Heather Beardsley eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral 9 SPECIAL ISSUE that regard being able to have maintain an online presence where people can be introduced to an artist’s work at a much lower cost both financially and in terms of labor. At first I was very skeptical if Instagram’s potential as a platform for sharing work because of negative associations I had with the idea of social media overall. I’ve never felt comfortable with self-promotion, and that’s what I thought Instagram’s only value was, but once I started using it I realized it could be a great source of encouragement and community. I’ve discovered a lot of artists, from all over the world, whose work I admire Ectopic Anatomy (series), pen and colored pencil on panel, 20 cm x 20 cm
agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries SPECIAL ISSUE 10 there, and I also follow a lot of accounts that are science related, so looking at my newsfeed is a big source of inspiration. When updating on my website I feel like projects need to reach a particular point of completion before I share them, and the documentation of the works needs to meet certain specifications to maintain a standard of professionalism. There is something very liberating about being able to share more casual images of new work moments after completing them. Sometimes there can be long gaps between when I make things and have an opportunity to show them in a physical gallery space, if I even get to at all, which is a huge advantage of making art today. I also feel more liberated to show work in progress images on social media than on my website, and those images can yield valuable feedback as well. My education emphasized presentation and consideration of how one’s work would exist in the world once it was finished, so I was nervous about pulling back the curtain and sharing pieces and projects that were incomplete. It turns out people are really interested to see the process by which artworks come to fruition, and since the process is my favorite part as well, it’s been rewarding to participate in more dialogues around it. We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, Heather. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Heather Beardsley: I am currently expanding on the Strange Plants series, I will be working with similar imagery and ideas while attending two different artist residencies this fall. I am still doing some embroidery on found photographs, but the material limitations of embroidering on paper has restricted the size of these pieces. To push this concept further I am excited to experiment with new techniques that would allow me to work on a much larger scale. As part of my project at the IZOLYATSIA Residency Program in Kyiv, Ukraine in August and September I will collage gel transfers of Soviet architecture on linen, that I can then embroider similar plant imagery into, but on a much larger scale. In November and December, while I am an Artist in Residence at Rogers Art Loft in Las Vegas, NV, I will be experimenting with creating large photo collages on fabric using transparent paper and light-sensitive dyes. As with my earlier work, these pieces will explore the relationship between built and natural environments both today and as we look to the future. I’m thinking of more overtly referencing science fiction and dystopian tropes in these pieces, but I’m not sure yet. Like always, intuition and improvisation will play a huge part in how these new works are ultimately realized, but I am super excited to collaborate with these residency programs and use this time to experiment with taking my work in new directions. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected]
Heather Beardsley eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral 9 SPECIAL ISSUE Ectopic Anatomy (series), pen and colored pencil on panel, 20 cm x 20 cm
SPECIAL ISSUE 4 Hello Ryo and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production we would like to invite our readers to visit https://www.ryokajitani.com in order to get a wide idea about your artistic production and we would start this Ryo Kajitani Lives and works in Japan Peripheral ARTeries meets "Drawing for printmaking" and "Oil-based-Woodcut" process of the work created by kajitani which is overcoming the monochrome dimension and introducing the colors to the prints for the first time, cannot be imagined without close ties with "being within the city" bridging the creator's and its masterpiece in urban space. The color of the work is not given by artist itself, but rather acts as a "generative phenomenon" born in the urban life. My work itself participates in society life through exhibitions as "amulets, talismans, gifts". In order to make its historical role (the work is preserved and exhibited even after its creator passed away) sustainable, the work itself must be a symbolic thing, a “face” representing its creator and a comprehensive/impersonal symbol of urban space. This “face” is entrusted with functions of "watching over and giving". and,as long as work is stored and displayed appropriately, keep working even after an artist, pass away, work will continue with future possible possibilities to watch over the era. After the death of an artist, these work starts to "watch over" the exhibition,Portrait (facial expression)on behalf of him, It will slept in artwork eternally. It reaches the social sleep rising above artist's personal sleep, "work of art" puts such time and space into eternity. In that sense, the space of the my work is equal to the space of a prayer. As one person with sexual identity disorder, I suppressed the facial expression of feelings in my life so far and entrusted most of the roles to “belly”. belly is my face, and a device that accepts any aches and pains Instead of compensate for expressionless, I suffer holding down belly on a daily basis.It is that usually hidden under clothes.like this, invisible movement is a means of Defense from every discrimination. imagine the fact that the this belly(or body) is constantly and continually suffering pain throughout life through repeated daily violence.If you stand in front of the this work, try holding your belly with both hands trying. that pain, no longer a disagreeable event for the parties concerned, it is a hometown and a buddy.and,Pain accumulated in the belly is social power and energy. From the above,I’m view the belly as a malleable site of meaning and power, which the artist or viewer may project own fears, desires and dreams. My belly accepts these desires and diversity. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
