text by Wang Jun-Jieh
The film installations of “Project David” are a series of works created by artist Jun-Jieh Wang in memory of his friend who passed away. Previously, he showed Untitled 200256 (two-screen synchronous installation, 2004) and Condition Project II (three-screen interactive installation, 2005). David’s Paradise is the last work of the project. Featuring non-narrative moving images projected on five screens, it seeks to reveal the indescribable, abstract and subtle feelings at the bottom of people’s hearts. The main setting of the film is an ordinary living space that unfolds continuously frontally, from exterior to interior, doorway, study, living room, bathroom, bedroom, and back to the exterior again. The film moves slowly from realistic to surrealistic scenes. In a series of real and illusory everyday settings, it attempts to convey the ambiguity and uncertainty of the co-existence of spirit, soul and body in the environment, space and time.
The themes that David’s Paradise intends to explore include: condition, memory, time, space, desire and fear. Isolating human behaviour from time since the beginning of human civilization, we discover that new relationships constantly evolve between the body and the spirit of man whenever there are changes in the environment. These relationships break down into a mixture of reality, fantasy, memories and fears, that is, "conditions" made up of numerous small fragments, which are the components of people's lives today. Conditions raise the corresponding issue of space. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) asked, “What is space?”, “In what form does space exist, and can space have a kind of presence? Is space a primitive phenomenon?” According to Goethe, once people are aware of these phenomena, they will experience a certain kind of fear…German psychologist Fritz Riemann (1902-1979) said, “Fear is a part of life. It accompanies us in different forms from the day we’re born to the day we die.” The fear that we try to overcome throughout our lives is a projection of desire. The intrinsic characteristics of space will manifest themselves. People’s living space and actions represent the duality of fear and desire. They are projected into different conditions between subconsciousness and consciousness.
The works in Project David are shot with 35-mm film or high-definition digital video that evokes a film quality. Apart from responding to the contemporariness of video language with precise conceptual expression, they also raise the question of the quest for the essence of art in contemporary art in addition to questions of medium, form and technique. What is the relationship between the form of artistic expression and the creator’s own experience? What constitutes today’s art? And what is the essence of art? Just like the questions that Heidegger poses in The Origin of the Work of Art, they are worth exploring. |
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