MULTIVERSE: I SEE THIS NOT THIS

 

“THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING ABOUT MODERN ART IS THAT IT HAS BUILT INTO ITS OWN POTENTIAL THE CAPACITY FOR DESTROYING ITSELF. NOTHING KEEPS RENEWING ITSELF THE WAY ART DOES. THE FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS IN ART ARE CONSTANTLY THREATENED AND AS A RESULT IT IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING” (TAYLOR, 2005).                                                                                                           

ROBERT BARRY, INTERVIEW WITH URSULA MEYER 

 

I’M INTERESTED IN EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND ART. FOR MY SCULPTURAL WORK, I WANT TO FIND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN NATURAL SCIENCE AND ART IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MULTIVERSE. THE MULTIVERSE IS THE THEORY THAT NUMEROUS UNIVERSES EXIST BEYOND THE LIMITS OF WHAT WE CAN OBSERVE. THIS IS A RELATIVELY NEW FIELD IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND ELICITS CONTROVERSY IN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. MY WORK IS BASED ON THE THEORIES OF PHYSICIST DR. MICHIKO KAKU AT THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY IN PRINCETON. I WANTED TO REPRESENT THE MOST COMPELLING QUALITIES OF HIS MULTIVERSE THEORY: PARALLEL UNIVERSES ARE EXACT REPLICAS OF US. THEY ARE ONLY SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. SINCE THEY EXIST IN SOME OTHER DIMENSIONS AND TIME, THEY ARE INVISIBLE TO US. I’M INTERESTED IN LOOKING AT THE CONCEPT THAT THERE IS A WHOLE WORLD CONNECTED TO US BUT OF WHICH WE ARE UNAWARE IN DAILY LIFE. 

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I BELIEVE THAT ART CAN BE USED AS A TOOL TO REPRESENT STRANGE SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS AND MAKE US THINK ABOUT THEIR PROFOUND RELEVANCE TO OUR LIVES. IN FACT, THE WORLD OF TIME AND SPACE IS RELATIVE. MY WORK WILL EXPLORE RELATIVITY THEORY AND LIMITED PERCEPTION. EVEN IF WE ARE IN THE SAME TIME AND SPACE WITHIN THE MULTIVERSE AREA, THERE IS A GAP BETWEEN WHAT WE CAN SEE AND WHAT WE CAN UNDERSTAND AND WHAT EXISTS. OUR SENSE OF PERCEPTION IS BASED ON WHAT OUR NAKED EYES SEE, AND OUR UNDERSTANDING IS BASED ON THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT WITH OUR SENSES. HOWEVER, WE CANNOT EXPERIENCE THE MULTIVERSE WITH OUR SENSES.

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IN MY WORK, I WANT TO SUGGEST THE IDEA THAT HUMAN THOUGHT CANNOT FULLY COMPREHEND THE CONCEPT OF THE MULTIVERSE. THE CORE FOCUS OF MY WORK IS TO RAISE QUESTIONS, REVEL IN THE INCONSISTENCIES, AND INTERROGATE UNCLEARNESS THROUGH A SERIES OF MY ARTISTIC GESTURES. I SEEK TO INTEGRATE MEDIA WHERE MOVING IMAGE, SOUND, AND SCULPTURE ARE ON EQUAL PLANES, ENGAGING IN A DYNAMIC OF RECIPROCATION AND MUTUALLY SUPPORTIVE DIALOGUE. MY WORK IS INTENDED TO STIMULATE VISUAL SENSATION BY SHOWING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORK AND PROJECTION IMAGES, SUGGESTING THE SEARCH FOR A WORLD NOT EXPERIENCED BUT NEVERTHELESS POTENTIAL. MY WORK WILL EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ESOTERIC SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS, MANIFESTED IN THE SIMPLE GEOMETRIC SHAPES OF REALITY. BY VISUALIZING ABSTRACT CONCEPTS WITH A VISIBLE MODEL, I WANT TO OBSERVE THE WORLD NOT EXPERIENCED IN A REAL SPACE.  

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I USED FOUND OBJECTS OR DISCARDED OBJECTS (REPURPOSED MATERIALS) TO CREATE THE SCULPTURES. I BELIEVE THESE MATERIALS PROVIDE MORE INTIMACY TO FOMENT A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ARTWORK. AS I AM USING THE FOUND OBJECTS, I WANT TO SEE HOW MATERIALS THAT ARE NOT ORDINARILY CONSIDERED ARTISTIC CAN BE CONVERTED INTO ART. THIS CAN BE ACHIEVED BY UTILIZING HUMOROUS MATERIALS, LIKE MILK CRATES, PING-PONG BALLS, AND FOILS, TO REPRESENT THE MULTIVERSE; IN FACT, THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS MAY NOT MAKE SENSE TO ILLUSTRATE THE CONCEPT OF THE MULTIVERSE. YET, THIS ALSO SUGGESTS THAT THE MULTIVERSE IS STILL NONSENSE TO MANY PEOPLE; IN TURN, WE CANNOT MAKE IT (THE MODEL) REALISTICALLY. WE CAN ONLY APPROACH IT WITH THE WONDERING MINDSET OF CHILDREN. 

