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March 26, 2017

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Art evolves in age of artificial intelligence

A cosplay-like figure bending over on the ground, a huge bug bumping in a glass case plus the flickering images of dazzling of video games: these conjure up the exhibition titled “After US” currently showcased at chi K11.

The exhibition is also the first major project of the K11 Art Foundation in China in partnership with the New Museum, New York. It features international artists while also focusing on emerging artists from China.

The works on display range from sculptures, installation art, to photography, performance and video, all augmented and virtual reality.

This exhibition renders something very fresh from the young artists and their virtual reality.

With the rise of artificial intelligence, the social web and gaming, the processes of adopting newly invented personae is now a common part of popular culture and daily life.

The exhibition looks at the original personae that artists are animating: ones that amplify social and emotional conditions and speculate on potential future states.

Stand-ins for the self, for feelings and products, and for values and beliefs have expanded our lives and possibility.

For example, in Chen Zhou’s feature-length video “Life Imitation (2016),” intimate portraits of daily life in Shanghai overlap seamlessly with winding WeChat dialogues and scenes captured from an unnamed game.

In the performance, “Unwinnable Game (2017),” by Li Xiao, six professional gamers play the game “League of Legends” all day when the exhibition is open to the public, but the players follow a strict set of rules that would keep them winning.

The piece is a reminder of the ways in which our animated avatars are not only embodied but also controlled, and that sweat and free labor fuel the fantasy world.

Among these works, Lin Ke’s video work stands out.

As one of the active members in the area of new media art, Lin has gained major critical acclaim for his work, winning the OCAT — Pierre Huber Art Prize in 2014, and the Chinese Youth Artist Award of the 9th AAC Art 2015.

Born in Wenzhou in 1984, Lin graduated from the New Media Arts Departments of the China Academy of Art in 2008.

Since 2010, he has turned his attention to the behavioral science of the computer age.

Converting his laptop into a studio, the artist extracts material from computer software and the Internet as the fodder for his art.

He records operational behavior and conceptual images by using screenshots and screen-recording software.

His work takes the form of installation, image, sound, text, video and computer painting.

For this exhibition, he has two videos, which face each other from opposite ends of the space.

Both are set on the fictional island of Hikari in “Second Life”, a game known for idiosyncratic user-generated culture.

It is strange that surrounded with the bizarre and noisy atmosphere permeated over the exhibition hall, Lin’s works render something soothing and quiet, perhaps because of the accompanying meditation music.

In one of his video scenes, a vague tiny shaped man seems to be on the run above a vast sea, and in the other work, the artist offers a fly-through, panning across the water and whirring through trees.

Interview with Lin Ke

Q: Are you a lover of computer games? Why did you choose new media art as your creations?

A: No, I am not.

Because it satisfies something deep in my heart. Sometimes it seems to be a release of my emotional and psychological feelings.

Q: What’s the attraction of being a new media artist? Does technology count much in your works?

A: When I was a small kid, I liked drawing. I was also trained at the academy for oil and sketches. I think that the advantage of my online renderings is that I see things in the angle of art, rather than anything else. The hues and the tableau all come from an artist’s eye.

Technology is important, but I only use the technology that I know how to use. Yes, I understand that technology moves fast, but when I pass an idea that could only be implemented by some fancy IT guys, then I feel I am losing the control of my own art.

Q: Do you spend a long time on the screen in your life?

A: Oh, yes, I do. I feel that my eyes never leave the screen now. That’s why when I am thrown into real natural landscapes.

I feel that my eyes have been “purified.” It is such a striking contrast.

I also think that in a digitalized era, there is something negative. Everything could be virtual, and one’s experience in the real world decreases.

True, this is functional and convenient. But it is also something dangerous and monopolized, as there is always some power behind that screen that designed the whole program.

For virtual customers, their requirements could always be met online. But I have a question — is it good that every demand could be met? Is this really good?

In my eyes, this is “dark control.”

Q: The length of your videos are usually from five to 15 minutes, why not longer?

A: I try to evoke something deep inside viewers. They first receive my messages and then “digest them”.

I think the length of my work just fits the whole process. If it is too long, then the focus of the viewer goes.

Q: Are you now a professional new media artist? Do you find any difficulty in making ends meet?

A: Yes, I have been a professional new media artist for nearly a decade. Of course, there were some “dark days” at the beginning. But now, everything seems just OK for me.

I have some buyers, and all of them are Chinese aged from 30 to 50.

Q: How about exhibitions? Are your works often exposed to the public?

A: In March alone, I have four to five exhibitions. Of course, all joint exhibitions. Thanks to the nature of my artworks, sometimes I don’t need to arrive on the site to inspect the arrangement.

Everything could be done on remote control in my computer. But still I feel quite busy shuttling among these exhibitions, attending the opening and doing interviews.

Q: Are you a productive artist?

A; I create about 10 works each year. You could say each work is related. It is akin to the branches of a tree: sometimes I go to this branch and sometimes I go to another.

I don’t know what the future would be, but at least I want to make it a tree.

Q: Do you live in Beijing and work there?

A: Yes, or to be more exact, I now live near Hebei Province in Beijing. I have a 500 square-meter studio, and I live and work there.

The surroundings there are peaceful, but I am now a bit afraid that one day my social and communicative competence will decline.

Now I begin to question myself: am I saying the right word in front of the others?

Q: Can you picture your life in 10 years?

A: I hope that I will be free of shackles.

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