Museum Essay #3

The documentary: Geocentric puncture (2012) is a mixed-medium installation by Chinese artist Guan Xiao. I think, this is one of the most interesting pieces from the show "Triennial 2015: Surround Audience" at New Museum, New York.  Huge images of colorful snakeskin and the camera lenses caught my eye. When I looked clearly, I noticed the details. This installation is divided into three parts consisting huge prints of snakeskin images, camera lenses, tripods, a sculpture of a serpent eating its tail, a stone head and a basic classical column. When I read the wall label, I learnt that Guan choose three different artifacts from three different culture of the ancient world and he used technology (the prints, camera lenses and tripods) to embrace both historical and cultural content and the free play of imagination, creation, and endless opportunities to remodel the future. The third part has a tripod connected to a spotlight, the second one holds human looking hands forming a frame and the first one has all the camera lenses on top of one other as if it’s saying “lights, camera, action” from right to left like directors do in movies to start a scene. Maybe the artist wanted to indicate a new beginning for visual association within the context of the rapid, decentralized distributed photo sharing on the web. As we all know, technology has both pros and cons. The serpent eating its tail could be an indication of the distribution of  false information or photos and of the rapid growth of social media causing less face-to-face communication which eventually makes oneself isolated.

The second work I chose from the show is titled Timeless Alex created by Eduardo Navarro in 2015. It is about understanding how a turtle views the world instead of us humans. The artist was fascinated by the slow motion of turtles, their patience and how they move in the world without the perception of time. He was motivated particularly by the case of Lonesome George, the last living Pinta Island tortoise discovered in the Galápagos in 1971 and how self-awareness of their own longevity might affect cognition. He made this sculpture of a tortoise shell assembled from layers of delicate paper alongside with a leather skin and face mask especially for a performer to wear and act like a turtle and in a way meditate inside to achieve the slow speed and sense of tranquility. A turtle’s speed and its patience are like the opposite of our digitally enhanced lives. We live in the age of speed and in fast paced environment. The shell could be used as a stress-free device or to create peacefulness in oneself. 

The third and the last work I chose is Daniel Steegmann Mangrané's Phantom (kingdom of all the animals and the beasts is my name) (2014-15). He used Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and three-dimensional laser-scanning software to create an immersive virtual Brazilian rainforest. It was my first virtual reality experience and it was amazing. I was able to walk through the branches and feel the rainforest floor. It felt like I’m actually in a rainforest rather than the museum. I was only able to see the trees, the dirt but not the museum walls and there was no way to take a picture or record what I experienced. It felt real. Phantom definitely shows the advancement of art and new technology. I wonder what the future holds.