1

Talk: Art of Code

Pamviles 炫名

Biography

Pamviles: Artist, author

As the pandemic spread around the world, Pamviles became aware of the international tensions, and the themes of his artworks became more socially and politically relevant, including the rumours surrounding the pandemic, the deteriorating relationship between the US and China, the regulation and control of speech, the balance between order and freedom, racial issues, and the Hong Kong issue. Before the pandemic, his work tended to be a personal expression, this body of work created during the pandemic is more focused on reflecting on current social issues, and he intends to continue this change in his work in the future.

炫名: 艺术家、作家

当疫情逐渐向全球蔓延后,炫名注意到国际间的紧张关系,他的艺术创作主题更加倾向于对当下社会和政治的思考,其中包括疫情刚爆发时的各种谣言问题、中美间不断恶化的关系、对言论的监管与控制、秩序与自由之间的平衡、种族问题、香港问题等等。疫情前,他的作品倾向于一种个人的表达,而疫情期间创作的这组作品则更注重于对当下社会问题的思考,他也准备将这种变化将一直延续到以后的作品当中。

Event Overview

There are five parts of this event:

  1. Artists’ works 艺术家作品展示
  2. Video of the artist’s journey towards creation 艺术家走向创作历程的自述
  3. Interview with the artist 艺术家采访
  4. Video of the creation of the “Codism Manifesto” & the full-textual version in English and Chinese 艺术家的“密码主义宣言”的创作 &《密码主义宣言》中英文完整版
  5. Workshop on “How to create an art theory/project/research” “如何创建艺术理论/项目/研究“工作坊

Artworks

Stages of Starting Creating 走向创作的历程

Interview

The names would be abbreviated as “Christy” (Christy YANG) and “Pamviles” (Pamviles).

(之后姓名分别写为“杨艺珊”、“炫名”)

Christy: How did you organise your work and life during the pandemic? How was it different from before the pandemic?

Pamviles: Because I’ve always lived alone and my studio is in my home, I mostly stayed at home even before the pandemic.  So my work and lifestyle did not change much during the pandemic compared to before. But living and working alone before the pandemic was a choice, while during the pandemic it was a necessity.

杨艺珊:疫情期间,你是如何安排自己的工作和生活的?与疫情发生前有什么不同?

炫名:因为我一直都是一个人住,而我的工作室就在自己家里,所以哪怕在疫情前我也多半待在家中,所以疫情期间的工作和生活方式对比之前没有发生太大的变化。但疫情前的独自生活和工作是一种选择,而疫情期间是一种必须。

 

Christy: What changes did you experience or notice? What’s your pivot during the pandemic?

Pamviles: The pandemic, especially for people who live alone, makes one feel the weight of loneliness, which made me feel that I needed emotional and life companionship even more. Personally, my pivot in the pandemic was that I met my girlfriend, who is American and, during the time we lived together, it made me think a lot about the relationship and issues between the US and China.

杨艺珊:你经历或发现的变化是什么(生活,工作,心理等)?你认为自己在疫情下的转折点是什么?

炫名:这次疫情,特别对于独居的人,使人感受到孤独的分量,这让我感受到自己更需要一种心理和生活的陪伴。对于个人而言,我疫情下的转折点是认识了我的女朋友,她是美国人,在我们生活在一起的时间里让我思考了很多中美之间的关系与问题。

 

Christy: When did you start working on this body of work?

Pamviles: I painted the first piece on US-China relations in early January 2020, when the pandemic started. But the subsequent works have been heavily influenced by what happened during the pandemic.

杨艺珊:你是什么时候开始这组作品的创作?

炫名:第一幅关于中美关系的作品我在2020年一月初就画好了,那是在我发现疫情之前。但之后的作品很大程度上都受到了在疫情当中发生的事情的影响而创作的。

 

Christy: What inspired you to start this body of work?

Pamviles: As the pandemic spread around the world, international tensions led me to think more about the social and political issues of the day, including the rumour mill at the beginning of the pandemic, the deteriorating relationship between China and the US, the regulation and control of speech, the balance between order and freedom, racial issues, the Hong Kong issue and so on.

杨艺珊:是什么启发了你着手这组作品?

炫名:当疫情逐渐向全球蔓延后,国际间的紧张关系让我的艺术创作主题更加倾向于对当下社会和政治的思考,其中包括疫情刚爆发时的各种谣言问题、中美间不断恶化的关系、对言论的监管与控制、秩序与自由之间的平衡、种族问题、香港问题等等。

 

Christy: What does this body of work mean to you?

