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FEWOCiOUS (real name: Victor Langlois), an 18-year-old transgender NFT artist, is an absolute rising star in the art world. His highly personal works chronicle his difficult upbringing between the ages of 14 and 18, with surrealist paintings that seem to stream directly from his subconscious. The distorted cartoon graphics and hyper-saturated colors create an ambivalent feeling of loneliness and vitality.

 

18岁的跨性别NFT画家FEWOCiOUS（真名 Victor Langlois）绝对称得上是艺术界的一颗新星，他的作品非常个人化，记录了他14-18岁艰难的成长路程，这些超现实主义的画作仿佛是从他的潜意识中直接涌出。扭曲的卡通图形和饱和度超高的色彩，给人以一种矛盾的感觉——孤独与活力并存。

Artist 艺术家 FEWOCiOUS

 

In a sign of FEWOCiOUS’s popularity, Christie’s website crashed at 10 a.m. on June 23, 2021, when the auction house was about to put FEWOCiOUS’s NFT painting up for sale online. Too many buyers came to bid that Christie’s website was unable to handle the traffic. The auction had to be rescheduled for two days later.

 

如今FEWOCiOUS的炙手可热在一件事情上可见一斑：美国时间2021年6月23日上午十点，佳士得网站竟然崩溃，原因就是佳士得准备在网络上拍卖FEWOCiOUS的NFT画作。由于过多的买家前来竞标，导致佳士得网站无法处理如此大的访问流量。拍卖最终不得不安排在两天后重新举行。

 

Indeed, FEWOCiOUS made a lot of money from his NFT digital paintings. Prices for his surrealist painting have risen from the $2 works he painted for online clients when he was 10 years old to the $25,000 sale of his most recent NFT work, “Moment I Fell in Love”. Today, his work has been sold for more than $2.1 million at Christie’s, earning him $370,000 on his 18th birthday alone.

 

的确，FEWOCiOUS因为画画赚了很多钱。从他10岁时为网上不知名的客户画2美元一幅的头像画，到最近他的NFT作品“我坠入爱河的时刻Moment i Fell in Love”以 25,000 美元的价格售出，他的超现实主义的NFT作品价格节节攀升。今天，他的作品已经在佳士得拍出了超过210万美元，仅在他18岁生日当天就赚了37万美元。

FEWOCiOUS (b. 2003), Year 1, Age 14 — It Hurts To Hide, 2021. Single-channel video (non-fungible token). 00:00:32 seconds (1710 x 1294 pixels). Estimate: undefined. Offered in Hello, i’m Victor (FEWOCiOUS) and This Is My Life on 25-30 June 2021 at Christie’s Online

FEWOCiOUS (b. 2003), Year 2, Age 15 — My Mama’s Dream, 2021. Single-channel video (non-fungible token). 00:00:35 seconds (1710 x 1294 pixels). Estimate: undefined. Offered in Hello, i’m Victor (FEWOCiOUS) and This Is My Life on 25-30 June 2021 at Christie’s Online

FEWOCiOUS (b. 2003), Year 3, Age 16 — When A Child Feels Lost, 2021. Single-channel video (non-fungible token). 00:00:31 seconds (1710 x 1294 pixels). Estimate: undefined. Offered in Hello, i’m Victor (FEWOCiOUS) and This Is My Life on 25-30 June 2021 at Christie’s Online

FEWOCiOUS (b. 2003), Year 5, Age 18 — I Taught Myself How To Fly, 2021. Single-channel video (non-fungible token). 00:00:23 seconds (1710 x 1294 pixels). Estimate: undefined. Offered in Hello, i’m Victor (FEWOCiOUS) and This Is My Life on 25-30 June 2021 at Christie’s Online

But FEWOCiOUS’s encounters and talent were definitely worth his earnings. He had experienced a terrible childhood. His father abused him as a child, and he was hit hard by his parents’ divorce and custody battles. He lived with different families through social services and eventually chose to live with his grandparents.

