PANDORA WANG
PROJECT IN BETWEEN PHASE II TESTING BEYOND SUBJECT
IV. EXTENDED RESEARCH
1. Exhibitions & Publications
1.1 Exhibitions - This Art Exhibition
Curators: Johnathan Hillson, Laura Porter
Venue: Espacio Gallery, 159 Bethnal Green Rd, London E2 7DG
Involvement: Participated in the exhibition as an artist, and assisted curator; engaged in further professional discussions with Johnathan Hillson on curating exhibitions and establishing a new business venture (for details please kindly refer to Professional Development)
Learning outcome: Learned about the overall process of curation and exhibition, including communication with artists, work selection and curation in specific space, negotiation with venue providers, logistics, supplies, equipment and methods for installation, private viewing organisation, promotion, etc.
This Art Exhibition was curated by MA students from Camberwell Johnathan Hillson and Laura Porter. It was an extremely kind initiation, aiming offer a real-life learning opportunity to fellow students who lack the experience of participating in public exhibitions. The curators have established a WhatsApp group for communications in relation to the exhibition. Over nearly a month time, the curators have engaged in active communications with participating artists, and distributed many helpful technical materials such as using the D-ring system and managing weight limit, spacial arrangements, etc.
I have exhibited two drawings at the exhibition and engaged in close discussions with a Johnathan on a daily basis to learn about organisation and curation. Personally, I consider actively participating in the exhibition to be a very valuable learning opportunity, I get to know all the practical aspects about launching an exhibition by both communicating with the curators and by observing.
After the exhibition, I reviewed all communication and researched further on venues and promotion channels. I reorganised all my notes and created a in-house working folder with instructive documents and excel workbooks, and continued to fill in the workbooks. All those efforts combined with continuos research on the London art industry have laid the foundation of my new venture (for details please kindly refer to Professional Development)
This Art Exhibition - Learning outcomes
Please kindly note here that due to confidentiality requirements of the company, only limited information are shared here
This Art Exhibition - Exhibition
Johnathan Hillson
Xinbo Zhang, Narcissus
Kristina Kavrakova, Melting Faces, Butterfly, Anatomical Prosection Leg, Cracked Tiles, Anatomical Prosection Hand, Hand, Skull
Yu Huang, It is No More Than A Lamp of Meat
Xinyi Hu, Touch My Scar I, Touch My Scar II
Pandora Wang, Zolpidem 250mg
Mina Fouladi, Iran 2003
2. Exhibitions - Pop up Exhibition at Camberwell College of Arts
Curators: Liv Preston
Venue: Camberwell College of Arts
Involvement: Participated in the exhibition and curation as an artist, engaged in further professional discussions with Liv on curating exhibitions
Learning outcome: Utilise space to serve the narrative of the artworks, explored relations among works; attempted different ways of displaying work
Different from This Art Exhibition, the on-campus pop-up exhibition was about communicating our works and working alongside the curator to put on a show. Working with Liv Preston was inspiring and delightful. Liv has a natural talent for utilising the environment to best accommodate the narrative of the work.
I have chosen the unfinished work of Days Go By (Later changed to Every Waking Hour), three days of photos taken every hour on 08:01, 09:01, 10:01, and so on. In the original work, I have also included photos of drawings of my dreams (black frames) together with the photos of the day (white frames). Liv encouraged me to use the corner walls together to display the days and the nights. I liked the idea. I attached the polaroid photos in a strict chronological order, starting from 8:01 in the morning on one side of the wall and then stretched out to the other side of the wall. By doing so, the images got to guide the audience to wander across another room, which is the side of the dream. Liv has also advised me to put on clock hands on the vacant spaces (hours when I was sleeping without dreams) as a more subtle hint of the time-based narrative.
2. Publications
Publishers:
Engagement: Requested artists' books, and established connections with editors and the creative teams to learn about publishing.
Learning outcome: Ongoing discussions about the process of book publishing, including editing, design, distribution, and promotion.
I run into Kehrer Verlag at Photo London. Founded in 1995 by Klaus Kehrer, the publisher is a vanguard in contemporary artist books, particularly photo books.
I was lucky to have met Sandra and got a very comprehensive introduction to their archive, and an introduction to the submission and publishing process. After knowing my interests in memory, time, the transition about my project, and my plan to publish an artist book (Photography book, working title: Every Waking Hour), Sandra has introduced me to a few artists with relevant practices. Through Sandra's introduction, I got to learn about the personal aspects of many artists and their practices, which was quite inspiring.
I was captured by the work of Alicja Dobrucka, author of the book "I like you I like you a lot". The photo book recorded the life of the photographer's family after the tragic loss of her 13-year-old brother Maks. As a reader, Alicja's lens has captured the post-trauma emotions in a sensitive yet brutal way. Unlike my approach of constantly struggling to reveal collective human emotions, Alicja's work was entirely personal. But it was exactly the brutally honest presentation of personal emotions has moved me. That is when I knew the power of genuine emotions.
