The Art of Hybridity - White Rabbit Gallery

White Rabbit Gallery
Stage 6 Visual Arts Case Study
The Art of Hybridity
‘You can say we are true hybrid artists.’
Luxury Logico, Wandering (image shows work in construction), 2015 stainless steel, motor, mixed media, 717 x 248 x 140 cm,
approx. 300kg, image courtesy the artists and White Rabbit Gallery
Course Content – NSW Preliminary and HSC Courses
Artists’ Practice
The Structural Frame: ‘reading’ contemporary artworks, interpreting signs and codes
The Postmodern Frame: Artists with a hybrid, interdisciplinary practice in the postcolonial context
Conceptual Framework: Artist/Artwork/Audience relationships
Outcomes: P7, P8, P9, H7, H8, H9, H10
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This Case Study is focused on:
Reading and analysing extracts of art critical writing
Understanding ‘visual codes’ and iconography – applying the structural frame to understand how
artists create meanings in their works through their choices of materials and their visual language
Understanding how contemporary artists work in new ways with a cross and trans-disciplinary
approach, linking art with science and engineering, performance, music and many more related
fields
Developing art critical writing skills in analysis, interpretation and evaluation of selected artworks
Comparative writing – learning how to compare works (by the same or different artists) in order
to make inferences and deductions
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Course Content – IB Comparative Study
Assessed Criteria for the Comparative Study include:
 Analysis of formal qualities
 Interpretation of function and purpose
 Evaluation of cultural significance
 Making comparisons and connections
 Presentation and subject specific language
 (for HL only) making connections to own art practice
Note to teachers and students
This Case Study focuses on the practices of the artist and the critic. In the first instance, students
encounter the artworks themselves, in the gallery and/or in reproduction and/or online. A sequence of
learning activities begins with a discussion of selected works, followed by reading the examples of art
writing provided (models of critical practice), and responding to focus questions. Whole class and small
group tasks are suggested, with links to other artists, and to other useful resources. An extended response
question, with marking guidelines, requires students to develop an argument that demonstrates their
understanding of the artist’s practice in his social and historical context. This will need to be further
scaffolded to meet the specific needs of student groups.
The Case Study may be implemented over 4 -10 hours, depending on teacher and student interests and needs.
Teaching / Learning
This Case Study may be approached in a range of different ways, depending on the particular interests
of teachers and students. Strategies may include:
o Independent research or collaborative investigations
o ‘Socratic Dialogues’ that unpack a range of meanings in specific works
o Debates or dialogues exploring LuxuryLogico’s significant projects and comparing them with
works by other relevant artists
o The creation of student blogs or websites for the publication of critical art writing
A: Individually, students read each of the three texts and answer the focus questions before
attempting the extended response.
B: To extend this case study, working independently or in small groups students may choose to
investigate:
o Chen Tianzhuo (performance, music and dance), Shyu Ruey-Shiann (mechanical, kinetic and
robotic artworks) and Aaajiao (computer coding.)
o A comparative study connecting Luxury Logico with Stelarc’s use of robotics and Nanotechnology; and/or the projects of SymbioticA: the Art & Science Collaborative Research
Laboratory, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia provides
rich sources for student texts.
o An art-historical investigation of the significance of Nam June Paik, one of the first artists to
see the possibilities of electronic media, and a pioneer in the field. How does the work of Luxury
Logico extend the pioneering experimental work of Nam June Paik?
