TJONG Ballisman Chun Chi, Ballis
395-437-4680 2020
395-437-4680
TJONG Ballisman Chun Chi, Ballis is an artist who desperately practices art in order to challenge everything that matters to him. Literally, everything, with this statement included. TJONG Ballisman Chun Chi, Ballis Artist Statement, 2020 156 characters in 27 words with 24 spaces and 5 punctuations Dimensions variable
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Content
p.4 p.5 p.6
Object Label Concept Map Project Timeline
p.8 p.9-10 p.11
On Anti-Mimesis Self Previous Works on Anti-Mimesis Reference Works on Anti-Mimesis
p.13 p.14-15
On Participatory Art Reference Works on Participatory Art
p.16 p.17
Idea #1 - Insider & Outsider Reference Works on Video-based Art
p.18-21 p.22
Idea #2 - In Between Yellow and Blue Reference Works on Interactive Art
p.23-25 p.26-28
Idea #3 - Lennon Wall Idea #4 - Virtual Lennon Wall
p.30 p.31
On Rhizome Reference Works on Rhizome
p.32 p.33-34
Finalise Idea - Software-based Participatory Art Writing for Permission to the Software Developer
p.35 p.36-38 p.39-40
Methodology Work Installation Final Outcome
p.41-42
Bibliography
p.43
Acknowledgement
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Object Label
TJONG Ballisman Chun Chi, Ballis 395-437-4680, 2020 Software-based Participatory Art Dimensions variable “Art today is a new kind of instrument, an instrument for modifying consciousness and organizing new modes of sensibility. And the means for practicing art have been radically extended. Indeed, in response to this new function (more felt than clearly articulated), artists have had to become selfconscious aestheticians: continually challenging their means, their materials and methods.” The work title, 395-437-4680 is a zoom meeting ID for anyone to join. The year of work, 2020 is the password. Any sound be made by participants would alter the speech recognition process and contribute to a reinterpretation of Susan Sontag’s One Culture and New Sensibility.
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Concept Map
Yi-fu Tuan’s Escapism
Arthr Zmijewski’s Applied Social Art
Rene Girard’s “Mimetic Theory & Scapegoat”
Gilles Deleuze’s Difference & Repetition
Tao Hui’s Hello Finale!
Katerina Seda’s There is Nothing There
Arthr Zmijewski’s THEM
Theoretical Research
Susan Sontag’s Against Interpretation
Artwork Research
Banksy’s Shredding of ‘Girl with Balloon’ in the Auction House Guy Debord’s Situationist International
Form : Participatory Art
Artist : Anti-Mimesis Artwork Research
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Theoretical Research
Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain Nicholas Bourriaud’s Relational Aesthetic Claire Bishop’s Artificial Hell
Lennon Wall
Content : Rhizome Artwork Research
Daniel Joseph Martinez’s Divine Violence
Theoretical Research
Susan Sontag’s One Culture and the New Sensibility
Bert Olivier’s
Danh Vo’s We the People
Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari’s Situated experience, A Thousand Plateaus : " the space of flows " , Capitalism and Schizophrenia and rhizomatic thinking
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Project Timeline Project Development
Theoretical Research
Susan Sontag’s Sep 2019
Oct 2019
Self-Evaluation on Previous Works
Idea #1Insider & Outsider
Artwork Research
Marcel Duchamp’s Banksy’s Shredding of
Rene Girard’s “Mimetic Theory & Scapegoat”
in the Auction House
Yi-fu Tuan’s
Yayoi Kusama’s
Gilles Deleuze’s
Arthr Zmijewski’s Nov 2019
Material Exploration Radio Intervention & Video Installation
Dec 2019
Idea #2 In Between Yellow and Blue
Arthr Zmijewski’s
Issac Chong Wai’s
Claire Bishop’s
Jan 2020
Material Exploration 3D Rendering
Katerina Seda’s Claire Bishop’s
Nicholas Bourriaud’s
Tao Hui’s
Guy Debord’s
Ellen Pau’s Pik Lai Chu Series
Henri Lefebvre’s Feb 2020
Idea #3 Lennon Wall
Mar 2020
Idea #4 Virtual Lennon Wall
Apr 2020
Material Exploration Frame Testing
May 2020
Finalise Idea Software-based Participatory Art
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Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus : Capitalism and Schizophrenia
Lennon Wall
Daniel Joseph Martinez’s
Bert Olivier’s Danh Vo’s
Jacques Attali’s Susan Sontag’s
Finalise Methodology
Jun 2020
Rem Koolhaas’
Work Installation Final Outcome
Tjong Ballisman Chun Chi
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On Anti-Mimesis
Explanation on Anti-Mimesis Mimesis, traditional value and the ‘follow-the rule’ behaviours followed with a nature of collective, logically lead to a formation of majority demography, anyone within this demography could be considered as an insider or one who tried to form a strong bond, a be-friended relationship with others. Anti, avant-garde creature or anyone who tried to ‘break-the-rule’, under the comparison with the majority, turns out to be relatively or dramatically a minority, an outsider and empathetically alienated from the demography.
Problematic of Anti-Mimesis Be anti-mimesis is like adopting the escapism towards mimetic theory, which I refer anti-mimesis to what Tuan Yi-fu mentioned about the problematic issue of human who attempted to be unique1. In convention, major human activities encourage and instil a sense of belongings, such as the functional use of communal singing, which Tuan used to support his point of view2. The one who tried to pursue genuine freedom would inevitably be stereotyped as the one of escapism, as people don’t recognise this kind of freedom and authorise a privilege to such ‘uniqueness’, they see the one who being anti-mimesis as delirium3 and undergoes the mimetic rivalry, anti-mimesis is always a failure in the norm of imitative nature of human behaviour, this is part of the explanation of how persecution is being formed, and the ‘wannabe’ special one suffered from treated as a victim under the scapegoat mechanism and significantly be alienated4.
Anti-Mimesis as Strategy Anti and Mimesis are inseparable, like what Gilles Deleuze wrote about Difference which ”is not and cannot be thought in itself”5, the moment we see one is doing the anti thing, it presupposes that the one else is doing mimesis. Only if we know what the form is the one mimicking, then we could come up with a solution to anti it. For me, anti-mimesis would be a way to explore new possibilities, like to think out of the box, to know the limitation, what forms the limitation and the connotation behind it, then to selectively challenge it. It should be like, I first try my best to mimic, if I master well on how to mimic, then I will also be capable to challenge it. In response to the concern brought by Sontag, art is not meant to be a parody6, art should maintain it imitative relation with life, but also, as human, should be also capable to add intelligence onto the instinct.
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Yi-fu Tuan, ’Uniqueness’, Escapism, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 82-84.
2Yi-fu
Tuan, ’Touch and Communal Singing’, Escapism, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 92-93.
René Girard, ‘Delirium as System’, ‘To Double Business Bound’: Essays on Literature, Mimesis, and Anthropology, London: Athlone, 1988, Print: 84-120. 3
Rahel Jaeggi, Frederick Neuhouser, and Alan E. Smith, Alienation, New Directions in Critical Theory. New York : Columbia University Press, 2016: 2, from: Ebsco Host Library, https://search-ebscohost-com.lib-ezproxy.hkbu.edu.hk/login.aspx? direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=853672&site=ehost-live. (accessed October 10, 2019). 4
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Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, London: Athlone Press. 1994: 262.