 

但FEWOCiOUS的遭遇与才华绝对配得上他的收入，他的童年非常糟糕。小时候他的父亲会虐待他，父母的离婚官司与抚养权争夺也给了他很大的打击。他通过社会服务机构寄宿在不同的家庭中，最终，他选择与祖父母一起生活。

 

Although escaping from his birth family brought some changes to his life, his new environment still made it difficult for him to fit in. His elderly grandparents did not use electronic devices such as mobile phones or computers and did not allow him to go outside school hours, which made his weekends unusually long and boring. So he started painting and showed an amazing talent for doing that, leading him to pursue a path in art.

 

虽然逃离原生家庭给他的生活带来了一些改变，但新的环境依然让他难以融入。年老的祖父母并不使用手机电脑等电子产品，也不允许他在上学以外的时间出门，这导致他的周末异常的漫长与无聊。于是他开始画画，并在这件事上展现了惊人的天赋，这是他走向艺术的原因。

“ I couldn’t stop crying so I decided to draw my feelings. It distracted me and calmed me down. I don’t want to die. I just wish I was heard. The only place I’m allowed to cry is my art.” FEWOCiOUS said.”

 

“我无法停止哭泣，所以我决定画出我的感情。它分散了我的注意力，让我冷静下来。我不想死。我只希望有人听到我的声音。我唯一能倾诉的地方就是我的艺术。”

 

– FEWOCiOUS

In many cases, artists really do need to be lonely, which is painful but also fills people with a desire to express themselves. Today, FEWOCiOUS has already made a name for himself, and, at 18, he has already made a lot of money through NFT digital paintings, opening the door to limitless opportunities.

 

很多时候，艺术家确实需要孤独，这份孤独令人痛苦但也让人充满了表达的欲望。今天的FEWOCiOUS已经成名，并且才18岁的的他也已经通过NFT画作出售赚到了很多钱，无限的人生机遇之门重新为他打开。

For more information on the artist, please click here 

欲了解更多他的作品，请点击这里

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本篇文章来源于微信公众号: SHMADNESS

“Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival” by Zhang Zeduan 

张择端的《清明上河图》

Known as one of China’s most renowned artworks from ancient history, “Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival”, portrays a highly complex look into Chinese culture. This panoramic painting by Zhang Zeduan accurately depicts the minute details of China during the Northern Song Dynasty. As an artwork, it carries significant value not only to the perseverance of Chinese art but also to China’s culture. Such aspects of traditional Chinese painting, among others, became the motivation for Yang Yongliang’s majestic landscape scroll paintings.

“清明上河图”作为中国古代历史上最著名的艺术品之一，用极其丰富的元素展现了中国的文化。张择端的这幅全景画精准地描绘了北宋时期中国的城市面貌和当时社会各阶层的生活状况。作为艺术品，它不仅对于中国文化具有重要的意义，同时承载着中华艺术的流传。传统国画的这些魅力激发了杨泳梁创作大型山水画卷的热情。

“In the future, we’ll only be able to see traditional Chinese art and calligraphy in museums because the structure of our current living conditions and changing cityscape won’t allow this art form to survive. So I’ve always been wondering how to show Chinese art in a new way”

“将来，我们只能在博物馆中看到中国的传统艺术和书法艺术，因为我们目前的生活方式和不断变化的城市景观将使这些艺术形式无法生存下去。所以我一直想探索如何以新的方式展示中华艺术”

– Yang Yongliang 杨泳梁

Moonlight Series 《月光》系列

Yang Yongliang uses mixed media such as painting, video, photo manipulation, and animation to create colossal landscapes that lure viewers’ interest. While his work employs a mix of both traditional and contemporary art styles, his work is neither outdated nor too novel to be misunderstood. In the world of imported holidays, flashy delights, and rapid urbanization, Yang finds that much of what has been the Chinese identity has changed and is slowly being forgotten. By focusing on the foundational values of traditional Chinese art, he hopes to preserve a vital part of his nation’s cultural assets and bring it to light in an era where western media and art remain dominant.

