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Chen Shaoxiong (China), Heman Chong
and Corinna Kniffki (Singapore/Berlin),
Junebum Park (Korea), Wit
Pimkanchanapong (Thailand), Rashid Rana
(Pakistan), Sharmila Samant (India) and
Kiran Subbaiah (India)
Curated by Zoe Butt and Bec Dean
Counter-terrorism, consumer subversion and
visual mischief: Mirror Worlds presents the
work of eight artists who reinvent the world and
play havoc with reality.
In 2003, cyberpunk author William Gibson caught the
sci-fi world off guard by setting his new novel,
Pattern Recognition in the present day. The
pop-cultural terrain (iMacs, weblogs, Starbucks and
Pilates) is very familiar and yet Gibson's
evocative prose begs us to consider this particular
moment with urgency, as his plot hurtles towards
any number of possible futures.
The term 'mirror world' is coined by Gibson to
describe anything man-made and place-specific (such
as electrical plugs, dial tones and airline
sleeping socks) that have a counterpart elsewhere
in the world. It's the same thing in essence, but
different everywhere you go. The term has been
floating around for a while though, in the fields
of science and technology. Mirror matter theory
proposes the notion that all particles have a
counterpart - invisible save for their
gravitational effect - with whole planets, solar
systems and galaxies of 'dark matter'.
But long before such futuristic notions of worlds
beyond the real, the mirror has been used as a
metaphor for alternative realities in mythology,
literature, art and film. Consider the fate of poor
Narcissus, the adventures of Alice in Through
the Looking Glass or the trials of Jean
Cocteau's Orpheé. Today our
contemporary urban fabric is interlaced with visual
noise, branding, advertising and infotainment,
where marketing gurus will stop at nothing to
predict the tipping point of the next big thing.
But this is not science fiction, these are the
times in which we live - spaces where our dreams
and anxieties are reflected back to us by a
constant stream of media. The mirrors are
everywhere we look.
Mirror Worlds is an exhibition of work by
artists from across Asia who use video to challenge
this image-saturated contemporary condition. For an
increasing number of Asian artists, video is now
affordable, accessible and immediate - making use
of a visual language that is familiar to all who
watch TV. While Korean artist Nam June Paik is
credited alongside Andy Warhol with originating the
artistic use of video, the broad emergence of video
art in many parts of Asia is a relatively recent
phenomenon. And though rigorous debate about
contemporary approaches to the medium in this
region is only just beginning, the work itself is
currently enjoying international exposure and
success.
The attempt to reconcile the traditional values of
the past with the shifting values of the present in
one of the most striking characteristics of Asian
contemporary art. Video technology is utilised to
engage intuitively with the accelerated pace of an
increasingly globalised world. While the
skyscrapers and department complexes continue to
rise up across the region, many artists feel that
behind these facades hides an uneasy relationship
to this rapid transformation. The short video works
selected for Mirror Worlds variously tackle
such pressing issues as the blending of cultural
practices, consumerism, the speed of urban change,
modern warfare and terrorism. Often subversive and
inventive, these artists create altered reflections
of the present - using techniques ranging from
simple visual ploys and deliberately contrived
situations to complicated computer animation -
manipulating the particular qualities of digital
video to play havoc with reality.
Chen
Shaoxiong
Guangzhou,
China
Anti-Terrorism Variety 2002 - 2003
digital video 5:14
Courtesy of Vitamin Creative Space,
Guangzhou
(b.1962,
Shantou, Guangdong Province, China) is considered
one of China's earliest pioneers of video art who
graduated from the print department of the
Guangzhou Fine Art Academy in 1984 and went on to
form the avant-garde artist collective 'The Big
Tail Elephant Group' in the early 1990s. His
significant video and photographic practice will be
showcased in the forthcoming Venice Biennale, 2005
and has also been included in such major shows as:
'Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video
from China', International Centre for Photography,
New York and the Smart Museum of Art, University of
Chicago, in 2003 and 'Zooming into Focus:
Contemporary Chinese Photography and Video from the
Haudenschild Collection', Shanghai Art Museum,
Shanghai, in 2004.
In Anti Terrorism Variety (2002 - 2003), by
Chen Shaoxiong, skyscrapers behave as if they can
miraculously detect terrorist activity and respond
by bending or halving to avoid being hit by
oncoming planes. In this fiction the glittering
skylines of Shanghai and Guangzhou also
magnetically attract and repel incoming attacks -
each plane sticks to its target only to be
powerfully thrown off. While this caricature of
global terrorism appears to take place in real
time, the city's inhabitants walk by oblivious.
