Light–Spacebrings the Two Artists Together Whose Practices
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Light–Space brings the two artists together whose practices deal heavily in painting and video art respectively, have a shared interest in the materiality and elemental concepts of light and space. The interaction of captured imageries and electronic pulses animates the relation of colours and light. Presenting a collaborative exhibition through the employment of disruptive images and the restructured space, the work looks at the conditions at the site. In presenting the concept and physicality of space through the use of light and how the work is constantly being re- presented, only ceasing to exist in the absence of light. The integral part of art making here comes through the notion of ‘drawing with light’. This exhibition examines the polarity and duality in permutations of light-space manipulation towards the making of image without content. This catalogue is published for the exhibition LIGHT-SPACE #103 Document: Interference A collaboration between Warren Khong and Urich Lau 2 – 22 December 2016 © 2016 Warren Khong, Urich Lau, Seng Yu Jin No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. photographs Hong Huazheng Photography design by Poppy Studio supported by Playing with Light and Space A Conversation with Warren Khong and Urich Lau Seng Yu Jin YJ: So, Urich and Warren, thank you for accepting this interview and this discussion about your exhibition ‘Light Space’. So first of all, I’d like to understand, starting from Warren first, about how did the idea for this collaboration come about between yourself and Urich? And maybe later Urich could add in. W: It’s interesting because this exhibition and its realisation has been more than 10 years in the making. It started when we were friends and as friends we’d say, “let’s do a show together”. It never quite materialised all the way until now about a decade later when I think the both of us are a bit more mature in our practice. In fact, both of our practices have shifted, changed and evolved a lot over the past 10 years. We were thinking of spaces that we could approach and Objectifs was one of them, mainly because I was looking for a space outside of the realm of being a painter and Objectifs is a photographic-centred location. It was something that I was keen to explore because my practice has shifted into looking at materiality through light, through reflection. And I thought that there was Warren and I were talking for quite a long time and somehow I think, only these few years, recent years that conceptually we’re able to engage with one another and because of this, it’s quite a unique way of collaboration because he primarily is a painter and he works in installation and I work in mainly in video, either analogue or digital, and I find that we can create something new together and it’s not a two-person separate work. I was hoping to create something on the same platform so this is a good way to present this. YJ: So I gather that both of you have this 10 years. You’ve been thinking about how you were going to collaborate and now this, both of you feel that this is the time for you to work together conceptually and in terms of your practice, you’ve both reached a point of intersection whereby you feel that the both of you can come together to collaborate and work on this exhibition. I’m wondering in what aspects of your practice do you find affinities a lot of that happening in the idea of the photograph, which is with because on one hand, as you’ve said, Warren works mostly in drawing with light. It was meant to be a two-person show. It was installation and also painting, and Urich, in relation to video and meant to be Urich’s work and my work but, as I’ve mentioned to installations and media. Perhaps we’ll start with Warren to talk you before, through all our various discussions, bouncing ideas about what aspects of Urich’s practice for this exhibition that you back and forth, what started off as a two-person show became could find certain intersections or a kind of dialogue or points of a collaboration. It was not intended to be but somehow through connections with. the exchange of ideas, there was kind of, for lack of a better term, a fusion, and I started thinking of this as materiality and I was W: For me, it would be Urich’s ideas on disruption. I felt that although no longer looking at just the light and reflection but what is the he works with a lot of video as his primary medium, it seems to materiality of Urich’s practice and how could I respond to his me that he actively attempts to disrupt it. And I think in that practice. disruption, there’s a strong sense of questioning, not buying into the everyday nuances of what is video but to question ‘how can I YJ: Maybe now’s a good time for Urich to come in to really add on break video down so that whereas it’s still recognisable as video, about what got you kind of excited about...to collaborate with I can kind of deconstruct it’ and I could be reading Urich wrong Warren for this exhibition. here but that’s how I was looking at his work. It’s not just through the visuals but even through his textural syntax and how he plays U: I have been working with other artists for quite some time but around with language and narration, and even in his photographic mostly we collaborate with media art and digital art because still pieces. That was something that I could really connect with in of my own practice. I work with mostly with video, so when a sense that when I look at painting, I ask “What is a painting” and how can I try to push painting as much as possible to try to break it down. So with that I think conceptually, it was kind of like a bridge between Urich’s practice and mine. And secondly, it goes back to materiality. With Urich, I ask what is the materiality of a video and if the video art - as Urich is doing - is broken down to facets of its materiality through the Gestalt theory, where the sum of its parts are not as great as the whole... And if I can attempt to do that with painting, why can’t I also try to, in a way to appropriate that into Urich’s practice as well. YJ: I find that the whole idea of disruption as a conceptual device is really very compelling because it has strong affinities with video works by Urich and a lot of that disruption of the images do come in. I was wondering from Urich’s side, in what ways do you think is basically in a chapel, and it’s quite like a white cube space. I’m your practice will find affinities with Warren’s practice for this also interested in thinking about this white cube space and how exhibition. the white cube space lends itself to certain ideologies on ways of seeing and ways of experiencing art and we talked about some U: Yeah it’s true. One aspect of my video work deals with the absence of these assumptions that viewers have when they come in. of readable images, especially with whether it’s accidental or That when the public comes in, they have certain assumptions deliberate, creating glitches or interference. I find that it’s quite of a gallery space and in some sense your exhibition attempts interesting to somehow conceptually look at images made of to invert that kind of relationship or to challenge those kinds videos works on videos because at present... In context with what of assumptions by turning it on its head. I would like to explore we see now every day, there’s so many videos being produced some ideas about the white cube space because in some sense all the time by anyone and is shared on any platform so it has it connotes the idea of timelessness, the white walls are quite come to the point of an oversaturation of reproduced images or decontextualizing and it also implies ideas of the universal. distribution of images. That is a problem and is also a reality in It embodies the modern. So I’m wondering in terms of the today’s life. I see Warren’s work not as a painting or installation collaboration and the works that you’ll be making, what ways are but as an absence of images, which I find is very interesting and you also trying to engage with this almost hegemonic dominance conceptually is almost on the same platform as what I’m doing of the white cube space and somehow making that hegemonic for this part in my video work. visible in a sense? Maybe Warren could start first? YJ: We’ll come back more to the point about this absence of images W: This question is quite interesting because in my previous works and disruption later. I’d like to now come back to the exhibition including my solo presentation and the group show after that itself, ‘Light-Space’.