杨泳梁使用绘画，视频，照片和动画等混合媒体的形式来创建巨大的景观，以吸引观众的兴趣。尽管他的作品融合了传统艺术又融合了当代艺术风格，但他的作品不会显得过时，也不会太过超前而难以让人理解。在这个充满了外来的节日，肤浅的欢乐和迅速的城市化的世界中，杨泳梁发现，一些中国人身上的印记已经发生了很大变化，并且正逐渐被人们遗忘。通过关注中国传统艺术的基本价值，他希望保留中华文化的重要组成部分，并在这个由西方媒体和艺术仍然占主导地位的时代中将其展现出来。

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About the Artist

关于艺术家

Shanghainese artist, Yang Yongliang was engaged in calligraphy and traditional art since childhood. He later graduated from China Academy of Art in Shanghai in 2003, painting in a more classic contemporary style until he rekindled his interest in the ancient Chinese art style. Yang exploits a connection between traditional art and the contemporary, implementing ancient oriental aesthetics and literati beliefs with modern language and digital techniques. He currently lives and works between New York and Shanghai.

上海籍艺术家杨泳梁从小就接触到书法和传统艺术。后来他于2003年毕业于上海中国美术学院，一直投身于当代风格绘画，直到他重新燃起了对中国古代艺术风格的探索兴趣。杨泳梁利用传统艺术与当代艺术之间的联系，运用现代语言和数字技术来实现古代的东方美学和文人信仰。他目前在纽约和上海之间生活和工作。

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“Journey to the Dark II“ 《夜游记》. MGM Cotai, Macau.

Yang’s latest video installation, Journey to the Dark II, was recently unveiled at the MGM Cotai in Macau. Spanning an ultra-wide 70 meters in length, and projected onto screens, the work is layered with images and videos where his work is brought to life. It also uses pre-recorded manipulated sounds of the environment and a 6 channel sound system so viewers can truly immerse into the dystopian world of the artwork itself.

杨的最新影像装置《夜游记II》最近在澳门的MMG Cotai剧院揭幕。作品长度超过70米，并投影到屏幕上，由于层叠了画面和影像，使他的作品栩栩如生。作品使用预先录制的环境操作音和6声道的音响系统，使观众可以真正沉浸在艺术品本身的反乌托邦世界中。

“Phantom Landscape” series 《蜃市山水叁》系列

At first sight, Yang Yongliang’s artworks show magnificent Chinese landscapes filled with mountains, clouds, and water. The washed brushstrokes and the lack of vibrant colors invoke a serene yet gloomy sensation. However, for more attentive viewers, a closer look beckons. Composed of buildings and modern-day objects engulfed in the form of nature. Telephone poles are the trees, high-rise apartments become the mountains and rocks, while scaffolding and cranes cluster the tightly-packed structures. 

初看杨泳梁的作品展示了山峦叠嶂，水雾笼罩的壮丽中国风景。晕染的笔触和低调的色彩唤起宁静而阴沉的感觉。但是，对于更细心的观众来说，近距离的观看可以发现更多魅力。建筑物和现代的物品淹没在自然中。电线杆是树木，高层公寓变成了山峦和岩石，而脚手架和起重机则将紧凑的建筑物聚集在一起。

Through his work, Yang highlights the rapidly changing face of China and the sacrifices made to gain convenience: A loss of culture, individuality, identity, and nature. It is a contrast between the past and now, industrial and natural, as well as traditional and modern. At the same time, Yang also explores the state of declining humanity: A fragile being that through development drives its own demise– a self-fulfilling prophecy.

通过他的作品，杨泳梁着重表现了中国日新月异的面孔以及为获得更多的便利而做出的牺牲：文化，个性，身份和自然的丧失。这是过去与现在，工业与自然，传统与现代之间的对比。同时，杨泳梁还探索人性的衰退：一种脆弱的存在，即通过发展来驱动自身的灭亡——一种自我实现的预言。

“Heavenly Cities” series《天空之城》系列

While Yang does admit that he would not have allowed for technological intervention if he had majored in Traditional Chinese painting, he believes that the art form will find a more meaningful place in society when transformed. The techniques that Yang uses to create his works are as traditional as they are modern. He takes videos and images mostly in Shanghai, where changes are rapid, and digitally layers them into the format of a Chinese scroll painting using its traditional practices, blending and manipulating them to complete an artwork.

