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On Michel Foucault. Of Other Space, Heterotopias.

'In the mirror, I see myself there where I am not, in an unreal, virtual space that opens up behind the surface: I am over there, there where I am not, a sort of shadow that gives my own visibility to myself, the enables me to see myself there where I am absent: such is the utopia of the mirror. But it is also a heterotopia in so far as the mirror does exist in reality, where it exerts a sort of counteraction on the position that I occupy. From the standpoint of the mirror I discover my absence from the place where I am since I see myself over there. Starting from this gaze that is, as it were, directed toward me, from the ground of this virtual space that is on the other side of the glass, I come back toward myself; I begin again to direct my eyes toward myself and to reconstitute myself there where I am.The mirror functions as heterotopia in this respect: it makes this place that I occupy at the moment when I look at myself in the glass at one absolutely real, connected with all the space that surrounds it, and absolutely unreal, since in order to be perceived it has to pass through this virtual point which is over there.’

When I think of what I have been doing, this passage says most about it. As a photographer, I use seeing as a conceptual tool to explore the experience of the feeling of an ambiguity in the atmosphere I live with in, which lurks in-between me and every other things. I interpret the fragments of reality in my photographs. But, more often, they are heterotopias in so far as the mirror doesn’t exist in reality. I capture the time and I create a space in another world, I direct people’s eyes into a virtual space.

Then, the new project that I am working on, at certain points, it has great involvement with heterotopias. The reflections from matt surface of acrylic, the translucency of images and color, the fragments of lights and images, the multiple projections, reflections in a limited space, it builds a world which is not a replica of the world I am living with, is a world that would only exist for a while.

Heterotopia, of ‘other’ spaces, places seems a based on a hypotheses. It would be interesting if we see it in architecture. Architecture(or buildings) are not made just once, it will be made and remade again and again. The different surrounding things change, various of visitors and users experienced it, the power of heteroptopia become stronger since the ‘architecture’ itself is already an idea of placeless place, it’s a conceptual purpose, too. It will be modified after using.

It has great deal with power, culture, society, development and lives, but I don’t really know can we based on this build a better world?

Lebbeus Woods, San Francisco Project: Inhabiting the Quake, Quake City, 1995. Graphite, colored pencil, pastel, acrylic, chromogenic print, paper, wood, and metal.

Heterotopia-3

Art Fair

Heterotopia-2 VR

Heterotopia-1 Spa Land in Busan. (The New York Times)

Postscript on the Societies of Controls

Gilles Deleuze

From the article, Deleuze pointed out ‘societies of control’ replaced the ‘disciplinary societies’. “The different internments or spaces of enclosure through which the individual passes are independent variables: each time one is supposed to start from zero, and although a common language for all these places exists, it is analogical. On the other hand, the different control mechanisms are inseparable variations, forming a system of variable geometry the language of which is numerical (which doesn't necessarily mean binary).”

This passage from the article, to me, is extremely interesting. At certain point, it has great involvement with ‘digitalize world’ and the phenomena of overusing social media. Even new force came and replaced the disciplinary societies, the crisis of societies of control emerged everywhere. It reminds of the documentary, Citizenfour, and the movie, Ex Machina. When people in such a totalitarianism country, China, are talking about how to escape from Chinese government’s monitor and ‘over-the-wall’ (proxy bypass) and use Google or Facebook, Snowden is telling people that NSA actually can remote monitor and control your laptop and your cellphone even they are turning off. Moreover, they could access all the data that you are using, all analyze your thinking.

In other words, you will never know you are the ‘producer’ who uploads photos or posts a tweet, or you are the ‘resource’ that is using by people you will never know. Are you collecting information or being collected? Take the advantage of Internet platform, people can contribute whatever they want, viewers can trust whatever they want to trust. The ‘potion’ became extremely ambiguous.

Art, is in the same situation. From Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, because of the revolution of mechanical reproduction, it broke the social barrier. Art was not exclusive in high society, it became accessible to everyone. In ‘society of control’, people consider art is not in an environment of enclosure, the art forms can be variable, there are tons of possibility to view art. The meaning of art is not only related to the forms, it opens so many possibilities to do with the mediums. When it left environment of enclosure, it enters into open circuit of the bank.