I came back to work on the photography series "Every Waking Hour". Later I established connections with other three publishing houses, and I am currently engaged in ongoing discussions on the process of editing, design, distribution, publishing, and promotion.
2. Cross-Disciplinary Discussions
The project is focused on visualising the changes in individual mental states, and how individual perspectives bend the interpretations of reality, particularly through transitions. The ongoing inquiry demands the artist to develop if not thorough, the fundamental knowledge of the nature of reality, spacetime, and psychiatry. It was therefore necessary to expand the research scope into other disciplines, particularly theoretical physics and clinical psychology.
In the past, I have gained certain knowledge in the relevant field from Engineering School and working on a healthcare project as a. financial adviser. I have then explored further on those subjects out of personal interests and managed to reread some of the books about my project, such as follows.
The existing knowledge is undoubtedly helpful to establish a foundation to embark on the subject. However, I soon realised the difficulty to utilise the theories and understanding to serve the art practice and produce work. Naturally, I seek advice from tutors and went to other artists for inspiration, such as On Kawara, Félix González-Torres, Tehching Hsieh, Sophie Calle, etc. (see Project In between 2. Context). I have then created Freefall (installation, drawing on fabric, red threads). I drew different layers of everyday objects in distorted spaces and attached tangled threads, to illustrate the weightless sensation and entangled thoughts from the beginning of the transition on a fragile surface. Later I attempted polaroid emulsion lifts to freeze objects in wrinkled time. From this, I developed a compulsive routine to track every waking hour of my daily life and the changes in my perspectives.
As any struggling artist, I examine and reflect on my work, and from time to time, I get new questions, and get confused and overwhelmed by dissatisfaction. It was very challenging and also interesting to constantly balance my focus between the actual work and keeping track of the
desired delivery of philosophy. My greatest struggle of all time was finding the means to visualise the effects of individual mental states on subjective reality. I wondered how people from other fields would envision this. I have then decided to initiate discussions with experts in the field of psychology and theoretical physics, to further examine my current approach and get new perspectives and inspirations.
2.1 Discussion 1
Topics: The concept of spacetime, physical and subjective reality, visualising gravitational time dilation and spacetime
Correspondence, and special thanks to Dr. Lei Liu, Senior Researcher in Receiver Development for the SKA, Department of Physics, Oxford University
Means of Communication: Emails, messages
visualisation of gravitational time dilation,
artist: unknown
Discussion 2
Topics: Effects of psychiatric changes on brain functions, perceptions, visuals, and motor functions; visualisation of the changes in mental states
Correspondence, and special thanks to Dr. Z*, Department of Psychology, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Registered Clinical Psychologist
Means of Communication: Phone calls, messages, VCs
*Due to the fact that Dr. Z might be featured in a possibly controversial future work, I have decided to use an alias in order to protect his privacy. All other information stated here is true.
I got to know Dr. Lei Liu from my dear friend and former colleague Lily. Dr. Liu works in the Department of Physics of Oxford University, he is a Senior Researcher in the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) and Experimental Radio Cosmology projects specialising in Mid-frequency receiver development for Square Kilometer Array, phased array feed, antenna design, OMT design, RF system development. [1] (Department of Physics, Oxford University, 2022). I have long admired the work of Dr. Liu. Combing the effort of 14 member countries, 100 organisations across 20 countries, the SKA project aims to build the world's largest telescope, over a square kilometer (one million square meters) of the data collection area. [2](SKA, 2022) The goal of the SKA is to provide observational data with "unprecedented sensitivity, resolution, and sky coverage", therefore enabling scientists to redefine our understandings of spacetime as we know it. Key projects include extreme tests of the Theory of General Relativity by finding pulsars in locations of extreme gravity and distorted space-time, examining the structure of galaxies from the Dark Ages, and searching for extraterrestrial life. [3] (SKA, 2022)
My initial conversations with Dr. Liu involves gathering insights and feedback on my current project, with the plan to design installations depicting the passage of time, the weightless sensation, and the distorted spacetime. Dr. Liu has kindly enough to introduce and offer me access to related archives, such as NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory), CSIRO(Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), and recommended further readings, particularly on addressing time dilation and the visualisation of four-dimensional spacetimes.
"...I see the embedded narratives as the souls of artworks. For some works, the meaning has to be interpreted in the context of history, with the mental state of the creator in his/her environment, or in your case, the discussion in relation to matters, life, and possibly the origin of our universe. That is the purpose of CERN*, and also what I do - to understand the structure formation in the universe...there is a statue of Shiva in front of CERN, the god of creation and destruction, an interesting metaphor for the studies being carried out..."
