Sylvie Boisseau, Frank Westermeyer

The video installation “Chinese an Advantage” by Sylvie Boisseau and Frank Westermeyer is situated in a language school in Stuttgart. Within the same location, and in the same language, we experience different goals in Chinese language courses: German adults extend the meaning of their identity, while children from Chinese backgrounds (re-)construct the feeling of belonging to their culture. The observer follows the language students in two projections; their personally written dialogues express a view of the foreign country of China and demonstrate historical, social and literary references. The design of the book illustrates the dialectics of both positions as well as the reciprocal direction of migration movements using exhibition shots and video stills. The essays by an author from Germany and an author from Hong Kong discuss cultural, artistic and performative aspects.