TOOT Vol. 1: Sun Yuan & Peng Yu and Kan Xuan

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

Can’t Help Myself

2016

Bigass blood robot thing

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

Can’t Help Myself

2016


Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

Can’t Help Myself

2016


• Janel: I don’t get it.

• Anna: Is it a reference to an Oil spill ??

• Material: Ink? Oil? Blood? Grape Juice? Cranberry Juice? Wine?

• Chess: “Can’t Help Myself” is the title

• Raian: Thinking about the title: It’s like the machine wants to clean

the substance, but not matter how many times it does it, it keeps going,

and this piece makes me feel incomplete, and mad. Like it’s a waste of

time.

• Gio: Displacement, the machine itself doesn’t seem to know what to

do or where to go…the oily substance is moving around….kind of

being controlled by the machine.

• Alex: It’s ;like the way that we try to stop things, but we just keep

doing it again. We try to fix things, but we just can’t help ourselves.

KT: It’s got an Obsessive-Compulsive side to it….those little drips it

leaves behind are driving me nuts.

Dolfo: Thinking of the whaling industry???

Anna: It’s giving us Obsessive Compulsive Disorder...like it’s not

making enough of an effort to completely clean it up.

• Riddles: It’s oddly satisfying, it’s so perfectly cleaning the floor.

• Kristen: I disagree. It isn’t that satisfying. I was hoping it would make

a shape….and not drip so much.

• Wing: Agrees with Riddles. The texture of the “ink” makes me feel

calm.

• Angel: What’s the purpose???

• Cailan: Those movements it makes are very.....performative…?

• Jess: It makes me feel like when you start cleaning something but the

mess never ends. Like with a mop when it just spreads the dirt around.

• Tae: gotta get that swiffer, homie.

• Angel: cleaning the mess makes it worse?

• Camila: What’s the liquid?

• Wine, ink, blood, paint?

• Lina: The brush shows the cleanliness, but no matter how much it

mops up, there’s no end to it. There’s no end to this…

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

Can’t Help Myself

2016

medium:

Kuka industrial

robot, stainless

steel and rubber,

cellulose ether in

colored water,

lighting grid with

Cognex visual-

recognition

sensors, and

polycarbonate

wall with

aluminum frame

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu's works always

start with a paradox. Their early objects

and installations are made from real

cadavers or human fat tissues. Yet, even

though playing on the speculative and

the spectacular, they focus on the

investigation of the paradox rather than

merely exploiting the spectacular.

The tension between the bodies, organic

tissues or animals and their artistic

manifestations corresponds to the

transition of subjects from the plane

of immanence (existing through

everything) onto the plane of

transcendence (to go beyond the

physical limits).Human Oil2000

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Safety Island2003

In one piece,

Safety Island, a live Asian tiger

paces inside a large steel cage,

which is constructed alongside an

exhibition hall's four interior walls,

creating a corridor for the walking

tiger and serving as a virtual moat

for the human spectators.

Those who wish to enter or exit the

gallery must gather around the only

two convertible 'drawbridges'.

Depending on the tiger's position,

the cage's steel bars may be folded

sideways to create an arrow

passageway, allowing single-filed

spectators to go through it.

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Safety Island2003

In one piece,

Safety Island, a live Asian tiger

paces inside a large steel cage,

which is constructed alongside an

exhibition hall's four interior walls,

creating a corridor for the walking

tiger and serving as a virtual moat

for the human spectators.

Those who wish to enter or exit the

gallery must gather around the only

two convertible 'drawbridges'.

Depending on the tiger's position,

the cage's steel bars may be folded

sideways to create an arrow

passageway, allowing single-filed

spectators to go through it.

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

I am Here

2006

Fiberglass、 Silica Gel、Simulation of Sculpture

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

I am Here

2006


Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

I am Here

2006


Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

Old Persons Home

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Old Persons Home

2007

Electric Wheelchair、Fiberglass、 Silica Gel、Simulation of Sculpture

…

http://www.sunyuanpengyu.com/

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu's work Old People's

Home consists of 13 hyper-realistic, life-sized

human replicas of army generals, religious and

political leaders of various nationalities,

wearing very formal garb, all sitting in electro-

motion wheelchairs. This is a large-scale site-

specific installation. The hyper-realistic

human replicas in the wheelchairs either stare

at something or simply nod their heads or look

like they may be taking a nap.

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Old Persons Home

2007

Electric Wheelchair、Fiberglass、 Silica Gel、Simulation of Sculpture

…


The wheelchairs automatically change

directions when they collide with each other or

with the wall. They are in constant motion,

ceaselessly colliding, and their faces are

emotionless, thus creating a kind of

indifferent and eccentric atmosphere. They do

not talk to each other, so the scene resembles a

collective hush, created by people from

various cultural, social and racial backgrounds.

