The Poetics of Making A New Cross-cultural Aesthetics of Art Making in Digital Art through the Creative Integration of Western Digital Ink Jet Printmaking Technology with Chinese Traditional Art Substrates Title This exegesis is submitted to AUT University in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Title Abstract This is a practice-led research project that seeks to explore the cross-cultural aesthetics and conceptual ideas of an art project. I position myself as an art practitioner who intends to apply the Western modes of Abstract technological advancement of digital imaging and ink jet technologies to the substrates used by traditional Chinese artists for ink painting and calligraphy, usually called Xuan Zhi [宣紙]. Through this process, the aesthetics and conceptual ideas of both cultures will be explored, examined, analysed and interrogated for the potential development of a new aesthetics in the context of digital art. There are three major components in this research project; a creative document in the form of a collection of artwork, an exegesis and a collection of documentation. The creative document will be a body of visual image-based artwork that includes a series of collateral works from the ongoing research and practice of the project. It is the negotiated output of a potentially new aesthetics in digital art, specifically in the context of digital still imaging and digital printmaking. The exegesis is an analytical and critical commentary that places the creative document in relevant theoretical, philosophical, cultural and historical contexts. The documentation is a collection of the ongoing empirical practice of ink jet technology on Xuan Zhi. The visual physical form of both the exegesis and the documentation are also included as part of the creative document. These three components together form a unity and are presented as artefacts to represent the main focus of the research – the Poetics of Making. Dedication Dedication To my beloved parents Leung Ho [98-99] and Sok-wah Yim [9-007]. Dedication Acknowledgements 7 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep gratitude to my wife Wendy and my two daughters Joann and Charmaine for their loving support throughout the research journey of this project. I extend my gratitude to my supervisors Professor Colin Gibbs and Professor Elizabeth Grierson for their insightful contributions. To Professor Leong Yap, who gave his invaluable comments on my research direction. To Associate Professor Welby Ings, Dr. Laurent Antonczak, Associate Professor Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, Desna Jury, Peter Gilderdale, Associate Professor Mark Jackson, Angela Fraser and all my colleagues for their ongoing support. I would like to thank Hong-lin Xu, Mei-deng Xu and Yiu-tung Leung for their caring and thoughtful support during my research in China and Hong Kong. To Clara and her parents John and Connie So, who provided access to the resources of their museums in China. To Linda Ai, Nicki Xiao and my brother Wai- tong Ho, who brought in Chinese substrates from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. 8 Very special thanks to Ching Ye for his ongoing creative input in the design of this project and Nancy Xing for her creative execution of the graphic design of the exegesis. To Sophie Reissner and Katherine Cao, who edited the exegesis. To Nandar Thwin and David Tan, who constructed the display furniture of the exhibition. To Quanmei Jin, who arranged to make the display boxes in Shanghai; and to Jack Xie, who refined the display boxes. In Hong Kong, I would like to acknowledge the generous support of my sisters Kit-yuk, Kit-hing and Man-cheong Ho, who made the necessary resources available for this research project. To Susanna Chan, Acknowledgements who provided me with the relevant academic resources. To my students; I always feel young at heart when working with them. 9 Attestation of Authorship Attestation of Authorship I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the qualification of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institution of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement is made in the acknowledgements. King Tong Ho September 007 0 Ethics Approval This thesis had obtained formal ethics approval from the university (Ethics Application Number 0/) in May 00. Ethics Approval 11 Title 2 Abstract 4 Dedication 6 Acknowlegements 8 Attestation of Authorship 10 Ethics Approval 11 Table of Contents 12 Table of Contents Overview Chapter 1 Challenge and Proposition of this Research Project 18 Position of this Research 19 The Poetics of Making 21 My Transformative Identity My Research Positioning Project