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Technologies
Structural Frame
Practice
processes
Collaborative
practices
Postmodern Frame
Artist/Artwork
Interdisciplinary
Art Practices
Art of Social
Engagement
Artist/Audience
Kinetic Art
and Sensory
Experience
Essential Vocabulary for this Case Study
Hybridity
Interdisciplinary
Postmodernism / Postmodernity
Post-internet
Post-colonial
Mechanical
Collaborative
Dematerialisation
Algorithm
Metaphysical
Kinetic Art
Background
The LuxuryLogico collective consists of four young Taiwanese artists: Chang Kenghau 張耿豪
Chang Genghwa 張耿華 Llunc Lin 林昆穎 and Ken Chen 陳志建, all born in Taiwan in 1980,
except Ken Chen who was born in 1979. They formed Luxury Logico in January 2010. Previously
they had been working as two separate artist collectives: Chang Keng-hau and Chang Geng-hwa’s
Luxury Bros (the Chinese names of the twin brothers, joined together, mean ‘Luxury’ - 張耿豪
Chang Keng-Hau & 張耿華Chang Geng-Hwa: Hau+Hwa = Luxury), and Ken Chen and Llunc Lin’s
Logico. Meeting in the graduate program at Taipei National University, they decided to pool their
talents and specialised skills to form a new art collective. They work in many hybrid and
interdisciplinary forms, including music, theatre, dance, film, architecture and installation, fully
integrating new and emergent technologies. Their work blurs the boundaries between art,
engineering, technology, science and socio-political advocacy. They are interested in what they
call ‘non-heroism’: the group has no leader and their works are fully collaborative, with each
member responsible for decisions during the process. Their works, often playful and whimsical
installations comprising moving mechanical parts, light and sound, require the different skills of
the four artists to move from the initial concept to the finished piece. The artists say that the
four individual ‘I’ became the ‘We’ known as Luxury Logico.
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The Four Individuals Who Make Up LuxuryLogico
Chang Kenghau (Keng-Hau aka Geng-Hau) is the twin brother of Chang Geng-Hwa. He was
born in Tamsui in 1980, and studied at the Graduate School of New Media Art, Taipei National
University of the Arts. His solid training in fine arts enables him to work sculpturally with
confidence. His earlier works, mostly sculptures and installations, focused on an intuitive
expression of the forms revealing his personal experience. After stepping into the field of
technological art, he began to employ interactive computer programming and digital imaging,
and moved toward new media art. He is active in the fields of theatre, cinema and television,
as well as art.
Chang Genghwa (Geng-Hwa) was born in Tamsui in 1980, and received extensive training in
sculpture at the National Taiwan University of Arts before going on to postgraduate study at
Taipei National University of the Arts. He is fascinated by mechanical devices and installation;
hence, the use of gear wheels, sensors and motors in his works, sometimes mixed with
powered devices, LED lights or projection in the works that he develops for Luxury Logico.
Lin Kun-Ying was born in Hualien in 1980 and studied at the Graduate School of New Media
Art, National Taipei University of the Arts. A classical musician since his childhood, he excels in
playing the flute and in music theory. He was trained in philosophy in college while he
developed a passion in art, and began his creative career in technological art in graduate
school. He collaborates with artists from different fields including dance, theatre and classical
music.
Chen Chih-Chien was born in Yulin in 1979 and studied at the Graduate School of New Media
Art, Taipei National University of the Arts, specialising in new media. He is interested in the
issue of ‘multiple time in the same space’, making works that challenge the idea that time
moves in a lineal way. With the help of sport filming devices and image cutting programs, he
compresses time and space in the space of an image, translating differences of time into
different pieces of memories.
Audiences experience ‘Solar’, image courtesy the artists and White Rabbit Collection
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LuxuryLogico discuss ‘Wandering’
Luxury Logico, Wandering (image shows work in construction), 2015 stainless steel, motors, mixed media, 717 x 248 x 140 cm,
approx. 300kg, image courtesy the artists and White Rabbit Gallery
o Approximately 300kg
o 30 pairs of wings
o 1 motor
Ken Chen: It could be a flying feather, a bird, a dragon, a flying machine, a mysterious animal, or
anything. It takes imagination to figure out what it is as you can’t see the details clearly. All you
can see is the beautiful smooth movement of the metal installation.
Chang Geng-Hwa: In 2006, I became very interested in making kinetic art and spent a long time
learning to make it. I was particularly interested in flying objects. All the flying objects I have
made were the results of my experiments. One day Llunc said to me “Maybe we can create
smoother movement to make this metal installation look more alive and realistic”. We decided
to do some experiments to explore different visual effects. It was a nice and simple idea but it
took us a long time to improve the movement. [For viewers] who are into science and machines,
they will be surprised to see all the details and be amazed by the precision. This work is about
rhythm and movement. We are trying to create smooth movement generated by machines.
Artists’ Statement:
A wanderer in a freewheeling wandering.