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Susan Sontag, ‘Against Interpretation’, Against Interpretation, London: Vintage, 1994: 3-14.
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Self Previous Work on Anti-Mimesis I pick out some of my previous works which are cohered or relate to the ideas of Anti-Mimesis: Below is the artist statement / Artist Statement I put up earlier in September 2019, I intended to challenge the conventional form of writing an artist statement, to examine what Susan Sontag suggested, be ‘Against Interpretation’7. In Sontag essay, she mentioned the Platonic doctrine of mimesis that ‘art is imitating life’8, and also the Rene Girard’s mimetic theory, in a way to explain how collective and imitative humans’ desire is9.
Ballis Tjong as an artist, desperately takes art practice, to challenge everything matters to him. Literally, everything. This statement included. Ballis Tjong, Artist Statement, 2019.
121 characters in 20 words with
14 spaces and 6 punctuations.
Dimension variable.
To extend the above playful idea of switching form and content, I decided to keep this adding object label thing to my first presentation of the Honours Project. The presentation is assigned to follow the PechaKucha Style, which each presentation slides could last for strictly 20 seconds. I was seeking the best way to make my presentation absolutely accurate on time, therefore I made it in a video form with all my speeches recorded.
Ballis Tjong, First Presentation for Honours Project, 16 October 2019.
5 minutes of recording with 15 pages of presentation slides. Dimension variable. 7
Sontag, ‘Against Interpretation’ : 3-14.
Ibid. Hereby I additionally referred to Oscar Wilde, ’Decay of Lying’, Intentions, Literary Classics, Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2004: 1-56, Wilde mentioned about the Aristotles’ doctrine of life imitates art than art imitates life. 8
René Girard, and Robert Doran, ‘Innovation and Repetition’, Mimesis and Theory : Essays on Literature and Criticism, 1953-2005, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2008: 230-245. 9
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- ‘timeless’, an interactive installation I made to simulate a funeral, a ceremony which breakthrough the convention of duration, make it as an on loop event instead of the original form of one-off and with a linear rundown, to keep an ongoing remembrance to my mother (see fig. 1, 2 & 3).
Fig. 1: (Left) Ballis Tjong, ‘timeless’, 2018, leap motion sensor, projectors and moving images on loop on crumpled papers with music excerpt from ‘A Flower is not a Flower’ by Ryuichi Sakamoto, dimension variable.
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‘no rainbow’, a silkscreen printing project (fig. 4) which I later proposed relocating it at the Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, to challenge the backward conception towards same-sex marriage in Hong Kong, additionally. I would like to express my distrust to marriage in a discreetly and ambiguously way (fig. 5).
Fig. 4: Ballis Tjong, ‘no rainbow’, 2018, silkscreen printing, acrylic on black paper, 210mm x 297mm.
Fig. 5: Ballis Tjong, Modelling of ‘no rainbow’ Project, 2019, Site-specific work proposal, silk screen printing on chiffon and wrap up the ceiling of the walkway at Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, 210mm x 297mm x 150mm.
For the Artist Statement and Presentation slides, the notion of Anti-Mimesis is more focus on the form of work, the representation which is more ontological. And for timeless and the no rainbow series, what I intended to challenge is more on the conceptual side, the subject matter.
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Reference Works on Anti-Mimesis
I look up to two references of other artists’ work, which are renowned for their notion of being against, anti and somehow hostile the modern society with its collective and mimesis feature:
- Fountain by Marcel Duchamp, a ready-made piece which caused universal controversial by how Duchamp was challenging the form of art, the context the object itself was hardly perceived as an artwork, due to its nature of ready-made, the original function and more crucially the public perception to ‘what is it’, as anyone could tell that ‘this is just a urinal’ (fig. 6).
Fig. 6: Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), Fountain (Fontaine; Urinoir), 1917, replica made in 1964. readymade, place: Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, image from: Tate Modern, https:// www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573 (accessed October 10, 2019).
- Shredding of ‘Red Balloon Girl’ in the Auction House or Shredding of ‘Red Balloon Girl’ in the Auction House by Banksy, like the paperwork process I struggled in the above line, aside from the print, should the behaviour of Banksy, from his installation made in 2006, to the action executed in 2018 also be considered as an art? This could be inexhausted and endless discourse base on who as an audience and how they perceive art and take it into account (fig. 7).
Fig. 7: Banksy (1973-), Shredding of ‘Girl with Balloon’ in the Auction House, screenprint in colours, 2004, inscribed 'AP DN' in pencil and numbered 112/600, on wove paper, with the blindstamp of the publisher, pictures on walls, framed sheet: 659 by 499 mm 25-7/8 by 19-5/8 in, built-in shredder in the frame, 2006, for auction sale at Sotheby's, London, 2018, image from: Sothebys, https://www.sothebys.com/en/ buy/ auction/2019/important-prints-and-multiples-day-sale/ banksy-girl-with-balloon?locale=zh-Hant (accessed October 10, 2019).
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On Participatory Art To form the relation between this Project to my studio practice in AVA, the main art form I would adopt and explore would be Participatory Art. Audience as Collaborator, Participator or Spectator
From Claire Bishop’s critique on Participatory Art10, 3 hierarchies of the audience role are categorised:
Collaborator is like a shared stake-holder of the work, in this stage the work authorisation is not deliberated to the artist, but also spread to everyone who participates in the work, their way of participation could trump the author intention of creating the work, the outcome the connotation of work is not fixed, the problem is that the meaning of making a participatory art in this way would self destroy a message articulation, it becomes a discussion which would loosen up and too openended. Participator is more controlled and following the workflow, a more typical example is to provide multiple choice for audience to respond to the work in their own way, like Zimjewski’s THEM, it is designed that the only platform for expression is painting on the canvas or take action within that space, as in this work, the canvas is a metaphor and reflection of how a society is constructed, no matter what they do to the canvas, it metaphor what they would do to the society, reflecting their social role and responsibilities. But still, the possibilities are many and could be unexpected, audience participations are still necessary to make the work complete. Spectator is a tricky one I would say, because it is inevitably dominating part of the trend of some interactive media work, like the renowned TeamLab or Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirror Room, It does create an effect when there is audience encountered, but the participatory is so weak and vague, it does not change much or contributed any meaning to the work, because the work display is so static, the changed is so calculated and scripted. Artist as Involved Observer Arthr Zmijewski manifested to be an ‘involved observer’ in response to his practice11, as an artist who should be more responsible to not stick to a specific stance and too emotional driven onto such macrosocial or political issue, instead we should be more opened and questioning the same issue through multi-angles inexhaustibly. This manifestation is sensible, especially for those socio-political based work, what an artist needs to showcase in a participatory work, is not sticking to a personal expression, but more likely to be providing a platform to survey voices from public and the community, like what Guy Debord suggested to construct situations12. Relational Aesthetic In the talk of participatory art, social and public art, the relational aesthetic would be a necessary term to bring up. 13 When the form of art transforms into a state of encounter or a coexistence situation to showcase the social conflicts or phenomenon, the aesthetic of work is no longer limited to artist representation, but also what intervention, interruption or any possibilities of immediacy be brought into the work, either it is expected or unexpected. It is more about the gesture be urged by work and conformed by elements, not only the visual beauty, but how human penetrate into this constructed space and make interaction or relation with others.
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Claire Bishop, Artificial Hells : Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, London ; New York: Verso Books, 2012.