The Medium is the Message.-Marshall McLuhan

“An abstract painting represents direct manifestation of creative thought processes as they might appear in computer designs.”--pg.1 The invention of technology only makes sense when it extend human’s ability. For example, the airplane enlarged the scale of previous human functions, not just introduced a great improvement on transportations. So does anything. ‘Content’ become the crucial thing when human develope technologies. After reading the article, I immediately think of a familiar phenomenon and greatly affect the world.

‘The social media is the best advertising tool.’

Every time I visit Time Square, I always feel fainted by giant digital screens and revolutionary LED display. The merchants from all over the world, spend a sea of money to buy an advertisement that not last longer than 10 seconds in Time Square. For example, it cost between $1.1 millions and $4 millions a year to buy one of those flashy, digital or neon billboards. Why they are willing to spend that incredible amount of money just for a flashy advertisement? It thanks to our great invention of social media. There are 59.7 million tourists visit New York City in 2015, can you imagine how many photos that taken in Time Square will be uploaded to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr…etc during a year? The commercial videos and photos on the billboards are captured by tourists by using their cell phones or cameras, and those images and films are uploaded to social media, and maybe some of them are re-twit or share by their friends. Images and films are crazily circulated all over the world, those merchants who spend money in Time Square earned thousands times than they spend. Images of images, the power of images get peak in Time Square.

People trust their eyes more than they trust their ears, and the new obsession with images amazingly move forward from Posters, to televisions, to internet platforms. The camera with cell phone are not just a convenient tool for people to capture memories; the internet data and Wifi are not only for people to do online search anymore, the real ‘content’, or ‘message’ is to make the images and information explosions in the world.

The electric technologies changed our perceptions, and I believe it will keep increase participations. Art forms absolutely are influenced by this phenomena. What do we want people see? If we have an abstract idea, how do we count on new technologies to realized it and maximize the concepts. When I was ‘Sampling’ Megan’s work with digital process, I sometimes got lost in this digital world unconsciously. At very first, I was led by these digital software functions, it limits my thought to create a new work. Until I realized, I need to clearly know what I want to do, and by using the efficient, alterable and unreplacable tools to achieve my goals. Otherwise, the ‘content’ won’t never come out.

Neon Genesis Evangelion, 1995

Neon Genesis Evangelion gained widespread critical acclaim. Regarded as a critique and deconstruction of the mecha genre, the series has become a cultural icon and influenced an artistic and technical revival of the anime industry. Subsequent film, manga, home video and other products in theEvangelion franchise have achieved record sales in Japan and strong sales in overseas markets, and by 2013 gross revenues had reached over 150 billion yen (approximately $1.32 billion).(Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion)

In Defense of the Poor Image--Hito Steyerl

I really enjoyed this article, and I read it 4-5 times back and forth because it stimulates my brain as being a photographer. What exactly do we see today?

First of all, by finishing the reading at first glance, I immediately thought of a film which directed by a Taiwanese director, Edward Yang. The name of movie is A Brighter Summer Day, which was showed in the year of 1991 in Taiwan, but soon after it was first projected, it was taken down by the government intervening and never showed in the cinema again. Until 2009 World Cinema Foundation issued a restoration of A Brighter Summer Day, using the original 35mm camera and sound negatives provided by the Edward Yang Estate. Not until March 2016, the movie was finally released the restoration DVD by the American film production company, Criterion Collection. This was also the first time the movie officially published DVD.

Why the movie is related to theme poor images? First, it was made during the time Taiwan was in the White Terror. It was product of post-colonialism. Because the movie has dealt a lot of racial issues and class position in Taiwan, it was prohibited to show on the cinema. Second, hence, the copy of the movie was circulated on the internet for a long time but the low resolution and terrible quality destroyed the classic 35-mm film. No one can really have a chance to see the movie which the director would like to present to the audience. Third, the condition has to do with the post-socialist and post-colonial restructuring of nation states. It was reflected to the second passage that Steyerl said ‘Many works of avant-garde, essayistic and non-commercial cinema have been resurrected as poor images. Where the like it or not.’