Pamviles: In the past, my work tended to be a personal expression, whereas this body of work focuses more on current social issues and reflections, which means that the subject matter of my work has changed significantly, and this change will continue in my future works.

杨艺珊:这组作品对你来说意味着什么?

炫名:在以往,我的作品倾向于一种个人的表达,而这组作品更注重于对当下社会问题的思考,这意味着我的作品所关注的主题发生了很大的变化,而这种变化将一直延续到我以后的作品当中。

 

Christy: Has the pandemic had any impact on your work/work plans?

Pamviles: The pandemic is a once in a century occurence which has brought the world’s attention to on many of the same, international issues. It has made me create work that is closer to real life and think about the issues that have arisen in this time and the warnings for the future that may happen as a result. I now live in Dongguan, and the Dongguan Cultural Museum has an annual project called “Operation Dream”, which funds artists to organise exhibitions, concerts and other activities. I was lucky enough to join this project in 2018.

杨艺珊:这场疫情对你的工作/工作计划有影响吗?(你的创作重点是否有变化?在你所在的城市或你所在的国家,是否有对自由职业者或艺术家的资助?)

炫名:疫情的发生让全世界的人都关注到同一个问题上,这是百年不遇的。它让我的创作更贴近现实生活,并思考这个时代所产生的问题和由此可能发生的未来或警告。我现在生活在东莞,而东莞文化馆每年都会有一个“圆梦行动”的项目,资助艺术家举办展览、演唱会等活动。我在2018年有幸加入到这一项目。

 

Christy: How have your feelings about painting changed since the pandemic began? How did it change?

Pamviles: I first came into contact with painting because of a mental health problem that lasted for six months.  Painting helped me feel the joy of being free from these thoughts and difficulties.  Whereas now, painting is a more serious thought process, which can often be painful and a struggle. Depending on what I need to express, I choose other artistic mediums such as writing, sculpture or installation to present my thoughts.

杨艺珊:现在你对绘画的感受与你第一次接触绘画,或者说与疫情之前相比,有什么变化吗?如何改变的?

炫名:我是因为一次持续了半年的精神问题而第一次接触绘画,那时候绘画能让我感到一种忘我的快乐,而现在绘画更多是一种严肃的思考过程,而这过程很多时候甚至是痛苦和挣扎的。而我的创作也不仅仅局限于绘画,根据需要表达的不同,我会选择写作或雕塑或装置等其他艺术表达方式来呈现自己的思想。

 

Christy: Do you think that after the pandemic the presentation of artworks will shift more towards online? How do you see this pivot?

Pamviles: During the pandemic, there seems to be a trend towards more and more online work but, personally, I don’t think this will replace offline, physical exhibitions, at least not yet. We can see all the details of the work from multiple angles, including the texture and colour of the work, the visual impact of the size of the work, etc., which can be distorted to a certain extent when photographed with even the best cameras.

Nowadays, most of the work is presented in two dimensions, in the form of pictures, which are often not visible because of the quality of the camera, and often these details are the soul of the work. For example, I have a lot of works that have subtle key details and three-dimensional representations that are difficult to fully express online, and even if they could be presented, it would be a lot of work for both the platform and the viewer.  Additionally, the online presentation is limited to a small screen, which diminishes the visual impact that many artworks can have. As far as technology is concerned, the online display of works is more of a convenience than a way to replicate the experience and impact of viewing a work. Until VR technology takes a quantum leap forward towards the future, and reaches a level of accuracy comparable to reality and is sufficiently widespread, the offline presentation of artworks will be a necessity.

杨艺珊:你认为在疫情后,艺术作品的呈现会更多得转向线上吗?你如何看待这样的转变?

炫名:疫情期间,似乎看到线上作品越来越丰富的趋势,但个人认为这并不会代替线下展览,至少现在不会。因为线下有着目前线上无法逾越的优势,在线下可以看到作品多角度的全部细节,包括作品的肌理和颜色,作品尺寸对视觉的冲击等,这些东西哪怕用最好的照相机拍下来后都会有一定的失真。如今现在作品的呈现多半是二维的,就是图片形式,而图片因为局限于相机的质量往往看不清里面的细节,而很多时候这些细节正是作品的灵魂所在。就好像我有很多作品因为有一些细微的关键细节和立体呈现,这就很难在线上完全表达出来,哪怕能够呈现出来也是一件不管对展示平台还是观众都十分费劲的事情,而且线上的展示也仅仅局限于一块小小的屏幕,这就减弱了很多艺术作品所可能带来的视觉冲击。就目前普遍的科技应用而言,作品的线上展示更多是为了提供一种方便,而没有真正能复制到观赏一件作品所带来的舒适与震撼。除非在未来VR技术有了质的飞跃,达到足以媲美现实的精度与舒适度并且足够普遍,不然的话,艺术作品的线下展示仍然是一种非常必要的方式。

 

Christy: How do you see the relationship between technology and art (starting with the process of creating your Codism Manifesto)?

