There is another invisible world in which we live each and every day. It is made up of electronic equipment, programs, networks, media and information, and I call it “Crystal City.”
I chose the word “crystal” because this world grows like a crystal, each individual element within it automatically coming together and infinitely expanding and spreading according to a set internal rhythm and logic It is transparent, light, invisible and lacking in volume and yet still projects a world of unparalleled reality.
Crystal City 008 dimensions variable 水晶城市008 尺寸可變 2019
Crystal City 007 dimensions variable 水晶城市007 尺寸可變 2015
Crystal City 006 dimensions variable 水晶城市 006 尺寸可變 2013
Crystal City 005 Plus Space Odyssey dimensions variable 水晶城市 005 Plus – 太空漫遊 尺寸可變 2014
Crystal City 005 – Commissioned by Rolls-Royce dimensions variable 水晶城市 005 – 勞斯萊斯委託製作 尺寸可變 2014
Crystal City 004 水晶城市 004 3 m (d) x 3 m (H) 2013
Crystal City Special Edition – Wastelands track、motor、HID、plastic、waste dimensions variable 水晶城市特別版——荒原 軌道、馬達、HID、塑膠、廢棄物 尺寸可變 2013 《荒原》延伸自《水晶城市》的基本概念－試圖描述一個我們生活其中卻不可 見的世界，但擴大其範疇，含括許多我們難以迴避的現實：自然環境的破壞、 各種污染、資源的浪費、戰爭⋯⋯等等。 人類文明在成長擴張的同時，卻也創造出一片無盡而孤寂的荒原。 Extends from the the main concept of “Crystal City”, “Wasteland” depicts the invisible world that exists in our daily life, where lives many realities we cannot escape, such as destruction of the nature, pollution, waste of resources, war, etc. As long as the growth of human civilization, humans created an endless lonely wasteland.
Crystal City 003 — Voyage 水晶城市003——航行 5m (W) x 6m (L) x 4.5m (H) 2010
Crystal City 002 – Float 水晶城市002——漂浮 6m (W) x 4m (H) 2009
Crystal City 001 – Wander 水晶城市001——漫遊 5m (W) x 9m (L) x 4m (H) 2009
東歐最大規模的新媒體藝術節「波蘭媒體藝術雙年展」(WRO Media Art Biennale) 2013年以「創新價值」(Pioneering Values)國際徵件，策展人楊衍畇以「末日感性」主題回應創新非必然是前衛的領航者，反思科技對於人的生命意義與影響更為重要，主辦單位從1500多件作品中精選出吳季璁的「水晶城市002」與林珮淳的「夏娃克隆啟示錄」、「夏娃克隆肖像」於波蘭展出，吳季璁以「水晶城市002」榮獲波蘭媒體藝術雙年展首獎- 藝術雜誌評論與編輯大獎(WRO 2013 Award- Award of Critics and Editors of Art Magazines)。「末日感性：臺灣新媒體藝術」波蘭返國展將呈現「末日感性」策展意念的全貌，林珮淳、吳季璁、黃贊倫、黃致傑、陳依純、張徐展六位藝術家以新感性思維看待科技文明，處於消費主義與媒體社會影響的我們將會有更深刻的感受與省思。
Date: 2015/09/26 – 2015/11/15
Venue: Taipei Fine Art Museum Gallery E
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of electronic art, the 15th WRO Media Art Biennale takes ‘Pioneering Values’ as the focal theme of the international competition. Among 1500 works in the open call, the Taiwanese artists Chi-Tsung Wu ’s ‘Crystal City 002’ and Pey-Chwen Lin’s ‘ The Revelation of Eve Clone Revelation’, ‘The Portrait of Eve Clone’ are selected with the curatorial concept ‘ The Apocalyptic Sensibility’ of the Taiwanese curator Yunnia Yang. She responds to ‘Pioneering Values’ that being innovative is not necessarily an avant-garde pioneer, it is more crucial to introspect the meanings and the influences that technology brings human beings. The Homecoming Exhibition from WRO Media Art Biennale 2013 ‘The Apocalyptic Sensibility: The New Media Art from Taiwan’ will give a complete picture of the curatorial philosophy ‘ The Apocalyptic Sensibility’ with the works of the six Taiwanese artists: Pey-Chwen Lin, Chi-Tsung Wu, Zan-Lun Huang, Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang, I-Chun Chen, and Zhang Xu Zhan. They look into the technologized civilization with new sensibilities so that we will have deeper perceptions and contemplations about the consumerism and the media society which we live in.