11 SPECIAL ISSUE interview with a couple of introductory questions. Are there any experiences that did particularly influence your evolution as an artist and help you to develop your attitude to experiment? Moreover, how does your cultural substratum due to your experiences as a researcher and exmodel direct the trajectory of your current artistic research? Ryo Kajitani: The cultural foundation that I have built until now is contiguous to my career in art. The degree from Tama Art University that I obtained in spring this year was based on my thesis entitled”Towards Further Advancement of Artistic Activity in Exhibition Spaces : Exploring through the Ontological Aesthetics based on Heidegger s Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes (The Origin of the Work of Art)“, with the content of a creator’s artistic research that ontologically unravels the relationship between the exhibitions space with the so-called traditional trinity, consisting of the artwork, creator, and viewer based on the point of view of a creator. Heidegger, the German philosopher, was used as the reference axis to approach art ontologically. Knowing about Heidegger was inevitable for me, who have been familiar with the phenomenological point of view from a young age. His assertion that an artist’s impression of great artwork is not important was extreme but deeply familiar. Even a model is nothing more than a material for making clothes (although not limited to), or in other words, is a thoroughly given material, and for me, this job is also a part of a production. The body of works that we have selected for this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries and that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article has at once impressed us for the way you sapiently combined element from reality with captivating abstract sensitiveness, to provide the viewers with such a multilayered visual experience: when walking our readers through your usual workflow and process, we would like to ask you if you think that there is a central idea that connects all your works. Ryo Kajitani: Yes, the source is inside my head. I believe that, if the elements are in place, my works would not be formed out of the premise “to be placed in a city”. The city space nurtures artworks. The face in the picture is a complete portrayal of the entire “people in the city”, and represents a genderless “non-human face”. The line of sight is a “phenomenon” that is generated from Ryo Kajitani eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine
SPECIAL ISSUE 12 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries the face. The work watches over the exhibition space and the attendees (viewers) through its eyes. The look is not based on a person’s self-portrait, but represents “our faces”. Maybe, the future is the “face of an era”. The line of sight is an unending message (gift), which can only be conveyed through the artwork that overcomes languages. You are a versatile artist and your cross disciplinary practice includes woodcut, drawing and painting in your practice. What does direct your artistic research to such captivating multidisciplinary approach? How do you select an artistic discipline in order to explore a particular aspect of your artistic journey? Ryo Kajitani: I believe that the method of expression has no boundaries. The categorization of expressive media is less important than how can someone be engaged in pure production. The optimal solution is through drawing and woodcutting. In particular, since woodcutting can show the individuality of the craftsman that is involved in each of the segmentalized processes, it has an interesting point in the sense that it can produce a truly unique artwork through the accumulation of techniques. Although each method is different, for me, each one contributes equally to the
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eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Ryo Kajitani agazine 17 SPECIAL ISSUE production. The choice of the medium of expression is not personal and voluntary but is “provided” by the other side (the world). Your artworks - and in particular the interesting I'm Here - are marked with such a rigorous sense of geometry, to create such a coherent combination between sense of freedom and unique aesthetics: do you conceive you works instinctively or do you methodically elaborate your pieces? In particular, how importance does spontaneity play in your work? Ryo Kajitani: As you know, spontaneity is everything for me, and I do not make preliminary concepts. Thus, I never know what kind of work it will be and what colors will there be before I complete the production. The autonomy of the work cannot be controlled, even by myself. The actuality of the work is unknown to me. For example, the process of drawing is like wandering in complicated lines of the sketch, which may sometimes cause the artist to be lost in the process. It is crucial to meet that one dramatic line at the center. Art production brings along a new encounter each time. We have really appreciated the vibrancy of the delicate nuances of that mark out your artistic production, and in particular Garden of Prayer: in particular,
