Exhibition Proposal

郭綺芸

Lilian Kuo

To FEEL The Dream of Blind

The Media+Visual Communication Department, Chang Gung University January 2015

Matt Wang

One hears The beautiful world that people see everyday, blunted the other senses Do you want to find out the truth?

Carefully heard and smell, you will feel it

Through the Dream of the Blinded, that is, a dream without images, we notice that in life we rely so much on our sight Hence we tend to ignore the beauty that other senses bring to us We forget the tranquility of hearing the sounds of the waves Forget the charm of smelling a cup of coffee Forget the pleasure of the gentle breeze when riding a bicycle With the ability to see, we tend to restrain ourselves And limit our capability of imagination As you proceed to my projects, hope you could have a chance to restore the profound happiness

Abstract

There is an enigma telling that “When your vision getting worse, your hearing will be better.” Many people believe in that. But the true is people are too relying on their vision nowadays, and ignoring the experience which is getting from other sense organs. If we can only “see” the world, we will not be excited when we see a horror movie, or any kinds of films. Because we can’t hear the sound effects. Or when I bought my favorite cheese burger, the vegetables look fresh, the cheese looks melted, the meet looks juicy, but when I bite off it, it smell nothing and taste like a piece of paper. How terrible! But if we can only “hear” the world, we will confuse the sound of washing hands and washing vegetables. Every sense organs are necessary. None of them are dispensable. I think every sense organs are important, but today I think people are too relying on their vision. So, I want to find the memory and the beauty of the other sense organs, except the vision. If we are not too relying on our sense of sight, we will taste the more different and wonderful world.

Contents

Abstract Introduction Background Motivation Aim

Literature Review

Are people too relying on vision?

Works of others Design Methods To Feel The Best Memories Conclusion Reference

Introduction Background

People always say “What we dream at night is about what we see in the morning.” That is because our dreams are basic on our vision for the most part. But the blind can’t see, can they dream? How do they dream? First of all, what is dream? According to Freud, dream is to make your wishes come true. To prove that dream is to fulfill wishes, he did many experiments. There was once, he went to bed after eating lots of salty food without drinking water. That night, he dreamed that he gulped down the Mountain spring water. He was drinking water in the dream and it can make him keep sleeping and no need to get up for drinking water. How do people dream? Forming the dream and the ability to dream is an action of the subconscious. The subconscious is the way to know more about dream. Because we can see, our subconscious is fulfilled with many gorgeous frames. That is why our dreams have lots of visual effect. But the blind can’t see. They use their other sense organs to experience the world, so their subconscious is built with sound, touch, or smell. That is how their dream “look” like.

Introduction Motivation Aim

I think people are too relying on their vision, and ignoring the experience of other sense organs. I want to find the memory and the beauty of the other sense organs. If we are not too relying on our sense of sight and enjoy the experience of other sense organs, we will taste the more different and wonderful world.

Literature Review Are people too relying on vision?

According to Professor Charles Morris in University of Michigan. We can smell a drop of perfume in three apartments. We can hear where the sound from in 0.00003 second. We can feel the weight of bee’s wing fall on our face from 1 centimeter. It is the ability of our other sense organs, but I think we will never know. Because we always ignore the experience of them.

There was a blind boy name Ben. Diagnosed with retinal cancer at the age of two, Ben Underwood had his eyes removed at the age of three.

He was able to detect the location of objects by making frequent clicking noises with his tongue. He used it to accomplish such feats as running, playing basketball, riding a bicycle, rollerblading, playing football, and skateboarding. Ben hasn’t blinded since birth. He has seen the world before. So I think the ability of Ben, sees without eyes, can be trained.

These two literature told us that we are ignoring the information which is getting from our other sense organs.

There is a research from New York. It said that if children using smart phone and Ipad too early, it might influence the ability of learning language. Professor Ruth Milanaik, the leader in the research, expressed “Technology can never replace the parent-child interaction.”

He also told parents that “The best way to encourage learning is talking more to their children.”

There is a report from Taiwan. It said that students asked teacher to write down on the blackboard, because they can’t understand if the teacher only teaching by saying with mouth.

These two literature told us that we are really too relying on vision.

Works of others The State of Sound

Fujui Wang, Head of the Trans-Sonic Lab in center for art and techology of Taipei National University of the Arts, specializes in sound Art and Interactive Art. “The State of Sound� seeks to present the state of a series of sound experiments ranging from the automatic sound devices to the derivative electronic instruments. The exhibition also explores the possibility for images through audio frequency, the sound space created by light and physical vibration, and the heterogeneity between auditory and visual senses. Adopting an intuitive, open-minded attitude, the artist tries to explore unknown possibilities for sound with his unconventional ideas.

