Have You Seen...
Site-specific Interactive Installation (14-day), 2023
The art installation is a site-specific and time-specific design to Bahen during the time of the final period, intending to fight against the special depressing, stressful and anxiety here solely by itself by providing a space for students to relax and take a breath. This site serves as the primary location for various science classes, including engineering, mathematics, computer science, and more.
I have collected dozens of photos from my friends as the starters, and the intention of the artwork is to let the students passing-by to bring their photos of pets to the artwork during the weeks where the installation intends to stay at the site, and gradually and eventually the viewers collectively interact and become members of the producer of this installation, with a huge board of photos of little animals in the end. This artwork intends to challenge the stereotype of art being the pedestal of aloofness and obscurity. It ought to be a vibrant and accessible expression intimately connected to the rhythms of everyday life. Instead of residing in an ivory tower, art should weave itself into the fabric of the mundane, resonating with the universal experiences, joys, and struggles that define our existence.
The inspiration specifically comes from a friend of mine who has been studying in this building quite a lot, and really really wants to put up photos of her cats everywhere in this building but didn’t actually do it. This artwork offers her and many other students a chance to show off their little animal friends.
P.s. More about the site: personally, I've attended numerous math classes in this building over the past few years. The atmosphere has often been depressing, with dim lighting and a lack of aesthetic appeal. Personally but also shared among most students, the emotions associated with this building are usually in the direction of anxiety, stress, a sense of failure and suffocation, which are due to struggles over math for me personally. Interestingly, I've observed that many of my STEM peers do share very similar feelings about this place.
Instruction-Based T-shirt
Interactive Installation (3min45s), 2024
The audio
This interactive installation centers on a simple white T-shirt and a single instruction given to viewers. Each participant is assigned a tool—eyeliner, scissors, Dixit cards, bandages, or others—and asked to alter the T-shirt in any way they choose, guided by a four-minute audio track. Communication and tool-sharing among viewers are encouraged, creating a space for collaboration and spontaneity. The audio acts as a catalyst, driving irreversible transformations to the T-shirt through the interplay of human interaction, personal interpretation, and fleeting thoughts. As viewers engage, their actions layer meaning onto the shirt, reflecting themes of uncertainty, the passage of time, human connection, and resistance to alienation.
Specifically, uncertainty permeates the installation, as viewers navigate the ambiguity of the instruction and the unpredictable outcomes of their interactions with the T-shirt. Each action undertaken becomes a manifestation of this uncertainty, leaving an irreversible mark on the object and contributing to its evolving narrative. Also, the passage of time is palpable as viewers engage with the T-shirt over the course of the audio track. As the remix of sound samples plays, moments unfold in real-time, echoing the transient nature of experience and the inevitability of change. Thirdly, human interaction and the theme of anti-alienation lie at the heart of the installation as these interpersonal connections infuse the artwork with a sense of shared experience and collective creativity.
Specifically, uncertainty permeates the installation, as viewers navigate the ambiguity of the instruction and the unpredictable outcomes of their interactions with the T-shirt. Each action undertaken becomes a manifestation of this uncertainty, leaving an irreversible mark on the object and contributing to its evolving narrative. Also, the passage of time is palpable as viewers engage with the T-shirt over the course of the audio track. As the remix of sound samples plays, moments unfold in real-time, echoing the transient nature of experience and the inevitability of change. Thirdly, human interaction and the theme of anti-alienation lie at the heart of the installation as these interpersonal connections infuse the artwork with a sense of shared experience and collective creativity.
Cyber-mirror
Interactive Installation, 2024
This artwork explores the multiplicity of reflection in a digitized world, addressing how technology fragments and reconstructs our sense of self through multiple layers of imagery and surveillance. It confronts the tension between agency and control in an increasingly digitized world by raising questions and awareness about how much of our self-perception is shaped by technology and how this continual reflection impacts our sense of reality. Also, the setup invites viewers to become participants in the cycle of reflection and projection. Their presence is captured by cameras and re-presented through screens and projectors, blurring the lines between the observer and the observed.
Artifitially Created I: Waterfalls
Interactive Installation, 2023
The artwork intends to present my experience during a one-week trip to Alberta, Canada to its fullest. It seeks to explore the possibility of conveying sensory experiences through art, with an emphasis on immersiveness.
This intention is achieved through the careful placement of all elements. The artwork is an immersive corner setup featuring two waterfalls projected onto the wall—one stationary and one floating—accompanied by the sound of waterfalls, scattered texts from class readings assigned during the trip, and photos I took during the trip, anchored by rocks. It invites participants to engage by walking closer, removing their shoes, and interacting with the elements in the room. Before entering, viewers are guided by ribbon signs on the floor leading to the room, after seeing the backpack and other items I brought on the trip.
Thus, the setup conceptually and visually represents my experience, enhanced by its immersive component. Viewers are encouraged to explore the piles of photos and texts, imagining my experience amidst sublime landscapes and the pressures of schoolwork.
Finals
Installation, 2022
The artwork aims to memorialize the collective experience of educational institutions: the 'final' period of an academic term. It portrays a study environment during finals, emphasizing a stressful, anxious, and messy atmosphere. While the artwork freezes a collective experience derived from my personal experience, placing it in an institutional gallery setting opens up a discussion about presenting subjects like 'the collective experience of finals,' which are less conventional in art institutions. It pushes back against the focus on specific topics, such as major social issues, that dominate white cubes while neglecting others. It proposes the possibility of incorporating a broader spectrum of experiences, particularly shared memories, into these institutions instead.