Written Interview with Chen Shiyun
Written Interview with Chen Shiyun (10 Mar 2022, 00:31 London, UK)
JY: Tell me about your practice: what do you make your work about, how do you go about making your work, what do you think about when making your work, and do you still make work?
CS: The new world shop film relates to the website, including some promotional material for this fictional shop. It is a concept promotional video, so there is no physical shop yet. The idea for the work started with my dissertation topic but changed differently because of the quarantine period.
My dissertation research has inspired my practice. Meanwhile, my practice has been affected by the quarantine period, which caused some interesting changes between them. The project documents the changing state of my life, a person who is away from home from their lives, inner activities, emotions, and spirits. I felt a bit lost because of being caught between real life and the electronic world. As a religious believer, I should pursue the traditional ideal world of the present world as described by religion. However, as a person living in the 21st-century, coupled with the effects of the coronavirus, I am also looking forward to the virtual paradise of the digital future. These two ways of life seem to conflict with each other. There appears to be an invisible line here between my belief and the reality of my life. Do I need to make a choice? I found these seemingly contradictory views so interesting that they became the subject of my experiments and research.
My research is about how the notion of 'the real world' can be interpreted in both religious language and contemporary art. From the resources I collected, I realized that although what "he "i"eal" place has been defined so differently in different cultures and times, it still has many features in common as it is "ot "non- b"ing" and it is an incomplete replica of the real world people are living in (Wolfgang Bauer, 2009). Besides the religious beliefs of the existence of paradise, where is supposed to be a perfect destination for all living matter, there also has been many other imaginations and discussions on what an ideal world should be like throughout human civilization history. At the same time, it is also obvious that the similarities of these different kinds of ideal world appeared as a symbol of perfection, a quintessence of the highest wisdom that human can ever imagine, and a destination where the mortal needs to or should make great efforts to reach. However, with the development of technology, the changehumahuman's cognitive performance challenges our traditions and aesthetic values. As a result, what the concept"of "ideal w"rld" would be depicted if mosthumahuman's demands can be satisfied in the future, and then how religions, which many people believe in current times, would adapt themselves into that new environment? I have collected some examples of models "or "ideal w"rld" from art histories and religious stories of China and Europe, considering commonalities but also differences, as well as the shared possibilities of articulat"ng "i"eal" state of lives through future technologies. At this stage, how to demonstrate these artworks while expressing my thoughts on religious themes within an integrated framework is what I have been experimenting a lot with.
Some contemporary artists seem less concerned with finding the ideal world or reproducing the ideal vision of their ancestors, they are more interested in creating their own ideal place. Influences on my practice include Zhao Mengge who tends to be a creator who breaks with the social and scientific conventions and invents a new world of its own; whereas Xu Bing InouInoue's ideal lands were not absolutely away from the real world, but are interacting and overlapping with the current times and places their audience are living in. Then, I began to think about how I would present my research. After studying a number of works on tradition and secular paradise, I would like to create such a place: Before you enter the new world, you need to exchange the time of the real world to get the time of the virtual world. You will be offered a whole new world, which provides eternal pleasure of future generations and satisfies all human desires. There are infinite resorts to endless sex, adventure, sports, games, learning, exploration, shopping and more. At the same time, after you enter the virtual digital paradise, you will never enter the natural paradise. Will the ideal world of desire and greed be beautiful? Will it become the new hell?
In the book of Gothic Dimensions, Moira Martingale thought t"at "Iain M. Banks appears to create 'is ''ods' in the form of something he trusts: technology (Moira Martingale, 2"13)". Their attempts of looking for an ideal world may have some resonances with the ideal world our ancestors depicted in the past, like the quotation of religious names, Taohuayuan, and Utopia. However, the concepts and the premise of these contemporary works have completely changed, since they are no longer in the service of and dependent on religions, they are simply responses to traditional iconographies. They have become the real creators, inventors, or even God in their own world.
Video Overview：
The girl unwittingly discovers a magical shop online and sent her personal information. Then, a magical journey begins! After she falls asleep, her computer starts up on its own and connects to her dream world. She entered a dream shop. hadnhadn't realized she was in a dream, but at the moment her consciousness was awake. There is a shop assistant (Non-Player Character) in the shop who introduces Sheena to the place and shows her around. The world becomes a commodity, the new world is a virtual space in a dream world. You become the master of this world, the creator. You can create your world and become whatever you want it to be. All the things that are impossible in the real world are possible here. The world is all composited by means of P-art software and you can change its look at any time.
