shadow of the shadow / wang liang wen jing 罔两问景 (2019)
Network/Web/Internet
SATELLITE IMAGE EXCHANGE
ALL JUST FRESH-OFF-THE-BOAT OR FLOATING
LIANAS
IMAGE_EXCHANGEACCIDENTAL PHONE CAPTURE SERIES
Performance (on-site + online)
I’M SORRY: A PERFORMED APOLOGY
边/GRAB AND SHOOT BETWEEN SIDES
THE LAST SHOOT III
WEB CAM DIES IN THE SEA
SHADOW OF THE SHADOW/罔两问景
AI
VITIV
Film/Video
氣/Qi
HUA清池观看游记/HUA QING CHI TRAVEL NOTES
UN-EXPOSING/影像连结
WHERE ARE YOU FROM
SING INTO THE VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK
WINDOW
The FEEDBACK OF LOOKING
FANTASY OF BEING IN EXILE
100 Ft.
Installation
捕/Capture: A Solo Exhibition
降B调的玻璃罩/GLASS COVER IN B FLAT
THE LAST SHOOT
SEEING AND HUMMING
JIYŪ• BUZIYOU 自由·不自由
SEE,AGAIN,THE PASSING OF LIGHT/
再び、見る、消え去る光
Writing
MANIFESTO
FANTASY FOR SOLITUDE
WRITINGS & NOTES
ABOUT
MYSELF, MY PATHS, AND MY WORKS
real-time audiovisual performance :
16mm projector (Eiki), digital projector (LG mini projector), laptop, Resolume Avenue, Digital-VGA sonification hack and sound mixer.
Performed at “Now It’s What I Call Realtime” at Elastic Arts, Chicago, IL.
*Excerpt from my writing, Virtuality in Contemporary Shadow-Image, Ying Xiang, an Alternative System? (2019)
SHADOW OF THE SHADOW
The virtual lies inside of the unconsciousness of the optics itself, instead of a thematic and representational reliance on the imagery. It is what is outside of the image, not captured as well as those surrounding the shadow image. Chinese ancient philosopher Zhuang Zi wrote a short story about “shadow of the shadow asking the shadow a question” in his Qi Wu Lun, or, Essay on the Uniformity of All Things. He wrote,
“Wang Liang1 [魍魉] asked Jing [景], saying, 'Formerly you were walking on, and now you have stopped; formerly you were sitting, and now you have risen up:—how is it that you are so without stability?' Jing replied, 'I wait for the movements of something else to do what I do, and that something else on which I wait waits further. My waiting,—is it for the scales of a snake, or the wings of a cicada? How should I know why I do one thing, or do not do another?” 2
It is not the direct shadow light would cast from an object. Instead of a dark shadow that direct light source casts, an upside-down jing is a layer of light again. It is the light from the outside traveling through the tiny pinhole, forming a layer of glowing light again. Just like the Penumbra of the shadow, or the “jing” of a shadow, being the shadow of the shadow it is indeed the contour of light outside of the shadow. It is a layer of consciousness, becoming the object itself but will never be. It is the unconscious of floating ghost, forgotten memory, guilt, dream. The appearance and existence of this second light becomes more real than the object itself. It now makes more sense to think about how the “shadow” image is no longer only a casted shadow; it is not sufficient to say that “shadow does not exist without light.” A shadow is light itself. We are still not seeing the object itself or a duplicated “image” imagined from the object. It is ultimately the light we are seeing again.
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1 Wang Liang, ghost, shadow of the shadow.
2 Zhuang Zi. “Wang Liang Wen Jing.” Qi Wu Lun or Essay on the Uniformity of All Things.
