9 Questions with Chih Yang Chen - Magazine Issue02
Chih Yang Chen is a selected and featured artist in Al-Tiba9 magazine ISSUE02, interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj about his photographic project PARALLELY POST INDIVIDUAL PROPHECY.
Chih Yang Chen works always communicate speculative concepts through subtle symbols. He focuses on exploring the possibilities of subtle relationships that occur between individuals.
Please describe the intention behind your art. How do you successfully express this intention?
I am a very sensitive person, who always focuses on the relationship and connection between individuals. I had depression before, which made me lonely and hard to make connections with others. I didn’t know how to deal with other people, neither how to deal with myself. I didn’t know how to socialize, how to express a feeling, how to communicate. Because of the depression, I noticed that individuals without the ability to develop relationships with others can never be completed.
To me, “Relationships” do not exist naturally. There should be some reasons that make the relationships existed, which I am highly focused on. Since I cannot make connections with others as easy as taking a breath, I pay more attention to what develops the connection and what makes the connection changed. I want to make these “Relationships” and “Connections” accessible through my artworks.
Relationships and connections are always the subjects of my artworks. To begin with, I have to clarify the relationships I focus on. Where do they exist? How are they influenced? What influences them? How do they change the original individuals? Then I find a persuasive perspective to debrief the subject and develop inspiration, creativity, aesthetic within the context. I really care about symbols, only when I really know what I want to communicate can I create the context and choose appropriate symbols, and make the artworks accessible to spectators.
What kind of education or training helped you develop your skillset?
During the two years at the Royal College of Art, I kept evaluating my position. I experimented with different media, forms, and techniques, tried to find the one that most strongly relates to me. I was attracted to moving images, films and new technology. As a result, my graduation projects combined short films and 3D printed objects. I studied Social development and Advertisement in college, and I was a freelance graphic designer before I studied at RCA. I learned most of the skills and techniques by myself. At RCA, there are a lot of workshops that provide skills training. I can learn everything I want if I have enough time. Besides, students are really talented, I gained a lot from my classmates and friends, no matter the skillset or mindset.
The project “Parallels Post Individual Prophecy” is about human behavior ignoring the planet, this egotistical relation that’s more interested in the self than the environment. How did you turn this artistic inspiration into a photographic project?
I was studying speculative design when creating the project. I realized there should be a speculative platform for the concept and value of this project, which provided more possible ways to communicate and question the spectators. Therefore, I started a short fiction and transformed it into a timetable using the year as the unit of time. Then I created a series of graphic narratives based on the timeline. However, during the process, I found what I really want to do is “warning” rather than “narrating”. I wanted a metaphorical warning, which is spiritual and beyond the scope of understanding. What came to my mind is the huge black stele in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is the symbol of technology, unknown and future. It also seems like the metaphor of the spiritual power from higher dimension consciousness. As a result, I turned the fiction into a prophecy and printed it on a black stele. Also, I collaborated with a Printmaking student, Zilin Lin, for a series of seven monoprints, which was inspired by higher dimension consciousness, and tried to communicate the relationship between the consciousness and human beings. The project turned into a prophecy installation which consisted of the prophecy stele and prints and saved as the photography records.
Your work questions humanity about its synchronization with the planetary and the cosmic consciousness, about the infinite size of the universe where our planet is considered just a tiny unit. Could you explain your artistic research about this?
It’s all began from the relationship between humans and the planet, which seems that humans keep consuming and the earth keeps tolerating. I researched the relationship between humans and the planet, most of the results are about environmental issues. However, I saw a term called Planetary Consciousness, which reminded me that Plato has said the Earth is a huge living creature, and also reminded me of Final Fantasy VII. Planetary Consciousness means human beings are members of a planetary society of Earth as much as they are members of their nations, provinces, districts, islands, cities or villages. I focus on researching the subject about the consciousness of the planet, cosmic and other inorganic substance. These are the results: Gaia Theory by James Lovelock, Water Has Memory by Benveniste, and a beautiful project “The Future Will just Have to wait” by Alice Theodorou, and the book “The Future of The Mind” written by Michio Kaku. In “The Future of The Mind”, Michio Kaku said consciousness is the basis of the universe.
