The Freehand and Realistic Depiction of Technology
Smart Robot and Point Cloud
Date: 2019 / 11 / 09 – 2019 / 12 / 08
Opening: 2019 / 11 / 10 14:00
Venue: Digiark, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Artists: Dimension Plus, MoonShine VFX, C&G ArtGroup, Aluan WANG
more: https://www.ntmofa.gov.tw/ (In Chinese) http://english.ntmofa.gov.tw/ (in English)
From the context of the development of Chinese and Western arts, the spatial thinking and expression of paintings are significantly different. Traditional ink painting has been profoundly influenced by calligraphy. The literati in history have been searching for their experience and perception of dots and lines for thousands of years, which were aesthetically fond of the abstract form of lines. However, an absolute dot and line do not exist on material objects, which is the result of the painters’ subjective feeling and understanding of the object and the generalization and refinement of the object. Western paintings are comprehensively influenced by mathematics, mechanics, optics, and other disciplines. Their forms are mainly constructed by physical features and rational laws of objects such as plane, lighting, colors, space, volume, perspective.
The development of modern science and technology dramatically enlarges the possible forms of expression and enables a comparison between Chinese and Western aesthetics to communicate with viewers through various media and languages. While modern surveying mapping engineering further transforms space and objects into 3D models or point cloud models through digital image processing techniques. Point clouds are produced by 3D scanners, which measure points on the external surfaces of buildings and objects around them, and present data as points. Each point contains the information of three-dimensional coordinate (X, Y, Z) as well as color information (R, G, B). A digital model mapped by a large number of points is called a point cloud model.
This exhibition intends to reinterpret the space and scenery under the traditional aesthetics in the form of new technology, allowing the audience to experience the innovative smart robot aesthetics. Through the combination of precision machinery and artificial intelligence, the exhibition leads the audience to a new scenario of freehand and realistic depictions. The interactivity and real-time computing feature technology as a medium in new media art. The industrial robotic arms imitate gestures of literati and draw with ink; while artists in digital art transform point cloud data into works through digital technology, making the exhibition lively, making ways for the communication between artists and audience.
Exhibition Division LAI Shin-Yu
About the piece exhibited:
Borderlands: Parallel village (2019)
Digital video loop with 2.1 surround sound, 3D model, depth camera, computer, dot matrix printer
C&G Art Group's creative context focuses on human geography, archives, history, imaging, and digital studies and expands into historical settlements around the world to conduct art sampling and onsite studies. Borderlands is a series of art experiments that brings together digital technology and historical places. The work emphasizes "the society of the spectacle" that has been
created in the digital cyberspace. This "virtual" kingdom has become an immense landscape in this technology-driven chapter in history. A fracture has emerged between mankind and the environment, and advancing digital technologies have realistically rendered and preserved the memories of history on screen, but history is at risk of being lost in the real world. These immediate crises are examined with the use of digital language, statistics, and recognition technology as creative tools. Digital images are deconstructed and reconstructed as three-dimensional cross-sections, with a shell of a city constructed through collaging. A camera is used to identify members of the audience, with their facial features converted into digital codes. The images created serve as vessels of statistics, with a landscape formed with the files assembled, as the audience become part of the creation. The camera works in a seemingly concealed way throughout the constantly changing landscape, allowing the audience to intervene or enter into the work, but the reality is that this is a city without people and words.