FEARS AND HOPES:
I'm hoping to make a physical installation, and I guess this brings both the encouragement and concern. It's a new experience for me to make a physical work at a considerable scale and finding a site is also a big problem. In fact I had worked in a startup that manages hostels and AirBnbs and I had the experience of being in a project to build and manage a hostel from scratch. But the difference is that was teamwork and there was investors and other resources. My motivation would be that this is the final work I will do in DT and I really want to show people (not only in DT but also "the world") a great work that represents me uniquely. I care a lot about these two years in DT and I believe I've learned a lot and became better in many ways. Therefore I want to challenge myself to make this physical installation and create this in-person experience which is valuable in the world of remote connections. Recently I've been thinking of finding a public space rather than a gallery space to open the experience for a bigger group of audience.
DAY 2:
I'm obsessed with sunset. It's the most emotional time of a day, and I've written the following monologue for myself in a video I made last semester for my Digital Video Production class:
"...Although being trapped in my New York apartment alone, the romance is never absent. Sunset is the most sensitive moment of my day. The rosy light climbs on my wall gently and shadows melt softy. The dimness calms me down while burning the emotions up. It’s all the tenderness I need, it's worth a thousand words. Did we also pause time when we paused the city? Everyday at dusk, time is obscured by a flush of past and an ethereal hope of tomorrow..."
After moving to Long Island, I had more chance to go to the beaches and watch the sunset by the sea. I feel that sunset could create a moment that makes everyone more sensitive, emotional and softer. Might be an opportunity for a "reconciliation". And then I started to google "sunset". At first I wanted to make a window display for a sunset installation, like an artificial sunset or something like that. So I added "window" after "sunset" as the keywords for searching. The results for "sunset window" really inspired me.
The sunsets are all stunning of course, but the thing that really caught my attention is the window. Not everyone has the opportunity to watch the sunset in an outdoor space everyday, instead, most of the time we see it through a window. Therefore the sunset we actually see is always including a window frame. It becomes a critical part of the experience, and we can't take that away. The interesting thing about the window is that it exposes so much information of the observer: their living condition, location, aesthetic choice, sleeping preference, cultural background, and so on. In these photos, the window becomes both a filter for the observer and a lens for someone else to see through them. That somehow links to my topic of interpersonal understanding and perception. So I'm pitching an installation that is situated at a site which has a great view of sunset, and the main object is a set of huge windows. Some are colored and some are not, some can even be just frame without glass. People can watch the sunset through the windows, or look at other people behind the windows. At the time of sunset everything gets dark, it's not a moment for judgement, clarity or definition. We see the sunset with or without a filter; we see each other with or without a filter.The color, light, shadow are all at play in this moment to give us indefinite but emotional feelings. It's a moment for us to observe but also to forget; it's a moment for reconciliation.