Taiwan is an island of exuberance. We often wander in its cities and nature, immersed in
whatever Taiwan has to offer. Sometimes, we are locals, perceptually reading people and things
with enthusiasm and a sense of enjoyment.
Most of the time, we are wanderers, rationally viewing the sky and the earth with brimming
creativity and a sense of inspiration.
Wanderer is an embodiment of the traveler as well as a state of mind of freedom and
delight, everlasting and inexhaustible. Continuing the style of “Swaying Freely,” we have
perceived the dynamic form from an angle of elegance and a sense of floating. The artwork has
an exterior structured with sheer metal. The sculptural form of a living creature floats in mid-air;
minimalistic, exquisite, and elaborate. Each time it moves, the delicate wavy movement seems
to suggest a transitory breeze; and then, all goes back to stillness.
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References and Resources
http://www.digiarts.org.tw/english/InterView_Content.aspx?n=3D262D328D191157&s=0F125
58A524F6AC3&t=&tn a useful interview with the artists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcsVcyw-kK8 LuxuryLogico at TEDx Taipei: ‘We design
in order to better human life.’
https://vimeo.com/20475619 a dance performance created by LuxuryLogico and choreographer
Chou Shu-Yi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouQlIqvnZ3U a video of ‘Scripting’ installed in Taipei
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDqtZbTh9DE 2-minute video of ‘Solar’ at White Rabbit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJHjn_XHo1o video of ‘Solar’ installed in Manchester
LuxuryLogico, Solar, 2010, lampholders, LEDs, wires, microchips, computer 1,
image courtesy White Rabbit Gallery
Solar is a combination of mobile and electronic devices created in the spirit of hybridity. The
work is a computer-developed play of sound and lights (household lamps), which follow a regular
and unchangeable pattern. Controlled dimming and brightening depicts the sun as a finite energy
force and replicates the waxing and waning of other astral bodies. The group is mindful of issues
relating to social and environmental responsibility. Thus, Solar is constructed from LED bulbs the most environmentally friendly photoelectric material available today. All the light bulbs have
been recycled. Tension between art and technology; human emotion and the quest for new
styles and ways of expression are fundamental to the Hybrid Art movement. The work of
LuxuryLogico exemplifies this spirit, which balances the explosion of knowledge, technological
innovation and scientific discovery with sensual experience.
The 'Solar' soundtrack is a mix of sound files scavenged from the Internet, most interesting of
which are the low droning sounds that were allegedly recorded in space, possibly from a satellite.
The sound recalls the noise of the dial-up technology of the early days of the internet.
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Readings and Questions
Reading #1
Thoughts about Hybridity in New Art Practices
In a recent event held by Rhizome, James Bridle of research project The New Aesthetic reflected
that before the invention of the e-book, nobody was particularly concerned with the 'physicality'
of books. Yet as this physicality became threatened, e-book adversaries began extolling the
qualities of the paper publication that its digital counterpart lacks: its weight, its texture, its
smell, the sense of ownership it proffers. Since the language did not exist to articulate the
transition from material to virtual, Bridle argues, isolated physical attributes have been absurdly
grasped onto, belying our fears of dematerialisation.
We are immersed in a hybridised environment of reality and augmented reality on a daily basis.
As Bridle suggests, when we hold our iPhone cameras in front of us we are literally 'layering a
digital reality on top of the real world'. So, in this age of transition in which material and digital
experience are in an unprecedented state of coexistence, our understanding of the physical is
being endlessly reshaped by advancements in technology. Consequently, the very meaning of
physicality and its apparent importance to us has become subject to questioning.
For artists working with and responding to new technologies, the hybridisation of physical and
digital elements has become a reflexive reaction to this strange dichotomy. Not only on a formal
level, but as a subjective enquiry into the impact of its growing presence…
…Approaches to curation, too, are changing as the format of the exhibition itself becomes
hybridised. While the desire to synthesize the traditional gallery space with online display
resulted in an influx of online-only galleries in 2011, the curatorial project 'Bcc' translates artwork
submitted online into tangible form; the digital file is reimagined in the real world.