The scene represents a group of people who

have no direct relationship…

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

…


Angel

2008

Silica Gel、Fiberglass、

Stainless Steel、Woven Mesh

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

…


Angel

2008



Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

…


Angel

2008



Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Angel

2008

Silica Gel、Fiberglass、 Stainless Steel、Woven Mesh

…


The angel, an old woman

in a white gown and with

featherless wings, is lying

face-down on the ground;

maybe sleeping, maybe

dead, but certainly

immobile and frozen into

an all too realistic image.

The supernatural being,

now nothing more than an

impotent creature, can

neither carry out any

supreme will nor be of any

help to those believing in

its existence. The angel is

true but ineffective;

dreams and hopes are

sincere yet vain.

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Can’t Help

Myself

2016

Kuka industrial

robot, stainless

steel and rubber,

cellulose ether in

colored water,

lighting grid with

Cognex visual-

recognition

sensors, and

polycarbonate

wall with

aluminum frame


What ideas & themes do we see emerging in the artwork of Sun Yuan & Peng Yu


KT: They’re dealing with a lot of real life problems. How we interact with

each other, acknowledge, and walk away….

Gio: Themes of POWERLESSNESS. Like the angel, old people.

JJ: These artists remind me a bit of Reyes, taking life’s problems and flipping

them in a way that make people more aware of it.

Rizzi: Agrees with Gio and JJ….a lot to do with control and power. They

make decisions in their art that have a big effect on you…using corpses, or

making things hyper realistic, it affects you a certain way.

Dolfo: Diverging from Reyes’ ideas….this has more to do with human nature.

How we perceive ourselves and others…and less to do with the

social/political stuff.

Anna: Still curious about their intentions…Reyes’ work is much more

obvious….this work makes you think a bit more.

.

.


.Taeron: There’s a sense of hopelessness with their work, a sadness.

Things that can’t help themselves (wheelchairs, fallen angel)

Angel: Despite the desire to help others, there’s some restrictions in life

that prevent you from doing it. Like with the Angel piece, it’s immobile,

but it wasn’t at one time.

Camila: A sense of always doing the same thing over and over again.

Steve: Everyone has a routine that we always do…that one specific thing

that we must do. There’s stuff you want to do and stuff you have to do.

Riddles: Like when we’re walking in the street and I realize that I’m on

auto-pilot.

Angel: Like in religion how we have a certain person who we look up

to…we restrict ourselves to be like that person.

Jess: We always say how our lives suck, but we don’t change our

routines…we’re too stubborn to change it!

Tae: Like with history, how we keep making the same mistakes over and

over again.

What ideas & themes do we see emerging in the artwork of Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

Can’t Help Myself

2016

Can’t Help Myself employs an industrial robot,

visual recognition sensors, and software systems

to examine our increasingly automated global

reality, one in which territories are

mechanically controlled and machine-human

relationship is rapidly changing.

Placed behind clear acrylic walls, the robot

performs one specific action: it contains a

viscous, deep-red liquid within a predetermined

area.

When the visual-recognition sensors detect that

the fluid has strayed too far, the arm frenetically

shovels it back into place, leaving smudges on

the ground and splashes on the surrounding

walls.http://www.sunyuanpengyu.com/

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Live and work in

Beijing.

Can’t Help Myself

2016

Sun Yuan (1972) and Peng Yu (1974) are

known for using dark humor to address

contentious topics, and their robot’s repetitive

and endless “dance” presents and absurd

Sisyphean view of contemporary issues

surrounding migration and sovereignty.

However, the bloodstain-like marks that

accumulate around the robot evoke the

violence that results from surveilling and

guarding border zones. Such visceral

associations call attention to the consequences

of authoritarianism and the increasing use of

technology to monitor our environment.


Sun Yuan& Peng Yu

Describe the art making process for these

artists…

• Khiri: Very cuirous about the material world and how it’s connected

to spirituality.

• Janel: They think alike!

• KT: Art is reflection of a person’s will…and there’s a contradiction

between human nature and machinery, & social order and human

nature.

• Erin: “Every relationship you have is political.” Everyone is always

struggling with each other. • Alex: yes, it’s like how every relationship has elements of friendship or

animosity….every relationship is like an alliance and gives you

convenience in some ways.

• Chess: when you analyze why you’re friends with certain people, it can get

uncomfortable.

• Dolfo: We tend to choose people who have similar standards or morals as

us.

• Gio: They both had art introduced in the same manner…art is an

emotional lens….venting through curiosity, anger,

Sun Yuan& Peng Yu

Describe the art making process for these

artists…

• Tash: Making connections between the spiritual world and physical

world. Turning fantasies into reality.

