Lightning 01 (2014) parodies our contemporary relationship to screen-based media and the absurdity of aestheticizing boredom. The video depicts a computer user aimlessly taking photos of himself, seemingly numb to external stimuli or intervention. Set on a loop, the video produces the illusion of an endless state of bored selfies and disaffected gazes. None of the user’s Photo Booth images, however, materialize in the video: instead, we are faced with that unchanging night sky picture and a sense of a “natural” expanse in contrast to the “artificial” claustrophobia of the user’s video feed from his room. In gesturing towards the pervasiveness of screen-based cultures in our contemporary moment, Lin’s video offers a humorous comment on the inherent insularity of networking platforms like Snapchat and Skype by showing us a video feed of a user that we can never engage or communicate with. By extension, Lin also suggests that these modes of imaging produce a false sense of reality and similarly reflects on how media-based technologies further disconnect us from our natural environments. Lin believes that it is all too easy to become complacent and allow ourselves to become absorbed by our devices: a computer camera’s flash is no substitute for lightning, and a picture of moon lit clouds cannot replace the experience of seeing an actual night sky. Lin suggests that it is not enough to accept these mediated representations as genuine moments of witness, and Lightning 01 serves as a reminder to disconnect from the repetitiveness of media-based immersions and to seek out those expanses beyond our own screens.
Lin Ke’s video and media-based installations explore how perceptual experiences of our surrounding environments are mediated and altered by various technologies. Computer operating systems, social media platforms, and screen displays become objects of aesthetic inquiry in his work, and his practice is deeply invested in the relationship between human beings and the natural world. Lin’s work offers various insights on contemporary iterations of virtual reality and the ways in which computer-based media affects our physical relationship to our own bodies by warping our sense of time, space, and stimulation. Boredom is a recurring theme throughout his work and plays on larger metaphors of disconnection from both interpersonal interactions and real space.
Weekly Picks: Malaysia (15–21 October 2018) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Weekly To Do October 15, 2018 No Black Tie Ivory Series presents ‘To The Moon’ , at No Black Tie, 15–16 Oct, 8pm Part of No Black Tie’s 20th anniversary celebrations, To The Moon draws inspiration from the likes of Jean-Philippe Rameau, Louis Couperin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Henry Purcell, and Gluck...
Monsters' Ink: A Fiend’s Diary & Heather | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Tuckys Photography December 2, 2019 By Nabilah Said (1,500 words, 7-minute read) Spoiler Alert: The following contains major spoilers for the shows A Fiend’s Diary and Heather...
Artist Spotlight: Maya Kabat – Art and Cake August 14, 2023 August 14, 2023 Author Artist Spotlight: Maya Kabat Maya Kabat, “Pool Time/Super Spatial Los Angeles” Diptych, Oil on canvas on layered wood panels, 36×36 inches, 2023 What does a day in your art practice look like? Generally, I am in my tiny studio at home in Berkeley oil painting or at my studio in Oakland preparing canvases and doing other kinds of prep work or experimentation with other materials...
Art that Moves: Marc Nair | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Photo: National Arts Council June 19, 2018 Art that Moves is an occasional series where we ask artists and other creative workers to reflect on artworks, performances or events that were personally important to them...
The Moon Also Rises by Yuyan Wang comprises a one-channel video and light installation...
An-My Lê: the artist portraying the inhuman scale of war and small acts of resistance Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Artist interview interview An-My Lê: the artist portraying the inhuman scale of war and small acts of resistance Airlifted out of Vietnam as a teenager when Saigon fell, the Vietnamese American photographer makes no attempt to simplify the unbearably complex, and pits individual agency against huge geopolitical forces Dale Berning Sawa 7 December 2023 Share Installation view of Fourteen Views (2023), which represents a river journey from the Mekong to the Mississippi via Parisian water gardens, encompassing Vietnam, its colonisation by France and the military intervention by the US Photo: Jonathan Dorado, © MoMA In 2021, An-My Lê had an out-of-body experience in the Californian desert...
The sculpture And Shadows Will Follow is an angle piece that articulates a space since its appearance highly changes depending on the point of view...
Brian Eno, musician and producer, on AI-driven documentary Eno and why he doesn’t trust Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg with the technology | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement Sundance Film Festival + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more Brian Eno, influential musician and producer who worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Devo and U2, in a still from the documentary “Eno” about his life and career...
Gikan Sa Ngitngit Nga Kinailadman (From The Dark Depths) by Kiri Dalena is a stylistically collaged film inspired by the true story of a young activist’s drowning...