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Arthr Zmijewski, ‘Applied Social Arts’, Krytyka polityczna, no 11-12/2007, Warszawa : Krytyka Polityczna, 2007: 4.
Guy Debord and Tom McDonough, ‘Towards a Situationist International’, in Guy Debord and the Situationist International : Texts and Documents, 1st MIT Press pbk. ed., MIT Press, 2002: 44-50. 12
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Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics, Collection Documents Sur L'art. Dijon, France: Les Presses Du Réel, 2002.
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Reference Works on Participatory Art - THEM by Arthr Zmijewski, a video recording for the social experiment that Zmijewski invited a group of participates, suggested them to edit, re-edit or even re-re-edit the canvases in a room. In the process, action not merely limited in reflecting the cultural background and personal identities, but also how the diverse identities and ways of engagement form a social structure in both concrete and abstract form of space through constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing process. The participation from audience played a crucial and irreplaceable role in this work, because how the artist not only create a space and put a linear articulation, but also tend to curate an open-ended space and let the intention of conflicts reflection be generated organically. This is also how an applied social art supposed to be, to not limited and scandaling the so-called participation by putting audiences in an embarrassing or ambiguous role of spectator or even epic-actor to forced the rigid connotation. (fig. 8)
Fig. 8: Arthr Zmijewski (1966-), THEM, 2007, Single channel video, projection or monitor, 26.30 minutes, colour, sound. Polish OV, English and German subtitles, 1 AP (Ed. of 3 + 1 EP), first shown at Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany 2007, image from Peter Kilchmann, https:// www.peterkilchmann.com/ artists/artur-zmijewski/overview/ them-2007 (accessed October 10, 2019).
- Infinity Mirror Rooms by Yayoi Kusama’s, this is an example to showcase what I mentioned the forced rigid connotation and vague participatory as the work itself was widespread throughout the social media, gain wide public attention and recognition as a good visitor spot. Not meant to shade this impact, but such phenomenon actually embodied what Susan Sontag concern about the trend of art would possibly make art becomes non-art,14 audiences are attracted by the visual aesthetics, the glamorous brought by the use of two mirrors rather than the intention of why the artist make such articulation, and the false sense of interactivity as it does engage audience to move in space and take pictures, meanwhile when we tried to dig out the connotation of these participatory, it is tragic to see that such forms become a money-making machine. Obviously, this is not the vision I want to project in my work. (fig. 9)
Fig. 9: Yayoi Kusama (1929-), Infinity Mirrored Room—All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, 2016, Wood, mirrors, plastic, acrylic, and LEDs, Collection of the artist, image from The Maggie Anthology: https:// www.magpieonline.co.uk/featured/yayoi-kusama/ (accessed November 16, 2019).
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Sontag, 3-14.
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- Hello Finale! by Tao Hui, an HD video installation with nine separate video screening on a set of grave builds, the videos share the same theme of the apocalypse and how people undergoing such situations through recording their phone chats. Audiences could choose whichever one video to start or end, to form their own sequence of the story and constructing their own version of understanding, also the relationship formed when different audiences participate in this space by watching the video together. The work is interesting and contains an inexhaustible interpretation because there is a sense of choice for audience, to decide how to participate in this work, how to engage in space and then how to conclude the work with a unique perspective. The narrative of this work is quite different with Zmijewski one, it does straight-forwardly articulate each characters’ stance, social role and attitude by recording the words, as they are all actors following a precisely scripted monologue, not alike the improvisation in THEM. From here, I see infinite possibilities of making a participatory art, but pessimistically an uncertainty and confusion are inevitably be sighted in this form (fig. 10).
Fig. 10: Tao Hui (1987-), Hello, Finale! , 2017, HD video installation (colour, sound), 40 min., picture taken by myself in Sigg Prize 2019 Showcase Exhibition at M+ Museum, Hong Kong.
- Katerina Seda’s There is Nothing There (Games for unlimited number of players), is genuinely a life imitates art work, the work is about the documented community games, where all residents live in this town synchronised their daily routines within 24 hours. What the artistic does here is not intervening the town and daily operation, oppositely, she is more likely to reform the social gesture by restricting residents notion of freedom, with the game rules, the residents become self-monitor and super aware on self-behaviour. With this artistic movement, the artist is very close to unveiling the manipulation of social structure (fig. 11).
Fig. 11: Katerina Seda (1977-) , There is Nothing There (Game for an unlimited number of players), 2003, Video / Various Materials, 30’12’’, picture from Art museum: https:// artmuseum.pl/en (accessed November 16, 2019)
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Idea #1 - Insider & Outsider
This is the first draft I made to visualised my set up idea, to present the insider and Outsider content, try to provide a space for audience to distinguish themselves as insider or Outsider towards an assigned topic, like Yellow and Blue. To survey the outcome of experience, to see how stances could be altered by difference demographic, participants, time and situations. At this stage, I was focusing more on how to decorate or make aesthetic of the space, and to functionally build up metaphor or semiotics by installing different visual, video or space displaying. I made a first experiment of manipulating a computer room in CVA building referring the image next :
I tested the sonic setting, as the set of computers with speakers turn to who sonic experience with a surrounding sound, also the reinstall of new meaning by changing how I display the work, as the video I played on each computer, originally is a single channel video assignment, when the channel turned multi and synchronised, the original meaning of my video transform and provide a wider space for audience to reinterpret my work, by the space, the setting and relationship among these new injecting element with my video work.
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Reference Works on Video-based Art I have mentioned the reference and inspiration from Issac Chong Wai and Artur Zmijewski, as their works I cited in my 1st draft of proposal have a strong bond and association to social and performative art, how these two art media could create a sense of taking a paradoxical stance, to picture a not limited to general, but rather rational and remain neutrality, like a survey to collect and showcase or deliver a message to the public without bias, presupposition and propagation, to make a completed and genuine embodiment of art imitates life (or maybe vice versa) (fig. 12).
Fig, 12. Issac Chong Wai (1990-), Rehearsal of the Futures: Police Training Exercises, 2018, performance and video, at Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong, from: Issac Chong Wai, https:// www.isaacchongwai.com/rehearsal-of-thefuturespolice-training-exercises-2018/ (accessed October 10, 2019).
Fig. 13. (Left) Ellen Pau, Bak-LaiChu, 1994-1997, Video Installation/ installation, 6:40min. SVHS, (NTSC). (pictures from Hong Kong Art Archive, https://finearts.hku.hk/ hkaa/ revamp2011/artist_view.php? artist_id=112, 9 November, 2019 accessed.) Fig. 14. (Right) Ellen Pau, I only tell it to stranger (Series #3 of Bik Lai Chu), 1996/97. Video Installation/ installation. Size unknown.
I made my visiting to Ellen Pau Retrospective Exhibition at Para Site HK. Bak-Lai-Chu is a series of works that memorable and refreshing my conception of displaying video work. Starting from the #1, the singlechannel video of Bak-Lai-Chu be displayed in a theatrical set simulating the poor environment of divided flat in Hong Kong. As the video showcasing a woman, the artist herself keep crushing herself to the ceiling and make those repeated noises. The juxtaposition of the space and video form the new layer of meaning, a relating and responding effect, from the monologue style of the video transform into a dialogical set of installation (fig. 13) .