SPECIAL ISSUE 18 we like the way your artworks show that vivacious tones are not indespensable in order to create tension and dynamics: how does your own psychological makeup determine the nuances of tones that you decide to include in a specific artwork in order to achieve such brilliant results? Ryo Kajitani: «Garden of Prayer» was an experimental work, more or less like a sketch. The finished form was completed immediately after sending the manuscript to Peripheral ARTeries . The colors were not chosen by me, but “developed” from the work as it was “given” from an unknown place. In other words, the colors are the “phenomena” and “events” that surround the work. I gave the print work a concept of time. Each natural production step (except for drawing) has its own color. For example, the primary color of this work originated from a time zone common to every person, known as “Morning”, and is imprinted on the work. I usually produce warm-colored works based on the symbolic time zone “Evening”. The Japanese-specific expression for it is “Shayou” (sunset). The Japanese word has a deeper meaning than sunset and suggests that “all things that prosper will decline and fall.” When such a concept is applied to a city, we arrive at the idea of ruins and wreckage. In that sense, the massive portrait I drew as a symbol of the modern city dwellers can be interpreted agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
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as “ruins” and “wreckage”. The ruins are the relic of the past, where the people’s memories sleep. It is often frequented by people, to remember the past and pray. The symbolic time of prayer is “the evening”. The evening dyes our humanity golden uniformly. Although we are there, we can never touch the color. Sunset and sunrise. They are both the time, hue, and sceneries that have been experienced by humanity, yet no one has ever had direct contact with the color. Poetically, it can be said that the work’s tonality was given from the heavens. The face in the work sleeps away in a space that spans the time to watch over us eternally. The colors on «Garden-of-Prayer» are the results of an experiment in drawing “morning” as a symbolic time that represents the “evening”. We like the way you artworks convey such a stimulating combination between figurative elements - as wetlands, mudflats and grasses, ponds, fields- and captivating abstract feeling, whose creates such an oniric atmosphere: how would you consider the relationship between abstraction and figurative in your practice? In particular, how does representation and a tendency towards abstraction find their balance in your work? eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Ryo Kajitani agazine 19 SPECIAL ISSUE
SPECIAL ISSUE 12 Ryo Kajitani: I believe that it is related to my mental structure. I departed from symbolic representation early on. Basically, I see the world in an abstract way, with a tendency to move back from the three-dimensional perception to a twodimensional plane. Such a trend probably played a role like a camera lens. In the artwork, natural objective orientations, such as distance and parallax, are removed and replaced by the face and the line of sight arising from it. I often switch between concrete and abstract in my research, but I feel that, in production, the optimal solution (landing point) shows up as the screen. I may be dealing with a region that can not be expressed objectively. I believe that, in our daily life, abstract existence is much more unique and extraordinary than the actual one. Marked out with a powerful narrative drive on the visual aspect, your recent body of works seems to push the envelope of abstraction even more you have before: in this sense, we daresay that your artistic practice seems to aim to look inside of what appear to be seen, rather than its surface, providing the spectatorship with freedom to realize their own perception. How important is for you to invite the viewers to elaborate personal meanings? And in particular, how open would you like agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
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your artworks to be understood? Ryo Kajitani: You are exactly right in saying that my work is more abstract than before. In that way, I hope that the viewers will be free to see the work and perceive them with their own feelings. I also hope that many people can understand my works as they are and be connected to them through their creative power. I am not preparing a definite and clear answer. The reason is that such a solution only represents an artificial and random landing point. I’ll know what I can do when my work is finished. I do not act as the tender of the works, although they are arranged in an exhibition space as they are. It is the viewers who create the actual meaning of the works throughout the ages. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, your work participates in society life through exhibitions as "amulets, talismans, gifts". Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "artists's role differs depending on which part of the world they’re in": does your artistic research respond to a particular cultural moment? In particular, how do you consider the role of artists in our everchanging and globalised age? Ryo Kajitani: My role as a creator is to make sure that the “watching over and giving” effects that can be realized by the work to remain with it even after my death. eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Ryo Kajitani agazine
If the work is not stored and exhibited appropriately, it has no chance to show its effects anywhere. That makes it even more critical for the work to be an important occasion. I do not think of myself as an artist, a designer, or a writer. I prefer thinking of myself as a creator. I have watched over so many crowds along the ages here in Tokyo, the center of Japan. People in the city are isolated and tired due to the extreme crowding. I was one of them, feeling annoyed by the loneliness despite being surrounded by so many people. Loneliness is home to me now. My first role in facing such a situation is to display artworks to the world at exhibition space in cities everywhere and show the meaning of “watching over” to the people through them. If this can be achieved gradually, the facial expression will diversify by itself. I hope to convey the meaning of watching over and giving attention to the general and specific ways to every person throughout the ages, not only in Japan. It is my mission to bring talisman-like works into existence for each person without being limited to space. I consider my life as a period to prepare for that mission, with my doctoral dissertation is the foundation. We sometimes tend to ignore the fact that a work of art is a physical artefact SPECIAL ISSUE 10 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
