Title
Antaramuka (Interfaces)
Year
2003/04/05/07/13
Collaborator
Roopesh
Sitharan
Material
Internet,
DVD, DVD player, LCD projector, (black box for 3rd. version)
Size
Variable
Collection
Artist
A
face is merely a shadow that lingers as a reflection of one's finite
gaze. As it interfaces with others, they create ripples that tease
one's desire for permanency.
Satu
wajah hanyalah riak-riak bayang kepada refleksi pandangan mata yang
terhad. Apabila ia bersemuka dengan yang lain, semuanya menghasilkan
kocak yang mengusik keinginan kita terhadap sesuatu yang kekal.
 |
| The original face (top left) of a Malaysian student (in this case, Roopesh) was digitally altered to appear 'Japanese' (bottom left). Similarly, the original face of the Japanese student (top right), was altered to appear 'Malaysian' (bottom, right). |
The original face (top) of the Japanese student was digitally altered to appear as 'Malaysian' (bottom).
This collaborative work was initiated during my residency as a Researcher in Residence at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (FAAM), Fukuoka, Japan in 2003. The work engaged art students from both Kuala Lumpur and Fukuoka through online media. For this work, I performed as the initiator and facilitator, rather than the artist. I worked on this project with Roopesh Sitharan, who became the web master, other than the facilitator for the Malaysian part.
Theoretically, the project was largely informed by our (Rooepsh and I) own interpretation of information and cybernetic paradigm as well as cultural studies. In retrospect, the project has further reiterated post-structuralist's 'deconstructive' stance on the instability of language, meaning and identity by using the internet as a case example. Identity, especially online identity, can be read as a form of becoming rather than a fixed entity, always in a fluid state of continuous 'virtual' deconstruction and reconstruction. We also read such take on identity as rather more 'spiritual' and in tune with the way our brains function.
The students were encouraged to think about the impact of
new media and online technology in their daily life experiences,
especially in forming their personal and collective 'identity'.
The work was designed to make students aware of how online and media
technology has permeated into their life and how such infusion has
contributed towards cross-cultural exchanges and hybrid identities.
Each
student was asked to take a digital photo of his/her portrait (thus
converting their 'physical' attributes into 'virtual' attributes).
The
conversion is an apt metaphor for a shift in perceiving 'identity' as a
physical form, to perceiving identity as 'information' or a state of
mind and emotion.
A physical form (including a physical notion of cultural self) features the following traits:
Isolate/separated,
Independent,
tangible,
frozen,
permanent,
static.
In short,
a physical state is a lower form of energy or light.
A state of mind and emotion (including a virtual notion of cultural self) features the following traits :
Interconnected,
interdependent,
intangible,
fluid,
transient,
impermanent,
ephemeral,
fluctuating.
In short,
a state of mind and emotion, is a higher form of energy or light.
 |
| "Interfaces" (2003), exhibited in "Relocations : Electronic Art of Hasnul J Saidon & Niranjan Rajah" at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a partner exhibition of ISEA 2007 (International Symposium of Electronic Art). For this version, the video of the changing faces were projected on a floor with a shallow water container. Reflection of the video can be seen on the ceiling. Even a slight vibration of the audience (walking) could stir rippling images on the ceiling. It implies how transient a face can be. Water is an excellent element to be used in explaining the transient nature of energy, including the vibration or frequency of our mind, as explicated by quantum physics. |
After
the conversion from physical to virtual, or from form to 'information',
the students from Japan were asked to change the faces of they Malaysian friends into what they assumed as 'Japanese' faces. Similarly, students from Malaysia were asked to do the same, changing the faces of their Japanese friends into 'Malaysians'.
Here, the
notion of cultural self and identity is taken as a fluid state of
'becoming' and 'being' rather than a static or permanent 'object'.
Identity is 'performed', if not transient.
Culture
and cultural heritage too, are not taken only as a 'form of object'
anymore (as often subscribed by a certain quarters of heritage 'police'
here in Malaysia).
Self and culture, through this reading, are not permanent entities. It would be unnatural (anti fitrah) to do so. Cycle
of change is a natural and sustainable part of every living beings (and
things) including what is taken as 'cultural heritage'.
Objectification
of self and culture (including cultural heritage) is only a form of
pragmatic language and discourse, regulated for many purposes
(including many ends of course, such as political, economic, social,
etc).