Title 22 The Research Statement 23 Rationale and Significance Chapter 2 Central Idea 26 The Conceptual Context 27 Creative Process 29 Digital Aesthetics 31 Digital Ink Jet Printmaking Technology 33 Relationship to Existing Knowledge 34 Practice-led Research 34 Structure of the Project 38 Chinese Philosophy and Aesthetics Chapter 3 Introduction 42 Chinese Classical Aesthetic Thought 43 A Contemporary Stance of Chinese Classical Aesthetics 48 Overviewing Analysis 51 The Chinese Worldview Transformative Openness Virtual Space Yi-jing Conclusion 55 Chapter 4 Table of Contents Digital Art and Aesthetics Introduction 68 Knowledge and Technology: The Problem of Knowledge in a Digital Environment 7 Locating ‘New’ Aesthetics 7 Locating Creativity and Innovation 7 My Photography Stance: The Making of Taking 7 My Chinese Worldview of Virtual Reality 7 Virtual Space in a Digital Environment 77 Technology, Intervention and Daoism 78 Transformative Quality of Digital Imaging Technology 79 Digital Ink Jet Printmaking Technology with Xuan Zhi as a Temporal Fixed Form 80 Visual Perspective 8 One-point Perspective and Multiple Perspectives Moving Perspective Conclusion 8 Design Approaches Chapter 5 Introduction 88 Table of Contents Rationale of the Design Structure 90 Simulation 9 Self-cultivation 9 Enlightenment 9 Verification of Poetics of Making 93 The Poetics of Making Approach 9 Conclusion 9 Poetics of Making Chapter 6 The Poetics of Scholar 10 The Poetics of Clicking [Reflexive Framing: a re-thinking of decisive moment] 106 The Poetics of Mao Artefacts 146 The Poetics of Chinese Worldview 168 The Poetics of Allusion [Joy of Fish] 190 The Poetics of Experience with Nature 19 Emotional Deposition The Experience The Poetics of Memory 214 The Poetics of Teaching [In Praise of Confucius: Nurture and not Categorise] 234 The Poetics of Natural Vitality [The Five Elements] 250 The Poetics of Nature [The Four Seasons] 262 The Poetics of Ink Jet Printmaking 29 The Poetics of Having A Transformative Identity 332 The Poetics of Writing the Exegesis 37 Conclusion 37 Findings and Conclusion Chapter 7 Fingings 8 Philosophical Findings Table of Contents Aesthetic Findings Practical Findings Conclusion 39 Bibliography 39 Reference 40 Appendix 0 Overview This practice-led research project explores cross-cultural aesthetics and conceptual ideas in an art project. I position myself as an art practitioner who applies the Western modes of technological advancement of digital imaging and ink jet technologies to the substrates used by traditional Chinese artists for ink painting and calligraphy, usually called Xuan Zhi [宣紙]. Through this process, the aesthetics and conceptual ideas of both cultures are explored, examined, analysed and interrogated for their potential to develop a new aesthetics in the context of digital art. There are three major sections in this research project, a creative document in the form of a collection of artwork which is the main component, and two supportive components, namely an exegesis and a collection of documentation. The visual physical form of the exegesis and the documentation in themselves are also included as part of the creative document. The creative document and the exegesis represent a nominal 70% and 30% of the final submission respectively. Chapter 1 The Creative Document This document is a body of visual image-based artwork that includes a series of collateral works from the ongoing research and practices of the project. It is the negotiated output of a potentially new aesthetics in digital art, specifically in the context of digital still imaging and digital printmaking. The Exegesis The exegesis is an analytical and critical commentary that places the creative document in relevant theoretical, philosophical, cultural and historical contexts. There are four main components in the exegesis: • The critical analysis of the confluent aesthetics in digital art from a cross-cultural perspective • The conceptual and philosophical development that is embodied in the work (through the commentary on each of the practical works) — the poetics of making • The design approaches applied in the development and realisation of the project • The findings The Documentation The project includes an archive of ongoing documentation and analysis of the data collected during Overview experimentation with the technology and substrates. It serves to disseminate the up-to-date knowledge on the project in website format for ongoing discursive or dialectic discourses with researchers and art practitioners in the related areas. It is also a cross-referencing resource for the exegesis. Whilst in progress, the focus has shifted away from the technological and