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Smartphone, Screen, and Performance: The Work “Teatime with Me, Myself and I” by Chou Tung-Yen Also published in Chinese on Very View 13
“Teatime with Me, Myself and I”performance stillshot Photograph credit: Chou Tung-Yen
Entering the room of performance, the audience will see three “performers” at the table. The performers either gaze at the screens of their smartphones and unconsciously scroll and tap them with fingers, or intently navigate the Internet with their laptops. They are seemingly looking for unknown pieces of information through various interfaces. Without any description by language but with several kinds of sound effect generated by mouse clicking or from Facebook, Line, or SMS, the performers demonstrate the audience a commonly seen situation resembling that people sit next to each other in a café and never have a conversation but addict to the sounds generated from their smartphones or laptops. The three performers deliberately wear identical costumes to imply that people who lack self-consciousness always behave as clones in the information-exploded environment and under the division of labor in contemporary capitalist society. These people attempt to access all kinds of information. Sometimes they even force themselves to receive unnecessary messages just because they are accustomed to do this for killing time.
smartphone and its user. Although the audience cannot see the images the performers are touching, they are able to imagine the corresponding images through the sound effects and the performers’ expressions. The audience may also speculate that the performers are texting with people who are present or not present. When the centered “performer,” namely Chou Tung-Yen, picks up his smartphone to take pictures of the coffee cup on the table in a manner of appreciation or observation, the other two performers immediately follow suit. Then the three performers begin to take pictures of themselves and each other. It highlights the habits of taking pictures with smartphones as daily records and “checking in” on Facebook for self-demonstration in public places. The action of taking pictures has to be done by touching the screen of a smartphone. If the previous imagination about a screen evolved from the film projection screen to the self-luminous screen such as those of television, computer, or mobile phone, we can argue that the screens of smartphones not only encourage “peep practice” and “screen practice” regarding the concept of “Screen,” but also extend the conceptual scope to “touch practice” and “mobile practice.” 1 “Touch practice” refers to the haptic visuality incited by observing the image displayed on a screen directly with our eyes. 2 The emergence of smartphone interfaces transforms the previous visual contact with a screen into touching a small screen with fingers and then perceiving the images displayed on it. The real tactile sense is not the haptic visuality perceived and experienced by viewing images anymore. Particularly, a large amount of touching behavior is conducted in this work. Whether the behavior is photographing face, coffee cup, or detailed facial features, it adds a real sense of touch of human skin and body temperature to this work. Besides, the real-time photography, display, and projection achieved by the smartphones during the performance create the effect of “mobile practice.” Previously, mobile images must be made by complex graphic-making devices or development of negatives, and then projected by large machines in public places. Nowadays, through digital photographic devices, we can take pictures and immediately display them on the screens of our smartphones and even send them to everywhere in the world. Just as the window frames of the train and the windows of the airplane appear in the work, the smartphones also serve as an interface beyond spatial limits for observing the changing features of our society.
Scrolling and tapping a smartphone screen imply not only touching the sensory device of the smartphone, but also directly touching the graphical interface of the image on the screen. The screen displays the images generated by the smartphone, and therefore serves as the interface between the
“Touching, Mobilization, and Screen Frame” seem like dancing with the performers’ gestures. “Hands” are the most significant tool for a performer of creator. Whether it is painting, photography, or literature writing, all have to be achieved by hands. Many artistic works even adopt the hands of the
(1) In terms of the contents of this performance, what are the positions the smartphone and the man take in their inter-subjective observation? (2) What kind of reflection on image exhibition can be stimulated by using the small theater as the space for image exhibition and the smartphone screen as the medium for performance?
Touching: Mobile Screen Dance
creators as the subject, or as a symbol of autograph. Especially in dance performance, the dancers’ gestures attract the audience’s attention to specific objects. In this work, hands are used in running smartphone Apps and taking pictures with smartphones. By scrolling and tapping the screens of their smartphones, the performers resemble the imagination of operating smartphones during a boring flight with that of playing toys in their childhood memories. The various types of “hands” also resemble dance movements on stage. They are slow, fluent, and gentle.
Miniaturization: The Daily Division
by Chen Pei-Yu
“Teatime with Me, Myself and I” is one of the works exhibited at the “2013 Close to You International Puppet Festival.” Treating a smartphone screen as the main theme of the performance, this work presents the scenario that everyone cannot help but “watch the screen” everyday by observing how people use their smartphones in their daily life. With this regard, two questions can be proposed from the perspective of a spectator.
