Ticket
Ticket (2019) Installation
Stamped kitchen towel
Ticket made of kitchen towel is an extension work of Postcard, in which I deploy the idea: trace/ evidence of human's behavior on the consumed matter, to give viewers a straight sense that human's behaviors are material-based.
I use the existing cut line of kitchen towel to mock the boarding pass, with strong words "One way-From Woods to Landfill", and "Economic Seat" stamped on it. This raises not only the environmental issue, but also points out the feature of ticket and kitchen towel - that is they both travel.
This work was served in the canteen with the normal-use napkins, viewers had the right to decide which to use, or not to use. By letting them have choices, upon the decision, viewers would have more thoughts on it, to perceive the similarity of movements between human and object, and overlap themselves with the object from the decision-making to the interaction, then sense the subtle gain and loss between the tangibles and the intangibles.
Emergency Joy
Emergency Joy (2019) Installation
Printed, food-stuffed, sealed pizza bag
After making series of work on disposable paper, I decided to experiment on other material that are more recent and relevant to my generation. Thus I inspect into my daily life, and found the characteristics of food that I can play with. I realized that things are invented and be disuse as technologies develop, such as floppy disk. But food remains diverse and the old and new coexist, which gives a stronger sense of contemporary behavior out of the comparison.
I decided to apply the packaging method of instant food to enhance that sense, and I found the instant pizza bag a suitable material because of its shape and size. I bought a pumper and a heat sealer to refill the bag and reseal it, and the bag resembles to the safety airbag which inspired me in the text.
The content in the bag are chips and ice cream that people often refer to the junk food which contains no valuable nutrition but the please of eating it. Then I figured the purpose of packaging food in this way, which is to let people have enjoy them whenever and wherever. Thus, I named the series as "Emergency Joy", and printed "FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY" for people to sense the dominance that human have over objects, capture the hidden feature that "Joy" implies, and arise the reflection of why does joy need to be at your fingertips.
Alibi
Alibi (2019) Installation
Printed A4 paper
"A claim or piece of evidence that one was elsewhere when an act is alleged to have taken place." is how an alibi is defined.
The form of this piece derived from the daily-seen ads that are posted mostly in elevator or corridor. Low-cost A4 paper with contact information printed on, waits for pedestrians to tear it which reproduces the action of consumption behavior.
An alibi that is given away easily, unexpectedly, anonymously and unselectively, triggers peculiarity in every sense. By tearing off the ad sheet, the bilaterally alibi for both pedestrians and the material will be made.
The line "you are with me" indicates that consumption behavior is shared in all individuals (the unknown artist and random audiences). "I was alive somewhere else" demonstrates the essence of an alibi; and the action of tearing the sheet binds consumption with staying alive, which presents an intact entropy between a human and an object - one diminishes, another grows, in-between the existence is proved by each other.
I sought the material as the object for consumption, inspired by “Untitled” (Double Portrait) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, paper printed with infinite symbol to be collected as flyers.
Postcard
Postcard (2019) Installation
Stamped toilet paper roll
Toilet paper roll with postcard format stamped on each piece, is the series work after "Carpet, ". It elevates the playful and self-deprecated sense as a prelude to the turbulent combination - toilet paper and postcard.
Being away from its consumer after used is what toilet paper and postcard have in common. One is to be preserved and another is to be discarded, the unceasing competing between these natures somehow enhances the combination of the word and the object in a way of mutual-synecdoche.
Despite that the thing-in-itself of the toilet paper is to be destroyed, having the "Postcard" on it binds the action with consumption behavior more then it was, because a postcard is what people pay more money and attention for, rather than a toilet paper.
This piece refers to Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing, Francis Alÿs. Moving an ice cube around the street gets nothing in return, and sending a toilet-paper-made postcard that most likely won't be delivered, both question into the true purpose of doing, meanwhile stand a firm and steady posture of not-regret.
Daisy Chain
Daisy Chain (2019) Installation
1 USB adaptor and 10 USB Hubs
Curiosity was the drive of making this piece at the very beginning. There is a naughty temptation in the USB hub – what if I make an infinite daisy chain? One by one, port to port, an electricity and data network is built, connected, aligned, and intertwined. Environment concern ‘consuming the one earth’ could be aroused from the unordinary vibe given by the sense of over loading or charging; issues such as cyber security and self-positioning in the cyber community may be spoken of, when it comes to the human-shape USB hubs. These interpretations are inborn in the essence of the object, while the only action happening in this installation is connection; somehow it provokes the impulse to stop/ to continue in a way that is playful but solid.