As the boundaries between virtual and physical experience become more porous, questions over
the meaningfulness of the distinction placed between these two terms are emerging. It is in part
a linguistic issue; language is yet to catch up with the fast-paced changes in technology and its
impact on human consciousness. Art, however, is able to navigate this ambivalent space. In the
same way that art and technology are transcendental extensions of humanity, this hybridity in
art practice is about transcendence, beyond the visual logic of the digital or material. In the fluid
transaction between states of existence, algorithm and human error, and different forms of
media, something metaphysical starts to surface in the space between.
Amy Knight, 2013 http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/15085/1/hybridity-in-new-art
Discussion Questions
How do you think artists are challenged to respond to the ‘hybridised environment of
reality and augmented reality’ described by the writer? Are historical art conventions
such as distinct disciplines of painting and sculpture relevant in today’s world? Does
art need to change in order to stay relevant and to engage today’s audiences?
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Reading #2
What’s an ‘Interdisciplinary Artist’?
It seems like the art world is starting to heavily rely on interdisciplinarity nowadays – a word that
may have not even existed until a while ago. Subsequently, the term interdisciplinary artist is
heard more often now than ever before, and the expression presents itself as self-explanatory.
But are we completely sure that we comprehend the exact connotation? The confusion might
be caused by the lesser known meaning of the prefix inter, since the word “discipline” is pretty
clear in any context. Given that inter means between, it appears to be different than multi, which
means many or multiple (and we’ve all heard of multidisciplinary artists as well). These insights
suggest that interdisciplinary artists do not simply deploy several disciplines in order to realize
their art, like multidisciplinary artists do, but they also decidedly position their work in between
the genres, so that the new relationships are built and named after the established disciplines
and genres combined.
Let us suppose that interdisciplinary artists should not be able to single out one main field of
research and name others as secondary, and that their art truly resides within the territory of
ambivalence. This means that they are not painters who occasionally take photographs, or
writers who paint for inspiration – they are the ones whose art does not show regard to
a dominant discipline or a genre. Their art is derived from the disciplines that we are able to
recognize as counterparts. However, if we bear in mind that interdisciplinarity embodies a
crossover between several disciplines, we ought not forget that the connection between
them might as well collapse. Their unity does not signify singularity, a permanent unbreakable
bond of becoming one single new discipline. It rather works on principles of temporary relations,
like a short period of mutual attraction, a fling. Two disciplines may come together in the hands
of one artist, but they might as well never meet again in his future work. They are juxtaposed,
but never dissolved in one another.
If our theory is true and interdisciplinary artists are not the ones who make entirely new
disciplines out of existing ones, are there any other artists who do? There may be. We call
them transdisciplinary artists, and the key role is played by the prefix once again,
and trans hereby stands for across and beyond. In a way, that means that transdisciplinary artists
blend all the pieces of knowledge and skill together, and create art that we cannot define
through the canons that specify genres as we know them. Art that goes beyond genre does not
reveal the elements from which it is made, and it is manifested as a homogeneous entity that
exists independently; it goes across many disciplines, in order to reach a final destination.
http://www.widewalls.ch/interdisciplinary-artist/
Discussion Question
Look once again at a range of works by Luxury Logico, including the mechanical
‘Wandering’, the light work ‘Solar’ and the light/music/dance work ‘Scripting’.
Would you define the Luxury Logico artists as ‘interdisciplinary’ practitioners? Or
are they ‘transdisciplinary’? Discuss and debate your viewpoint with a partner, or
in a small group.
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Reading #3 - Artists’ Statement
The four artists of Luxury Logico were born in Taiwan around 1980 when the economy began to
take off. During their childhood and adolescence, they witnessed the postcolonial life in the
countryside as well as in the cities. The light and shade of the street corners and alleys, the state
of humanity that changed under the politic and economic ambience, the natural catastrophes
and manmade problems within and without the country, these characteristic phenomena of
Taiwan made us who we are today in terms of sensible or senseless lives, education, media and
economy.
Bearing our childhood memories and living experiences, we naturally internalize these
Taiwanese characteristics and turn them into the means of creation, such as the morning
exercises, the recycle cart lingering in the alleys, the model of home-based factories, the
education of Taiwanese aesthetics. We do not judge these shared experiences that are like the
air we breathe but use them as a starting point of our creativity. Instead, we recycle and
reproduce these experiences that have become our habits to back up our concept of hybrid, a
mixture of the new and old.