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p5 Smartphone, Screen, and Performance: The Work “Teatime with Me, Myself and I” by Chou Tung-Yen
The clicking, zooming in/out, scrolling, or even photographing performed by our “hands” on smartphones transform the images they display into the “aesthetics of small screen” that can be touched, zoomed in/out, and divided anytime and anywhere. In this work, the “photos” taken by the performers’ smartphones begin from those of the coffee cup and themselves to the deliberate collage of the “performer” Chou Tung-Yen’s face with screens of smartphones, and end with the close shots of his eyes, cheek, nose, mouth, and ears. Chou’s constant dodging implies that the people living in the Information Age can never escape from viewing or even monitoring themselves through the images displayed on the screens of their smartphones. In other words, they submit to the “self-discipline” of gazing at the screens of their smartphones all the time. Accordingly, the collage of the performer’s face made of screens of smartphones is similar to computer-generated fractal images, whose basic components are pixels. With regard to negatives, which serve as the traditional carrier of images, the smallest composing unit is a roll of film, which can therefore present the image in a non-divided form. In contrast, digitalized images can be displayed on screens only through numeric representation and variation. 3 The digitalized images we see are not substantial entities but numbers that change and divide incessantly. As a result, we are always in a state of division if we observe ourselves through smartphones. In addition to the collage of face that underlines the divisive feature of digitalized images, Chou adopts the technique of multiple-projection to create his images and makes them overlap with him. From the location of the audience, we can discern that Chou firstly takes picture of his image of drinking coffee with his smartphone. Then the micro-projector in front of the table projects two of his images on his shirt. When the real Chou Tung-Yen moves, there will be two projected Chou Tung-Yens that are horizontally reversed. Finally, he photographs the three Chou Tung-Yens with his smartphone. As a result, the audience can see the real Chou Tung-Yen, two projected Chou Tung-Yens, and one Chou Tung-Yen photographed by his smartphone, or even his shadow reflected on the background. The four “image performers” represent the asynchronous movements reproduced by contemporary technology. Nevertheless, the performance of the four “image performers” exists only when the real performer exists. It leads to the duration of technological images that oscillate between temporal and spatial deflation and inflation. Time, space, and the figure continuously divide through the operation of smartphones. This scene is presented by the on-site screen installation and real-time performance rather than a single and static image exhibition. Time goes by in the environment surrounded by images and information. The work “Teatime with me, myself and I” does not treat smartphones as merely a medium or tool for presenting images. Rather, it reveals the influence of smartphones on us when we use them to take pictures. The audience, or the smartphone users, indulge themselves so much in using smartphones that become unconscious of their inter-subjective existence with their smartphones.
Chen Pei-Yu, currently studying in the Graduate Institute of Animation and Film Art, in Tainan National University of the Arts, actively interested in fim and new media arts.
1. Erkki Huhtamo, Natural Magic: A short cultural history of moving image. The Routledge Companion to Film History. 2011, pp. 9-14. 2. Laura. U Marks, The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses, 2000, p. 192. 3. Lev Manovich. The Language of New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002, pp. 13-25.
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different ethnic groups or classes in the real society. God diversified the systems of human language while humankind was erecting the Tower of Babel. As a result, humankind can no longer easily conspire to get to the Paradise.
Sisyphus on the Roof: Hua-Shan-Qiang (Flower Pediment)
Sisyphus on the Roof The brochure of the exhibition told us that the title “Hua-Shan-Qiang” derives from “the pediment commonly seen in Taiwanese architecture. It is the triangular section of a wall supporting the sides of the roof. It performs load-bearing, ventilation, and fireproof functions. After the Western-style gable façade was introduced into Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, it gradually became a decorative structure.” The pediment was transformed into a non-functional architectural element, so was the Han Fan in the configuration of traditional Taiwanese temples. It is only used for decoration nowadays, whether it was originally a sarcastic symbol about the Dutch colonists or just because we regarded the indigenous people as physically stronger and therefore engraved the barbarian figure at the point that makes it seemingly shoulder the main beam and roof of a temple or a wealthy person’s house. At the final part of the video, which depicts the scenes of the next day after the Spirit-body arrived at the house in the front, the Han Fan falls on the floor (he was indeed dozing!). Suddenly, the Han Fan finds that the house (world) remains stable without him to prop it up. Now, let’s turn to the story of Sisyphus. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is punished for offending the gods by being compelled to roll a gigantic boulder up a hill. The boulder will roll back down when it reaches the hilltop, and Sisyphus has to repeat the rolling action forever. This punishment consumes Sisyphus both his physical and mental strength. Nonetheless, from Albert Camus’ perspective, Sisyphus might be happy with repeating the action. Were he not happy, he would not repeatedly move his exhausted body between the foot and top of the hill. He must harbor the hope of success, and the action of struggling uphill alone is sufficient for enriching his soul.