And after I re-read the reading, the passage of Imperfect Cinema really draw me into it. Based on what Juan García Espinosa, he was expected the imperfect cinemas would able to provide a platform for people who have talent, who want to make videos or film to deliver their ideas to the world, thus, the images can be popular but not consumerist. It diminished the barrier between producer and consumer, author and audience, the development of video technology jeopardized the elitist position of traditional filmmaker and enable some sort of mass film production. However, Youtube and those new medias did actually provide the possibilities, in fact is incredible possibilities, it became more powerful than Juan García Espinosa thought. It allow experimental and artistic materials can be communicated on line, but simultaneously, many porn, hate speech or spam also greatly circulated on the world.

That’s why I put up a image of a very influential Japanese animation, Neon Genesis Evangelion in the blog. At the time, Japanese really look forwarded and used film to provoke people think about racial, religion and technology, people came out brilliant works during that period. But now, the poor image reveals the decline and degradation of the film essay, or indeed any experimental and non-commercial cinema, which in many places was made possible because the production of culture was considered a task of the state. But now, these things are seldom to be seen or to be expected. Toward the end of the reading, it was interesting he was talking about what the “origniality’, does original origianility really matter? The reality is the period of time we are living with, if we care about aura, then we must understand ‘the aura is no longer based on the ‘orgianl’, nit on the transience of the copy.’

(Young Kafka) 1931, Walter Benjamin in A Short History of Photography, he first illustrated the concept of ‘Aura’ in his writing by using young Franz Kafka’s portrait as an example. He used ‘Aura’ to depict extremely depressive eyes of a little boy. When the techniques of photography were still undeveloped, people couldn’t learn about the world from an overall perspective. Hence, the melancholic and helpless hunted people, there was always an ‘Aura’ surrounding them. From the book, Benjamin was trying to mourn the death of the holiness of traditional artworks. However, toward the disappearance of ‘Aura’, he did not see them in a nostalgia way. In other words, he didn’t simply ofeel sad for the loss of ‘Aura’ in secret works, but he proposed a refresh points of view to see arts and utilized arts, especially in politics and revolutions. Although he felt this new trend resulted in the difference of capitalism, but this was the best value of it.

The uniqueness of artworks disappeared, and it helped to diminish the barrier between high-end culture and low cultures. Mr. Benjamin was in a positive way to see the change happened, he felt the technology can stimulate art to be liberated from middle classes. Free the Art.

Televisions, radios, projectors, personal computers...etc were sprouted after films and cameras, those new technologies all are the forces to make cultures change. Perhaps, pop cultures eliminate wars of Nationalism, but it also brought some negative results. The disappearance of ‘Aura’, was one of that, I thought.

However, in the other hand, if we see this transition in a more practical way, the value of paintings and sculptures weren’t decreased under this circumstance. Instead of it, the value of them was surprisingly increased to a different level. Overall, as the rapid development of technologies, it didn’t only change the way of making and viewing arts; moreover, it affected the cultures and society. In his theories, viewers are not only there to accept what society feed them, what art wants to tell them. The function of arts has already surpassed the artist him/herself, becoming a tool of changing life, causing a soft revolutions in our life.

#walter benjamin #photography

Andy Warhol's Brillo Box | 1964 | Acrylic and Silkscreen on Plywood

#andywarhol #Brillobox #mass production

04.08.2016 Peter Fischli David Weiss: How to Work Better @ Guggenheim Museum

From “How to Work Better”, I found a very interesting thing is that every time when I look at the works, I am always curious about what or how did they do. It more like I am always wondering how did they make the works out, it’s all about particle things. However, Fischli and Weiss work always fresh my mind and stimulating me to begin to think about how did they behave and present in this space. We, the viewers, know what we are looking at, but Fischli and Weiss are using exhibitions to provoke the audience to re-examine those already known things and care about it. They are gathering up people’s attention and curiosity, and then throwing out a question for the viewers to find their own answers through their works.

Sausage Series, 1979 ‘Sausage Series’ is the first project that Fischli and Weiss worked together, it includes ten photographs. I was totally drawn into these series of works since my works are mainly dealing with everyday objects. Sometimes, people left a comment on my works by saying that was nonsense or they didn’t have any ideas about these ugly objects. But what is art? Is art always related to traditional beauty? In this series of photos, people can see many creative combinations of interesting objects, especially most of them are everyday objects, for example, like cigarettes butts, breakfast meats, toilet paper or egg containers…etc. However, those objects are never considered as an appropriate content for fine art field at the time. However, the creatively staged photos did bring up people’s noticing and in some degree reflected artists to think about what’s their aesthetic sense.

