Medium: Kinect, Unity, Maya, Zbrush

2015

 

Proposal

    Art to me is a preternatural experience. It is a crystallized form of life that reflecting the artist and the viewer altogether in either a single plane or a space. I always have the same connection with the technology. It casts magic to make things impossible possible, to create from intangible. As an artist and designer, I combine art and technology to make an art interactive, to design a system that letting the viewer contributing and completing it. It is an intensified communication that manifests what I want to convey as an artist to the audiences.

    The project is deriving from my own experience in living abroad for four years. When I first came to United States, I had a great barrier in communication. Confusion and frustration happened often along with the loneliness and isolation. When I was a little more blended in this society, I was often being judged by nationality and accent. Most time it is not negative, but it is interesting that instinctively people judge others by appearance and conversation. Under a lot of circumstances, people miss perceive others by this mere judgment.

    The project is named “Nobody else is here, please sing to me”. In this project, I want to provide audiences an experience to judge themselves when they judging me – a Chinese girl, an Aisan female.  The avatar of 3D modeled and rigged me, will show in the wire frame form with flat colors on the projected wall, when a Kinect sensor detects a person in the gallery space. The projected wall serves like a digital mirror, which reflects audience’s actions on the screen as "my" actions. It corresponds to the playfulness of pop art. Andy Warhol said in 1968, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes". That is such a precise prophecy predate the sweep of internet and technology. By the help with technology, I can use “myself” to do a performance that actually putting every audience on the stage.

    They are not only seeing themselves in the form of an Asian girl – they hear from “me” as well. If they want to sing to me - to the mobile device app holding as a microphone in front of “me” in the gallery, they can hear a response - repetation of their voice from my “mouth”. The person behind the responding voice neither knows English, nor understands what they hear. They simply repeat the singing. It bounces judgment back to the participants themselves – they are listening to what themselves said, in the same language but past an "filter" of another phoneme system. At same time, it is a test on communication – can we communicate without knowing each other’s language? In reality, it is “no” – it is almost impossible to have any information transferred if you do not understand the basic language. But in our mind, I want to provide a “yes” possibility to at least try it feel it and be open minded with it.

   It has more and more global communication happening nowadays. However, it is easily to be misunderstood and misperceived in the process of communication. Perception of nationality, race and classes, still form a thin film invisibly on the air when we interact with others. I throw up the this communication question in the gallery space in a form of social practice, and I hope the viewers can find a solution for themselves.

    However, it is meant to be viewed as an entertainment as well – something more playful than serious. The goal is not only associate it to people in art field, but also reach out to general public. Technology connects people, same with art. I hope this thesis show can engage conversation and spur introspection about social judgment. Or at least leaves a question mark in audiences’ mind.