Hybrid Art is a new form of contemporary art, meaning a blurry boundary between traditional
media and art. It interacts with other fields and subjects, such as physics and science, industrial
technology, social structure, literature, fashion, commercial organizations and ideas of business
administration. It opens up limitless possibilities of experimenting, leading a vibrant trend of
contemporary art. This blurry boundary breaks and recreates not only the rules of artistic
realization but also pushes a more intelligent and massive genetic reengineering in every field.
This is the logical result of human being´s self-education and reshaping the society. People
dissect all kinds of professional theories and repackage them to boldly state a new theorization.
This seeming irrationality manifests a brand new representation of the heavy human
experiences.
After the era of media that worshipped rationality and the era of new media that prized
sensibility, the audience are used to contemplating on the aesthetics on many levels. Once they
come in contact with the hybrid monster, their senses open up. Rationality and sensibility
become balanced, exhausting each other, interrogating each other. The sense of wonder does
not come from some strange experience of the senses anymore but from an omniscient point of
view enabled by knowledge. Luxury Logico advocates and reconstructs the point of view of the
hybrid. Embracing the spirit of humanitarianism, enriched by the Taiwanese life experiences
after the 1980s, we change and embed our aesthetics with the theme of collaboration. ‘
LuxuryLogico
Focus Questions
1. What aspects of childhood memory and youthful experience do the artists identify as
important?
2. How do they define Hybrid Art? In your opinion, how does a work such as ‘Wandering’ or
‘Solar’ demonstrate aspects of Hybridity?
3. Describe and critically analyse ‘Wandering’ and ‘Solar’ or ‘Scripting’ – imagine you are an
art critic and you must produce 500 words for a website that explain why these works are
significant and interesting
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LuxuryLogico, Scripting, 2012, fluorescent tubes, motors, sound, dimensions variable,
image courtesy White Rabbit Gallery
Scripting was created as the backdrop for a performance work planned for the ‘Dot. Dot. Dot’
Exhibition in Taiwan. Fluorescent tubes have been criss-crossed to create bright outlines of a
number of geometrical shapes and parallel and converging lines. For the performance work in
Taiwan, the installation was titled, Swimming. The group explains, “The tubes portray slowlymoving waves and the perfect synchronization of arms and legs required to move efficiently in
the water.” In re-titling the stand-alone piece as, Scripting, the artists were thinking of the fluid
motion of the writing process, like the calligrapher writing beautiful Chinese characters with
flowing ink and brush. (A literal translation of the title would be ‘Writing’.)
“We attempt to present our work in a minimalist form,” the artists have said. “The lifeless
fluorescent tubes simulate the rhythmic movements of living organisms in response to the
demands of the ‘conductor’.” (The simplicity of the installation is deceptive, as behind the scenes
machinery, electricity and computer software - written by the artists - dictate every movement
of the fluorescent tubes.) “The twist and turn of straight lines of light make different rhythms in
the dark room. The work is a concrete tableau of abstract forms that can be made to move on
command,” the artists explain. And so, the fiction is created of, “slowly-moving waves and a
perfect synchronization of hand and brush – the fluid motion required for the formation perfect
Chinese characters.”
The soundtrack for the artwork - In a Landscape (1948) - was composed by the American avantgarde composer and musician, John Cage (1912-1992). Stephen Drury is the pianist.
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LuxuryLogico, Miniature, 2016, mixed media, image courtesy White Rabbit Gallery
A Comparative Study
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Compare the hybrid practice of the LuxuryLogico collective (with reference to a specific work or
works) with ONE OR MORE of the following examples. Consider:
Materials and techniques
Signs, symbols and visual codes
Use of Technology/technologies
Overlap with other fields e.g. science, medicine, robotics, dance, music, theatre
The conceptual intentions of the artists
The cultural context and background of the artists and how this may inform their work
Artist
Nam
June Paik
Artwork
Sources
http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=77
502 (Smithsonian Nam June Paik archive)
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/paik/
https://www.artsy.net/artist/nam-june-paik
http://www.eai.org/artistTitles.htm?id=481
Watchdog II 1997,
Aluminium framework,
circuit boards, intercom
horns, audio speakers,
Panasonic camcorder,
desk lamp, three 13"
Samsung TVs ...
