 29th, 2010 - 03:18
[…] 我们今天开会之后，溜达外面去仔细看看一些野猫给我们留的平面保安。路边的评价包括了“是你们弄的吗？”，“真吓人”，“什么意思？看不懂”以及“你听过苏打绿的哥吗?” 对着墙考虑意义，异途和是否图像像曲哥，我们的思辨听起来美术馆里能偷听观众喳喳的讨论。发现了这个保安的创造者还是讲了“艺术”与“行动”的分别让我们回头老话题了。Activism? 白度了一下，激进导致action吗，那thinking和doing的出别在哪？那激进想法能否存在吗？ […]
September 29th, 2010 - 13:20
[…] Speculation about meaning, intention and whether or not the smiling figure looks like QU sound a lot like museum chitchat…”-Elaine, […]
April 3rd, 2012 - 23:10
[…] necessary materials/vocabulary list by e-mail to prepare for the debate.组织者 organised by__ 曲一箴 Twist QU 时间 posted on: 3 April 2012 | 发布者 author: twist | 评论 comment (0) | 分类 filed […]
May 14th, 2012 - 13:19
[…] necessary materials/vocabulary list by e-mail to prepare for the debate.组织者 organised by__ 曲一箴 Twist QU 时间 posted on: 14 May 2012 | 发布者 author: twist | 评论 comment (0) | 分类 filed […]