The intervention is simple. On a weekend, I blocked Vinewood Boulevard, which is the busiest road, in the game Grand Auto Theft V Online with a bus. Then I (controlled my character) climbed up onto the bus, and started to play the recording of Jane Fonda’s speech about the war in Vietnam she gave in LA in 1972 to the game world through the online voice chat.
It is very interesting to see how other players and the game react to this and try to stop me. As the game is about (being) criminals, NPCs in GTAV are programmed to be rude, violent and aggressive. Many people have criticized this. For sure this is quite messed up, in a sense, but what probably more messed up is that, this also somehow “programmed” the player to be more aggressive and violent in the game.
Accident happens inevitably. During a leak some substances from ourside enter digital world no.05A35. This specific instance of Platystomata was found after the incident.
We found Ommatoporifera in a hidden corner, somewhere like Mariana Trench on the earth, in the digital world no.05A35. We still don’t know we should call this instance (or these instances) of Ommatoporifera it or they. But seems that the division is not a form of reproduction.
Visitors’ heartbeats will be detected and recorded by a customized circuit and DIY sensors. Then the data is used to generate sound and visuals. The visuals will be projected to a shallow, reflective dish filled with water through a triangular prism. A speaker is placed under the dish through which the sound is played to disturb the water, then deform the projected graphic.
By visualizing the invisible heartbeats and using this very personal data as the input of a computer-free generative system, a connection between the visitor and this piece is established. This project also tries to echo the theme of generative art made with physics rules, which I have been interested in and working on for a period of time.
The limitation of behaviours in public spaces from the government seems to be a common and normal component in modern communities. However, if we observe at different cities with the focus of signs in public areas, we may find that their content is highly sensitive to the urban context, leading us to reflect on the definition of “public space”, and to question the normality of these oppressive public signs. After collecting rich language materials from the streets in field trips and research, we designed a series of posters and stickers, trying to mock the nonsensical governmental road signs/banners in public spaces. We hope that the posters and stickers will serve as a voice from the public that indirectly responds to the authoritative, centralised power from the government.
Expanding city is progressively invading wild, and villages, to build its own colonial empire.
At the same time, the populace of the city empire flood to the countryside every weekend, enjoying the clean air, leaving tons of trash, and taking away fresh fruits and vegetables.
On a Saturday, I went to Ma Shi Po, a village that recently lost its farmland to property developers. Five items are collected, put into well-sealed plastic bags with marks of the location and time of them being picked up, and brought back to my apartment in the center of the city.
In two weeks, those items are isolated in their own little plastic bag, rootless, decaying in a totally unfamiliar environment.
Pillows in the modern days have long been associated with comfort, relaxation, and even health care. They are designed to maximize their functions of comforting people during sleeping, with a number of complicated ergonomic estimations.
Comparing the headrest from the Song dynasty and the pillows we use today, it’s not difficult to find that there are essential differences in what people actually take them as. The headrests from ancient China were often made of hard, cold ceramics or wood, and the sophisticated patterns on their surfaces indicate its aesthetic value and the owners’ social status, apart from its functions.
Yet, what is the boundary of a “pillow”, physically and functionally? Does a pillow have to comfort its users? What do people expect more from a pillow than a “headrest”? For example, can it “record” and visualize the sleeping quality of the user, or can it help people who suffer from insomnia fall asleep more easily?
We did notice that the pillow has some specialities that other daily used objects don’t: Short distance (i.e. intimacy): people get tightly close to the surface of the pillow when putting their heads on it, making it possible for them to perceive tiny signals and messages (sound/smell/…) that come from the pillow itself; Long time & long-term: most people keep close contact with their pillows for quite a long time every day, and use the same pillow for plenty of months or years. Through these, in a sense, some relationships can be built between the user and the pillow.
Those led us to think of Animism, which is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. While the terminology was developed in the late 19th century, this idea of “perceiving all things as animated and alive” can be found in the ancient cultures around the world, and is one of the earliest, if not the first, concept in anthropology.
It is very interesting to think about how we can combine these ideas and reflect back to the headrest from the University Museum Art Gallery. And overall, the target and core concept of our project is to question that, can we make a pillow that pleases and disturbs its user at the same time?
So, yes. This is a pillow with the shape of a strange creature; it’s half-bio half-machine, with reference to the T-800; it has tattoos derived from classic Chinese erotica art under its skin, and it will make strange sounds when you put your head on it.
Or in other words, it is alive, and it seems to be concerned about the fertility rate of human beings.
