Artist: Q Chen
Title: 15,584
Medium: Installation with balloons, table clothes and video.
Date: 2011-2012
Description:
I have always wanted to understand how people interpret their surroundings. Since last March, when I left Japan after the earthquake, I have wanted to incorporate a personal response to the psychological devastation of the Japanese people. In order to combine the two ideas, I use both a video and an installation in my work.
Like relational artists, such as Philippe Perreno, who is known for his piece, "Speech Bubbles" where he filled the ceiling of the gallery with balloons, I also transform the exhibition space, making the viewers' experience of walking through the space an essential part of the work. I think that what people value is not the material, but the encounter. When the viewers encounter a limited space, how they view any work they see is affected by their individual interpretation of the space.
In my installation, black balloons are cradled from the ceiling, lowering the height of the space. The fragility of the balloons is contrasted with the hard walls and the visual weight of the black. At the end of the space, I show a video collage of Japanese commercials, the viewership of which is now modified by its placement in the transformed space. Both the video and the installation of balloons are essential to my central idea of conveying a sense of loss related to the March 11, 2011 Earthquake in Japan. Although they may interpret the work differently, the viewers will hopefully make a connection between the two parts of the work.
Inquiries:
Email: qq.chen[ at] utoronto [dot ]ca