After that, I got into another room, the same video display in a different way, with a chop-chopped style frame decoration installed with the downscaled screen of video, also there is an alternative projection of the video onto the red stringed hanging paper. Not only the new title of work, I only tell it to a stranger alter the meaning, but the set also reconstructing a new possibility of interpreting the work. I was really inspired by this reinforcing style to superimposing new possibilities to an existed work, it is not only showcased an artistic attitude, but an ongoing self-reflection to the past work, the exploration of spatial practice and also aspiring to make connection among past works, present practice and the future possibilities (fig. 14).
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Idea #2 - In Between Yellow and Blue I start to put focus on the Yellow and Blue, the political conflicts in Hong Kong as the project content. The first idea after I came up with the rough drafted plan last week, I tried to come up with more metaphorical and visual inputs, By recapture the image of Human Chain, a form showing the togetherness of Yellow Parties, locating them as wrapping up and coverage of the all wall of the room, at the centre of the room, I will put a video mapping sculpture, for now I would propose to project some video of HK police as the representation of Blue Parties. (How this form connect to Mimesis / Anti-Mimesis) Personally, I feel like there is an invisible force of being a Hongkonger to take an asserted political stance, either I am Yellow or I would be framed as a Blue (or even Red and Black). Therefore, I come up with an assumption that, maintain neutrality could be very rare in this situation, cause if be so, the one could be alienated, isolated or boycotted by both Blue and Yellow parties. The process of taking a stance is like force mimesis, to be straight forward, if the one does not want to be beaten up, he/she must try best to pretend to be very Blue or very Yellow.
I made two graphs to show how I would like my work, the participatory art would be set up like, to make consistent around the Insider and Outsider concept, I demonstrated these two elements by dividing the space literally as an inside and outside area, on the outside would be projections with the human chained visual recaption, for the inside, the centre of the room, I would put a sphere sculpture with a sound wave visualisation projected on.
I also think about how sonic interactivity could enhance audiences’ participation, therefore I visioned to add the implementation of radio intervention, so that when audience wandering in this space with radio, they could make association between the image and sound to form a different understanding to the theme I set.
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3D Rendering as Material Exploration I came up a solution by using 3D software to do a visual set modelling, to transform a room of space into a macro installation involving soundscape and video installation, as an exploration on conducting a satisfied participatory artwork. I eliminate the importance of insider and outsider in this set, and turn the focus on how to create a less confusing space for audience to step in, walk around and understand my idea. In this room, there will be two sides of projection and a mirror ball hanging in the centre of room. The effect of mirror ball is like a translation, combination and interpretation of both side of projecting visual, it is a metaphor of when people are facing dilemma of choosing a stance, what we do to understand to embody the conscience work, is normally to analysing and interpreting in our perspective. Perspective is a very tricky thing, no one could see a thing without the limitation of retina distortion, therefore there is an eternal and nonfixable deviation between what we see and what is the thing really is. like that reflection from the mirror ball and the projections.
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395-437-4680 Visual Setting
Side view of 3D visualisation simulating how the video projection work in the room.
Two projectors with a projection screen would be set nearby two sides of the room representing the stances issue, as I would like to highlight the conflicts of yellow and blue with a little ambiguous, therefore I would make two videos for projection, one is showing a solid yellow transforming into a solid blue and retransforming again to yellow on loop, another is vice versa.
^ Point A ————————————— ^ Point B————————————— ^ Point C——————————Point D ^
*Video one takes the yellow colour from point A filled the whole frame and smoothly transit in slide style to point B and ended with point C, so that the video could be played in loop with infinite smoothen transition, it is expected that a round of transition from A to C long for 1 minute. **Video two in vice versa, but this time takes the blue colour from point D filled the whole frame and smoothly transit in backward slide style back to point B, it is expected that a round of transition from D to B long for 1 minute. With these two sets of videos be projected, the room would look like one side is representing blue and another side as the yellow, the audience is in between. At the centre of the room, I would install a mirrorball to emphasised the key subject matter, the in-between thing, the importance of neutrality that I like to question in this work.
Side view of 3D visualisation simulating how the video projection work in the room. (2)
Side view of 3D visualisation simulating how the video projection work in the room. (3)
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Audio Setting There would be five sets of radio intervention (from R1 to R5) to deliver two different sets of sound (S1 and S2), and audiences would be advised to use this self phone to receive the radio sound output: R1 would be playing S1 as the recaptured sound from the extradition bill protest in Hong Kong, particularly I would amplify the verbal fight between protestors and police, to display a sense of violence, radical and irrational; the set of this radio intervention, the Arduino chips would be placed at the centre of the room. From R2 to R5 would be all playing S2, it is actually taken from the same set of recording but with sound mixing to blur the protestors and polices’ language and the words articulation, similar to a soundinsulating and blocking process, so that audience is supposed to hear noise but hardly recognised the context, these four sets of Arduino chips would be placed at all four corners of the room. With the above setting, the sound of space would be divided into two areas, while audiences are getting farther from the centre, relatively stand closer to each of the Yellow or Blue side of projection, the sound they could perceive from the radio channel is the blurring sound; when they get closer to the centre space in between yellow and blue, the blurring effect would sound like slowly faded away and the recording from both protestors and police officers will become clearer for their listening.
Top view of 3D visualisation simulating how the radio intervention work in the room.
Grey circle refer to R1 with S1 play
Pink circle refer to R2,3,4,5 with S2 play
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Reference Works on Interactive Art In recalling Bishop’s term of ‘Spect-actor' in describing how this stage fool most of us eyes to be fake participation, Interactivity is not perpetually equal to participatory, when audience has a sense that they are acting, reacting or interacting with the work, like in the Infinity Mirror Room, when they move they see some difference in the mirror, but it is meaningless and contribution-less, their participatory is not important for the work connotation, the attraction they found is being well marketed and framed, they are like an actor being well-director by a team of crew being the curtain. Interactive art shares similarity with participatory art, however, they should be easily distinguished by the audience authority and contributed level. Below are interactive art examples from Olafur Eliasson (fig. 15 & 16):
Fig. 15. Olafur Eliasson (1967-), Your Uncertain shadow (colour), 2010, HMI lamps (green, orange, blue, magenta), glass, aluminium, transformers, Dimension Variable, image from Olafur Eliasson: https://olafureliasson.net/ archive/ artwork/WEK100100/your-uncertain-shadowcolour (accessed November 16, 2019).
Fig. 16. Olafur Eliasson (1967-), Your Uncertain shadow (colour), 2010, Halogen lamps, glass, aluminium, transformers, Dimension Variable, image from Olafur El iasson: https://olafureliasson.net/ archive/artwork WEK100099/your-uncertain-shadow-black-andwhite (accessed November 16, 2019).
Take these as references on the problematic spectator stage and to understand why such interactive work is not involving adequate participatory, they are all very nice looking and with distinctive recognition with the high-end technical setting, but the question is, do any of these interactive work make well articulation in reflecting the emergence sociological issue, the social movement structure. For me, they are more drowned to experiment how well science or techno could be implemented in making a craftsmanship work. And taking these reflections and look back on what I proposed on the idea #2, the idea would be far from achieving the participatory level, as to speculate the situation when audience gets inside the space of work, they would be more likely to wandering within space, they could gain the effect generating from the radio receiver, but the effect, the relation between audience and work is not interrelated. Therefore I need to rethink on the setting and methodology.