Wrinkled Texture 01 cyanotype photography, Xuan paper 皴法習作01 氰版、宣紙 2012 135 x 68 cm
The photographic series ” Wrinkled Texture ” reinterprets the texturing methods (cun-fa) of traditional Chinese landscape painting (Shan shui).
Texturing methods are at the heart of traditional landscape painting, subjective renderings of rocks and mountain terrains. An extension of the penmanship seen in calligraphy, these texturing methods were used by painters as a way to express themselves, to convey the landscapes born of their imagination.
“Wrinkled Texture” utilizes the classic photographic technique – Cyanotype. Paper was covered in the photosensitive solution and then continually reshaped and refolded while being exposed to sunlight for about thirty minutes. After the paper was washed, the image would be fixed, revealing the likeness of mountain precipices and cliffs.
Works in the series “Wrinkled Texture” is similar to a photogram, but the object photographed is the paper itself and the outcomes of chance. It is an attempt to blend shan shui imagery of traditional painting with photography, conceptual art, and performance.
Wrinkled Texture 88 cyanotype photography, Xuan paper 皴法習作88 氰版、宣紙 2020 89 x 210 cm
Wrinkled Texture 91 cyanotype photography, Xuan paper 皴法習作91 氰版、宣紙 2021 work size： 80.7 x 60.3 cm scroll size：176 x 69 cm
Wrinkled Texture 97 cyanotype photography, Xuan paper 皴法習作97 氰版、宣紙 2021 work size: 90.4 x 46.3 cm scroll size：208 x 52 cm
Wrinkled Texture 105 cyanotype photography, Xuan paper 皴法習作105 氰版、宣紙 2021 211.5 x 94 cm Wrinkled Texture 109 cyanotype photography, Xuan paper 皴法習作109 氰版、宣紙 2021 88.5 x 169 cm Wrinkled Texture 113 cyanotype photography, Xuan paper 皴法習作113 氰版、宣紙 2021 work size：211 x 95 cm scroll size: 285.6 x 105.6 cm
Wrinkled Texture 115 cyanotype photography, Xuan paper 皴法習作115 氰版、宣紙 2021 94.3 x 211.5 cm
These works are inspired by a cherished memory of painting; however, the mourning over this lost memory might not be limited to painting only.
Some nameless emotions and memories unconsciously and slowly dissipate until, to our surprise, they are far away and cloaked by a white mist, their appearances obscured.
During the process of creating these works, I felt a slight sense of guilt, as if creating paintings so pleasing to the eye would be a betrayal of Eastern aesthetic pursuits and an act of despair. After all, this is just art that seeks to please the eyes, while contemporary art seeks to emphasize the concepts of innovation and subversion… …we find ourselves continuously severing nourishment and comfort from our memories and cultural roots because we feel inferior, we wish only to become someone else.
When we look back at those distant moods, they are still so moving; however their beauty have long become foreign.
Wire V Metal, glass, motor Dimensions variable 2018 鐵絲網 V 金屬、玻璃、馬達 尺寸視空間而定 2018
The wire series originated in 2003, and is based on the structure of the Magic Lantern slide projection work, through a mechanical control to repeatedly adjust the focal length to transform a regular piece of wire mesh into a moving image of a dynamic Chinese landscape (Shanshui); to explore how images change the way we see and imagine the outside world. Every single piece of this series of work provides different angles into this proposition. In Wire V, an episcope (Opaque Projector) is used as the imaging principle. The strong light illuminates the mesh wire, and is directed through a large camera lens focusing the image, which is then projected as an exquisite image.