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MY SCULPTURE ATTEMPTS TO CREATE ACTIVATED SPACES THAT ARE CONCEPTUALLY AND SPATIALLY SIMILAR TO A ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURE.WITH THIS MODEL, I WANT TO SUGGEST THE COMPLEX BUT INTERCONNECTED WORLD, REFLECTED IN THE STATEMENT THAT “ALL THINGS, HUMAN AND WHOLE UNIVERSES, ASSOCIATE TOGETHER IN MUTUAL INTERCOURSE AND HARMONY” (BATCHEN, 1999). THIS CONCEPT CAN BE INTEGRATED AS I DESIGN THE SCULPTURE, WHICH IS MANY CONNECTED MODULE-LIKE STRUCTURE. THROUGH MY WORK, I HOPE THAT VIEWERS CAN EXPLORE THEIR IMAGINATION EVEN IF WE HAVE LIMITS TO EXPERIENCE THESE CONCEPTS DIRECTLY. I WANT TO NOT ONLY SUGGEST THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SIMPLE SHAPE OF THE MODEL AND THE COMPLEX, SPECULATIVE IDEA THAT REPRESENTS THE UNREAL, BUT ALSO INVOKE POTENTIAL QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT WE HAVE KNOWN AROUND US. I WANT PEOPLE TO THINK ON DIFFERENT LEVELS WHILE THEY ARE LOOKING AT MY WORK. 

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FOR MY NEW WORK, I TRY TO ELIMINATE STEREOTYPED WAYS OF CREATING ART BY MERGING ART (EXPRESSION), SCIENCE (IDEA), AND TECHNOLOGY (SKILL). DICK HIGGINS, IN HIS STATEMENT ON INTERMEDIA (1966), STATES THAT “ARTISTS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MEDIA TO SUIT THIS SITUATION TO THE POINT WHERE THE MEDIA HAVE BROKEN DOWN IN THEIR TRADITIONAL FORMS, AND HAVE BECOME MERELY PURISTIC POINTS OF REFERENCE.” A SIMILAR PHILOSOPHY IS EXPRESSED BY MEKAS: “ONCE WE LEAVE OUR PREJUDICES AND PRECONDITIONING OUTSIDE, WE OPEN OURSELVES TO THE CONCRETENESS OF THE PURE VISUAL AND KINESTHETIC EXPERIENCE, TO THE REALISM OF LIGHT AND MOTION, TO THE PURE EXPERIENCE OF THE EYE, TO THE MATTER OF [VISUAL ART]” (P. 219-221). THESE QUOTATIONS SHOW THAT ALTERNATIVE THEORIES FROM TRADITIONAL ART CAN CHALLENGE VIEWERS AND ALLOW THEM TO HAVE A MORE ARTISTIC VIEW. IN MY CURRENT AND FUTURE WORK, I HOPE TO KEEP EXPLORING DIFFERENT MEDIA TO GIVE PEOPLE A NEW AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE AND ALLOW THEM TO THINK ABOUT THE POSSIBILITIES OF HAVING A NEW STYLE IN CONTEMPORARY ART. I ALSO HOPE TO DEVELOP MY IDEAS BY TRANSFERRING MY OWN LIFE EXPERIENCES AND MY IMAGINATION BEYOND WHAT WE CAN SEE. 

 

DAHYE KIM, PASADENA, NOVEMBER 30, 2011 

 

 

REFERENCES

 

BATCHEN, GEOFFREY. (1999). BURNING WITH DESIRE: THE CONCEPTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY. THE MIT PRESS. 

HIGGENS, DICK. (2011, OCT 23). STATEMENT ON INTERMEDIA (1966). HTTP://HEAVYSIDEINDUSTRIES.COM/DICK-HIGGINS-STATEMENT-ON-INTERMEDIA-1966/

MEKAS, JONNA. (1972). MOVIE JOURNAL. NEW YORK. COLLIER BOOKS.

TAYLOR, BRANDON. (2005).  CONTEMPORARY ART: ART SINCE 1970. PEARSON PRENTICE HALL.