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Idea #3 - Lennon Wall Anti-Extradition Bill Movement raise a phenomenon of Lennon Wall Spreading all over 18 districts in Hong Kong, It leads me to do a round of research on the Lennon Wall Background, and as I notice that the connotation and representation be altered by the relocation and dislocation of Lennon Wall (fig. 17).
Fig. 17. Picture of Anti-Extradition Bill Poster, retrieved from https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/2847451
The Origin of Lennon Wall is located at Prague, Czech Republic, and its history could be chased back in 1980s, when it is the time Prague people transform the wall which used to be a dedication to John Lennon, as a platform in expressing their irritative for the communist regime of Gustav Husak (fig. 18).
Fig. 18. Picture of Prague Lennon Wall, retrieved from https:// sinopsis.cz/en/lennon-wall/
Fig. 19. Picture of the Lennon Wall located at Central Government Complex in HongKong https:// theconversation.com/lennon-walls-herald-a-sticky-noterevolution-in-hong-kong-129740
Above is the First Hong Kong Lennon Wall back when the Umbrella Movement was ongoing in 2014 (fig. 19). From retrospecting the version of 2014 Lennon Wall, and comparing it with the latest 18 districts Lennon Walls, the relocation of Lennon Wall becomes a rhizomatic development, spread out to fill every void of space in Hong Kong. It probably indicates how democratic the society of Hong Kong is, paradoxically it also reflected a sense of chaotic when the breaking rule things be justified in the name of freedom.
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395-437-4680 Junk-space I question about the influence be bought by such relocation of a site-specific thing, as I associate such phenomenon with the idea of Junk-space. This term could be understood as the space in between destinations, like public transport, pedestrian road, crossway, bridge, where these locations are originally served as an interchange or a spot for people passing by. But in nowadays urban development, we see decoration, advertisement or any form of an add-on to kind of recycle this junk space into something functional. 15 And the notion I put this concept in associate with the spread of Lennon Wall, is to rethink of should we take this act as a productive relocation, or a superficial dislocation. Participation level of these new Lennon Wall Like stances of Yellow and Blue, there is always multiplicity of engaging level in reflecting the one attitude towards the politics. In between Yellow and Blue, we see the different form of engagement on Lennon Wall, like how political wings be divided into the conservative and progressive wings, even though the one is taking stance on one side, the one could still take control on how mild or severe the engagement be
-Government cleaning worker
Forced Engagement One kind of participants I observed which is situated in dilemma, where they could be hardly distinguished to belongs to either Yellow or Blue - the Government cleaning workers. As they are hired to do the cleaning works, even though their participation is against the Yellow parties, their intention is not driven by political stances. Alike the spec-actor idea I studied from participatory art, the government cleaning workers action is on manipulation, be scripted and controlled by the power behind them, their action is not fully initiative, on the social aspect, they are making a productive contribution by following the social rule and help to construct an ideal public space. Overlapping Marking and Contradictory Space By my observation, the area bis bill posted by protestors and then cleaned by government cleaning worker, mostly with residue mark left on. These marks are interesting as I perceive them as a representation of contradictory space16. Lennon Wall is a contradictory space, as the site provides a notion of democracy to embrace different forms of an encounter of different groups of people. Like the idea of public space, tacit rule is meant to be followed by who entranced, in order to make possible co-existence. Otherwise, these encounters become chaotic and lead to consequences of space pollution. 15
Rem Koolhaas, “Junkspace”, October 100 (2002): 175-90.
16
Henri Lefebvre, “Contradictory Space,” The Production of Space. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, USA: Blackwell, 1991: 292-351
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Initial Idea of creating a Lennon Wall inspired Participatory Art
installation view
@ AVA gallery / AVA 201
installation view 2
@ AVA gallery / AVA 201
The instant idea I got after the research on Lennon Wall is, to mimic the Lennon Wall and put in in a participatory set, with the play of colour registration concept: A grey memo is stick on wall, with the Yellow and Cyan Ink be printed on. By overlaying the inks to make it grey alike and blend with the grey paper. Only when audience takes a Yellow or Blue frame be provided, and see the grey memo through that frame, the ink printed area be visible. Failed to Construct an Effective Situation The concern on the Lennon Wall execution is the difficulty in constructing situation, as the work outcome will be: lack of visual weight and not easy to attract audience engagement; the sense of participation becomes ambiguous as the representation itself is more like an extremely simple printmaking work; the grey memo and the frames are not in a consistent style, due to the contrasting texture, plastic and paper; the participation guideline is weak and hard to keep audience revisiting the works, both on in form and subject matters. With the listed consideration, I attempted to revise the Lennon Wall idea by using different mediums.
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Idea #4 - Virtual Lennon Wall
Following the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement, the Hong Kong society does not get recovery, as the happenings of COVID-19 outbreak. In the emergence of pandemic phase, social distancing and quarantine thing leads us to seek out an alternative way for social connectedness and communications. Therefore, a trend of using the online communication software rise up.
room 201/202
And then, I think about the possibilities of relocating the Lennon Wall from offline to online, to put it display it by using the online communication platform - Zoom.
The setting would be like the above sketch, with two iPad distribute aside a projection image of a computer, with all three devices encounter to the same zoom meeting room. Each iPads camera lens would be cover with the Yellow or Blue frame, like the sketch shown below. And the centre device will be served to play a recording the text taken from the Susan Sontag’s writing I found which could emphasise the idea of Anti-Mimesis: “Interpretation does not, of course, always prevail. In fact, a great deal of today’s art may be understood as motivated by a flight from interpretation. To avoid interpretation, art may become parody. Or it may become abstract. Or it may become (merely) decorative. Or it may become non-art.”
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The inspiration of forming participation by using this ready-made online software is the finding of one of the feature function of zoom, when in speaker mode, high volume speaker would be spotlighted
from a lecture I had last semester When the lecturer was talking someone forgot to mute the mic and sneeze loud
The spotlight video function is alongside with the voice detection, with detection of volumes from all users, the system would then analyse the one the highest volume and make spotlight on the one. the sneezy onewith be highlighted very awkward...
By manipulating this function, I could make it as a solution in developing my idea of in-between Yellow and Blue, provide a platform for user to virtual vote on stance of either side - the iPads with Yellow frame or Blue frame.
I started to explore the material for frame and test out how it will look like when I cover the lens with these frames:
Material Test
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After a few test, I realise the output is far from what I expected, the frame almost blocks the lens and the lens visual representation through frames is over blurred. I have to discard the method of using such frames, but what I would like to keep is the zoom software use, as the zoom software itself is a good correspondence to the immediacy of what the world is happening, reflecting the social impacts, phenomenon and the way I live in such era. New Technology and social de-hierarchisation Classification and declassification function and oppositional nature of community art, social media as well have its contribution as a de-hierarchisation, blurring the classes of users, to give an equality sense to all users. The new technology rise and be implemented in the new media art form actually enhance part of the audience participation in such art, even though it is not a genuine participatory in contributing the work connotation, but this sense of engagement could bring consequence of such de-hierarchisation phenomenon. What I think the function Internet and nowadays applied technologies have is the relatively even of power distribution to all social class, as we realise how classification works in capitalism society. with the rapid development on technology, it seems that the distance between each classification is compressed, the threshold of entrance to counterpoint of these classifications be lowered, like social media help to maintain a strong sense of diversity. New Sensibility When embracing new technology, the idea of two cultures between art and technology be concerned (famously posed by Charles Percy Snow)17, does technology affect how contemporary art should be evaluated, “Art does not progress, in the sense that science and technology do.” However, “In our own time, art is becoming increasingly the terrain of specialists.” In the era of Intelligence could be mimic artificially, art would be an aspiration for us to not following the mimesis, as in the talk of imitation, human meet limitation and be on the leeward side in comparison with the artificial intelligence. What we seek in art, for me, should not be replication or the commercial manufacture.