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with tactile qualities: how do you how do you consider the relation between the abstract nature of your creative process and the physical aspect of your daily practice as an artist? Ryo Kajitani: The abstract nature of the process of creation is strongly linked to the physical dimension and becomes more profound each day through life and discipline. As a transgender, physicality is an essential aspect for me; mainly, the perspective on a human body and the view of life that deviate from gender separation, which is not unrelated to the abstract nature. As I said, training my own body as a model can also be considered as a creative process, and such a disciplined life has changed the ways the lines are drawn, and the words are written. Even though the abstract nature of the path that lies ahead does not change that quickly, there are various ways to enter and routes leading to it, and such diverse options tend to fix the colors of the path of creation. Over the years your artworks have been showcased in a number of solo and group exhibitions, and you are constantly searching for close relationship with exhibition spaces: how do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? And what do you hope your audience Ryo Kajitani eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral 9 SPECIAL ISSUE
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Ryo Kajitani eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral 9 SPECIAL ISSUE take away from your artworks? Ryo Kajitani: It is difficult for each piece of the work displayed today to escape from the premise of being “placed in an exhibition space”. Exhibition spaces, such as art galleries and museums, are the crucial stages for artworks. If you think that your works are only meaningful when they are viewed by the viewers, it is also vital to meet them in this structural unit. Generally speaking, viewers are present throughout the ages. The work can “start becoming what it is supposed to be” only when the viewers build the relationship between “watching over and being watched over” after looking at it. It is a historical “event” for the work when a viewer stops by and looks at it. In short, I would like the viewers to accept existence as it is from the displayed work. When the viewers feel being watched over and feel being gifted of their existence, I hope that they will feel the strength of the reality as if floating in the air. The reason is that the work itself is like the bouncing of something real. We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, Ryo. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Ryo Kajitani: As a model, I worked with a local unisex apparel brand, and at the same time, worked on branding efforts for the brand by creating illustrations and posters for the brand’s image and exhibited them in art galleries. It was a positive experience in my shackled life as a transgender to feel useful to other people, and I felt great about it. Based on that experience, in the future, I will maintain East Asia as the base of my activities, and while resuming my modeling career, I will keep on searching for artistic activities that are related to fashion, such as creating works for apparel brands. Recently, I participated in two successive art exhibitions in Taiwan. The first one is an art fair, and the other is an auction. Also, I will attend a group exhibition in Hong Kong in June. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected]
SPECIAL ISSUE 184 Representing my Revelation and Notification of Art between Word and Tech By Pey-Chwen Lin Word: Arts, religion, and philosophy National Taiwan University honorary professor Lin Li-Chen used “Between Word and Tech” to critique my works. She stated, “For a piece of art, ‘Word’ refers to the ability to express a belief, a thought, and an introspection and reflection of the fundamental studies of the universe and life…” I am grateful that Prof. Lin wrote a preface for me as a Chinese professor and a priest of my church. She knows that I respect God, and my creative thoughts Pey-Chwen Lin Peripheral ARTeries meets Roland Barthes once said, “The best weapon against myth is perhaps to mythify it in its turn, and to produce an artificial myth.” My Back to Nature series will represent the production of human-technological civilization. For example, through the billboard light boxes and a digitally printed geometric sky, seascapes, flowers and grasses in the Artificial Nature series, I have placed them into nature or an indoor space in order to create an artificially-fictitious landscape. Furthermore, in the Artificial Life series, I have created non-existent butterflies, a human-butterfly hybrid, and a human-pupa or human-beast hybrid, Eve Clone, with 3D animation, Lenpicular Lens, LED, 3D Moving Hologram, Digital Image and Sound, Interactive Installation and media technology, criticizing man-made abnormality or mutation through a beautiful and artificial woman. Showing high energy, virtually-real high technology which can closely interact with the audience, became the key media and language for my creations. In Specimen, with raster technique, I created moving butterflies, which will follow the audience’s eyes. The Portrait of Eve Clone was created and displayed following the dynamic effect of hologram technique. It is shown as a film being played, but it can also stop at the moment of the viewers’ gaze. In Virtual Creation, I invited viewers to draw pictures of butterflies with interactive programs and devices. By allowing the viewers to see the butterflies they have created fly into a seascape image, I have mimicked the human desire to create. In Eve Clone No.2, Eve Clone No.3 and Eve Clone No.4, I used a webcam and an interactive computer system to create the fake life of Eve Clone, which could not be independent but which could seduce the audience. Thus, the fact that media could represent technology was my original intention of criticizing modern technology. With the use of ready-made objects, there