I have a new Chinese language blog!

I just started a new blog at artintern.net which is a website that is  a combination between wordpress, facebook and an online art magazine. If you want to take a look you can find it athttp://blog.artintern.net/emilyorzech

I realized that my English language website, with its drop-down menus, isn’t much fun to navigate if you don’t speak English (at any rate I hate navigating complicated menus in other languages), and I hope my new blog at artintern will be both more approachable for Chinese speakers and more in touch with web culture here. I figured it would also be good Chinese practice for me. One of the troubles of studying art is that unlike many of my fellow Fulbrighters my project is visual, so my reading and writing skills can get very rusty. I am using a little add-on to Firefox called para-kun which helps me learn to read the drop-down menus.

I only started the blog today, but am already enjoying it because it immediately connects me to a large art community (imagine Facebook just for people who are obsessed with art). The interface is quite easy to use. It has “posts”and microblog style sections, ways of following other artists, the ability to link to or collect blog posts you like, and a gallery that can hold multiple different portfolios.

When I started the blog I had anticipated just setting up something basic in Chinese as a substitute for my English language website, but now I am planning on spending time browsing– it is a great way to see other artist’s work and get a better sense of what is going on in the art scene (and practicing my language along the way).

I know in the past I have heard artists mention how important micro-blogging and social networking has become for creating connections between artists and sharing work, especially as Beijing continues to expand and people live farther away from each other. I have always been a bit daunted by the language barrier, as well as the way in which each form of social media seems to eat time in the day. On the other hand, this platform is particularly appealing to me as an entry point because it is so image heavy. I feel like I can learn a lot about artists and share in the community even if my language is not at all up to par.