Works of others The idea of using the sense of "smell" instead of "sight" overturns the principle of art.

Artist Mu Qi Hsieh mixes different colors of paints with different scents, such as, green with the smell of ham or yellow with the smell of garlic, his art makes huge impression to viewers. He believes that drawing is a way of creating art, and by using different materials and different techniques of presenting it, hereby produce a unique language of art. What Mr. Hsieh finds interesting is what viewers perceive when they encounter an art piece. Mr. Hsieh's family operates a condiment factory, and the environment he grows up in serves as his inspiration of creativity. He gives the scented pigments that he created to different other artist friends, letting them create their own art pieces and exhibit those works. Besides the fact that the viewers could use their sight to see art and enjoy art, they could now use their senses of smell as well to perceive art differently.

Design Methods

To be less relying on vision, I don’t use any vision effect on my project.

I am going to use the every sense organs, except for the vision, to represent my stories. My stories is the little happiness in our daily life but we didn’t notice, such as a cup of coffee in the afternoon. The little happiness is just like the experience of the other sense organs, we easily ignored them. I hope my project can remind people that we can taste the more different and wonderful world, if we are not too relying on our sense of sight.

To Feel

In our daily lives we can generate images of things with our senses other than sight, but also because of the abundant information that our sight delivers to us, we often neglect the sensibility of our other senses.

The color white is sometimes negligible, unlike the color black, which conveys emptiness. Therefore, I choose the color white to be the color of my closet, it is the kind of white that we see on walls. Once you open the closet, you can hear the sounds that are common in our everyday lives, and the sounds of nature. In addition, there are scented bottles that could enhance your experience with the senses and to test the strength of your sensibility, what can you sense?

The Best Memories

By the hands of the blinded ones, their best and deepest memories are pinched and molded into clays. To present such memories, I use aluminum wires as materials to shape my interpretation of their stories, hence creating a space full of imagination. Zhong Hou Liao, a masseur from a massage center for the visually impaired, has acquired blindness and wanted to become a professional basketball player before.

Despite his disability, his passion for basketball has never diminished.

He will still listen to game plays, and for him, his best memories are about basketball. There is also another friend, who is blinded as well, and is always relieved when he senses the fragrance of flower from the florist close by. Whenever he feels depressed, the fragrance can always lighten him.

Conclusion

It is the curiosity of the “Dream of the Blinded� that guides me to my projects. In the meantime, other than doing research online and in libraries, I personally visited blind musician Cheng Beng Hsu, and the shop of Kelu in Taipei School for the Visually Impaired. I was greatly inspired by the experience, and hereby understand more about the life of the blinded ones. Despite the fact that they lose their sights, they still have a colorful life and live to the fullest, and let us wonder, what about us? Even though we are capable of seeing, we often ignore the beauty that other senses bring to us, and even limit our capability of imagination. As a consequence, such inspiration brings me to my projects. Hopefully my works would serve as a chance to let people rethink their experiences with the senses.

What satisfies me the most during my exhibition is to see the transition of the visitors' facial expression as they enter and exit, from showing great confusion to sympathetic smile. The topic "Dream of the Blinded" is a suitable starting point and so interesting in a way that it could catch people's attention right away. By wearing a pair of sunglasses and with the lens covered with black paper, the visitors lose their sights, hereby they could not only experience the life of the blinded ones, but also enhance the sensibility of other senses. After the experience, some are anxious, some are scared, some are amused, and all of these feelings prove that we rely too much on our sight. Taking off those sunglasses, we wonder, why are we so scared or amused by sensing those common objects in life? I would say that even though my work should not be appreciated by seeing, or cannot even be considered as "a beautiful art," with its plain presentation, it is perhaps more touching and could be deeply implanted in people's heart. Such work of art does not only inspire sympathy. As the visitors experience body contact with my work, their interactions with others would possibly change. They might be able to feel others' temperature, and believe in faith among "people," and this is exactly the effect behind my work that I intend to produce.

Reference

2009 ) 盲人在夢中看得見嗎？：107個連老師也嚇一跳、信不信由你的科學 輔具之友 ( 31期 ) 從低視能者的視覺特性看居家無障礙環境 ( Ben Underwood ) http://www.benunderwood.com/ 蘋果日報 ( 2014 ) 三歲童常玩手機板腦 說話能力較差 曾意清 ( 2007 ) 我要看到才能懂 比爾·索尼 (