Installation - 'Mata' a perception of life

Basically I wanted to make a combination of art and technology to create art installation, perhaps, by using readymade technology objects as to subtitude the human eyes function. As you can see above, I was trying to representing the function of the eyes by using all these technologys equipment such as video camera, television, magnifying glass and the projector. I am focusing on the ‘perception of life’ which means displacing ourself by the surrounding. All that we remember were taken by the eyes. Basically the eyes is a subtitude of video camera, recording anything happen infront of it. All this idea came from my previous work, trying to improvise the main concept of displacement. I tried to move on from this two photograph (below) and improvise more the meaning of displacement using other medium. As I said before, we all displace by the surrounding and vision by looking at things. At this stage, I located a spot for making a video for this installation in London.

Taken from my previous work 'The Uncanny Corridor'

LOCATION : London as part of Displacement

The reason why I choose London as a subject for this installation because I am considering about displacing myself, living in other country without family and far from homeland. Surviving and living independently. But with the long time period, everything changes from day to day, weeks by weeks and year by years. Obviously london is the busy place with a lot of people, cars, huge building and always alert everytime walking on the street. It started from the first step I came to london seeing new things especially the people and the culture. I felt really tiny and small. Feel really shy to talk with other people because english is not my first language. From there, all this memories captured by my naked eyes and stored into my brain until it faded by itself. However, the methodology is using the EYES as a perception of life. 

LOCATION in LONDON

            SCENERY                                            +                                 SUBWAY

                  +                           ‘ELEMENT OF DISPLACEMENT’                 +

      PUBLIC ESCALATOR                                   +                          ROAD/BUILDINGS

I choose these places as part of my displacement such as the scenery in london, subway underground, the public escalator and also the road with the tall building with it. However, the reason why I choose this elements because firstly, I choose the site as part of my first experience being inside huge or big country especially the culture. It is a starting point where I start to perceived through my eyes looking all my surrounding and make it them as my memory or experience. Although, all this subjects that I choose is a metaphor of the way I see things or surrounding which displace my self into a new environment. It is sort of like a combination of ‘PERCEPTION’ and ‘PERSPECTIVE’ such as subway underground, it brings/ carried/ transport peoples from one place to another which almost same the public escalator or staircase. It helps the people to move from one stage to another.

In this work, I did it as a cycle of the eyes which is all about how the eyes see things to see the object or space for the memories or experience. However, I started this work by taking the video of the sites randomly choosing without any plan. It depend on where I go and where I stop. It took me two days to record this video that I want in london. I spend one whole day walking alone in London searching the site that I want.

It got me thinking, when I used the underground alot moving from one place to another, and spending alot of time in the underground, im sort of like a human rat. Living inside a human size hole but with the transportation of the subway to go from one place to another. 

SEMESTER 2 – developing/improvising the concept

During semester two, I focus more on the concept, trying to understand more about ‘displacement’. Here below is the summary of my second semester work:

‘In this semester two, I began with the developement of the main concept that I choose during the semester one, which is being ‘displace’ or displacement’. I just want to clarify the meaning of the concept that I am working on. In the Oxofrd dictionary, the word ‘displace’ is defined as a movement or shift from one place or position to another. Whereas in psychological term, ‘displacement’ is a process whereby strong negative or positive emotions are directed towards an object or person because they are, for some reasons unknown, blocked and redirected onto another object or person. Usually it happens if the person feels uncomfortable enough within their circumstances.

However, it started with the inspiration of my Photograph piece that I took from my previous work installation called ‘The Corridor’. I am interested with the idea of being displaced or physically displace through emotiona or experience that I have been throug, which some sort of claustrophobic situation and also being stuck in a moment somewhere that you never been before.

However, in this second semester, I started with creating my installation called ‘MATA’ which came from my own language, Malay word, the meaning in English is called ‘The Eyes’. The reason why I choose the eyes as part of the subject because all the memories and experience that I been through were recorded by my pupils, part of the eyes. It sort of like a perception of life, using an eyes to capture a glimpse of life and store it into the brain as memories and experience. The eyes is like a video camera which capture all the scenery anything that appeared infront of our naked eyes. In this piece, I used the function of the eyes, the cycle of how these eyes work to see the reality. It based on how the eyes recorded the visionand applied it into a visual installation using projecting video, video camera, magnifying glass and television.

I am also interested with the term of ‘looking beyond the reality’, which means ourselves were been displaced by our experience such as nature or objects. Sometimes we remember something when we see things. It sort of reminising of life or looking back all the memory through an object. It is something uncanny, dark, uncomfortable or alienated from reality which we did not realised it was exist as a mirror or reflection in our daily life. It is a metaphor of our inner subjective emotion and experience.