Therefore,
the notion of self, identity and culture is a field of contestation
(ideological contest). Those with better means of dominating and
controlling language and discourse (the way we create a consensual
meaning about who we are), will be able to create what is referred to as
'meta-discourse'. Simply speaking, a meta-discourse is the 'yardstick'
that which we (or a particular community or society) utilize language
and engage in discourse (the way we communicate and express ourselves,
including in other visual and aural forms, not only writing and
speaking). Meta-discourse creates meanings about who we are (culturally,
politically, economically, socially, and even spiritually too).
As
we engage more intensely with higher energy (light, which literally
relates to the way fiber optics and wifi technology carry information)
via interactive and digital forms of social networks, sms, chats, etc,
how will we form our own personal notion of who we are, not physically,
but mentally and emotionally?
Who we are as an individual, as well as a society, mentally and emotionally?
On
the level of mind(information, higher energy, higher light), are we
still distinctively different from all the people that we have
interacted (interfaced) with?
Link to other related project :
 |
| Ripples & reflection on the ceiling |
ORIGINAL SYNOPSIS OF THE PROJECT
This work is a result
of a Visiting Researcher Program, organized by the Fukuoka Asian
Art Museum, Japan in
2003. It is an international
collaborative web-based project that bridges two groups of art students from Kuala Lumpur and Fukuoka. The project can be presented in various
formats – interactive web, digital print and interactive installation. It has been exhibited in Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Japan
and La Salle College Bangkok, Thailand.
“Interfaces” reflects an
effort to instigate further questions in regards to the influence of
information and communication technology (ICT) in the notion of identity,
especially amongst youth. What or who
decides and determine the cultural experiences of a particular nation-state,
especially in this
age of globalization and free market liberalism? Is the concept of nation-state based on
nationalism being eroded by the influx of ICT?
Should the notion of identity, including those constructed as national
identity be taken as a natural, given, frozen and static concept? Or is it
always changing and flowing in an organic manner?
These questions were
translated into a project method that requires both groups to exchange their
individual portrait via online technology.
Students from Kuala Lumpur
were asked to digitally alter the faces of their counterparts in Fukuoka into ‘Malaysian
faces.’ Alternately, students from Fukuoka were also asked
to do similar process, that is to digitally alter the faces of their Kuala Lumpur’s friends
into ‘Japanese faces.’ This method
indirectly enforced them to consciously think about their own notion of
identity and ‘nationality.’ They became
aware of the relationship between their own individual sense of identity and
the impact of other agents of ‘human capital development’ in the formation of
their collected national identity. Is
there a formal prescription of Malaysian and Japanese faces? Are they distinctively different or are there
similarities?
Upon deeper
reflection, this project can also be read as a reflection on the surface of
water. When there are ripples in our
consciousness, the reflection begins to change.
Perhaps, no face can exist own its own without gaining its meaning from
others.
Exhibitions / Screenings / Publications
- “Upload-Download“ Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, 2003 (1st. installation and internet version)
- Hasnul J Saidon. “Upload-Download-Project Report”, Artist-in-Residence Seminar, Fukuoka Asian Art Musuem, Japan, 2003
- Online version uploaded from October until December 31 2003 (demised)
- ®®(F) 2004 (Remembering-Repressing-Forgetting) at http://www.newmediafest.org/rrf2004 (2004)
- Thailand New Media Festival, 2004 at http://culturebase.org/home/thailand/MAF04
- Thailand-Malaysia Online New International Collaboration (2004) at
- Hasnul J Saidon & Roopesh Sitharan. “The Use of Internet for Online International Collaboration” Leonardo Electronic Journal, Vol.12 No.8 August, 2004 at
- Hasnul J Saidon & Roopesh Sitharan. “The Use of New Media Technology in Fine Art Practices” Petronas Gallery Day Art Seminar, 2004
- Hasnul J Saidon & Roopesh Sitharan. “The Use of Internet for Online International Collaboration”, Sentap, Issue No. 2, 2005
- Hasnul J Saidon. “Community-based Collaborative Projects as a part of Audience-Development Stratergies For Art Galleries”, Asian Art Museums Directors’ Forum, Beijing, China, 2006
- “Islands to Islands”, University of Tasmania, University of Hawaii, & Universiti Sains Malaysia Penang, 2007
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