• Jess: A lot of their physical modelling has to do with math

(engineering) but the idea comes from a much more abstract place. It’s

bringing together science and art, breaking those barriers.

• Camila: “All relationships are political” everyone is impacted

through each relationship.

• Kristen: IT could mean that all relationships can morph, change,

or even clash.

• Anesia: In most relationships, there’s a power dynamic of who has

it and who doesn’t.

• Tash: There’s a question of superiority here. #junioryear

Sun Yuan& Peng Yu

Write a short paragraph in your notebooks

about a relationship you have that is political in

nature.

“All relationships are political. Person to

person, person to nation, nation to nation,

etc.”

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Final thoughts?

Questions?

• KT: These artists open up new perspectives for us.

They’ve got a strange way of coming at problems. But

they’ve got a strong message to convey about the

relationships of …everything.

• Jess: I love their work. There’s a lot of thought in each

piece, and challenges the way we think.

• Dolfo: Is there a name for their “genre?”

• kozak: installation/sculpture/experiential?

• Seth: Their work makes me feel awkward. Like those

people who do work that NO ONE wants to do.

• Chess: They’re attacking these issues by using these

deviant perspectives (and materials) because there’s

something to be said for how ‘universal’ the human body

is to us.

• Erin:n Their work is uncomfortable to look at. Can’t Help

Myself drives me insane. And the Angel piece is just so

WEEEEIRRRDDD!! And it looks SO real! • KT: they’re like the “johnny depp” of art…kinda weird, gory, and shocking.


Sun Yuan & Peng Yu

Final thoughts?

Questions?

• Anesia: I really like the approach of these artists.

They’re addressing big themes that go on in our

world and they’re using hyper-realistic pieces.

• Steph: These artists have a bit of a minimalist

approach, but their meaning is not simple at all,

there’s a lot there.

• Jess: I LOVE their work. I resonate with these dark

humor pieces. And then there’s so much depth to

their work, even if it’s a little sad or depressing. Their

work is unconventional!

• Wing: Their philosophy makes me a feel a little sad,

it’s so deep.

• Michelle: Their work is really cool, but when you get

to the meaning, the joy you got from seeing it is

removed.

• Sean: And what’s left is a sense of thinking

• .


Kan Xuan (born 1972) Lives and

works in Beijing and

Amsterdam

Kan Xuan(born 1972) Lives and works

in Beijing and Amsterdam

“I focus on the mundane emotions

of everyday life. I’m also very

interested in the subtle but

complicated relationships among

visual language, sound, images,

and human memory.”

Tash: a mix of video and other media.Michael: really full of life…but maybe confusing? Maybe some conflictLina: I expect something with nature..



“I focus on the mundane emotions

of everyday life. I’m also very

interested in the subtle but

complicated relationships among

visual language, sound, images,

and human memory.”

KT: Seems kinda humble. Dolfo: She likes Beijing because it makes her feel invisible…she finds this to be a benefit.Khiri: I’m expecting a lot of NATURE in her work.Chess: I think it’s going to be lots of everyday life of people who are not thought of. Anna: I think she sees complicated relationships in simple things.

Kan Xuan (born 1972) Lives and


Amsterdam

Kan Xuan

(born 1972) Lives and


Amsterdam

Kanxuan! Ai!……video19991’27 ’’

Kan Xuan’s work is often based on personal experience, and she herself sometimes

features, as in the early video Kanxuan! Ai! (1999) in which she is seen dashing

through subway tunnels shouting her own name, as if searching for herself, and

answering in the affirmative, “Ai!”. She is moving against a tide of heaving

humanity, at once anxious, funny, romantic, whilst making a clear political

statement, representing the plight of an individual in the face of a totalitarian mass.

Kan Xuan



Amsterdam

Looking looking looking for……

2001, video, 2'58"

Other early works convey the personal as physical. Looking, looking, looking for …

(2002) traces the movement of a spider across two naked bodies, young, lithe, one

male, one female. Viewers are pushed and pulled between feelings that arise from

such sensuality and arachnophobic tendencies while identifying with the

oblivious creature, simply seeking a place to hide. In the same year Kan Xuan

made A persimmon, in which she passes a ripe piece of fruit between her hands,

reducing it to a juicy pulp in the process and so combining lusciousness and

cruelty.

Kan Xuan



Amsterdam

A Happy Girl

2001,video,1’18"

In contrast, A happy girl (2002) is wonderfully straightforward. Made soon

after the artist arrived in Amsterdam from Beijing, it shows an empty

sculpture pedestal in a leafy garden, suddenly occupied by the artist, naked

and dancing. The playful freedom of her movement suggests sheer joy,

found in herself and in her circumstances.