by Huang Ni-Ni First published in Chinese on Very View 08
Sisyphus on the Roof: Hua-Shan-Qiang (Flower Pediment) Exhibition view, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
With this regard, I cannot help but conjecture that even if Sisyphus stops to roll the boulder uphill for being extremely exhausted someday, the world would be as stable as the roof without Han Fan’s support. However, the rationale of his existence would be dispelled. At the final part of the video, after the Spirit-body climbs up the pediment and reaches the highest point, he sets himself in flames. Following the rising flames/ ……
The Invisible Paradise The exhibition “Hua-Shan-Qiang” is arranged in a spacious basement hall. The artist erects a high wooden wall, on which a dozen paper-made figures line up horizontally. In the left-side corner of the hall, the artist sprinkles several burned paper-made houses and mountains of gold and silver with some other half-burned paper offerings such as balconies, bicycles, and pagodas. The center of the exhibition hall serves as the space for streaming the video of the work. This video begins with a patch of dark grey sky in which a few pieces of ash ascend slowly with smoke. I can recall just a few fragments of the opening narration: Following the rising flames/ …… Still, through the flames/ All that he sees becomes a world in flames/ Su Yu-Hsien’s work “Hua-Shan-Qiang” is inspired by the Daoist culture of paper offering. The “Spirit-body” serves as the substitute for the deceased to be brought into the underworld. “Zhuo-Tou-Xian” is the servant of the deceased in the underworld. The “golden boy and jade maiden,” known as the attendants of the Daoist immortals, perform the mission of guiding the deceased to the Paradise. These offerings are paper-made figures, while the house in the front and mountains of gold and silver refer to the residence built for the deceased in the underworld. At the beginning of the video, a man (Zhuo-Tou-Xian) arrives at the front of a magnificent house. He looks up at the Han Fan (dumb barbarian) located at the point where the roof adjoins the main beam. Then the man asks the Han Fan, “…I heard that you tend to nod off. Did you close your eyes?...” The Han Fan makes no reply. Subsequently, a woman (another Zhuo-Tou-Xian) also arrives at the front of the house and asks the Han Fan the same question. She waits for a while but gets no answer, either. Then they turn away, head to the house in the front. The golden boy scolds them for their being late,
p6 Sisyphus on the Roof: Hua-Shan-Qiang (Flower Pediment)
because it would be too bad if the Spirit-body arrived before the servants did.
Still, through the flames/
Subsequently, the burning man (Spirit-body) who stages the event described in the video enters the underworld. He sits in the spirit carriage and heads to the house in the front. The golden boy and the jade maiden, the two servants, and a group of musicians together greet the Spirit-body at the gate. The golden boy explains to the Spirit-body that there is a huge backlog of cases to be verified and therefore waiting in patience in the cozy house is necessary. When the story progresses to the two script lines, namely “await the beginning of the journey to the Paradise” and “await the arrival at the joyful country,” the artist gives the face of the Spirit-body two close-up shots. The two script lines are also the most significant political metaphor in this video. After the golden boy and the jade maiden leave the house together with the group of musicians, the Spirit-body walks to the courtyard and gaze into the distance for a while. He seemingly attempts to “see through the endless sea.” “They are not coming back anyway!” the female servant yells in the back of the Spirit-body. However, how do we know the thing that the Spirit-body awaits wistfully is the golden boy and the jade maiden who just left or the still-invisible country and the never-visited Paradise?
All that he sees becomes a world in flames/
Actually, throughout the video, there is only one background narrator who narrates the plot in Taiwanese. Even if the characters in the video have their respective lines, these lines are displayed in Chinese-English subtitles rather than any audio dialogue and score. The Paradise and joyful country the Spirit-body awaits represent a place of freedom. Before his arrival at the Paradise and the country, the muted paper-made figures also reflect the silence of people under the suppression of autocracy and the violence of colonialism. The muted figures in the video long for democracy and the joyful country, while the freedom of speech and political participation they require can only be exercised by the omniscient background narrator as their proxy. Besides, effective communication does not exist between different ethnic groups (the head of the Spirit-body is papered, while those of the servants and the golden boy and jade maiden are plastic-injection molded, and the driver of the Spirit-body is utterly printed on a paper). The Han Fan seems almost deaf (or dumb) so that he cannot hear (or reply) the servants’ question about whether he is dozing. No one hears the music played for greeting the Spirit-body. The Spirit-body cannot communicate with the servants at the house in the front. We even have no idea about whether he heard the female servant yelling “they are not coming back anyway!” The multi-level muted scenario the artist designed in “Hua-Shan-Qiang” may imply the tension among
All the riches in the world are in flames …… The flames lick nothing else except him…… Here I detect a hint of pessimism. People who seek freedom set their corporeal bodies in flames, but the flames lick nothing except the bodies of these people. The roof does not collapse. Life is not ruined because the gigantic boulder stops rolling. The flames do not lead the Spirit-body to the Paradise. Through the final scene, the artist takes us back to the site shown at the beginning of the video. A Daoist priest in a yellow robe stands with his back towards us. The magnificent paper-made house is gradually demolished by flames. The burning Spirit-body also falls from the highest point. The remains are exactly the charred-burned bamboo sticks displayed in the exhibition hall. In the meantime, the news on television and Internet incessantly deliver the information about the hunger strike of Taiwanese retired workers in front of the building of the Council of Labor Affairs for over one hundred hours and the most serious fraud in Malaysian electoral history. “The golden boy shows the way to the Paradise, the jade maiden leads you back to the joyful country,” namely the words on the banners held by the golden boy and the jade maiden, reflect a sarcastic and helpless contrast to the news.
Huang Ni-Ni, adores the literati painting of the Song and Yuan Dynasties as well as Taiwanese contemporary art.