With the rapid development of digital technology, the requirement for image resolution continues to increase, from photography, video equipment to display devices. Format from full HD, 2K, 4K or even 8K in the future, exponentially increases every few years. In addition to the promotion of the commercial market, I am curious about the deeper desires that drive the endless pursuit of reproduction far beyond what the body can sense. Or we just change a way in which to pursue a space that is feasible, hopeful, visitable and livable.
Wire IV Metal, glass, motor Dimensions variable (projector40cmL x 16cmW x 24cmH) 2009 鐵絲網 IV 金屬、玻璃、馬達 尺寸視空間而定 (機具40cmL x 16cmW x 24cmH) 2009
The sense of distance in image is the theme explored in Wire IV.
Only image-recording apparatus can see things by zooming in or out. It creates a “fictional sense of distance” that is detached from people’s position, distance, and perspective in space. In the wide-angle shot, people seemingly get far away from nearby object, indulging in the fictional wide space and alienation. In the telephoto shot, we appear to be watching and peeping closely without the danger of close encounters. The image changes our way of looking at the world and reconstructs out perception of reality. It gave us unprecedented freedom with a minor side effect ——— it’s hard to remember where we stand when looking at the world.
Wire III Metal, glass, acrylic Dimensions variable 2007 鐵絲網 III 金屬、玻璃、壓克力 尺寸視空間而定 2007
A projector at the center of a circular space starts to revolve slowly and to scan the wall with a bright light that exposes images in the space (a little like a lighthouse sweeping over the scenery and liberating it from darkness). Both the slow speed of the revolving projector and its sound slowly increase, and the images and light beam in the space start to flicker randomly. As the increasing speed reaches its limit, the flashing sensation lessens somewhat, the movement stabilizes and finally creates a continuous and calm ray of light revealing the surrounding images on the walls. After a period of time, the whole apparatus slows down and then starts again.
Generally speaking, the piece attempts to explore the concepts of speed, space, and perception.
Wire II Metal, glass, acrylic Dimensions variable 2003 鐵絲網 II 金屬、玻璃、壓克力 尺寸視場地大小而定 2003
As I reviewed the artist statement for Wire I, I thought the second version should not be very different so I wouldn’t need to write redundant words. However, as I made the mechanism, I gradually felt I was learning something from the interaction of forms and ideas. It seemed I still had something to share after all.
The core concept of Wire II is simply putting the infinite space of an image side by side with a spinning wheel of wire mesh material. The center of the creative process gradually shifted from the image to the mechanism and the relationship between them. The mechanism has the functions of producing the image and exhibiting its structure while suggesting a certain symbolism or a metaphor.
Compared with Wire I, the new version with a roll of wire mesh material has a different light source and a new set of lenses. To make an analogy, if the previous piece is like the foggy and heavenly atmosphere in Chinese landscape painting of Southern Song Dynasty, perhaps Wire II resembles the magnificent mountains and rivers in the painting of Northern Song Dynasty. It is probably dangerous to talk about my work in terms of the characteristics of Chinese ink painting at the risk of sloppy conceptualization. Nevertheless I have to admit that my idea for the space of image was inspired by the traditional Chinese painting scroll.
As I explore the possibilities of the space of image and study about mechanisms, sculpture, installation art and more, along with the “East” in the back of my mind, it seems the story of the Wire series will go on and on.
Wire I metal glass acrylic dimensions variable 2003 鐵絲網 I 金屬 玻璃 壓克力 尺寸視場地大小而定 2003
The structure of projector is similar to that of a slide projector.The greatest difference is that the imaging magnifier in front will constantly move back and forth and change the focal length within a range of 10 cm.When the projected object(the wire netting) is in focus,the sharply focused parts keep shifting,suggesting a wandering search for something.With the changing focal length,the image keeps disappearing and reappearing. I spent a lot of time thinking what kind of projected object and form could best produce this effect.I finally decided on……wire netting or a certain kind of landscape.