Most of my work were inspired by the reflection of mirror, water, rain and surrounding, which are the element of the nature and also psychology of mind and eyes, between the human behaviour and the surrounding. However, the most inspired artists that I related to are Anish Kapoor’s work, where he used a lot of reflection mirror creating an interaction with the audience to play with. The second artist is Devorah Sperber, where she creates an inverted pixel images and using the special custom magnifying globe device to see the actual image. In Anish Kapoor’s work the reflection is a mirror of our personality and experience. Whereas in Devorah situation, she has the same concept with Anish Kapoor I think, but I found out her work is more interesting and simple direct methodology looking through the reality of upside-down. However, for my future work, I wanted to explore more on how to create and interaction which can play with the audience’s mind and vision towards the reflecting images or upside down image using any other medium such as magnifying glass, mirror, aceteate or water.’

Revealing the Other World

Dis-Constructing my installation - 'The Uncanny corridor'

Starting with taking down the cheap board

It was sad taking this installation down because it puts a lot of effort constructing this corridor and putting together all the cardboard boxes. But it is already up there for a long period due for other student to use the space.

However, during the process of desconstucting this piece, I realised that this actual piece is sort of like a shelter or a place where little animal hiding such as rats, ants or any other insects. But with this installation, it is a large human rats scale tunnel. When we opened the first two and three walls, we can see the interior of the corridor piece (cardboard boxes corridor) and it looks exactly same as what animal does inside the tunnel or behind our walls (images below). Full of rubbish and mess inside the tunnel.

This is what happened when the whole front walls taken down

However, during this process, I managed to take some interesting photos of this process which relates with the concept of this installation.

As you can see here, this photograph shows the interior and the exterior of my installation corridor. It gives two pictures of scenery; living inside the reality and also living inside the other reality such as imagination, shifting our self into uncanny work or our inner subjective emotion as a metaphor, making myself as a rats hiding behind this wall. 

Result from my previous work - The Beginning journey of my work

Started with the idea of 'Displacement'

When I was inside my installation, I was sitting there looking the surrounding of the interior. Looking from the inside to outside space. It was sort of like a cave, seeing the light through the entrance and the exit. However, when I was there I found this moment (as you can see the image above), I was feeling sort of displacement, shifting my self from somewhere darkness but looking the actual reality through this gap. It give me a sense of being inside a darkness is same sort of like you were stuck in a moment of feeling such as shy, hiding from everyone. Blending into the uncanny world like Alice wonderland.

From that perspective, I got a picture or idea for what I am doing next. Basically it is trying to improvised more the word ‘shifting’ or ‘displace’ of myself into other medium. During the experimentation and also the process of this installation, I found a really interesting Photography from this installation. 

PHOTOGRAPH : 'THE DISPLACEMENT'

'The Uncanny Corridor' - Entrance and Exit

During the process of this installation, I was coincidencely took this images and found out really interesting relating with my concept of displacment. With this images, it look sort of like a space inside a dark cave. Finding the way out or navigating to find the exit. It pulls the viewer to get into the picture and looking into the darkness and shifting the audience into this corridor cave.

However, from other point of view, between  this images, it also looks like a key hole for the door especially the images above. Perhaps people thought it was taken through the actual key hole. It also came with the idea of human body part especially women vagina which leads through the holes and comes out as a baby birth. As you know that this uncanny corridor, at the edges bit before exit, it getting tighter and difficulty to get out. It also reminds me of human intestine, giving the pathway for the human waste to go out through the anus. Somehow on the second image as well, it looks like human ears hole.

With this photograph, It gives me an idea of shifting or displacing the audience through photograph or vision especially the eyes. As you know, our daily life since we were born until now, we are looking the reality through the way of seeing things or we can say it a perception of life. All we experience from the past untill present, we kept it into our memory starting from our eyes as camera to capture everything and store it into our brain as memory. 

Influenced by Bruce Nauman's work 'The Green-Light Corridor'

Bruce Nauman's work - 'The Greenlight-Corridor 1970'

Basically the idea of this work came from ‘Bruce Nauman’ work, ‘The Green-Light Corrido, 1970, (above). Actually his work combined dance and performance art, testing the limits of his own body and inviting the viewer to do the same thing into his work.

He construct two free standing walls, each eight feet high and twenty feet long with both ends of the corridor open as to create a close passageway between two free standing wall till the entire length. He used the altering lighting conditions or the configuration of his installation space as to compel and disorienting his audience. He invites the audience to experience our individual physical reaction through a narrow structure.

