"The Head" 《头》
Solo Exhibition, 18 – 31 Jan 2019
个展，2019年 1月 18-31日
The Head’s first public outing, involving interaction with a larger audience.
Victor Tan began The Head Project in 2013 in his studio to create and test the boundaries of art and social media for himself. It was an attempt to bring his art to the virtual spaces of the Internet. Victor focusses his art practice on creating 3D forms with metal wires, doing so primarily by touch. As such, his works have a strong tactile dimension. To experience this dimension of Victor’s art, however, an observer needs to be in the same physical space as the artwork. The Head looks into the possibilities of how this art can be experienced in the virtual spaces of the Internet.
“The Head” is a large wire sculpture in the shape of a human head (medium: 316 stainless steel and rod, dimensions: 115 x 102 x 148 cm). It was Victor’s attempt at allowing the audience to experience the sculpture both from outside and inside.
“I often wanted to go near a sculpture to touch and feel all around it. This sculpture allows the audience to go right in.”
With the aid of accessibility features on his phone camera, Victor invited his audience to climb into the sculpture and to tweet their experience being in the sculpture, creating digital documents of the event. In 2013, tweeter was used and in 2019, Instagram was used as the media. Victor invites the audience to record on video their feelings in the sculpture, and Instagram it. That way, Victor hopes that the audience all over the world can experience the sculpture even without physical presence.
Some excerpts from the audience :
“It’s calming, it’s surreal, I feel like I am in a cocoon. You can hear all these noises from outside … but there’s tranquillity being in here”.
“As I slowed down, I could feel my heart stilling itself. Victor asked me to speak into his iPhone so he could Insta-document me and my thoughts.”
“I can hear my own thoughts. This is my experience in The Head.”
“The Head” also showcases 2 other series of works “Born Again” and “Vines and Branches”.
“Born Again”
“Born Again” was done some time ago and now for this exhibition, it is given a new dimension; to allow the audience to interact with the sculpture and to see the changes that develops from the interaction. The element of light is added to cast shadows on the walls and ceiling. A kind of shadow puppetry which is often played with his children when they were little. With his poor vision, Victor sees lights and shadows and it often amazed him to see them flying around. With this torch that shines on the sculpture, it allows the audience to see more than what they could not have seen.
“Vines and Branches”
A series of works that Victor have been working on and still evolving The first sculpture came about years ago when Victor was in Japan in winter. Having felt the trees on a winter day, where the branches were bare; with the leaves all gone. For Victor, who lives in a tropical Singapore, the bare branches were fascinating to the touch. Upon his return, he made the sculpture. Vines and Branches were born, with its name inspired by a verse from the gospel.
Victor also introduced the element of movement for this series of works allowing the audience to experience the work with the space, light and time. Instead of moving around the sculpture, the sculpture moves or rotates for the viewers in a faster speed. At some point, vines and branches seem to also take on the feel of the brains and arteries in the head.
《头》首次公开亮相，与更多观众进行互动
陈为达 2013 年在他的工作室里开始了 The Head Project （《头》的雕塑项目），为自己创造并测试艺术和社交媒体的界限。这是将他的艺术带入互联网虚拟空间的尝试。 陈为达的艺术实践主要集中在使用不锈钢铁线创建立体形式，主要通过触摸来实现。因此，他的作品具有很强的触觉维度。然而，为了体验陈为达艺术的这个维度，观察者需要与雕塑处于同一物理空间中。 《头》探讨了如何在互联网的虚拟空间中体验这种艺术的可能性。
“我经常想近距离地触摸和感受一座雕塑与它周围的一切。这座雕塑让观众可以直接进去。”
借助手机摄像头的辅助功能，陈为达邀请观众爬进雕塑并在推特上发布他们在雕塑中的经历，创建活动的数字文档。 2013 年使用推特，2019 年使用 Instagram 作为媒体。陈为达邀请观众用视频记录他们对雕塑的感受，并发布到 Instagram上。陈为达希望通过这种方式让世界各地的观众即使不在现场也能体验到雕塑。
体验者感受 :
“这很平静，很超现实，我感觉自己就像在一个茧里。你可以听到外面所有的噪音……但这里却很宁静”。
“当我放慢脚步时，我能感觉到我的心正平静下来。陈为达让我对着他的手机说话，这样他就可以在 Instagram 上记录我和我的想法。”
“我能听到自己的思绪。这就是我在《头》里面的经历。”
《头》还展示了另外两个系列作品《重生》和《藤蔓与树枝》。
《重生》
《重生》是前段时间做的，现在这个展览，被赋予了新的维度；让观众与雕塑互动，并看到互动中产生的变化。添加光的元素，在墙壁和天花板上投射阴影。似一种皮影戏，是他的孩子们小时候经常玩的。由于视力不佳，陈为达能看到光和影，看到它们的变动，他常常感到惊讶。通过这把火炬照射在雕塑上，它让观众看到更多之前看不到的东西。
《藤蔓与树枝》
陈为达一直在创作并仍在不断发展的一系列作品，第一个雕塑是多年前陈为达在日本的冬天创作的。在冬日感受树木，树枝光秃秃的；树叶全部消失了。对于生活在热带新加坡的陈为达来说，光秃秃的树枝摸起来很迷人。回国后，他制作了这座雕塑。 《藤蔓与树枝》诞生了，其名字的灵感来自于福音中的一节经文。
陈为达介绍了这一系列作品“动”的元素，让观众在空间、光线和时间中体验作品。雕塑不是围绕雕塑移动，而是以更快的速度为观看者移动或旋转。在某些时候，藤蔓和树枝似乎也具有大脑和头部动脉的感觉。