Junebum
Park
ChoonBuk, Korea
The Advertisement 2004
digital video 1:00
(b. 1976, Jeju, Korea) is a rising star on the
contemporary art scene in Korea whose formal video
practice integrates his performing hands as
theatrical device and as a referent of power.
Graduating in 2002 from the Department of Art
Education Sungkyunkwan University, Park's work has
been included in numerous international exhibitions
such as: 'Techniques of the Visible: Shanghai
Biennale', Shanghai, China, in 2004; 'Art Forum
Berlin 04', Koch und Kesslau, Berlin, Germany, in
2004 and 'Out the window - Space of distraction',
The Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan, in 2004.
In 1 Parking (2001 - 2002), 15 Excavator
(2003) and The Advertisement (2004),
Junebum Park's hands loom larger than life over
aerial views of urban cityscapes as he appears to
manouvre pedestrians, vehicles and billboard
signage in a clever exploitation of depth of field.
Influenced by mime performance and the Japanese
tradition of Bunraku puppet theatre, Park begs the
viewer to re-consider the relationship between his
performing hands and the miniature objects he
appears to be moving.
Wit
Pimkanchanpong
Bankok,
Thailand
Still Animation: Bangkok Sunset 2004
digital video looped
(b.
1976, Bangkok, Thailand) is an interdisciplinary
media artist who works extensively with the moving
image challenging the delivery of video through
large-scale VJ performance events to music clips to
sophisticated single channel animations. He
graduated in 1999 from 'Electronic Media and
Time-Based Media' at the Kent Institute of Art and
Design, Maidstone, UK having previously completed a
Bachelor of Architecture at Chulalongkorn
University, Bangkok in 1998. His work will be
included in the forthcoming Yokohama Triennale,
2005 and has also been represented in 'Bangkok
Bangkok' La Capella, Barcelona, Spain, in 2005 ;
'-+- (negative plus negative)', Earl Lu Gallery,
Singapore, in 2004; and the "The Third Pusan
International Film Festival' Pusan, Korea, in
2001.
In Wit Pimkanchanapong's Still Animation 2
series urban moments are presented in suspended
animation, like complicated lenticular photographs.
A scene appears static and then tiny almost
imperceptible movements are detected as if Bangkok
were built on an undulating mass of water. Images
from this series draw upon the visual language of
tourism, selecting panoramas that resemble travel
snapshots. Pimkanchanapong's work subtly suspends
the visual stereotypes of Thai culture: its family
traditions, tourist culture and urban landscapes in
a critical appraisal of these coded signs.
Rashid
Rana
Lahore, Pakistan
10 Differences 2004
digital video 0:53
(b. 1968, Lahore, Pakistan) has been claimed as
one of Pakistan's most significant artists of his
generation. Trained at the National School of Arts
in Lahore and the Massachusetts College of Art in
Boston, Rana has a prolific practice whose unique
pictorial devices will be included in the
forthcoming Fukuoka Triennale, Fukuoka, Japan in
2005 and has been previously included in 'Across
the Borders: Art from Pakistan', National Gallery
of Modern Art, Mumbai, India, in 2005; 'Freewaves
Media Festival', Museum of Contemporary Art, Los
Angeles, USA, in 2004 and the 9th Cairo
International Biennale, Cairo, Egypt, in 2003.
In Ten Differences (2004), Rashid Rana aims
a gun at his reflection, the bloody consequence of
this mirrored encounter posing questions about the
relationship between victim and assassin; viewer
and participant. Perplexed by how meaning is
misconstrued in our media oriented society, Rana's
video and photographic practice create images that
force an acknowledgement of multiple viewpoints,
rather than a single world view.
Kiran
Subbaiah
Bangalore, India
Flight Rehersals 2003
digital video 4:24
Production supported by Rijksakademie van Beeldende
Kunsten
(b. 1971, Sidapur, India) is a trained sculptor
whose practice embraces installation, video and
net.art projects under the name of 'Psuedo Virus
Archive'. Humour reveals the inherent
contradictions of human perception in Subbaiah's
video works which explore the relationship between
the illusion of the digital image and felt
experience. He is a graduate of the Royal College
of Art, London (1999), having previously studied at
the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India
(1994). In 2003 he was a participant in the
Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam
and his work has been included in major exhibitions
such as: 'Have we met', Japan Foundation Forum,
Tokyo, Japan, in 2005; 'Freewaves Media Festival',
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA, in
2004 and 'MAAP: Multimedia Art Asia Pacific',
Millennium Monument, Beijing, China, 2002.