The regular,monotone form of wire netting and its cold industrial material rather match the projector.At the same time,it is flexible and formable.Each folding will leave behind some trace. It reminds me of the feeling that xuan paper gave me when I did ink painting. The human trace left behind contrast with the coldness of the material.
The small wire netting of some 10 sq. cm.(the actual area being projected is even smaller) form a strong contrast with the image being projected.To me,it is like an allegory about media: the development of media constantly changes our way of seeing the world and our attitude towards reality.The projector modifies the image of the wire netting and creates a new space for the projection of meaning.But in the end, the work seems to be telling an ancient story.
Jing Shen. The act of painting in contemporary China explores – from an innovative point of view – the emergence of themes and methods that are typical of classical Chinese art in the work of twenty artists from three different generations.
In Chinese culture, painting holds an exceptional position. One need look no further than the fact that, in China, writing is painting. And vice versa. For artists, critics, curators, collectors and the audience, painting is and has always been a privileged device to reflect on and understand the world and art. It is a means that still gives rise – with well-thought awareness – to broad and deeply meaningful reflections and outcomes. Its influence is such pervasive that it emerges and makes itself visible not only on canvas or paper, but also in installations, performances, sculptures, videos and digital works. Therefore, Jing Shen – The act of painting in contemporary China is not – or not only – an exhibition of paintings, but rather an exhibition on the relationship of painting with other media; on its fundamental role within a cultural universe.
The curators’ view on the exhibition – the originality of its approach – entails going beyond the interpretation according to which Chinese contemporary art is a reflection of its Western counterpart – and origin. Jing Shen argues that classical Chinese art – not only painting, but also ceramics and woodblock printing, for instance – already contains the ingredients and nutrients of thoughts, attitudes and shapes that represent the richness of contemporary Chinese art. The dialogue with the West and with other worlds (let us not forget our marginality within the cultural geography of China) enriches this osmosis between the past and the present, this continuity – which is sometimes difficult – but never replaces it. ‘Jing Shen’ means ‘awareness of the gesture’, but also ‘inner strength’. It refers to the moment preceding the pictorial act in classical painting – also of Buddhist or Taoist tradition. It is the climax of a preliminary work that occurs before facing the creation of an image. An idea and a practice that emphasise a well-thought search for awareness and its active outcome: the gesture, the act of painting.
A ‘proactive’ painting, which finds its original means in the liquidity of ink and in calligraphy, whose traces surface in the most diverse ways in the selection of works and artists on display at PAC. Jing Shen also wants to suggest to what extent art and the Western avant-gardes of the second post-war period have been influenced by this artistic culture, by ink painting and calligraphy, and by their underlying philosophies. And it wants to think of art as a whole, as the outcome of an exchange and continuous influence over time and space, where the rules of interpretation can only be errant, adaptable and provisional.
_ artists: Birdhead, Chen Shaoxiong, Ding Yi, Guo Hongwei, He Xiangyu, Kan Xuan, Lee Kit, Li Huasheng, Li Shurui, Liao Guohe, Lin Ke, Qiu Zhijie, Su Xiaobai, Tang Dixin, Wang Gongxin, Wu Chi-Tsung, Xu Zhen, Yan Pei-Ming, Zhang Enli, Zhao Zhao
Interview with the artist Chi-Tsung Wu in the framework of the exhibitionPhantom of Civilization.