Kan Xuan



Amsterdam

Ku Lüé Er

“To Circle a Piece of

Land”

2016

Video Installation with

sound, stone, and marble

Kan Xuan



Amsterdam

Ku Lüé Er


Land”

2016



Kan Xuan



Amsterdam

Ku Lüé Er


Land”

2016



Kan Xuan



Amsterdam

Ku Lüé Er (ko-looa-uh)


Land”

2016





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFofUJuqHlY&t=115s



“Making art for me is very helpful in expanding my

horizons. History to me is not something simply

about the past to be studied academically. Rather,

it’s an extension of emotion.”




“Making art for me is very helpful in

expanding my horizons. History to me is not

something simply about the past to be studied

academically. Rather, it’s an extension of

emotion.”


JJ: Seeing the world from different perspectives, like a bird or lizard (enter into Rango tangent) Dolfo: I struggle to describe what she actually does. But the statement about the bird and the lizard enlightened you, gave me a deeper perspective. KT: I thought her work would be about present day society and where she is now…but she’s really looking at past places and comparing it with the present. Khiri: Reminds me of the press release that we read first, and how each history is from a point of view, with personal bias that tints the story.



Land”

2016





“Making art for me is very helpful in

expanding my horizons. History to me is not

something simply about the past to be studied

academically. Rather, it’s an extension of

emotion.”


Tash: IT’s cool that she actually went to the site to see the history in person.Jess: This connects back to the press release about how these artists question historical norms.Angel: When we see her pieces, we all have different emotions that impact us. Like in Looking Looking Looking For…Jess: Because she juxtaposes different mundane/everyday emotions, there’s some beauty in that. :



Land”

2016



Ku Lüé Er

“To Circle a Piece of Land”

2016

Video Installation with sound,

stone, and marble

Meaning to “Circle a piece of land,” Ku Lüé

Er is a phrase from a dialect that many regions

in North China share. It relates to the act of

claiming or enclosing territory in order to

build a city. Kan Xuan’s work, which borrows

this expression for its title, began with a five-

month-long research journey across the vast

Central Asian plateau to 110 ancient

settlements situated along a geographical

border that separates abundant terrain from

areas receiving less than 400mm of annual

rainfall. This line not only traditionally

demarcated agricultural civilizations from

nomadic ones but also helped divisively shape

the regions military and dynastic histories.

Former sites of negotiation between different

political and economic powers, these cities

have since eroded into the landscape.



Ku Lüé Er


Land”

2016



Kan Xuan took thousands of mobile-phone pictures of these sites, which she

later color-manipulated and edited together into the stop motion videos seen on

the wall monitors. These eleven videos are accompanied by projected hand-

drawn maps of the places she visited, and stone sculptures echoing ancient

fences or barriers. Another video depicts a children’s game involving smashing

glad into th ground. Its noise evokes the creation of these cities. Her intimate

portrayal of these age-old sites undermines their monumentality, while their

states of decay signal our collective oblivion on the trajectory of history.

.

Ku Lüé Er

“To Circle a Piece of Land”

2016

Video Installation with sound,

stone, and marble

Here’s a sample! Thanks Tash!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAGYRh

QGITU

Kan Xuan Final thoughts? Ideas?

• Raian: I like her work, and the usage of putting those pictures together shows a lot of dedication. But she’s got this other side of her work with those spiders on the body. I had a gut reaction to that piece.

• Khiri: I feel a bit indifferent, but in Looking Looking Looking For… I wonder if there are otherpieces that would also make me feel uncomfortable. But I don’t have a big emotional reaction to her work.

• Dolfo: I REALLY REALLY LIKE HER WORK. IT’s thought provoking but simple at the same time. I think some may undermine her work, but I have a connection to it.

• Gio: I’m swaying towards the positive, I like the concepts of her work, but not the execution of it. It’s difficult to emotionally involve myself.

• . :

Kan Xuan Final thoughts? Ideas?

• Jess: There’s a bit of spirituality to her work perhaps?

• Kristen: She really captures the perspectives of animals, or as a viewer actually in the space. You feel like you’re there.

• Angel: She’s so unintentionally deep. The viewer really has to go deep though, so they can interpret it in a “difficult” way. It’s not straightforward. • Tash: The depth that she has is seen in her

answers during interviews. She’s clearly thinking a TON about this stuff!

• Andia: I like her style, and her photos are interesting, they’re at interesting angles.

• Michelle: Some people think art should be “perfect” woops. I got lost.

• Camila: She doesn’t just involve video. She uses sculpture, which adds a new depth to her art.

Education

TOOT Vol. 1: Sun Yuan & Peng Yu and Kan Xuan