17
Sontag, “One Culture and the New Sensibility,” Against Interpretation, London: Vintage, 1994.
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On Rhizome One significant change be observed brought by the technological development these days are like mentioned, the lower threshold of encountering the diverse platform, like social media or the online communication platform I mentioned, Internet holds a power to gather and make new formation in a new form. The form of connectedness, for me, inherits the notion taken from Rhizome, a philosophical idea developed by Gilles Deleuze And Felix Guattari18. This idea could be understood as the image of how the rhizome grow which is about the possibilities of multiplicity. Rhizome, unlike tree, does not require a single directional development, in order to form the hierarchy from bottom to the top, rhizome is more about the relation form, but gathering spots and transform these differential spots as part of its ontology. New Lennon Wall as Rhizome The similarity I found in the observation of the latest Lennon Wall and the idea Rhizome, they both requires no destination, like Junkspace19, it doesn’t require a privilege for the encounter, it embraces multiplication. The new Lennon Wall is no more a destination like when it was located at Central, Hong Kong or the origin in Prague, it is more about the ability to reach and call for more advocates, like advertisement or commercial banner. When this site-specific idea intervenes public space heavily, it causes conflicts, causes contradiction as its political intention would not satisfy both oppositions of political parties. But the democracy provided by this public space, where its authority is meant to be shared, it embraces diversity, it connects people with different background, it has no threshold. When one work breaks the limitations on location, capable of relocation or generates new subject matter by dislocation, the development of this work is in form of rhizome. Space of flows The problem of rhizome is, when the core value of the work be seen consisting to a breakthrough on its form or subject matter, the rhizomatic work becomes fluid, spontaneous and unlimited from the space, then how should audience make evolution of this kind of work. Like how we evaluate work on not only its final outcome, but also the process, for space which is not meant to be destination, we should value it on the archival of “Time-sharing event”20. Think about when we encounter the space of flows and creating a time-sharing event collectively, when the moment we are stuck in public transport and the only thing to focus on is the mobile phone, and access the internet by such devices. Space of flow makes public and private space becomes more ambiguous, when in public space like the public transport, with new technology, we are enabled to create a micro private space within this space of flows. If rhizome is meant to be form relation, Internet as a rhizomatic representation is more than straight forward to form relation, the relation is formed before destruction. Like how we could escape from reality to the internet and virtual space, this escapism does not lead us to a fully social disconnectedness21, paradoxically it takes us back to connectedness in a transformed form. And still, as we see the phenomenon on Internet transform our daily life, like rhizome spread all over the world, we fall into the idea of mimesis once again, as we attempted to make progress on such virtual new world, and this new world in return to keep us wandering in, and form another round of repetition, and then we imitate and make it as a norm. Rhizome as Anti-Mimesis With its relational nature, adopting rhizomatic thinking help us to receive information or form communication Easier. It changes how we mimesis, when the Relay of information Is no more about the hierarchical inheritance, I question if mimesis becomes rhizomatic and how we could make changes in this trend. Could we be not led by mimesis but still adopt the rhizomatic thinking, to improvise the beneficial of the fasten grow of rhizome and the courageous notion of Anti-Mimesis? Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus : Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987. 18
19
Koolhaas.
Bert Olivier, Situated experience, "the space of flows", and rhizomatic thinking, from Academia: https://www.academia.edu/ 24403064/Situated_experience_the_space_of_flows_and_rhizomatic_thinking (accessed June 23, 2020). 20
21Yi-fu
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Reference Works on Rhizome
Fig. 17. Daniel Joseph Martinez (1957-), Divine Violence, 2007, Enamel and oil on panels, 388.6 x 698.5 x 475cm, image from Roberts Project: https:// www.robertsprojectsla.com/exhibitions/daniel-josephmartinez2 (accessed June 23 2020).
From the writing of Walter Benjamin’s Critique of Violence, Violence is showcasing as a secular idea by the contribution of how social classifications be formed, how the human law has its power to place sanction on the unjustified behaviour, whether the sanction itself is a representation of the conception of violence.22 In the work of Divine Violence, the artist Listed out a universal framework in the display of big violence events be juxtaposed in a rhizomatic form. In comparison, we see how different events share the same notion of violence with paradoxical purpose, and we see how some of them be justified by the law of nature or conscience (fig. 17.) For the form of the work, I see it as an embodiment of rhizome, as the similarity of the relational nature of rhizome and the method of artist did for the idea articulation, the work is like a giant mind map in anchoring the concept of violence. By forming relation between different naming of violence events, to construct or to deconstruct the idea of what is violence.
Fig. 18. Danh Vo (1957-), We the People, 2011-2013, Copper, replica of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty in 250 individual pieces, dimensions variable image from Curiator: https://curiator.com/art/danh-vo/we-thepeople (accessed June 23 2020).
Danh Vo’s work is an alternative way of rhizome embodiment, it does not take place of gallery setting to display the conceptual rhizome, oppositely, Vo examines how the rhizomatic network exists in the real world by relocating and dislocating the representation of Liberty, the Statue of Liberty, deconstructed a piece into many pieces and distributing them all over the world. The form itself is a singularity in division, and becomes an invisible connection to connect places by delivering the concept. Likewise, the rhizome embodiment is articulate in a way of the model destruction and progress to another stage of reconstruction. The form of work show audience a partial element, but the association take us to perceive more than it ontology.
22
Walter Benjamin, “Critique of Violence”, One-way Street, and Other Writings, London: Verso, 1985.