Suddenly This Overview, 1981- More than two hundred clays are displayed together, I was shocked by the number of works. When I passed by them the first time, I just gave it a quick look glance and didn’t look at each work closely. However, after I saw most of the works in the museum, I stopped at there and found many interesting things from the clay. Again, everyday objects and scenes appeared in the works, such as a life-size bread, peanuts and so on. Besides, there are many famous people and a current society phenomenon or historical moments. I love the way how they labeled and titled their works, it gave me a shock and suddenly I could get it. For example, there is a work called: Two men made by man. It is very ironic that human always positions themselves as God. We create life and dominate the world, but so what? There is also one more called: ‘Tourist’, there is a person holds a camera and taking a picture of a man standing in front of a tourist spot. I laughed when I saw it, but I took out my camera and took a picture of this work. I think they really created a sense of humor on joking people’s behavior.

I do really love this show and it gave me a lot of inspirations of making works!

#intersection511

04.06.206 What Is Missing by Maya Lin @ NYPL

“The tension and the beauty created by the two states of mind as an architect and an artist.”

From Lin’s conversation with Holdengräber on Wednesday night, I was very impressive by Lin’s character shifting between an architect and an artist. “An architect has to let people know what you do, it is logical, and it is completely opposite to artists. Art is all about instinct.” Lin embraces these two characters and carefully maintains the balance between art and architecture, creating many remarkable works.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which she designed when she was a student at Yale University 30 years ago, is a lack of realistic statuary of most war memorials. However, It still remains its powerful image for most people who have ever seen it. The extraordinary black wall is gradually hidden into nature, but suddenly in a turn, it starts to emerge from the landscape, getting taller and longer. This V-shape black wall with the name who is killed during the war, is like a scar that wants hide as if out of shame, but we all know it can be hidden. Through her design, Lin’s wants everyone to remember the price of human life we paid in war clearly. And that’s is the reason why she wondered at the ‘abstraction’ of the design since the strength in the name is too huge to be known.

In her last project, ‘What is Missing’, she is trying to raise people’s awareness about the crisis surrounding in our environment. She is sticking with nature by her passion, and she dedicates herself to it by making many installations and sculptures. Her artworks are very abstractive, but simultaneously very provocative. For example, 2015 she had exhibited two works, Disappearing Bodies of Water: Aral Sea and Water Line at Orlando Museum of Art. She is concerning about a particular island in the world is facing the crisis of raising water every year, and it might disappear very quickly. She developed a topographic rendering of the seascape first, and then fabricated aluminum tubes. She has the talent to convey complex and poetic ideas using very simple forms and mediums, and these sculpture forms embody meanings. She is aware of that people are always accept what for us, but we have so little time, that is so short that people can’t notice things. Her works always provide us opportunities to experience the pure moment with our sensors opened.

#intersection511

03.30. 2016

Zaha Hadid and Maxxi Museum

Zaha Hadid is one of the great female architects in the world, and she is also the first women who received the Pritzker Prize, which is the most reputable award in architecture. People described Hadid by saying ‘Hadid is an uncrowned queen of contemporary iconic architecture.’

Maxxi Museum, a museum of XXI century arts and architecture, is located in Rome, Italy, officially opening in 2010. Hadid’s prime idea is to make the building itself as a work of arts to link the connection between audience, works and architecture.

Hadid began this project in 2000, but it took more or less than 10 years to completed this ‘work’. As a woman architect, she has another perspective to see architecture. Hadid is a caring and loving person like most women are, and this characteristic have a strong influent on her design. She is aware of surrounding, and she is willing to spend a lot of time to observe things and listen to the people. In today’s world, people, who no matter are politicians, doctors or a government, they dedicated their self to their professional and trying to change the world. However, more and more people are always trying to find a right answer to the wrong question. In other words, they don’t know what is really necessary because they never observe their everyday life, they never listen to the heart. Women as sensitive creature, Hadid has more tolerance than other male architects, and she knows how to use these characteristics of female wisely to performance outstandingly in architecture.