is an important symbolical meaning in the style of my works, including the squares like geometric figures, cylinders, cones, and shell and pupa shaped light boxes for advertisements. I have attempted to represent the luxury and urbanization of artificial landscapes. The frames, glass medical tubes and medical jars show the process of the birth of artificial life, and how it is preserved and experimented upon. The numbers, symbols, sounds and images in my works describe an important “appropriation” concept. The number shown on the stuffed insets, Eve Clone, 666 (the mark of the beast), computer timecodes, tattoos, scriptures from Revelation in the Bible and holy songs define the artificial life’s character and status. They can be randomly numbered, controlled, cancelled or changed, and they can even be incarnated with tattoos or the mark of the beast. This is my work’s warning of the end of the world: humans are arrogantly changing God’s original creation and this will become an inescapable nightmare for mankind. My earlier works (Interpretation of Woman and Chrysalis Series) explore life, and I then create my art to deconstruct patriarchy (Antithesis and Intertext, 228 Series, Classic Works Series and Beautiful Life), Followed by the Back to Nature series (Virtual Creation, Catching, Specimens, City Matrix, Cultivation, and Eve Clone Series. ) which were made after I was inspired by God. During the process, I have had the help of my family, friends, mentors, colleagues and students, in addition to the support of the prophets, co-workers, sisters and brothers. Thank you to all of the art gallery and museum staffs, artists, critics, reporters, audiences, collectors and scholars who have supported me. They have all allowed me to use art to express care in my explorations of life, society, and universal truth. agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
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Portrait of Eve Clone 3D Animation, Moving Hologram, Acrylic Frame, Spotlight 46cm×57.5cmx4cm each piece 2010
187 SPECIAL ISSUE and beliefs originate from the touches of my inner life and the enlightenment of the messages delivered by the Prophet of all Nations, Elijah Hong. Specifically, the series of Back to Nature and Eve Clone are my representative artworks criticizing the destruction of nature by humans and modifications of God’s original creations. My works are based on the truth in the Bible; I even directly quote Bible chapters to define the Eve Clone character, which refers to the end of humans challenging God’s original creations. This is the unique concept and art language of my works. “The best art works are delivered through the most profound metaphysics through sensory and sensual means… Therefore, art as a cultural expression works in the same realm as religion and philosophy and expresses the same content as they do.” Feminist art perspective In the Antithesis and Intertext series exhibited in my 1995 solo exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, I appropriated advertising slogans and documents on foot-binding to disclose that throughout history, the female body has been trapped in the patriarchal aesthetic standard and lacked autonomy. Next, I used two pieces of work, Black Wall, Inside and Outside of Windows and Regards to the Authorities Hiding the Event, to interpret the unequal status of the victims and perpetrators in the February 28 Incident. Another two series of mine, Classic Works and Dice, satirize the phenomena of people devoting themselves to books not for knowledge but for examinations and for the subsequent fame, status, and wealth. The series Complexity and Thought Origin and Beautiful Life unveil the chaotic Taiwan society. The aforementioned works are all a series of creations in which I use feminist concepts to decompose gender, history, society, politics, and education under the patriarchal culture. They express my beliefs and thoughts I want to deliver, which are my creative ideas and concepts. The reason why my works present a feminist art perspective is that after completing my studies in the United States in 1989, I joined the group Apartment No. 2 and participated in Taiwan contemporary arts. At that time, I deeply felt oppressed by traditional culture, and I constantly struggled among my multiple roles as wife, mother, daughter, and artist. In 1992, at my solo exhibition at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, I painted the shapes of chrysalises and curled-up female bodies that incorporated images of women’s shoes and high heels to symbolize the various states of contemporary women, such as their states of confusion about being unable to break the bondage of tradition. I felt as if I were in a chrysalis, about to break out. To seek an independent space for art creation, in 1993, I finally overcame various obstacles to pursue a doctoral degree in creative arts in Australia (University of Wollogongon), where I was immersed in feminist art discourse and related works. Feminist art scholar Linda Nochlin’s paper “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” maintained that most art history was narrated from the male perspective, and art was selected, positioned, and evaluated under male standards. I finally surpassed my past confusion, no longer expressing myself in the form of an oppressed chrysalis, and the media I adopted were no longer restricted to oil paints and canvas. When I realized the structural problem of patriarchal culture oppressing the female development space, I was finally able to objectively use the female perspective to examine products under patriarchal culture. For example, my Antithesis and Intertext series used methods including screen printing, embroidery, artificial silk, and painting to represent ancient paintings of beautiful women, foot-binding literature, and contemporary advertising slogans of plastic surgery to satirize the fact that the female body has been dominated by patriarchal assessment standards. After this series was launched, the art scene and media critics positioned me as a “gentle” feminist artist because my works did not use my own body or sexual organs, as do western feminist artists. However, I consider my language of representation a more powerful method of accusation in that representing the fact is the most powerful proof. This kind of representation Pey-Chwen Lin eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine
SPECIAL ISSUE 188 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries language is like Mary Kelly’s Post-Partum Document. She represented objects throughout her son’s growth, such as diapers, videos of him learning to talk, and his doodling, to demonstrate the subjectivity of mothers and women. She also avoided women’s bodies being peered at by men. In 1997 and 1998, I was invited by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum to exhibit two pieces that deconstructed political topics. Black Wall, Inside and Outside of Windows consist of victims’ family photos and letters, as well as official documents, screen printed on lead plates, with the victims’ faces intentionally corroded by sulfuric acid to represent the miserable lives of the victims. The opening and closing of the ready-made venetian blinds present the once closed and gradually rehabilitated (i.e., opened) miserable history. The other work, Regards to the Authorities Hiding the Event, boldly displays a line of ready-made trophies on which words satirizing authority are carved, such as “Regards to the authority who hide the Incident,” “Regards to the authority who slaughtered the innocent,” “Regards to Chen Yi, who would rather kill all just for one,” and “Regards to the authorities who caused a lifetime of shame and fear in the families of the February 28 Incident victims.” The so-called “regards” is accusation, and the so-called “great achievements” satirize the conspiracies and atrocities, such as despicable, brutal slaughters. Later, in another two series, Classic Works and Dice, I questioned contemporary education, mocking the intensified hypocrisy, fame-seeking, and speculation in people who study the Four Books and Five Classics, the traditional ethics education. In the large-scale installation work Beautiful Life, I scanned over ten thousand newspaper articles reporting the chaotic news of Taiwan onto the mosaic-censored Along the River During the Qingming Festival. Then I printed them on long rolls and hung them as a spiral space where viewers can walk. When observed from afar, it is a traditional painting installation of Along the River During the Qingming Festival, representing the truth and chaos of the society beneath Taiwan’s rich surface illusion. Prophet of All Nations, Elijah Hong, uses God’s words to open the Word I wanted to express The 1999 Jiji earthquake awakened my conscience. Had I not witnessed the counterattack on humans of this great natural disaster, I would not have been able to understand the truth of Out of Civilization, Return to Eden. Since then, my works have no longer expressed only my personal feminist perspective but the Word opened by God’s Word by the Prophet of All Nations, Elijah Hong. In the Bible, “the Book of John,” the Word is God’s words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Making of Eve Clone Documentation I/1-10 Head and Ha Digital Prints, Hand Drawing, 3D Animation, Augmented Re 54 x 72 x 3cm x 10 pcs
189 SPECIAL ISSUE Pey-Chwen Lin eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral Word was God” (John 1: 1–2). In addition, “The Book of Revelation” states, This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near. (Revelation 1:1– 3) In this era, the Prophet of All Nations, Elijah Hong, is like the Disciple John from the past, who expressed God’s Word and Testimony of Jesus. The Word of the Prophet is God’s Word expressed to this era. The Prophet preaches on Mt. Zion, and he tells people of this era: nd ality Installation, tablet computer
SPECIAL ISSUE 190 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries In Eden, everything is created by God without the contamination of technological civilization. However, after humans became fallen and were banished from the Garden of Eden, people deviated from God and could not receive God’s blessing. Later, Satan incited people to use their intelligence to develop various technologies and stopped relying on God. Their reliance on human intelligence resulted in endless disasters… Once we are back at Zion, we have tried to return to Eden, return to God, and return to Nature. We must walk out of culture, the Atheist culture, to cast aside fallen humans… These are from God’s revelation. It is hard to be accepted by contemporary people because fallen humans live in a Godless culture, worshiping a fallen culture and being superstitious in artificial science. However, God’s word is forever steadfast in Heaven! Making of Eve Clone Portrait IAR/1-6 Digital Print, Hand Drawing, 3D Animation, Augmented Reality Installation, tablet computer 2019, 84 x 65cm x 6 pcs
eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Pey-Chwen Lin agazine 191 SPECIAL ISSUE Indeed, ever since humans were banished from the Garden of Eden, they have gradually distanced themselves from God, and they have used their fallen knowledge to develop Atheist culture and technology to the extreme. They have used their intelligence to construct the Tower of Babel, developing human nations of politics, the military, economy, culture, technology, and education under patriarchal society, but the result is them being trapped in more disasters and pain. For many years, I used a feminist perspective as my creative discourse to fight for resources for women, but the results were apparently limited. The Prophet revealed the truth of Return to Eden, Return to God’s Dominance, and Return to Nature, emphasizing that humans must walk away from civilization in order to reach the state of prospering with everything and becoming one with nature. Once I comprehended this truth, I knew that humans must worship God to love one another. Only by doing so can the problems derived from patriarchal structure be resolved. As a result, my creative subject started to concern the relationship between humans and the Creator. Back to Nature series: Synthetic nature made of acrylic light boxes Starting in 1999, God guided me to develop the Back to Nature series, which