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Finalise Idea - Software-based Participatory Art The finalised version of my participatory work is software-based, mainly develop from the virtual Lennon Wall idea, but detract the political theme, as I concern about the immediacy on the world happenings, I think the COVID-19 influences on our daily communication method is more universal. Therefore, I would like to take reference on the material exploration I have done so far, improvising and connecting these elements and get back to the theme and aspiration of Anti-mimesis, the idea to be breakthrough and explore new possibilities by the implement of different playful use of the ready-made software, in defining this finalise idea of software-based participatory art. The software I plan to implement are: Google Translator + Dictate: + Zoom Google Translator for text to speech The mechanism is to paste the selected text on google translator for text to speech function, so that I could generate an audio recording of the text with artificial human voice - the initial idea is a paragraph taken from Susan Sontag’s Against Interpretation; later I replace it with Sontag’s another writing named One Culture and New Sensibility, which makes better correspondence to a software-based work; the selected text on below: 1. ”Art does not progress, in the sense that science and technology do. But the arts do develop and change. For instance, in our own time, art is becoming increasingly the terrain of specialists. The most interesting and creative art of our time is not open to the generally educated; it demands special effort; it speaks a specialized language.” 2. “Art today is a new kind of instrument, an instrument for modifying consciousness and organizing new modes of sensibility. And the means for practicing art have been radically extended. Indeed, in response to this new function (more felt than clearly articulated), artists have had to become self-conscious aestheticians: continually challenging their means, their materials and methods.” Dictate for speech to text Then I play the audio recording with the processing of Dictate, the speech to text application, to double translate the wordings, so that the words have gone through the text to speech; speech to text process, with this process, it is expected that the word would be mistranslated with wrong words or missing words. The notion of having this process is I want to make anthropomorphise representation of how software does translation and interpretation, like how human do when we perceive words and ideas. As difference of us could probably perceive one idea from same wordings in different ways, we would sometimes miss out something, be mislead or misunderstand, or overthink and over-interpret on words. In the participatory art setting, I would like to keep the audio recording in loop with the Dictate app running, in order to have the same audio of text be translated over and over. To examine what I read on the space of flows, the idea of time-sharing event, when there is audience encounter to the space with this artwork setting, any sound the audience make could alter and change how the app do the speech to text, the app might have added some words with no relation to the original text, just because the audience say something, or the noise worsens the missing translation by the disruption of audio recording played be received by the app. Zoom for online conference communication The third and final steps for setting the work is to form the software-based participation, by relocating the whole participatory event from offline to online, from the reality to semi-reality, which means that audience must have to access the Internet to have fully reach and engaged in the work. To achieve the above outcome, I plan to use zoom, the online communication software as a participatory event platform, by setting up two computers for the whole set, only one computer would serve to do the Dictate - speech to text thing, and both of the computers be connected to the same zoom meeting room. For the exhibition setting, it is expected that audience would still have face to face contact to the work, to better construct the software-based situations, the audio output should be limited - only for those audiences who enter the zoom meeting room could have access to the audio and have a better view to the whole speech to text process, which means that the audio recording of text should not be played at the venue, therefore I need to place the computer with the source of recoding and Dictate app running out of the venue, and the one in the venue should be with a headphone connected and only access to the zoom meeting.
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Writing for Permission to the Software developer Concerning the copyright issue of implementation of mentioned software, I directly email a request for permission to the software developer of the app Dictate and Zoom:
zoom
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I received replied from zoom right after I sent the email, disappointedly it is an auto-reply generated by the artificial intelligence system. After receiving this unsatisfying feedback, my follow up action is to make enquiry online by accessing the zoom website, however, the customer service is once again provided by artificial intelligence. The further action I could do is try not to mention the software name in my work object label, until I could get an official reply.
On the other side, I received feedback from the developer of Dictate application, IBN software and Dr. Christian Neubauer, gratefully with his permission to me to acknowledge Dictate application for this project.
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Methodology
sketch of offline setting (exhibiton venue)
wireframe of the online setting
viewing screen of #2 computer;
#1 computer with zoom; headphone connected
TV screen sync with the computer
no sound output
#1 computer with zoom; headphone connected
Zoom meeting: 395-437-4680
sketch of offline setting (my home maybe)
#2 computer, the host of zoom meeting; with the Dictate app open and the audio play
#2 computer, the host of zoom meeting; with the Dictate app open and the audio play
with screen sharing showing the Dictate app playing audio recording
Above is the setup sketch, as shown it takes places of two locations, one is the exhibition venue (#1 computer), another one (#2 computer) possibly is my home (not for audience visit; for the devices setting only). For the #1, it mainly functions as a work representation, in connecting the TV screen in better readability for audience, showcasing the zoom platform and through the sharing screen to realtime display the Dictate functioning on #2 computer; as I intended to encourage audience joining the zoom meeting by using their phone or any devices, #1 sound will be muted or restricted by not using the speaker function. #2 is served as an administration use, in controlling the whole set of artwork on the software mechanism, the audio recording play, the Dictate application running and also as the host of zoom meeting. Object Label Naming as the Zoom Meeting Information Similar logic with the playful idea of my artist statement and First presentation for Honours Project, the method I would like to inform the Zoom meeting id and password is doubling the function of object label; the tile of work 395-437-4680 is named after the zoom meeting ID and the password is simply 2020, the year of work. The medium is intended to be simplified, as a way to not overexposing the software name. For easier access to the zoom meeting room, I also plan to put a QR code aside the label.
TJONG Ballisman Chun Chi, Ballis , 2020 Software-based Participatory Art Dimensions variable “Art today is a new kind of instrument, an instrument for modifying consciousness and organizing new modes of sensibility. And the means for practicing art have been radically extended. Indeed, in response to this new function (more felt than clearly articulated), artists have had to become self-conscious aestheticians: continually challenging their means, their materials and methods.” The work title, is a zoom meeting ID for anyone to join. The year of work, 2020 is the password. Any sound be made by participants would alter the speech recognition process and contribute to a reinterpretation of Susan Sontag’s One Culture and New Sensibility.
Documentation of the work in video form Likewise, to achieve a better presentation of work, aside for the real setting of participatory work, I also did video documentation as recording how the software mechanic works, the below QR code would direct to the video file. The video work is a simplified version of work, speculate how the work will be like on the TV screen without participants intervention, and how the audio output be like when audience link into the Zoom meeting. On the right is the QR code link to the folder archive the documentation video.
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Work Installation On the first setup day, my work allocation is reassigned from the original small installation room (AVA202) to a relatively bigger space of room (AVA217), floor plan for the updated allocation space as below, work No. 4.
displaying side
monitoring side