In one of her most famous work, the Maxxi Museum, she made the museum was no longer a ‘container’ with art anymore. She created a interactive and dynamic space for audience to freely move in there, and her aims is let the continuity of spaces lead people enjoy the art much more freely and comfortably. Besides, the natural lighting that comes in by thin concrete on the ceiling make the pathways more vibrant, and guiding the audience walk through the museum and ends in the large and special third floor.

No matter women has been beaten by men in career performance, especially in architectural field, but at the same time, women have the advantage that men is lack for. Zaha Hadid believes architecture is all about wellbeing, and the main task is to make people feel well in the place where they live, where they work. She has her ambitious to turn his design into reality and being exciting to see the change of world by architecture.

#intersection511

Highline and Whitney Museum / March 04 2016

High Line, from eleventh street to thirty-seventh street, and it is still expanding to the north. This little park provided New Yorkers a new green place to breath fresh air, and it also attracts tons of visitors from all over the world. The value of High Line grew higher , so this area became a new spot for real estates, and it also a great place for gathering art and commerce. However, this gradually became an issue for us to take it into a serious consideration of our life.

In 2014, Ricardo Scofidio, the designer of High Line, has said to Dezeen in an interview, “Our job is defend High Line from Architecture. But people don’t get it.” And the co-founder of Scofido added that, “A lot of people think it's this big architectural statement. It wasn't – it was really pulling-back from architecture.”

High Line revives the romance of industrial brawn, and the dedicated to greening the place. So when we walk on the trail, we will see the grass grow between the concrete planks. Trees are surrounding in the park, public art are everywhere on the trail. Morevover, Maintenances are trying super hard to protect the greens and making High Line become an alive architecture. I remember on last Friday, I saw few maintenance taking photos of new blossoms with big smiles. I believe Diller Scofidio’s purpose High Line Trail Park is to invite people to enjoy and relax here and temporary get away from the city. As those designed wooden deck chairs on the train wheel slide along the rails, artworks are displayed on the rail make High Line a lively art gallery. Nature, society and design are closely simulating each other.

However, High Line not only lights up this nice area, it also brings a dramatic impact to the citizens. That is right, more people come in than government anticipated, but not only people, it is actually more of everything. More and more transcendent buildings for luxury residence were built here after High Line. Hence, the price of condos went higher and higher every year, so do the rents. Therefore, everyone attaches to it simply because of the value in there.

It’s hard to define the good or bad in this circumstance because the city is changing every day. The city is always engaging with people, then it comes out with culture and art and forms our life and society.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century is the time of Modernism, culture changed, art forms were affected as well. Traditional sculptures ended, simultaneously, a renown sculptor, Auguste Rodin lead people entering a new era of sculpture- Modern Sculpture. In terms of Modern Sculpture, in general, it means the western sculptures popped out after Auguste Rodin and Aristide Mailllol. Artist got rid of the confines of traditional classic sculptures and dying to pursue new ideas and values of sculptures. They abandoned old skills, undesired skills, traditional value of making sculpture. In other words, they didn’t want to be rational anymore, and they didn’t imitate natures. Instead, they followed their heart, they listened to their own ideas, emotions, so they got away from nature, they intended to arrange nature and show natures itself. More important was they immersed theirselves into their works.

A French sculptor, Antoine Bourdelle had stated that “Sculpture and architecture shall share their laws.” In 1912, the relief sculptures he made for Théâtre des Champs Elysées, and in 1907, he decorated the theatre of the Grevin Museum, these two works were the best examples his advocacy.

Recently, I watched a documentary, Unfinished Space. The documentary is about Cuba's ambitious National Art Schools project, designed by three young artists in the wake of Castro's Revolution, is neglected, nearly forgotten, then ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece. In the film, Ricardo Porro, who was in charged of the school of fine art in Cuba's National Art Schools. He believed in sculptures and architectures should be put in the same position to be considered. Architecture didn’t only serve the function of useful, and sculptures were not just related to aesthetics. Architecture, is a large-scale sculptures that people could enter in and live with it. Beyond this ideas, his designs was fully represented the idea that sculptures and architectures share their laws.