Since the subject is abstract and spiritual, I needed the context which can make my spectators more open-minded. Therefore, I decided to create a speculative platform for my subject to communicate a future in which human memories melt in the ocean, co-existing with the planet. The higher dimension consciousness (The Planet) records this future, reproduced to a prophecy beyond the time dimension. As a result, I developed the work to the prophecy installation and finally the photography records. My artistic research combines paper researching and hand-making.
“Humans can only confess to Something rather than Somebody” discusses the indescribable connections between humans and objects, especially when people are suffering from extremely painful and harsh emotions and it is impossible to tell anybody else about how one feels. However, people still need to confess to something. What is the relationship between this work and “Parallels Post Individual Prophecy”? Both projects are pointing to the same “Source”. What does source mean in your work? Could it be material and spiritual at the same time regarding your two projects?
Both these two projects talk about the relationships between individuals and external issues, but one is macroscopic, and the other is microscopic. “Parallels Post Individual Prophecy” is about the relationship between the humans' community and the planet. The work provides the prophecy reproduced from the relationship to each individual as the warning. “Humans can only confess to Something rather than Somebody” talks about the internal struggling of the individuals. Since individuals cannot make connections with others because of internal issues, they build up stronger connections with the objects around them which can be people, communities, society, the world, or spiritual issues. They both talk about the same “Source”— relationship and connection. When individuals have trouble building up balanced connections with external units, they may be fragile or distorted, and need to be stopped (stopped by the prophecy).
The relationship between humans and objects is material and spiritual at the same time. The relationship between the human community and the planet is spiritual. The prophecy provided by the planetary consciousness is material and spiritual. The photography records materialize the relationships between individuals and the planet. The “Source”, relationship and connection, are the subjects I keep working on.
Your process includes photography, typography, sculpture, graphic design, short films, and other media and techniques. How can you describe your complex artistic production and technique for our readers?
I will describe myself as a cross-disciplinary artist. Since I am a self-taught graphic designer/visual artist, I won’t limit my imagination by the skill set or the artistic styles. When starting a new project, I put everything out in the beginning, such as inspirations, ideas, and intentions. Then I will organize what I want to communicate, who is my audience, try to find a persuasive perspective to cut through all the references. This process can be researching, drawing, meditation, or keep doing small works to lead me forward. After I build up the content and feel that the work has meaning for myself, I proceed to the creating process. Even my artistic production is multivariate, they are all based on visual symbols. I love symbols, and I am highly interested in metaphor. Most of my works have metaphorical or symbolic meanings. I put symbols on various media, and I’m always satisfied with the result.
They say if you could be anything but an artist, don’t be an artist. What career are you neglecting right now by being an artist?
Game Designer or Game Developer. I love games, even plan to make a series of projects themed with games. To me, games are similar to artworks, both need to adjust details and symbols carefully to lead the players (spectators) into the content. No matter games or artworks, they have their own life after we finish the creating process. So I will be a game designer or game developer if I am not an artist.
What current series are you working on?
I am working on two related moving images, which is about how individuals deal with their digital personalities in this internet community. The project talks about individuals becoming flat, fragmental and tagged in the digital generation. However, individuals have to over-emphasize themselves to be eye-catching in this situation. As a result, individuals all look similar but exaggerated.
AR and VR are good for the subject. I am now learning the related technic. I will apply them to the series works in the future.
What is your favorite genre of music to listen to while working?
Lo-fi and Jazz Hop. I love the looped rhythm when working, can make me concentrate.
Do you have any upcoming shows or collaborations?
I have some upcoming collaborations, but they are confidential for now. I just finished a collaboration with a jewelry designer a month ago. Her works are related to paranoia about heat and another collaboration with a fashion designer creating patterns related to sex and intimacy, which were printed as fabrics and used on his clothes. I am now focusing on commercial works and personal artworks while looking for exhibitions and collaboration opportunities.