The room is expected to be a semi-Dark room, but this would not affect much to my work as it is screenbased set. The final equipment I used for the whole set (as mentioned I will have two separate sets; one for displaying, one for the monitoring). For the monitoring side, my initial plan is to keep it at my home for better accessibility, so that I could monitoring the whole meeting room 24/7; for better presentation, I relocate the set to also the room AVA217, as I find a divided space which functions adequate sound isolation (refer to the above floor plan, the rectangular space right below work No.1). Displaying side Hardware set Dell 24” TV Monitor (x 1); 15” MacBook Pro (x 1; connected to Dell Monitor); White Plinths (x 3) Object Label Zoom meeting QR Code Label Software setZoom (as participant - on 15” Macbook Pro) Quicktime Player (for the documentation video play in loop- on 24” Dell TV Monitor ) The whole set muted Monitoring side Hardware set12” MacBook (x1) Software setZoom (as host; screen of Dictate app and audio of computer sound share) Quicktime Player (for the audio recording sound in loop) Dictate
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Photo of the setup process - displaying side
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Photo of the setup process - monitoring side
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Final Outcome
^ close-up view of the devices and object label while the software turned off
^ semi-close up view of the devices and object label while the software turned on
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TJONG Ballisman Chun Chi, Ballis 395-437-4680, 2020 Software-based Participatory Art Dimensions variable Installation view
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Bibliography Writings 1. Attali, Jacques. Noise: The Political Economy of Music. Theory and History of Literature; v. 16. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1985. 2. Bell, Jeffrey A., and Colebrook, Claire. Deleuze and History. Deleuze Connections. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. 3. Benjamin, Walter. One-way Street, and Other Writings, London: Verso, 1985. 4. Bishop, Claire. Artificial Hells : Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. London ; New York: Verso Books, 2012. 5. Bishop, Claire. Installation Art : A Critical History. New York: Routledge, 2005. 6. Bishop, Claire. Participation. Documents of Contemporary Art Series. London : Cambridge, Mass.: Whitechapel ; MIT Press, 2006. 7. Bourriaud, Nicolas. Relational Aesthetics. Collection Documents Sur L'art. Dijon, France: Les Presses Du Réel, 2002. 8. Cohen, Tom. Anti-mimesis from Plato to Hitchcock. Literature, Culture, Theory, 10; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 9. Deleuze, Gilles. Bergsonism. New York: Zone Books, 1991. 10. Deleuze, Gilles. Difference and Repetition. London: Athlone Press. 1994. 11. Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Félix. A Thousand Plateaus : Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987. 12. Debord, Guy and McDonough, Tom. Guy Debord and the Situationist International : Texts and Documents, 1st MIT Press pbk. ed., MIT Press, 2002Girard, Rene. Resurrection from the Underground: Feodor Dostoevsky. New York: Crossroad Pub., 1997. Print. 13. Girard, René. The Scapegoat. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. 14. Girard, René. ‘To Double Business Bound’ : Essays on Literature, Mimesis, and Anthropology. London: Athlone, 1988. Print. 15. Girard, René, and Doran, Robert. Mimesis and Theory: Essays on Literature and Criticism, 1953-2005. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2008. 16. Jaeggi, Rahel, Neuhouser, Frederick, and Smith, Alan E. Alienation. New Directions in Critical Theory. New York : Columbia University Press, 2016. From: Ebsco Host Library, https://search-ebscohost-com.libezproxy.hkbu.edu.hk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=853672&site=ehost-live. (accessed October 10, 2019). 17. Koolhaas, Rem. “Junkspace," October 100 (2002): 175-90. 18. LaBelle, Brandon. Sonic Agency: Sound and Emergent Forms of Resistance. Goldsmiths Press Sonics Series, 2018. 19. Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, USA: Blackwell, 1991. 20. Muller, Harro. ‘Mimetic Rationality: Adorno's Project of a Language of Philosophy.’ New German Critique 36, no. 108 : 85-108, 2009. 21. Nancy, Jean-Luc. and Charlotte, Mandell. Listening. New York: Fordham University Press, 2009. 22. Olivier, Bert. Situated experience, " the space of flows ", and rhizomatic thinking, from Academia: https:// www.academia.edu/24403064/Situated_experience_the_space_of_flows_and_rhizomatic_thinking (accessed June 23, 2020). 23. Reyburn, Duncan. ‘Repetitions repeatedly repeated: mimetic desire, ressentiment, and mimetic crisis in Julian Rosefeld's Manifesto, 2015.’ Image & Text, n33, 1-22, 2019. From: https://dx.doi.org/ 10.17159/2617-3255/2018/n33a12 (accessed October 10, 2019). 24. Richter, Hans. Dada, Art and Anti-art. World of Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. 25. Shaviro, Steven. Post-cinematic Affect. Winchester, UK; Washington, USA: 0. Books, 2010. 26. Sontag, Susan. Against Interpretation. London: Vintage, 1994. 27. Tuan, Yi-fu. Escapism. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. 28. Wilde, Oscar. Intentions. Literary Classics. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2004. 29. Zmijewski, Arthr. ‘Applied Social Arts’, Krytyka polityczna, no 11-12/2007. Warszawa : Krytyka Polityczna, 2007.
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Artwork
1. Banksy (1973-). Shredding of ‘Girl with Balloon’ in the Auction House. Screenprint in colours, 2004. Inscribed 'AP DN' in pencil and numbered 112/600, on wove paper, with the blindstamp of the publisher, pictures on walls, framed sheet: 659 by 499 mm 25-7/8 by 19-5/8 in. Built-in shredder in the frame, 2006. For auction sale at Sotheby's, London, 2018. From: Sothebys, https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/importantprints-and-multiples-day-sale/banksy-girl-with-balloon?locale=zh-Hant (accessed October 10, 2019), and Engadget, https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/18/banksy-girl-with-balloon-meant-to-be-shreddedcompletely/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&gu (accessed October 10, 2019). 2. Chong, Wai Issac (1990-). Rehearsal of the Futures: Police Training Exercises, 2018. Performance and video, at Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong. From: Issac Chong Wai, https:// www.isaacchongwai.com/rehearsalof-the-futurespolice-training-exercises-2018/ (accessed October 10, 2019). 3. Duchamp, Marcel (1887-1968). Fountain (Fontaine; Urinoir), 1917, replica made in 1964. readymade. Place: Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France. From: Tate Modern, https:// www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573 (accessed October 10, 2019). 4. Eliasson, Olafur (1967-). Your Uncertain shadow (colour), 2010, HMI lamps (green, orange, blue, magenta), glass, aluminium, transformers. Dimension Variable. Image from Olafur Eliasson: https://olafureliasson.net/ archive/artwork/WEK100100/your-uncertain-shadowcolour (accessed November 16, 2019). 5. Eliasson, Olafur (1967-). Your Uncertain shadow (colour), 2010. Halogen lamps, glass, aluminium, transformers. Dimension Variable. Image from Olafur Eliasson: https://olafureliasson.net/ archive/artwork WEK100099/your-uncertain-shadow-black-andwhite (accessed November 16, 2019). 6. Hui, Tao (1987-). Hello, Finale! , 2017. HD video installation (colour, sound). 40 min. Picture taken by myself ,in Sigg Prize 2019 Showcase Exhibition at M+ Museum, Hong Kong. 7. Kusama, Yayoi (1929-). Infinity Mirrored Room—All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, 2016. Wood, mirrors, plastic, acrylic, and LEDs, Collection of the artist. Image from The Maggie Anthology: https:// www.magpieonline.co.uk/featured/yayoi-kusama/ (accessed December 8, 2019). 8. Martinez, Daniel Joseph (1957-). Divine Violence, 2007. Enamel and oil on panels, 388.6 x 698.5 x 475cm. Image from Roberts Project: https://www.robertsprojectsla.com/exhibitions/daniel-joseph-martinez2 (accessed June 23 2020). 9. Pau, Ellen (1961-). Bak-Lai-Chu, 1994-1997. Video Installation/ installation, 6:40min. SVHS, (NTSC). Pictures from Hong Kong Art Archive, https://finearts.hku.hk/hkaa/ revamp2011/artist_view.php?artist_id=112 (accessed 9 November, 2019). 10. Pau, Ellen (1961-). I only tell it to stranger (Series #3 of Bik Lai Chu), 1996/97. Video Installation/ installation. Size unknown. Pictures from Hong Kong Art Archive, https://finearts.hku.hk/hkaa/ revamp2011/ artist_view.php?artist_id=112 (accessed 9 November, 2019). 11. Seda, Katerina (1977-). There is Nothing There (Game for an unlimited number of players), 2003. Video / Various Materials, 30’12’’. Picture from Art museum: https:// artmuseum.pl/en (accessed November 16, 2019). 12. Vo, Danh (1957-). We the People, 2011-2013. Copper, replica of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty in 250 individual pieces. Dimensions variable. Image from Curiator: https://curiator.com/art/danh-vo/ we-the-people (accessed June 23 2020). 13. Zmijewski, Arthr (1966-). THEM, 2007. Single channel video, projection or monitor, 26.30 minutes, colour, sound. Polish OV, English and German subtitles, 1 AP (Ed. of 3 + 1 EP). First Shown at Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany 2007. From Peter Kilchmann, https://www.peterkilchmann.com/artists/artur-zmijewski/ overview/them-2007 (accessed October 10, 2019).
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Tjong Ballisman Chun Chi
Acknowledgement
I would like to express gratitude to my project supervisor Professor Louis Nixon, for his support to my Honours Project, especially during this unprecedented time of the COVID-19 outbreak.
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