included Substantial Life, Viewing Views, Flower Pillars, Treasure, and Chrysalis. I attempted to represent the metropolitan culture and artificial nature humans constructed far away from nature, so I adopted billboard light boxes and colorful signs to create a contrast with nature. At that time, I spent a lot of time in discussions with sign manufacturers to apply the sign production method to present my work. I use the digital prints of natural patterns such as flowers, sky, and ocean views to past on acrylic light boxes, creating various geometric patterns such as squares, cylinders, cones, scallops, and chrysalis-shaped geometric nature. I placed them within nature such as parks, trees, grass, or indoor spaces to create ridiculous synthetic scenery. Paradoxically, this series attracted strong attention from viewers. The viewers did not find anything wrong with synthetic, fake nature. Rather, they loved these illuminators. When I saw the bizarre scene of the audience lingering in front of these works, my criticism was further confirmed: That people find delight in synthetic nature explains the crisis of nature being invaded by fallen culture. This series of works has generated invitations for exhibitions from several public art festivals, such as Listening to Cloud-light #2, Integration and Co-construction, and Rain Forest,
Making of Eve Clone Documentation I/1-10 Head and Hand Digital Prints, Hand Drawing, 3D Animation, Augmented Reality Installation, tablet computer 54 x 72 x 3cm x 10 pcs
SPECIAL ISSUE 195 because glamorous works can better attract contemporary people. The virtual butterfly with artificial life and the human–butterfly integrated Eve Clone In 2001, I began teaching in the graduate school of Multimedia and Animation Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts, where I had more opportunities for contact with the media of computer technology. Therefore, I started to use 3D animation to represent the virtual illusions constructed by technology. For example, in the 2004 Un-Natural and the 2005 Fascination & Frustration solo exhibitions, the work Flower Pillars consisted of garden-like acrylic light boxes with four poles. In the middle, a lower light box was installed with a small screen, in which a 3D animation butterfly was presented, symbolizing that the flower and the butterfly can communicate their affection across a distance. In City Matrix, I displayed several digital specimens conceived of butterflies and neon lights. In my solo exhibition Catching at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (MOCA Taipei) in 2006, I used 4D glasses and double projection to display 3D butterfly animations. Although the butterflies seemed alive on the screen, the viewer could not capture them. The exhibition space also displayed many animations of specimens created by optical illusions. This work illustrated that synthetic butterflies could be stored, saved, reorganized, and deleted in digital systems. Later, I was invited to the 798 Art Village in Beijing to hold a solo exhibition, “The Beautiful New World,” where I boldly created my first interactive installation piece, Virtual Creation. The interactive platform invited the viewer to paint their own butterfly patterns. After the viewer completed a creation, they would see the butterfly image they painted slowly fly into the projection of the sea floor in front of them, and the butterfly would shortly disappear. This work satirized the virtuality and transience of manmade objects, inspiring thinking on philosophical topics such as true vs. fake, real vs. virtual, and permanence and transience. After 2007, I witnessed that humans not only used computer technology to construct smart cities but daringly challenged God’s original creations, developing extreme technologies such as genetically modified crops, gene replication organisms, and embryo hybrids. To represent this artificial act of cultivating life, I created a four-piece work, Cultivation. I constructed a round petal shape with acrylics. In the middle, a small screen displayed a female body, which turned from 3D animation grids into an image of the female body. Then, with motors running and LED lights shining, I presented the artificial cultivation process through technology. In 2008, I developed a large-scale image projection to show a butterfly–woman species, and I named it Eve Clone as God created Eve, and humans want to play God and created a cloned Eve. To illustrate her artificial life, I used an interactive computer program and sensors to invite the viewers to participate. When people interacted with her, Eve Clone turned from a chrysalis into a beautiful butterfly-woman and then to an image of a human beauty. The more viewers presented, the greater the degree of her transformation. Once all viewers left, she immediately returned to the chrysalis shape. This interactive installation mocked the fact that this species could only evolve with human intervention and could not exist alone. Therefore, she was only a fake, artificial life. By contrast, only God’s original creations are natural and true life. The Whore of Babylon with reproductivity and artificial life The products humans develop with their fallen wisdom have become a force that fights back and controls humans: global warming caused by chemical contamination reaching a point of no return; the unprecedented high heat in summer; the ice in the poles melting in substantial amounts; glaciers broken, causing tsunamis and the global sea level to rise… In addition to the fights from nature, humans attempted to change God’s law of original creations, such as artificially breeding animals and plants, increasing gene mutations, genetic modification technology, gene agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
Making of Eve Clone I Digital Image and Sound, 3D Animation, Dimensions Variable 2016
Making of Eve Clone I Digital Image and Sound, 3D Animation, Dimensions Variable 2016
