Friday, August 08, 2008

let's puff

i was at the shanghai kaleidoscope exhibit at the royal ontario museum today. there were a number of neat exhibits, but i really enjoyed one in particular called "let's puff" from 2002 by yang zhenzhong.

when you enter the exhibit area, you first only see a girl blowing at you. exactly like the video below:



then, you turn around and see a second screen (shown in this next video, be patient):



can you guess what's going on? it's not easy from these videos.

anyway, the artist erected two screens, one with a woman blowing at the camera, and another, across from the woman's screen, depicting a street in shanghai. whenever the woman blows, the other screen speeds up. it's a wonderful visual and aural depiction of the rapid growth and change in shanghai that has swept up the city. now imagine walking in an art space and constantly hearing that blowing sound from the first video. a bit eerie!

you can learn more about the piece here.

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