*CERN: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire), known as CERN, derived from the name Conseil européen pour la recherche nucléaire, is the site of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. (CERN, 2021)
Note the dialogues with Dr. Liu were recently initiated and in the premature phase. Up to date, I haven't reached any solid conclusions or concrete designs. Dr. Liu was extremely kind in supporting me by answering my questions from time to time and is open to potential collaborations. I plan to visit Dr. Liu in the Department of Physics of Oxford University and CERN during the summer to further inform my research and explore possibilities for collaboration (potentially kinetic installations, see Unit 3 Proposal).
Patients suffering from depression perceived stronger contrast according to studies
[6] (Salmela, Socada, Söderholm, Heikkilä, Lahti, Ekelund and Isometsä, 2021)
[4] (Hughes, Kersting, 2021); [5] (Weiskopt, 2001)
Dr. Z was my psychologist and at this point of my research, my professional adviser. I was introduced to Dr. Z in 2014 by my GP. As I was prescribed controlled medication (Zolpidem) to treat my insomnia and night terrors, my GP Dr. P was mandated to introduce me to a psychologist in search of alternative treatment. There I have established a long-term counselling relationship with Dr. Z Not to question the effect of CBT in treating my persistent insomnia, but I had indeed benefited from the sessions. I used the session with Tommy as a way to tame my thoughts and examine the changes in my own mental state from time to time. It is perhaps questionable how a doctor-patient relationship could inform my project as extended research, and here are my arguments.
The role of Dr. Z has significance in many aspects, given by the changeable identity I have given him. As my therapist, Dr. Z had formed my routines with me during early 2021 (the beginning of the trauma), the professional insight on how to ground myself in reality, has later served as both foundation of my project and later infused into my day-to-day practice. During my project, I had to from time to time, be involved in back-dated creations, such as retrieving records and memory from a certain phase and using it as a source to inform the practice. As disclosed in the Risks and Limitations of my research in Unit 1, I have in the past, may or may not consciously induced simulating environment to relive the phase of limbo, including periodic confinement and deprivation of connections and sleep. To test oneself, one has to be able to split the persona into both the observer and the tested subject, which is what I am fairly good at. However, I had made the decision to talk to, in this case, Tommy the therapist from time to time, as to measure my emotional and physical stability. Secondly, the observation and study go both ways in each session, and my therapist is well aware of it. I made a habit of taking notes of the responses from Dr. Z, and initiated discussions such as on how patients and their experiences affect him or examining how to interfere with his diagnosis and response by including or dismissing certain aspects of things using different conversational styles (note here that this was done with Dr. Z being informed, although the obvious paradox would be whether or not or when to question my words.) Such sessions have informed me from the perspective of a patient, a therapist, and a patient challenging her own therapist, from which I have outlined the framework of an additional series of the project, The Talk, which I would elaborate further in Unit 3, after discussion with Dr. Z, which is scheduled tomorrow.
At last, at the current stage of my research, particularly in relation to the development of Every Waking Hour, I have initiated discussions with Dr.Z, professional to professional, on the effects of psychiatric changes on brain functions, perceptions, visuals, and motor functions. The series of Every Waking Hour was aimed to translate the changes in one's mind state by emphasizing the gradual shift of one's perspective, for example, the focus on small details (close-ups) to the attention on the overall environment, and from the complete obliviousness of human interactions (objects only) to the awareness of human connections (traces of people). During the process and reviewing photos from the past, I noticed that with the changes in my mood, there came the obvious change in the aesthetics of the images, which is very much related to the physical limitations I have experienced from time to time. I was way more sensitive to light and saw things in completely different colours during my depression.
Dr. Z has kindly shared his knowledge, insights, and recommended readings for the subject. Together I have expanded my research scope and gathered many interesting and relative studies. Examples, the hallucinations, distortions, false perceptions, compromised motor functions associated with certain suppressant drugs, depression effects on visual perceptions, etc. I have incorporated some of the existing studies into my practice, for example, being conscious of the narratives through the level of contrast and resolution of the images.
Bibliography
1. Oxford University (2022)
https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/our-people/leiliu
2. SKA (2022) The SKA Project
https://www.skatelescope.org/the-ska-project/
3. SKA (2022) The SKA Project
https://www.skatelescope.org/the-ska-project/
4. Hughes T, Kersting M (2021) The Invisibility of Time Dilation, Phys. Educ. 56 025011
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6552/abce02/pdf
5. Weiskopt D (2001) Visualization of Four-Dimensional Spacetimes
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242573287_Visualization_of_Four-Dimensional_Spacetimes
6. Salmela V, Socada L, Söderholm J, Heikkilä R, Lahti J, Ekelund J, Isometsä E (2021) Reduced Visual Contrast Suppression During Major Depressive Episodes
Pandora Wang, June 6 2022, To be Continued.