不可抵达之光:白夜、程乾宁
展览日期:六月十五日 至 八月十一日
开幕酒会:六月十五日(周六)15:00-18:00
展览时间:周四至周日11:00-18:00(其他时间请预约)
望远镜此次将推出两位来自西安的艺术家——白夜和程乾宁。这将是他们在北京的首次个展。
“…他居于不可抵达之光,无人曾见亦无人可见”取自圣经中的一节,指的是一个超越了人类进入能力的地方或一种超越了人类察觉范围的生存状态,但它却又的确存在着,召唤着。
在白夜和程乾宁的作品中,“光”是一个重要的元素。白夜用内在的光去照亮隐匿在黑暗中并希冀找到通向白昼之路的事物,程乾宁则用外在的光从不可见的有利视角去调查下面的城市与居民的生活与遗存。前者私密,后者客观,但二者都揭示了人的脆弱状态。
白夜
白夜的照片是他用手机摄像头和一只手电筒在一些被遗弃的、只有无名之辈居住其中的建筑里拍摄的。这些风景陌生但令人难忘,它们怀有超越与飞翔的希望,却仍深陷于黑暗压抑的现实之中。他的照片焦点是一束燃烧的白色瞳孔般的光芒,它照亮一切,而不似人眼或晦暗的星那样,靠消耗光明来看见。白夜的图像是神秘的,但又偶尔透露些许线索,供人把玩其中的含义:一个烟头、一块石头、一张带刺的铁丝网、月亮、云朵……这些碎片的痕迹又是易逝的。看来被月光点亮的夜空其实真的只是晦暗不明的具体的墙。表面上监牢的出口实则只是幻象。但在这里,即便幻象也是受欢迎的,它点燃了获得自由以及更美好的未来的希望。
《不可抵达之光》还将展出白夜的视频作品。这些作品是他对于身边怪异世界的观察,表现为抽象化的日常行为、地点与声音,既情绪化又具有挑动性,这些影像是取自真实生活的一些迷人的、极其微小的(类似)动画的片段。
程乾宁
《孤独的星》是一件优美而技术上令人印象深刻的物体,它悬于一池黑色玻璃的上方,黑镜则被一堆火山石般的石块环绕。卫星两翼形同太阳能板,但实际上在播放俯瞰下的古遗址观测录像。在这些荒凉景色所描绘的世界里,一切关于人性的焦虑消隐于尘埃与寂静。我们不禁好奇,这信息是仅用几分钟时间还是耗时千年收集来的,它们是否先被发送至外太空遥远的一隅,而后又被送回地球以便分析。或许到卫星归来之时,已无人去接收它,或者生活同科技的变化是如此彻底,以至于解读它变成了难事。程的卫星从外部俯瞰、审视其下的世界,它无休止地从其下那个地球的生命或过往生命的残余中接收与转换视觉信息。如今的商业监控素材往往是平凡和不连贯的,但对于飘浮于太空中黑暗隐蔽之处的“孤独的星”来说,它提供了无尽的可能,去发掘关于生命与死亡的神秘以及人之为人的线索。
Unapproachable Light: Bai Ye, Cheng Qianning
Exhibition dates: June 15 - August 11
Opening party: June 15 (SAT) 15:00-18:00
Opening hours: THU-SUN 11:00-18:00 (other hours by appointment)
Telescope presents two artists from Xi’An, Bai Ye and Cheng Qianning, in their first solo exhibitions in Beijing.
“…who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” is from a verse in the Bible referring to a place or a state of being that is beyond the abilities and senses of humankind to enter or perceive, but it exists and bekons nonetheless.
Light is essential in the work of Bai Ye and Cheng Qianning. One works with light from within to reveal what is hidden in darkness hoping to find a way out into the day, the other works with light from without surveying from unseen vantage points the lives and remnants of cities and people below. One is intimate, the other is objective, but both reveal vulnerable states of man.
Bai Ye
Bai Ye’s photos are made with his mobile phone and a flashlight in abandoned buildings often inhabited by anonymous figures. They are alien and haunting landscapes imbued with the hope of transcendence and flight but still mired in a dark oppressive reality. The central focal point in his photos is a burning white pupil of light from which all else is illuminated, unlike that of a human eye or dark star that sees by consuming light. Bai Ye’s imagery is enigmatic but occasionally a clue is left behind to give you a foothold of meaning; a cigarette butt, a stone, a strand of barbed wire, moon, clouds... but this trail of crumbs is short lived. What seem to be moonlit nighttime skies are really just opaque concrete walls. What appears to be a way out of one’s imprisonment is just an illusion. But in this place even illusions are welcomed and provide a ray of hope for the freedom of a brighter tomorrow.
Also included in Unapproachable Light are Bai Ye’s video observations of the strange world around him in short abstracted daily actions, places, and sounds; emotional, provocative, and haunting microscopic animations from life.
Cheng Qianning
Lonely Satellite, is a beautiful but technologically imposing object suspended above a pool of black glass surrounded by what looks like volcanic stones. The wing portions of the satellite resemble solar panels but play video reconnaissance of ancient ruins, as seen from far above. These forlorn landscapes depict a world where all of the anxieties of humanity have faded away into dust and silence. We wonder if this information has taken only minutes or thousands of years to collect,transport to a distant region of space,then be returned for analysis. Perhaps by the time of arrival no one is left to receive it or life and technology have changed so drastically that it is difficult to decipher its meaning. Looking from the outside into our world below Cheng’s satellite endlessly receives and transmits visual information from life or remnants of past life on earth below. Today’s commercial surveillance material is usually mundane and inconsequential, but for the Lonely Satellite floating in the dark recesses of space, it offers the endless possibility of finding clues to the mysteries of life and death and what it means to be human.