In Flight Rehersals (2003), Kiran Subbaiah
provides a philosophical account of his desire to
fly. Subbaiah's introspective voice-over, which
combines historical fact with superfluous
anecdotes, highlights our inherent need to dream.
Cunning in the use of visual deceit, Subbaiah
questions the origin of desire, suggesting our own
intellects are disturbed and disjointed by lofty
ambitions which disrupt our relationship with the
physical world.
Heman
Chong & Corinna
Kniffki
Berlin and Singapore
Divided Tonight 2003
digital video 2:50
Courtesy of Deckard and Pei
(b. 1977. Singapore) completed a Master of Art
in Communication, Art and Design at the Royal
College of Art, London in 2002. Chong's practice
involves specific reconfigurations of situations
that reinterpret the everyday. His solo exhibitions
in 2003 and 2004 include: Snore louder if you can,
The Sunstation Gallery, Singapore; Heman
Chong, Galerie KunstBank, Berlin; The Silver
Sessions, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin;
The End of Travelling, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin
(with Isabelle Cornaro) and Lost (Found
Tracks), Sparwasser HQ, Berlin. Recent group
exhibitions include: Busan Biennale 2004,
Busan Art Museum; 5th Shanghai Biennale,
Shanghai Art Museum; LAB, Kröller Müller
Museum, Otterlo; Twilight Tomorrow,
Singapore Art Museum; Transmediale 04, Haus
der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin and 50th Venice
Biennale (Singapore Pavilion), Venice. He was
Artist-In-Residence at Künstlerhaus Bethanien
in 2003 and is Associate Artist, The Substation,
Singapore.
Heman Chong and Corinna Kniffki's Divided
Tonight (2003) begins with a young woman
standing in the background of a white room behind a
dividing table stacked high with cigarettes and
other neatly arranged consumer items. A single
defiant gesture turns this ordered scene to chaos.
Chong's art practice is often focused on physical,
temporal and spatial disconnection. Divided
Tonight presents our addictions and our
consumer choices as a containing, supportive wall
that we stand behind - a wall that Kniffki's
character repeatedly destroys as the video
loops.
Sharmila
Samant
Mumbai, India
Dissonant Consumption 2003
digital video 5:53
(b. 1967, Mumbai, India) is an artist and
curator working in sculpture, installation and
video. She completed a degree in fine arts from the
Sir J.J. School of Arts in Mumbai, India in 1989
and a diploma in interior design and decoration
from L.S Raheja College of Architecture, Mumbai,
India. Her work is concerned with globalisation,
the mechanics of the consumer economy and the
changing face of local cultural forms. Her work is
currently touring as part of Edge of Desire: Recent
Art in India to New York, Mexico City, San
Francisco and Toronto. Recent exhibitions
include Indian Video Art, Fukuoka Museum,
Japan, curated by Johan Pijnapple, Migrating
Identity- Transmission/ Reconstruction, Arti et
Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands and The
Werkleitz Biennale: Common Property, Volkspark,
Halle/Saale, Germany.
In Sharmila Samant's Dissonant Consumption
(2003), four women are given the challenge of
eating traditional meals from various cultures,
while making use of the wrong implements.
Chopsticks struggle with a chapatti, a spoon is
wielded against meat-and-three-veg, a fork is
uselessly dipped into soup while a knife contends
with spaghetti. These amusing vignettes, while
absurd and improbable gently question the
assimilation of certain kinds of traditional
practices. If we co-opt the cuisine of a people,
can we also lay claim to their culture?
Image Credits:
• Chen Shaoxiong, Anti-Terrorism
Variety 2002 - 2003, Courtesy Vitamin Creative
Space, Guangzhou
• Junebum Park, The Advertisement
2004
• Sharmila Samant, Dissonant
Consumption 2003
• Heman Chong and Corinna Kniffki,
Divided Tonight 2003, Courtesy Deckard
& Pei
• Kiran Subbaiah, Flight Rehersals
2003
• Rashid Rana, 10 Differences
2004
• Wit Pimkanchanapong, Still
Animation 2 series, Bangkok Sunset 2004
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