Critical Analyses
'The Great Tamer'
Directed by Dimitris Papaioannou.
A performance piece is inspired by Homer's epic about the relationship of human beings over time. Language is not the only way to communicate in this piece. There is no line in the whole performance. The body language and plot arrangement of the performer reveal the doubts and helplessness of human beings in a more appropriate way and the relationship between human beings and time. The human body and the things affected by time are materialized. In the same time dimension, everything is equal and equally affected by the passage of time. Life and death are also equal. In the performance, deconstructing time and the human body, and extracting human emotions, everything is rational or indifferent. Like scientific experiments, moving toward the expected result, no matter what happens during the process maybe the accident is expected. At the same time, natural elements, air, water, soil, and plants were also used in the performance. In the most primitive way, the relationship between time and life is interpreted by the basic elements of living, and the pure but naked side of this relationship is also successfully demonstrated.
Establishing the event field in real life and letting abstract imagination happen in it, the dislocated human body, man with roots, and the human torso that disappeared into the ground.... conveying grotesque and shocking when reality and imagination occur simultaneously. The possibilities and authenticity on the stage are infinitely extended. Under the influence of such a strong atmosphere, the audience has become the witness of the event.
'The Order of Time'
A book on the introduction to time, time is an unsolved puzzle that is not thoroughly analyzed. Mentioning astronomy, the relationship between physics and time, and inferring and imagining the way time works in a more understandable way, in which the physicist Einstein's theory of relativity and Aristotle are also calculated by different perspectives. Different modes talk about time, even between physics and philosophy, in which in all time theories, Einstein's theory of relativity is experimentally supported by today's scientists for the way we operate today, and by his time. Visual thinking, so the theory of time is no longer limited to data and assumptions, but can be projected into life. There are vague and unknown zones in all kinds of relationships. The universe and time, time and people, through exploration and experimentation, can gain new insights in these unknowns.
'The Clock'
A 24 hours long installation, it’s an impossible and incredible way to discuss time.
To build a common participation, in this video installation, Christian Marclay manipulates time as the common substance which owns by everyone who is in the theatre. He makes all audiences and the scenes from different movies in different periods share the same timing temporarily. It is not only an actual participation for the audiences to watch, but also open accesses to their imaginations to more possibilities. Time exists everywhere and because of time is the most common substance in everyone’s life so it has been taken as granted. Christian Marclay creates ‘The Clock’ by utilise time as the main baseline to construct the relative clips to respond, so each minute became irreplaceable elements in this video installation.
Furthermore, in the actual time which the audiences have, compares to the synchronous time in the video both of them create a time and space overlap together, things happening diversely in the same timing among us. Time is a real exist but invisible substance. To present the commonality of time and offer the experience to the audiences when the time is an element in an artwork seems an impossible task but this piece has made it.
'Palimpsest'
Very impressive about how Doris Salcedo manipulates this piece by her sensitivity of material and considerate technic to present the softness of the water. Through the dynamics of water to convey the emotional sense, as the performer turned into another form to show the poetic performance. Immigration issues are elaborated by the artist's operation in a way that is close to the human body. Water is the common memory of human, the essential element of life, tears or the sea water which immigrants crossed. The installation uses water as the main role but there is no sound of water in the room, it presents an atmosphere of silent mourning.
In my practice, I also utilise water as a material. How to transform the materials I see every day into the language of the works, and how to make the water have the emotional problem in the process of thinking, this work has inspired me a lot.
When I first saw this piece, the water on the ground emerged like magic, slow and delicate. Visited the work again after a few weeks, some parts have failed. The water injection in the letters became obvious due to the accumulation of minerals in the water. Some parts appeared water column, or the water was not restricted by the font. I believe this piece has invested a lot and requires all kinds of delicate calculations and maintenance. It is a pity that the quality of the work cannot be maintained at the end of the exhibition.
'Memory Palace'
‘Memory Palace’ at White Cube Galley was consisted of multi media by different artists.It was articulated by an architectural framework that leads the viewer through six broad themes of memory: Historical, Autobiographical, Traces, Transcription, Collective and Sensory. It was a great chance to see different artists' works on this topic and interesting curation. By different media, every piece looked like came from different people’s memories and exhibited in the white and clean space which were compartments divided by architectural frames, like the brain’s structure. To transfer the personal memories into visual art and evoke similar memories from viewers and create common memories with all the viewers. Some works have direct connections to the viewers by definite elements; some have the subtle connection like the textures to evoke viewers’ memories. Viewers will respond to different kind of memory topic which they were interested, is a second time to classify audiences to another invisible palace.
In this exhibition, I saw different medias' interaction also the arrangement about space and each work’s connectivity. To get a balance between diverse works and bring the atmosphere of each work to audiences.