展览日期:六月十五日 至 八月十一日
开幕酒会:六月十五日(周六)15:00-18:00
展览时间:周四至周日11:00-18:00(其他时间请预约)
望远镜此次将推出两位来自西安的艺术家——白夜和程乾宁。这将是他们在北京的首次个展。
“…他居于不可抵达之光,无人曾见亦无人可见”取自圣经中的一节,指的是一个超越了人类进入能力的地方或一种超越了人类察觉范围的生存状态,但它却又的确存在着,召唤着。
在白夜和程乾宁的作品中,“光”是一个重要的元素。白夜用内在的光去照亮隐匿在黑暗中并希冀找到通向白昼之路的事物,程乾宁则用外在的光从不可见的有利视角去调查下面的城市与居民的生活与遗存。前者私密,后者客观,但二者都揭示了人的脆弱状态。
白夜
白夜的照片是他用手机摄像头和一只手电筒在一些被遗弃的、只有无名之辈居住其中的建筑里拍摄的。这些风景陌生但令人难忘,它们怀有超越与飞翔的希望,却仍深陷于黑暗压抑的现实之中。他的照片焦点是一束燃烧的白色瞳孔般的光芒,它照亮一切,而不似人眼或晦暗的星那样,靠消耗光明来看见。白夜的图像是神秘的,但又偶尔透露些许线索,供人把玩其中的含义:一个烟头、一块石头、一张带刺的铁丝网、月亮、云朵……这些碎片的痕迹又是易逝的。看来被月光点亮的夜空其实真的只是晦暗不明的具体的墙。表面上监牢的出口实则只是幻象。但在这里,即便幻象也是受欢迎的,它点燃了获得自由以及更美好的未来的希望。
《不可抵达之光》还将展出白夜的视频作品。这些作品是他对于身边怪异世界的观察,表现为抽象化的日常行为、地点与声音,既情绪化又具有挑动性,这些影像是取自真实生活的一些迷人的、极其微小的(类似)动画的片段。
程乾宁
《孤独的星》是一件优美而技术上令人印象深刻的物体,它悬于一池黑色玻璃的上方,黑镜则被一堆火山石般的石块环绕。卫星两翼形同太阳能板,但实际上在播放俯瞰下的古遗址观测录像。在这些荒凉景色所描绘的世界里,一切关于人性的焦虑消隐于尘埃与寂静。我们不禁好奇,这信息是仅用几分钟时间还是耗时千年收集来的,它们是否先被发送至外太空遥远的一隅,而后又被送回地球以便分析。或许到卫星归来之时,已无人去接收它,或者生活同科技的变化是如此彻底,以至于解读它变成了难事。程的卫星从外部俯瞰、审视其下的世界,它无休止地从其下那个地球的生命或过往生命的残余中接收与转换视觉信息。如今的商业监控素材往往是平凡和不连贯的,但对于飘浮于太空中黑暗隐蔽之处的“孤独的星”来说,它提供了无尽的可能,去发掘关于生命与死亡的神秘以及人之为人的线索。
Unapproachable Light: Bai Ye, Cheng Qianning
Exhibition dates: June 15 - August 11
Opening party: June 15 (SAT) 15:00-18:00
Opening hours: THU-SUN 11:00-18:00 (other hours by appointment)
Telescope presents two artists from Xi’An, Bai Ye and Cheng Qianning, in their first solo exhibitions in Beijing.
“…who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” is from a verse in the Bible referring to a place or a state of being that is beyond the abilities and senses of humankind to enter or perceive, but it exists and bekons nonetheless.
Light is essential in the work of Bai Ye and Cheng Qianning. One works with light from within to reveal what is hidden in darkness hoping to find a way out into the day, the other works with light from without surveying from unseen vantage points the lives and remnants of cities and people below. One is intimate, the other is objective, but both reveal vulnerable states of man.
Bai Ye
Bai Ye’s photos are made with his mobile phone and a flashlight in abandoned buildings often inhabited by anonymous figures. They are alien and haunting landscapes imbued with the hope of transcendence and flight but still mired in a dark oppressive reality. The central focal point in his photos is a burning white pupil of light from which all else is illuminated, unlike that of a human eye or dark star that sees by consuming light. Bai Ye’s imagery is enigmatic but occasionally a clue is left behind to give you a foothold of meaning; a cigarette butt, a stone, a strand of barbed wire, moon, clouds... but this trail of crumbs is short lived. What seem to be moonlit nighttime skies are really just opaque concrete walls. What appears to be a way out of one’s imprisonment is just an illusion. But in this place even illusions are welcomed and provide a ray of hope for the freedom of a brighter tomorrow.
Also included in Unapproachable Light are Bai Ye’s video observations of the strange world around him in short abstracted daily actions, places, and sounds; emotional, provocative, and haunting microscopic animations from life.
Cheng Qianning
Lonely Satellite, is a beautiful but technologically imposing object suspended above a pool of black glass surrounded by what looks like volcanic stones. The wing portions of the satellite resemble solar panels but play video reconnaissance of ancient ruins, as seen from far above. These forlorn landscapes depict a world where all of the anxieties of humanity have faded away into dust and silence. We wonder if this information has taken only minutes or thousands of years to collect,transport to a distant region of space,then be returned for analysis. Perhaps by the time of arrival no one is left to receive it or life and technology have changed so drastically that it is difficult to decipher its meaning. Looking from the outside into our world below Cheng’s satellite endlessly receives and transmits visual information from life or remnants of past life on earth below. Today’s commercial surveillance material is usually mundane and inconsequential, but for the Lonely Satellite floating in the dark recesses of space, it offers the endless possibility of finding clues to the mysteries of life and death and what it means to be human.