2015年5月16日－9月6日
策展人｜鄭慧華、凱文・穆蘭 Kevin Muhlen
開幕｜2015.5.16（Sat） 展期｜2015.5.16 – 9.6 地點｜盧森堡卡西諾當代藝術中心（Casino Luxembourg — Forum d’art contemporain）
開幕演出｜王福瑞 ：超傳波 Hyper Transmission
盧森堡卡西諾當代藝術中心（Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain）與台北立方計劃空間合作策劃的展覽〈文明幻魅〉（Phantom of Civilization），將於2015年5月16日於盧森堡開幕。本展邀請藝術家袁廣鳴、王福瑞和吳季璁，共同展出八件聲音及影像代表作品。聲音藝術家王福瑞亦將於開幕當天於卡西諾當代藝術中心進行現場聲音演出。
The exhibition Phantom of Civilization presents the work of three artists from Taiwan: Fujui Wang, Chi-Tsung Wu, Goang-Ming Yuan. Using different media such as installations, sound and video, they create landscapes that reflect different aspects of contemporary civilization – a civilization caught between tradition and technology, between ostensible beauty and hidden threats, between solitary contemplation and the hustle and bustle of big city life, between 0 and 1.
Fujui Wang (born 1969) uses sound to explore the world in which we live. Drawing on his experiments with noise, he samples environmental sounds – often sounds that are inaudible to the human ear – which he then materializes through his work. Capturing the electromagnetic field that surrounds us, his installation at Casino Luxembourg invites visitors to experience the density and vastness of the “charged” environment in which their daily lives unfold.
Chi-Tsung Wu (born 1981) creates installations that immerse visitors in dream-like landscapes and meditative environments steeped in Chinese culture and pictorial tradition, while simultaneously confronting them with panoramic views of cities in constant evolution. While his work alludes to his origins and cultural (and spiritual) heritage, it never disregards the reality of the contemporary world in which he lives. Wu’s gaze moves back and forth between the permanence of traditional Chinese landscapes (he studied Shan shui, a particular form of Chinese landscape painting) and the transience of constantly changing cities. Oscillating between tradition and technology, his works reflect the ambiguous nature of his own personality and of society as a whole.
Goang-Ming Yuan (born 1965) creates visually immersive video installations in which the reality of the images is counterbalanced by untypical camera movements that imbue his films with a fantastical, dreamlike atmosphere. The tension in his films results from a seeming coexistence of two antagonistic worlds, as they explore interior and exterior spaces that allude to the state of society, but also to the fate of individuals moved by intimate and deep emotions. In Yuan’s films, everything can change from one moment to the next, as calm turns into chaos.
Phantom of Civilization is a collaborative project initiated by TheCube Project Space in Taipei, Taiwan, and Casino Luxembourg with the aim to present three Taiwanese artists in the framework of a thematic exhibition in Luxembourg.
Wire Ⅰ, Crystal City 002, Wu Chi-Tsung Installations on the streets
The structure of projector is similar to that of a slide projector.The greatest difference is that the imaging magnifier in front will constantly move back and forth.With the changing focal length,the image keeps disappearing and reappearing. The small wire netting of some 10 sq. cm. form a strong contrast with the image being projected. To me,it is like an allegory about media: the development of media constantly changes our way of seeing the world and our attitude towards reality.The projector modifies the image of the wire netting and creates a new space for the projection of meaning.
Wu Chi-Tsung began his art studies at a young age. Painting was his first introduction to art, from the inked shan-shuis of the East, to the sketched, watercolor landscapes of the West. Most of Wu’s professional work stems from his video experiments of 2002, and he has been engaged in questions of looking, gaze, observation, and the medium of video, ever since. The pursuit of this new expression has created some distance from the art traditions that were once familiar to him. As a result, in 2009 Wu conceived of the idea of a series of smaller works, in an attempt to connect traditional painting with the language of video—which he has vigorously developed—in order to re-interpret an elegance of the traditional works, that seems to have been lost in our contemporary context. For Wu, it also feels as if he is finally able to link together two torn selves.
When visiting a traveling exhibition from the Musée du Louvre in Taipei, in 1995, the teenage Wu was touched by the work Souvenir of Mortefontaine (1864) by the French painter Jean-Bapiste Camille Corot. The resonance Wu perceived was not exactly in the romantic portrayal, but a close resemblance to what Wu had assumed to be a landscape, and yet, not being fully able to articulate what it was, he could only sense an unspeakable connection to the work. Or perhaps [that] the presumed differences and boundaries were not so concrete after all…
The series Landscape in the Mist extends the examination of traditional painting and video language to different cultures and localities, in an attempt to describe the intersections, ambiguities, and fluidity of state.