https://www.arts.gov/photos/nam-june-paik-artist-whoinvented-video-art
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http://www.stedelijk.nl/en/exhibitions/jean-tinguely-machinespectacle
Jean
Tinguely
http://www.tinguely.ch/en/museum_sammlung/jean_tinguely.html
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/jean-tinguely-2046
Cyclograveur, 1959 – one of
Tinguely’s surreal mechanical
sculptures, often designed to
self-destruct
http://ninevolts.pbworks.com/w/page/10102031/Electronic
%20Artworks
http://olafureliasson.net/
Olafur
Eliasson
http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/8787-olafur-eliasson
https://www.ted.com/talks/olafur_eliasson_playing_with_space_a
nd_light?language=en The artist’s TED talk
The Weather Project, 2003,
Tate Modern Turbine Hall
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/exhibition/unilever-series-olafureliasson-weather-project/olafur-eliasson-weather-project
http://outletmag.co/james-turrell-a-retrospective-at-the-nga/
James
Turrell
http://jamesturrell.com/
http://rodencrater.com/about/
http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/turrell/
Raemar pink white 1969
Shallow space construction:
fluorescent light 440 x 1070 x
300 cm
https://www.artsy.net/artist/james-turrell
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/world/asia/china-art-luyang-venice-biennale.html?_r=0
Lu Yang
https://www.artsy.net/artist/lu-yang
Krafttremor – Parkinsons
Disease Orchestra, 2011,
Inkjet Print - the artist
explores her interest in
control and deep brain
stimulation therapy
http://www.digicult.it/digimag/issue-052/tortuous-visions-of-luyang-the-bioart-in-china/
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/en_au/blog/nonsexualhumanity-takes-form-as-an-artists-3d-avatar
Note: Lu Yang’s work ‘Krafttremor’ is showing in ‘Vile Bodies’
at White Rabbit Gallery, September 2016 – February 2017
https://vimeo.com/85011486
Huang
Siying
http://www.nrw-forum.de/en/press/virtual-body
Note: Huang Siying’s work ‘Initial Psalm’ is showing in ‘Vile Bodies’
at White Rabbit Gallery, September 2016 – February 2017
Initial Psalm, 2013, Computer
Generated video, 3D prints in
photosensitive resin – fractal
geometry derived from the
12 hormones found in the
cord blood of healthy
newborn babies
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Tim
Hawkinson
http://www.blouinartinfo.com/artists/tim-hawkinson-3219
http://x-traonline.org/article/taking-the-measure-of-theworld/
http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/175/tim-hawkinson
http://www.art21.org/artists/tim-hawkinson Art21 videos
Uberorgan, 2000, installation of
plastic, horns, sound; a
‘Brobdingnagian bastard cousin
of the bagpipe, the player piano
and the pipe organ. It consisted
of thirteen bus-sized inflated
bags, one for each of the twelve
tones in the musical scale and
one udder-shaped bag that fed
air to the other twelve by long
tubular ducts.’
https://www.artsy.net/artist/tim-hawkinson
http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/video/399942/uberorg
an:-a-sculptural-installation-by-tim-hawkinson/ video
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/hawkinson/
http://stelarc.org/?catID=20247
Stelarc
http://www.wired.com/2012/05/stelarc-performance-art/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKEfJRe4uys The Body
is Obsolete – video
Third Hand, 1981, a capable
and touch-sensitive
mechanical hand, built in size
and structure to match the
artist’s right hand. The
robotic prosthesis attaches to
Stelarc’s right arm and is
controlled by signals sent by
electrodes from various
muscles in his body.
http://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/stelarc/a29extended_body.html an interview with the artist
http://scanlines.net/person/stelarc
http://www.artpractical.com/column/stelarc/
http://www.rueyshyu.com/
Shyu
RueyShiann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QnHOSRW9NU video
of ‘Eight Drunken Immortals’ in action
http://momaps1.org/studio-visit/artist/ruey-shiann-shyu
Eight Drunken Immortals,
2012 Metal, wheels, wires,
ink, motors, transformers,
sensors - ‘A set of small, busy
robots zooming about
erratically on shopping trolley
wheels, inspired by the
apparently intoxicated moves
of certain martial arts
disciplines, and the Taoist
story of the immortals who
defeated their enemies in
unarmed combat whilst
staggering about as if drunk.
