Land scape
Stephen Chen
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
reflect beyond what is manifest before them . This is why I prefer a less explicit approach , and why I often don ’ t like to talk about my work , as that would be telling the audience what to think . Yet at the same time , I don ’ t want the work to be so esoteric and so veiled that I have to explain every reference !
These tensions and decisions between what is latent vs . manifest , what is immediate vs . resonant etc . inform the type of language used , and how it is used ( as language encodes relations of power in its meaning ). In BOUNDED NATURE , I chose to bracket the visual language of fine art photography as it relates to landscapes and urban subjects , as a means of showing what they have excluded .
Other times , I have explored the use of language both as connective thread , and as context to add layers of meaning . For example , in BALLAD 4 ( that was created to counter the whitewashing hype of Sochi Olympics ) a single aria connects the anti- LGBT hate and violence in Russia , Uganda , Nigeria , India and other parts of the world . The aria I chose is a French aria that Tchaikovsky used in one of his operas . In tracing the aria to a French ( who are against marriage equality ) opera about an English king , I connect the colonial roots of language and homophobia in the other countries . In BALLAD 4 , this history appears in English subtitles , in tandem with the French words I am singing , while I am gesturing in sign language ( to represent the silence of the victims ).
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts , Stephen . Finally , would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects ? How do you see your work evolving ?
Thank you so much for having me , and for the opportunity to share my practice with others ! I am actually not working on anything at the moment , which is new for me ! I had been averaging a new work every month for the past 3 years , and I think I need time off to reset , to re-evaluate where I have been , and rethink where I want to go .
One of the areas I think I would like to get into is the so-called New Media Art , things like interactive installations , virtual reality , robotics etc . I find a lot of what has been done in that space rather gimmicky and merely demonstrate how “ cool ” the technology is instead of saying anything meaningful . I think it would be interesting to explore how this diverse set of practices and technologies could be shaped and harnessed as commentary and critique .
Another area I have been giving a lot of thought to is ways of extending the notion of the artistic gesture , moving beyond the model established by Tehching Hsieh , using non-art forms as a mode of expression . It is something I began experimenting with a year ago when I created the CENSURED IN CANADA film festival , which subverted and commented on the cliquish Canadian art scene , and how film festivals are curated .
An interview by Katherine Williams , curator and Josh Ryder , curator landescape @ europe . com