Face in Motion

Chang Chao-tang | 1976 | 16 mm film transferred to digital video | Colour | Sound | 5 min.

The artist’s half body in erratic movement is recorded on 16 mm film at a unique framerate of two frames per second. Accompanied by a high-intensity electronic track, Chang manipulated the film further to exude a sense of chaos and volatility as self-expression.

Ham&cheeseomelet

Ming Wong | 2001 | Digital | Colour | Sound | 9 min. 49 sec.

Ming Wong dresses as William Shakespeare and performs the famous phrase from Hamlet: ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’. Frames of the video are cut, which results in a scrambled speech, indicating the instability of language.

Meet-ing

Cao Shu | 2015 | Digital | Colour | Silent | 10 min. 16 sec.

The artist set up the camera in the streets of Hangzhou, documenting daily pedestrians. The clips in slow motion instantly switch to the next when the subjects make eye contact with the camera. The audiences’ gaze hence replaces that of the camera and the artist.

Like Me 

Lin Ke | 2016 | Digital | Colour | Sound | Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles | 6 min. 12 sec.

The artist performs in front of his laptop camera as if to online audiences. His performances are split into a floating window and the screen background, commenting on one’s condition in a society oversaturated with screens.

Emoji Is All We Have (Episode 1)

Luna Maurer & Roel Wouters | 2023 | Digital | Colour | Sound | English with Chinese and English subtitles | 14 min. 41 sec.

The two artists are wearing self-made devices where smartphones are mounted to record close-ups of their facial expressions in an intimate conversation. Their faces are painted in yellow that references the aesthetics of emojis. The work analyses the subtlety of emotions that is flattened by emojis and reflects on our digital culture.

Ana Min Wein?

Nouf Aljowaysir | 2022 | Digital | Colour | Sound | English with Chinese and English subtitles | 12 min. 29 sec.

Ana Min Wein in Arabic means ‘Where am I from?’. In this work, Aljowaysir’s voice narrating her story of migrating from Saudi Arabia to the United States converges with an AI voice describing the elements it recognises in the visual diary. The AI narration reveals stereotypes and biases deeply embedded in the architecture and training of its systems.