As they move around the floor
they “draw” with ink on sheets
of paper, in an entertaining
parody of the art of
calligraphy.’
http://www.digiarts.org.tw/english/Column_Content.aspx?n
=42B9A64DC480BC01&p=E612E6F6E4C14DCF&s=560552EF0
B205747
http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/shyu-ruey-shiann/
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Luxury Logico, Project Woodpecker—Treignac Project, 2010, 2 BluRay videos (colour, sound), 1
flash drive, 16 min 11 sec Image Courtesy White Rabbit Gallery
Additional interesting resources
o http://theculturetrip.com/asia/china/articles/8-robotics-artists-from-china-hong-kongand-taiwan/ - Eight Robotics Artists from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
o http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/multicultural_art/artists/constru
ct_ourselves/co_art13_stelarc.html Stelarc, a simple text for NSW Visual Arts students
o http://www.artandeducation.net/paper/breaking-the-frame-olafur-eliassons-artmerleau-pontys-phenomenology-and-the-rhetoric-of-eco-activism/ a complex and
interesting article about Olafur Eliasson and environmental activism
o http://www.theartstory.org/artist-turrell-james.htm - James Turrell for secondary
students in The Art Story
o https://da.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/minimalism-earthworks/v/turrellskyscape Beth Harris and Steven Zucker of the Khan Academy introduce Turrell’s
‘Skyscape’
o http://ed.ted.com/lessons/aparna-rao-high-tech-art-with-a-sense-of-humor#watch A fantastic (and funny!) Ed.Ted lesson about Aparna Rao’s high tech interactive
installations – she is one of many artists who are redefining the relationship between
the artist, the viewer, and the artwork.
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Comparative Art Criticism – Extended Response Question
Answer this question with reference to ONE OR MORE works by Luxury Logico compared with a
work or works by ONE OR MORE of the artists from the table on the previous pages:
‘Similarities between how artists and scientists work far outweigh their stereotypical differences.
Both are dedicated to asking the big questions placed before us: “What is true? Why does it
matter?” The scientist’s laboratory and the artist’s studio are two of the last places reserved for
open-ended inquiry…’ (John Maeda, scientist, writing in ‘Scientific American’ – extracted and
amended.)
Evaluate the significance and impact of contemporary art practices that engage with the role of
scientific and technological innovation in contemporary culture. Refer to the work of specific
practitioners in your response.
Marking Guidelines
Descriptor
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
A comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the practice of the selected
artists is evident and sustained throughout
A sophisticated analysis and interpretation of the visual codes, materials, techniques
and technologies used by the selected artists, demonstrating extensive knowledge
and thorough understanding of the works within their contemporary context, and a
thorough understanding of their interdisciplinarity
Appropriate art terminology is employed fluently and persuasively
A sound knowledge and understanding of the practice of the selected artists is
evident and well-sustained
A good analysis and interpretation of the visual codes, materials, techniques and
technologies used by the selected artists, demonstrating sound knowledge and
understanding of the works within their contemporary context and a good
understanding of their interdisciplinarity
Appropriate art terminology is employed competently
Some knowledge and understanding of the practice of the selected artists is evident
A satisfactory analysis and interpretation of some visual codes, materials,
techniques and technologies used by the selected artists, demonstrating some
knowledge and understanding of the works in a more descriptive manner, and some
understanding of interdisciplinarity
Some appropriate art terminology is employed more naively
A limited knowledge and understanding of the practice of the selected artists may be
expressed in less coherent ways
A simple analysis and interpretation of some visual codes, materials, techniques and
technologies used by the selected artists, demonstrating a developing knowledge
and understanding of the works, is applied in a descriptive or more limited manner
and a limited or simple understanding of interdiscplinarity
A very simple attempt to apply appropriate art language
A foundational understanding of artmaking practice
An elementary understanding of the visual codes, materials, techniques and
technologies used the selected artists
Little or no understanding of the roles played by contemporary artists in the artworld
or of interdisciplinarity
Little or no attempt to apply appropriate art language
Mark
Range
A
9 - 10
B
7- 8
C
5- 6
D
3 -4
E
1-2
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