Sound, space, movement and time \u2013 Singaporean sculptor Yang Jie takes us back to the elemental aspects of awareness, and in doing so encourages us to reflect on the seemingly mundane world of everyday objects. Coming from a background in mechanical engineering, Yang Jie uses his technical skills to investigate and emphasize the ways in which things are made and used, and our relationship to them. From familiar household objects to industrial machines, his fascination translates into the mesmerizing aesthetic character of his sculptural works. <\/p>\n
In his System of Objects<\/em>, French critical theorist Jean Baudrillard views the technological plane as an abstraction; a reality that we\u2019re practically unaware of in our day-to-day lives, despite its profound impact on our environment. By exposing the mechanical components of his kinetic sculptures to the viewers, Jie draws our attention back to the inner workings of the objects surrounding us. Carved wooden sculptures of human hands that connect to moving metal constructions make us reflect on our constant interaction with technology \u2013 and possibly also on our ever-growing interconnectedness and dependence on the machines we rely on to get by. Traces Of Time<\/em> began with the question of how to visualize the experience of time around an object and see its movement through it. As space and time are abstract, formless concepts this objective is fundamentally paradox \u2013 how can amorphous, fleeting experiences be captured? Text: Robin Bauschatz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-45175","kb_exhibition","type-kb_exhibition","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"article_image":45172,"article_image_bu_de":"","article_image_bu_en":"","datum_suche":""},"yoast_head":"\n
\nShowing a sequential gesture used by Chinese fortunetellers to calculate and make predictions, Reckoning And Counting<\/em> questions the idea of predictability, much like other works such as Bell Chimes<\/em>, which interrogates the ways in which we use and experience everyday objects. In combining mass produced glassware, cutlery and lightbulbs into an audiovisual symphony, Jie recontextualizes these household items and sets them into a new framework. A cable pull mechanism is used to produce sounds and shadows, which means an exact movement pattern can never be predicted. Each pass of the cable pull creates a unique audiovisual moment, reflecting on the fact that while a journey may be predetermined on a set path, no single experience ever ends up the same.
\nThe intriguing aesthetic character of the installation invites us to dwell, observe and spend time, a core aspect of Jie’s work that is also reflected by As The Shadow Grows Long<\/em>. A neon light tube swings across an old broken chair like a clock pendulum, translating movement and time into a shadow across the gallery\u2019s wall. Additionally, two works in the exhibition relate to space, time and air, visualizing their connection through expansion and deflation. Breathing Space<\/em> empowers visitors by allowing them to speak into the work and watch their owns words take up space in the most literal sense. <\/p>\n
Through its synthetic interplay of sound, time and movement, Yang Jie\u2019s work nonetheless offers us an answer. <\/p>\n