reproduction engineering, and interbreeding trespassing the boundaries of species. The subsequent creature mutations, environmental disasters, and moral crises will lead humans on the road to extinction. Additionally, the so-called smart city, future world, internet technology virtual world, involving chips, computers, Wi-Fi, ultramicrowaves, ultraelectromagnetic waves, artificial intelligence, biochemical technology, and robots, trap humans in the net of technology they have created. Humans have been monitored, controlled, and manipulated by technology. They can hardly escape from the self-made temptations and dangers. Before Stephen William Hawking passed away, he said, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” The founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, warned that artificial intelligence will be the “biggest existential threat” to humans. He even described artificial intelligence as a demon that humans cannot help but summon. Following the Word enlightened by the Prophet, I realized that the Eve Clone at this stage could no longer interpret the evil of contemporary people developing technological culture, so in 2011, I decided to integrate the elements of the human chrysalis and human beast to shape the double identities of Eve Clone, who was both charming and evil. I quoted the Whore of Babylon recorded in the Bible “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (Revelation 17:2) as well as placing the Number of the Beast, 666, the mark of Satan, on Eve Clone’s forehead and right hand as a symbol of evil (“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads” (Revelation 13:16)) to show that technological culture is like the Whore of Babylon and the Number of the Beast, which seduce and control humans. The Portrait of Eve Clone exhibited at MOCA Taipei in 2011 used 3D animated holograms as the medium to present her charming gaze and posture. She only lived under the spotlight (without light, Eve Clone was invisible). What was rarer was that when the viewer saw her from different angles, her gaze followed and stared at the viewer, whereas when the viewer stood still to look at her, she stopped moving. Like Eve Clone,the technological culture is attractive,yet it seduces and controls humans, like the Whore of Babylon. Following the concept of Portrait of Eve Clone, I subsequently created the hexagonal large-scale interactive projection installation of Eve Clone III, showing six gigantic faces following and staring at the viewer. The sound of water was in the background, and when the viewer moved, the portraits moved with sound effects, emphasizing that the gigantic portraits were like technology, overpowering and omnipresent in life. Facing this huge technological culture, humans seem minute. Additionally, I used resin to create the sculpture of six pairs of Hands of Eve Clone and Fingers of Eve Clone. I put them in tubes and experimental glass jars to criticize that these hybrid, artificially cultivated creatures have become the evil mutants that are backfiring and harming humans, just like the inventions of the computer, technology, chemical engineering, nuclear power, and artificial intelligence that in the end become the source of harm to humans. After Eve Clone III was exhibited in MOCA Taipei, the following year, it was invited to be exhibited in the Taiwan Biennial at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. I added six webcams to record the images of the viewers to further develop Eve Clone IV. In 2011, I was invited by the Galerie Grand Siècle to hold a solo exhibition, for which I developed under the same concept a full-body Eve Clone: head slightly bowed, both hands in front of the chest like a fetus, and body showing a posture and texture like human–chrysalis integration. I used 18 small screens to present Mass Production of Eve Clone, emphasizing that Eve Clones were like massproduced factory products. In Revelation of Eve Clone III, the six digital images presented Eve Clone through x-ray transparency, revealing the tattoolike symbols beneath her beautiful appearance, eries Contemporary Art Peripheral Pey-Chwen Lin agazine 197 SPECIAL ISSUE
Making of Eve Clone Portrait IAR/1-6 Digital Print, Hand Drawing, 3D Animation, Augmented Reality Installation, tablet computer 2019, 84 x 65cm x 6 pcs
SPECIAL ISSUE 200 symbols of danger such as serpents, scorpions, and dragons. The other large-scale projection interactive installation, Revelation of Eve Clone I, further presented that Eve Clone had artificial life and reproductivity. After the viewer entered the exhibition realm, her life index (the Time Code on the computer) was activated, and her body gradually turned from black-and-white to colorful, and her body was reproduced into a whole line of bodies. The number of reproduced Eve Clones can be adjusted according to the size of the projection space; a large space allows more reproduction. This work discusses life being reproduced, its Time Code and reproductivity activated by human intervention. Eve Clone’s life index (the Time Code on the computer) increases in milliseconds as time goes by, showing her coexistence with humans. Finally, to define and reveal Eve Clone’s identity and power to control humans, I boldly incorporated Bible passages from the “The Book of Revelation” about the Whore of Babylon and 666, the Number of the Beast, presented in six powerful languages at the bottom of each Eve Clone. The languages included Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, representing the three powers of politics, culture, and religion, respectively, because it was written in these three languages when Jesus was crucified: “Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews” (John 19:19–20). Chinese, English, and Arabic were also included to represent the three contemporary strong powers. The text was randomly shown at the bottom of the image by the computer, and the background music was hymns mixed with weird iron rubbing sound effects to emphasize the fake holiness. Each time the work was exhibited, the Time Code of Eve Clone differed. Later, in order to record her Time Code each time, I created the series Making of Eve Clone Documentation. A Great Image that can interact with people In 2013, I was invited to an international exhibition at MOCA Taipei. I pondered that the next stage of Eve Clone should be more vivid, like humans. agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries