Alice Wang 王凝慧, Untitled 无题, 2014

Wang’s experience as a Chinese national growing up between Canada and the US and studying Computer Science and International Relations paired with her MFA in Art has undoubtedly influenced her approach to video-making. Wang’s earlier video works have a distinctive research-based and autobiographical approach, such as The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness in which uses self-recorded and existing footage to investigate the process of encoding, storing and retrieving personal and historical memories. On the other hand, in Untitled, 2014 the artist approached video from a different perspective by incorporating performers. The setting is a shadowy and reflective dance studio where people are positioned in the inversion yoga pose. The video puts the viewer off-balance since the footage itself has also been inverted in postproduction. The faces of the performers express the strain of their physical exertion and the release of tennis balls bouncing on the floor brings us back to the actual tangible burden of gravity. As the artist points out: “Inversions are fascinating because of gravity. Evolution has made us bipedal and we are in the vulnerable position of having our head, which is the heaviest part of our body, encumbered on our spine. Inversion is supposed to realign the spine and our internal organs. On the inside of our bodies there is a whole other universe that we cannot see but it’s our internal organs that keep us alive.”
Alice王作为一个中国人，在加拿大和美国成长，学习计算机科学和国际关系以及艺术硕士，这些经历无疑影响了她的录像创作。王早期的录像作品具有基于研究和自传性的特色，比如，在“错置的具体性的谬误”中，使用自动录制和现存镜头考察个人和历史记忆的编码、储存和恢复。而另一方面，在《无题》（2014）中，艺术家和表演者们合作，从另外一个视角拍摄录像。场景设置在一个光影交错的舞蹈工作室，舞者们正在做一个翻转的瑜伽动作。通过后期处理，录像中的地板被倒置，让观众失去平衡感。表演者的脸部传达了身体在用劲的张力，而地板上滚出的网球将我们带回面对真实可感触的重力的重负。艺术家说过：“倒置由于重力而变得迷人。进化让我们成为双脚直立行走的动物，我们身体最重的部分—我们的头，负担在我们的椎骨上，这让我们处于一种易受伤害的位置。翻转意在重新调整脊椎和我们的内部器官。在我们的身体内部有一整个我们看不见的宇宙，但是正是我们的内部器官让我们活着。”

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Alice Wang 王凝慧

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