Pamviles: As mentioned in my Codism Manifesto, I created codes because they are based on mathematics, while technology is also based on mathematics, so the presentation of codes in my work is to some extent representative of contemporary technology and data.

The rapid and ever-changing advancement of technology affects us all and every field, including art. Art is very much a reflection of the time in which the artist lives, and to a certain extent, it is a way of recording the time in which he lives, and our period is one where technology is booming, and every advancement has a profound impact on our lives.  This brings us convenience, and it makes us think, too, about possible futures or problems.

Now that we see art and technology becoming more and more closely integrated, I guess there is this relationship: art reflects the contemporary, and technology is the most widespread and far-reaching part of contemporary influence. The relationship between art and technology will become closer or even blurred as the time progresses.

杨艺珊:你如何看待科技与艺术的关系(可以从你创造密码主义宣言的过程谈起)?

炫名:在我的《密码主义宣言》中有谈及过,我创立的密码因为其基础是数学,而科技的基础也是数学,因而密码在作品中的呈现在一定程度上代表了当代的科技与数据。科技日新月异的快速进步影响着我们每一个人和每一个领域,包括艺术。艺术很大程度上反映了艺术家所处的时代,在一定程度上,它是所处时代的一种记录方式,而现在是科技蓬勃发展的时代,每一次进步都深深地影响着我们的生活。这既带给我们便利,也让我们思考可能的未来或问题。现在看到艺术和科技结合得越来越紧密,估计有这么一个关系:艺术反映当代,而科技是当代影响最广泛和深远的一部分。艺术和科技的关系会随着时代发展变得愈加紧密甚至模糊起来。

About the Creation of Codism 关于密码主义的创作

Codism Manifesto 

https://pamviles.wixsite.com/artist/codism-manifesto

《密码主义宣言》

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0L6dyosCMJ8xpSPA3nSZ8g

Workshop

Try to create your own art theory /project / research.

Step 1: Identify an art field that interests you

It could be an art skill, an art style, an artist, an art trend, or an art gallery…

Step 2: Identify what you are good at

Perhaps you are a good writer, a good observer of details involved in daily lives, a person who are acuminous to the feeling of others, or a dressing blogger, a person seen many art exhibitions, etc., something artistic and you take as your uniqueness.

Step 3: Identify the intersections or overlap between what you are good at and are interested about Art

Even seemingly unrelated fields could have different sparks from friction. For example, if you want to learn an art skill of illustration, are you are pretty good at writing, then you could write a scene first and then try to draw it.

Step 4: Choose a theme

If you haven’t exposed to art before, then as a newcomer, you could try to find an simple theme that you’re interested in.

Once you’ve done, please feel free to post it on our website to share your ideas with us!

尝试创造你自己的艺术理论/项目/研究:

Step 1: 确定你感兴趣的艺术领域

可以是一种艺术技能,一种艺术风格,一位艺术家,一个艺术风向,一所美术馆…

Step 2: 明确你所擅长的事

或许你善于撰写文字,善于观察生活中的细节,对他人的情感变化十分敏锐,敢于进行大胆的色彩搭配,看过许过的艺术展览等等,你所认为自己独有的特色。

Step 3: 找出你所擅长的事和你感兴趣的艺术领域之间的交叉点

即使看起来是两个毫不相关的领域,也可能产生不一样的火花。比如你想要学会插画这个艺术技能,但你之前擅长撰写文字,那你可以先写出一个场景,再尝试把这个场景画出来,或许你的画面会充满故事性。

Step 4: 选择一个主题

这就完全基于你的个人选择了,如果你之前并没有过多接触过,或者刚刚接触艺术领域,可以尝试为自己找一个有趣且简单的主题。

欢迎与我们交流你的想法!

 

Staff

Host: Christy YANG
Contact Person: Ifance FAN, Christy YANG
Planner: Christy YANG
Text: Christy YANG
Translator: Christy YANG
Proofreading: Calum BAIRD, Jiaqi GAO