1995年羅浮宮來到台北的展覽〈Louvre〉，有一張柯洛（Jean-BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT）的作品《靜泉之憶》（Souvenir of Mortefontaine），深深的震撼少年時期的我，倒不因為它的浪漫氣氛，而是它竟然和我以為的山水意象如此接近，卻又說不上來相似的到底是什麼，彷彿有種內在精神上的共通。或許概念中深信不疑的差異和界線，也不是那麼理所當然⋯⋯
In front of the Screen, the Camera Points in the direction of the light of the projector. Its focus is on the center of the space, sending video signal of the projector. Thus a live circulation of light and electronic signals is established.
A tripod in front of the projector blocks the light projected into the camera. At the appropriate position and the right angle, you can see the dust in the space reflecting the projector’s light. On the screen it wavers and glimmers just like the moment before sunrise when everything in the air can be clearly seen. As viewers walk around in the space and disrupt air current, the image of flickering dust changes rapidly and constantly. Through the medium of video, we can rediscover and pay attention to the world around us in life.
The work entitled Dust illustrates Wu Chi-Tsung’s deep concerns about the nature of media. Wu constantly examines the questions: How do we see the world through media? How does media technology operate as a manipulative mechanism and a source of power? How does media technology change our relation to the world? Wu chooses to manipulate devices of his own design in a highly sophisticated and at times highly unconventional manner. The emerging and hidden images in his work suggest a new relationship between artist and media and image and viewer. —— Shu-Min Lin / 6th Shanghai Biennale.
Dust 001 Installation Video camera, projector, tripod Dimensions variable
灰塵001 空間裝置 攝影機、投影機、三腳架 尺寸可變 2006
Dust 002 Installation Video camera, projector, tripod Dimensions variable 2023
灰塵002 空間裝置 攝影機、投影機、三腳架 尺寸可變 2023
Wu Chi-Tsung’s, Dust 002, investigates the artist’s deep concern with our relationship to images. This installation features a real-time streaming of the reflection of the circulation of dust particles moving in the room. As viewers progress through the space, disrupting the flow of air, the images of flickering dust change constantly and instantaneously creating a captivating relationship between artist and viewer, technology, and chance. The emerging and hidden images in Wu Chi-Tsung’s work suggests a new relationship between artist and media, image, and viewer. With this work, Wu Chi-Tsung examines how we see the world through media and how technology changes our relationship to the world.
The production of the work rain was quite simple. First, I moved to a flat near the Kuan-Du Bridge and observed the view outside the window shown in the work for a few months. One afternoon, it suddenly rained. When I tried to film the rain, I automatically turned the button controlling the shutter speed. I discovered that raindrops filmed at a shutter speed of 1/8000 second looked quite different.
At the normal shutter speed of 1/60 second, multiplied by about 30 frames per second, one can only record half an image in one second. However, we are seldom aware of the limitation of video images, at least in the temporal dimension, because they already satisfy the requirement of our sight for the illusion of movement. When the shutter speed is increased to 1/8000 second, it means that only 30/8000 of an image is recorded in one second.
In my work, the motion of the falling raindrops gets entirely lost, meanwhile the cars still keep moving. A chasm seems to open up in “eality”. We do not know where it will lead.
From another point of view, the camera may be able to see much more than the human eye. However, we usually use it to satisfy our old visual needs and seldom make maximum use of it. Maybe it has things it wants to say. This is an anthropomorphic interpretation.
In addition, in post-production, I slowed down the playback speed to 80%. In terms of the realization of the concept, this gesture may be superfluous. At any rate, I felt that the cars moved too quickly, just like everything in this age. If the speed could be adjusted, 80% may be a good choice.