The New World Store and the real world are intertwined. You need to exchange real world time for New World Shop currency. You need to allocate 24 hours and you need to choose how to allocate your time? You need to think about whether you want to live in the real world or the virtual world? Because there are only 24 hours in a day.
JY: How was studying and finishing your degree during the pandemic? What impact did it have on your studies and the work you make?
CS: Because the project was about digital art and videos,wasnwasn't too affected me. On the contrary, this period of isolation at home gave me this inspiration.
JY: Based on your experiences, do you have any problem-solving advice for other artists & designers?
CS: During the undergraduate period, there are many directions to try. I tried different art forms including sculpture, performance art, and video. Although there are many varieties, my work is not iconic. I think it is better to find a direction in the future, and it is better to study it more deeply.
JY: What are your immediate concerns or interests, both personally and professionally?
CS: What I am most concerned about is the form of artistic expression, how the work is integrated with the exhibition space, and the concept of the work, what inspiration can it bring, and whether it is meaningful. In addition to an interviI'd I'd like to embed your video works into a blog post. I want to include backlinks to your website, social media, email, etc... and links to the Foundation and the Exhibition page oit'sit's launched. Do you have your video work uploaded on Vimeo or YouTube? Could you send me a link or a file to embed?
See CShiyShiyun's work
Welcome to the New World Shop (2021) - Digital video & Posters
9 monitors: https://youtu.be/b49r7ySJ9Gs
1 screen: https://youtu.be/wdY7Y8uTpGs
poster: https://youtu.be/PikZT4sNfrQ
Poster and Shop Details
ABOUT Chen Shiyun:
Shiyun Chen
BA (Hons) Fine Art (2021)
https://www.instagram.com/chenswim/
Artist Statement
I would like to express my own understanding of the ideal world, instead of pursuing a depiction of the virtual perfection that can not only inherit some spirits from traditions or history but also develop a few thoughts from the environment and generation where I am living in.
People like me who are lost
People like me who are looking for something
A people like me who has achieved nothing
How many other people have you met?
A vulgar person like me
A lonely person like me
A silly person like me
People like me don'don't want to be mediocre
How many people are there in the world?
Inexplicable people like me
Will anyone be worried about me?
Always thinking too mTherThere's no place for your soul to rest
Try to walk through people
find allergic to the hustle and bustle of the city
Try to move on
Look back
Go forward
Backward
It can be the human instinct that fears and resists death, pain, sadness or other unpleasant experiences; while longing for immortality, success, happiness and all sorts of feelings that may give them a sense of comfort or satisfaction. Therefore, whenever there is a gap between what people wish and what the real world is,"an "i"eal" state of life an" a "per"ect" type of world would emerge as their hopes and aspirations seem to be worth endless efforts and strive.
My work is a discussion of how digital world life affects real-world life during the quarantine period. I'm I'm interested in the idea of digital heaven, paradise or ideal world that people dream of. I would like to create my digital world with my understanding of perfection.
In my practice, I delve into evolving perspectives on the virtual and the real, virtuality and physicality, machines and perception, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on digital art, existence and the afterlife.
Dedicated to providing everything needed for happiness in physical reality, the ideal world of the future offers alternative ways of being physical life for those interested. My degree work - New World Shop is a place where the ideal world is tailored to provide eternal pleasure for future generations. Throughout my degree exhibition, my work will be projected on a loop to blur the boundaries between the real and the virtual. The viewer can enter the projected space and become one with the work as if entering a virtual shop. In addition, several small screens are set up to show the work as a surveillance video so that the viewer can watch and examine it fGod'God's perspective.
Finally, some posters and application forms will be placed around the work, for example, on the walls, at the entrance to the gallery, and in the corridors. At the end of the video, there will be a brief period when the screen is black, and then the whole video will rewind. In between these few seconds, you will be asked to make a quick decision, will you choose to leave or continue watching? It also means that you need to choose between a secular paradise and a virtual world full of desire.
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