In the book of ‘Bruce Nauman’ (Benezra, N., Nalbreich, K. & Simon, J., 1994), It states that he used both subjects, narrowing the width and exaggerated length of the corridor, and also the eerie light cast from green neon glow light as to create the experience of uncomfortable or claustrophobic in a sense of his work.

Bruce nauman noted that some people find the green colour relaxing, while in other (including him) it also creates a tense feeling such feeling wanted to finish the journey especially when the length of the wall really far and suddenly stuck in the middle of the installation. However from this material, the length and the height of the walls, it can create people suffer or evoke uncomfortable experience just by creating small gap of corridor space.  

This experimentation photograph, creating the alienation scene using different kind of lights. Unfortunately the light could not stay there longer because the neon bulb that I used easily getting hot. I afraid it will cause the fire hazard in that space.

The good thing about this, is that playing with the colour can create something emotion which obiviously colour does create emotion or showing the sign of feeling. But with this installation, with the colour involved, it makes the space more sort of like outer space (alien invading) but somehow with the red light, it kind of scary because it show the fear of something getting murder or alert. I remember the horror movie called ‘The Shutter’ where he met the scary ghost inside the photography darkroom only with the little red light appeared. But overall, with these colour, It represent something especially when you think of something. It just pop up with imaginary scene such as Alien, outer space, murder or anywhere. It sort of like detacting your sense or thoughts with colours. Perhaps red could be the porn scene or something.

Uncanny Corridor

I started with creating my 'Uncanny Corridor'

The main entrance for my Corridor installation

Ignore the work hanging on the wall. That piece was done by one of my college name Timmy

Introduction of my work:

Basically the idea came from my personal feeling of being significant person, hiding from people and shifting myself from one place to another. It sort of like when you getting emotional and wanted to be far from the others or hiding from the others and suddenly it leads you to the bad thing. Something not really comfortable with the surrounding or mislead the way of life. But it is all plays with the inner emotion.  

The idea of using this corridor space is actually came up from the idea of transporting or carrying the people from one place to another and relating with my corridor, it brings the audience from the reality into my own world. Basically, I was trying to visualize or giving the picture for my audience to exprience being in a globe of my subjective experience (personal or my brain). Something like in Hayward Gallery in 2010, which their theme is about ‘Walking in my mind’. All the invited artist express themselves through their immersive installation such as, my inpired artist Thomas Hirrschorn. But with this installation, I wanted to express my feeling by creating this construction installation corridor hiding behind the reality, creating corridor inside the corridor. The actual corridor I moved it to the front, giving the gap for my own corridor. Inside their the audience could feel the experience being stuck in a moment of uncomfortable-ness. 




the INTERIOR of the work

this was taken during the construction

Once you entered the corridor, you will see these view full covered by boxes around the floor until up to the ceiling.

The view from the entrance and also from the exist

At the end you will comes out from this little tunnel

As you can see, the images above is actually the interior of this installation corridor. Living inside the darkness, stuck in somewhere outside of the reality in a moment, and everything covered with these everyday material, cardboard boxes. I considered to use the everyday material as part of the main subject which relate to the homeless-ness topic and also giving the viewer a familier picture of what these material can do to us. As you know that these material, when people said cardboard box, people will click something that we can put alot of stuff and can bring it everywhere or moving from one place to another. But in other reason, I used cardboard boxes to give the sense of texture, perhaps without the lights people would not recognise what they step on it. It all aim giving the audience the experience of somewhere lost.

Above and bottom images, either they are could be the entrance or the exit

Here are the entrance and the exit. But in this work, it depend on the viewer where they enter it or going out. However, as you can see the image on the left, the gap of the corridor is actually getting smaller and tighter which gives the viewer difficulty to get out. It sort of like making the viewer uncomfortable with this everyday materials. But the audience can do whatever they want to get out from that moment of something, whatever you can called it.

Video documentation of my corridor work

During the process making this installation, the mood or the aim was getting changing everytime fixing the cardboard boxes and also people giving good feedback. Some of them said to me that I am making my own secret rats tunnel but in human size. It depends on the viewer of what they think about this installation. The main aim about this work is to shift the people a moment somewhere inside my personal emotion or maybe in my mind. However, with lots of people coming around and playing, going into these uncanny tunnel corridor, all the boxes getting shrink and destroy by them. But to me its a good thing that people experience it and thats what these material usually been done by nature either they get destroy or throw it away into recycle bin.

But at the end of this work I managed to make some experiment with this installation using other medium such as ‘Lights’.

Experimenting using 'Lights'

The actual main entrance for my corridor

Experimenting using 'Red' light colour

Experimenting using 'Purple's lights 

Experimenting using 'Green'