These two medias begun to have elements of fusion, and nowadays we can see this idea everywhere in our life. For examples, the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which designed by Santiago Calatrava. According to this architect, the building symbolized an eagle, and the façade is apparently the building you think it woule be. When I saw it, it is hard for me to appreciate that by either aesthetic or functional way. I think that is a great fusion of these two elements. And we got more and more...

Feb. 19 The Noguchi Museum

It has been a long time I am longing for visiting the Noguchi Museum because I have heard so many incredible description and visiting experience from my artists and architects friends. They talked about how amazing collections that the Noguchi Museum has, and they also loved the way how the museum space interacts with the sculptures. However, based on the location is far for me to travel to queens, I have never got a chance to visit there. I am so glad that we made this field trip to the Noguchi museum, and I am thinking to come back again during the weekends.

Firstly, I would like to say although at first the location of the Noguchi museum is the major issue that I feel kind of lazy to travel to, the location is really amazing in my first impression. It located in Astoria, and there are some factories and a Costco in that area. You will never imagined how come there is a fancy museum exists there. I feel the location is also a big factor makes this museum so unique.

After enter the museum, here is another story. The façade of the museum doesn’t really look that much charming as other museums in New York, so I wouldn’t have high expectation when I walked into the museum. However, I was totally wrong. I hold my breath when I was entering the first area. Those sculptures in the area one were just like they were born there. It perfectly fit into the space, and create a magnificent atmosphere of it.

Thirdly, we looked at his marble piece, even I am not a sculptor, I was so surprised how he used this elegant and fancy medium creating a neutral sculpture. His works are not grid as itself, by the sequencing and presenting ways, I could feel the dynamic energy in the air. His works are not quiet. Instead, his work is not only speaking of itself, sculptures are talking to each other in the room. They are alive.

In the second floor, there are some models of his public projects. The Slide Mentra, Intetra Mist Fountain, Society for the Four Arts, Play Mountain, some were built, some were not. I really appreciate how Isamu Noguchi using sculptures in large scale to provoke another meaning of arts.

The Noguchi Museum is like a great book, it matters with one subject, one artist, one space. However, it is incredibly deep into a person’s concepts, life and works. I feel I am in an extraordinary wide scope to see Noguchi’s works here, and I really obsessed with it.

#intersection511 #noguchi #isamu noguchi #astoria

Grayson Cox, Half Story Mountain

“The ‘in-between’ has always been a theme in my work…it is definitely the glue for everything I have ever made. The realm of the ‘in-between’ is innately awkward and I like exploring that.”–Grayson Cox

The very first feeling toward me when I saw Cox’s Half Story Mountain, I immediately think about the meaning of chair in Plato. How can you tell this is art or not since it wasn’t placed in a gallery or a museum. Let’s imagine this: when you are invited into a room, and there are two chairs: one is the common chair with four legs and made by wood, the other one is Cox’s Half Story Mountain. Which one would you choose to sit on it? I believe most people will go straight to the common wooden chair. However, this sculpture also offers a space for sitting on. Moreover, let’s think about it: when you visit a gallery, there are two chairs in the gallery space: one is a common wooden chair, and the other on is Cox’s Half Story Mountain. Which one you will praise as a great art work? I guess most people will go for Cox’s.

People know what are they looking for if they have intention to do something. However, public art is another story. Like what Cox’s said in an interview: “I think public art it is a very tricky arena in which to work, because it is very hard to make a good piece of public art. Usually, viewers hate it, and it often becomes a focus for criticism. Conversely, within a gallery or museum space, people come in knowing they are going to be looking at art and so they have already adhered to the idea of seeing “art.” Especially, when this work is placed in the campus, what’s the role of it? It seems like no one will take it into a serious consideration. There is not authorship of the artwork, people put much more emphasis on how this object juxtapose with the space. For me, there are a bunch of sculpture located in anywhere in Pratt campus. They are not only playing a significant role of decorating our campus, it also stimulates our thought of art. Like, when Half Story Mountain can be see as an artwork, at same time if offer a rest place for students and educators. Therefore, for me, I will start to think about what functions does art serve in our daily life? It’s not only about aesthetic, it always concerns our value.

#intersection511

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