[grad collection] PAPER SCISSORS ROCK

INSPIRATION

Before the degree program, I have taken a few of pole dance trial classes, and realized such movements are not that easy as they look. I think it's as hard as gymnastics, pole dancers need to enhance their muscular strength and flexibility so as to lift themselves up on the pole as well as move smoothly, at the same time, they have to bear the pain caused by the friction between the pole and their own skin, which always leads to bruises. I admire pole dancers and started to think why most people consider pole dance as a not appropriate performance, and it always related to sex, and just a recreation for males... is it because of the skimpy outfits and seductive steps? Hmm... I think most of people don't know that dancing on pole can be various. Males and families all over the world do the practice of pole dancing, not just females who want to please males. Professional male and female dancers are using pole dance as one kind of performance on stage, just like ballet, it also can be artistic.

At this point, some may think I would like to talk about feminism or related subject, but no, I was interested in “PERCEPTION”. Somehow, people just prejudice on something without understanding. And during the research for my dissertation, I found “PERCEPTION” is powerful enough to change one’s decisions, and even make them to do harm on themselves. I always wonder why people have different perceptions which affect one's actions a lot, and try to stand in their shoes to understand their behaviors. I’m curious who set the line to form those “PERCEPTION”.

At the very beginning, I thought how we behave based on what kind of information we absorbed, comprehended and used. So I focused on the transmission of information we have absorbed and made some kind of research on electric impulse transferring in our nerves systems. But it’s wrong direction. The most important thing is “INFORMATION” itself, it’s the main reason that leads to “PERCEPTION” .

CONCEPT

Even though due to advanced technology, education system and global economy, we can almost access any kind of information we wanted (of course except the classified ones). But be careful, not every information is true. As we know, information is a powerful weapon in our world since “perfect information” doesn’t exist in our world economically, also too much unknown and uncertainty are confusing us. That creates a perfect chance for people using these kind of loopholes to make advantage of others.

There’s a word was chosen as the Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year recently in 2016, “POST-TRUTH”, defined as below:

Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.

This word is becoming popular these few years, but it’s not unfamiliar with human history. For examples, the Flat Earth concept v.s. the Spherical Earth concept, astronomers, e.g Nicolaus Copernicus was persecuted due to religious reason, the Medieval people judged this based on their own belief, not truth. The CCP is brainwashing their young citizens that simplified Chinese characters and Putonghua is proper language for Chinese, and trying to degrade Traditional Chinese characters and Cantonese due to political reason (I have studied in mainland China so I experienced this); As mentioned in my dissertation, people are encouraged to undergo plastic surgeries due to economic reasons (mass media advocate some kind of beauty standards, e.g. slimier bodies, bigger eyes, etc). Nevertheless, there’s some fake news are just for fun or drawing people’s attention. It’s pity that we have no choice to filter all those fake or misleading information. And some will cause bias inside our head without knowing.

The ironic thing is, passing down information is the way making human beings become the most powerful creatures on the earth, however, the information also leads us to make many horrible decisions as well. I'd like to reveal the ironic part through my work.

TRIAL

I was going to to make a time-based sculpture to imitate the information surrounding us by using knitting technique I learnt from higher diploma (I studied in knitwear design before). To knit a huge fabric with two layers which the upper one can be pulled away by audience to form a specific pattern on it; or to knit a big ball with many layers which each layer can be pulled away till the end and becomes yarns/ropes again. The whole process will be recorded. I was attempt to reveal the nature of information, we build and we tear it apart, no part is completed. But I felt the context in between is not strong enough, so I gave up but evolved it...

I thought using newspaper rather than yarns/ropes is better, since newspaper gathers all kind of information from international events to daily miscellaneous things, it can be used as a symbol of information surrounding us. Although it has no full coverage of everything, as we are unable to dip into everything. And although people are addicted to smartphones, they get much more information from internet than hard copies (books, newspaper, magazines, etc.), but it’s no point that using printed information from internet to do my works, since nowadays information are mutual disseminating in different media. Moreover, I used free newspaper instead of paid one, which are much more representing the easily -reaching wide-spreading information, I inter-waved the newspaper just like the information we absorbed, comprehended and used.

However, this kind of form was not yet strong enough, therefore, I further evolved it...

Since the media is a war zone where multiple players/parties compete for power and domination, we no longer know what is real and what is fake. I thought if the stacking newspaper is referring to the information surrounding us all the time, controlling our life and affecting our decisions, why not gluing them into blocks so that I could manipulating them into a form by cutting, to render it wordless, information-less, powerless. It will become a process of ruining the power of language and subverting structures of knowledge.

FINAL WORK

Basically, these sculptures can be in any shapes because the most important part is the destroying process. But I made the shapes seems in the middle of twisting/changing, to enhance the meaning of manipulated information, and enhance the ironic part i mentioned earlier. They’re are the remnants of the war, and the trophy of mine.

I entitled it as “Paper Scissors Rock”. As you see, the name reflects the process of making it. The name, a game name, is also referring to a meaning of competition, which weapon in between is “INFORMATION”.