杨泳梁承认，如果他在大学期间主修中国画，就不会被允许技术干预。他认为，艺术形式在进行重新改造后将在社会中找到更有意义的位置。杨泳梁创作时所使用的技术既传统又现代。他主要在快速变化的上海拍摄视频和图像，然后使用传统的技法将它们以数字化的方式层叠成中国卷轴画的形式，并进行融合和处理以完成艺术品。

Artificial Wonderland II: Taigu Descendants

Yang often uses traditional techniques such as Shanshui, Gongbi, and Shuimo to create his works, these aspects add depth and narrative, empowering his works. For those who do not know, Shanshui in the contemporary sense plays counter to the techniques of painting. Instead of focusing on reality, colors, or lighting, it places more value on mental imagery. It is not for the viewer’s eyes but rather their minds. Gongbi emphasizes detail. Details so minute that they can be easily missed like the buildings in Yang’s mountainous landscape paintings. Lastly, Shuimo refers to shading and tone by controlling the density of ink with water or a grinding stone. It is what defines the aesthetic of ancient East-Asian art. Yang mimics this aesthetic digitally.

杨泳梁经常使用山水，工笔和水墨等传统技法创作作品，这些方面增加了作品的深度和叙事力，赋予了他的作品以力量。对于那些没有深入了解过的人，当代意义上的“山水”与绘画的技术背道而驰。与其将重点放在现实，色彩或照明上，他将其放在心理意象上。它的创作不是为了观众的眼睛，而是为了他们的内心。工笔强调细节。但如将细节细致入微，会使它们很容易像杨泳梁其他海量的风景画一样被遗忘。最后，水墨是指通过用水或砚而控制墨的密度来产生阴影和色调。它是古代东亚艺术的美学。杨泳梁用数字方式重现了这一点。

“Shanshui requires a lot of patience, a lot of repetition. Everyone who practices calligraphy knows that if you manually prepare the ink yourself, you need to spend half an hour before actually tracing a stroke on paper. It’s the same here, the mechanical side of taking thousands and thousands of pictures and post-processing them is like a meditation practice which is hard to endure for a lot of people.”

“山水画需要很多耐心和很多重复。每个练习书法的人都知道，如果自己动手磨墨，则需要花费半小时才能真正在纸上写出笔触。创作作品同样如此，拍摄成千上万张照片并对其进行后期的处理，这种机械操作的层面就像做冥想练习，对很多人来说很难忍受。”

– Yang Yongliang 杨泳梁

“Peach Blossom Society” series《桃源纪》系列

While Yang continues his journey to preserve and reinvent Chinese art for a digitally active audience, he can’t help but feel some sorrow for that which has already changed or been lost throughout his upbringing in Shanghai. Because the more he looks towards the future, the more he appreciates about the past.

杨泳梁为了将作品带给更被数码化所吸引的观众而创作，在这场保存和重塑中国艺术的旅途中，他不禁为上海，这座曾经抚育过自己的城市所发生的变化和所丢失的文化而感到悲伤。因为他愈放眼未来，则愈发欣赏过去。

For More information on the artist please click here

有关艺术家的更多信息，请单击此处

Translation 翻译 Rona Xia

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本篇文章来源于微信公众号: SHMADNESS

Compression (2018) by Desmond Lo

压缩 (2018) by Desmond Lo

 

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About the Artist

关于艺术家

Desmond Lo (罗洛民) is a Hong Kong-based photographer and animation artist. He uses computer-generated imagery in misty neon-lit Neo-Noire environments that explore the change in the identity of Hong Kong and how it is fading away. His digital cityscapes are a re-envisioning of the Hong Kong culture and an attempt at preserving them through his own imagination.

罗洛民（Desmond Lo）是香港的摄影师和动画艺术家。他用计算机生成的图像营造一种在朦胧的霓虹灯下的新黑色环境里，探索了香港身份的变化以及它在如何逐渐消失。他的数字城市景观是对香港文化的重新构想，并试图通过他自己的想象力来保存它们。

Desmond Lo 罗洛民

 

Before the artist’s Neo-noir digital obsession, he was focused on photography which was inspired by the late Fan Ho. Fan Ho was renowned for his black and white photos that told the story of the poor people of Hong Kong and the environment around them. His use of light, shadow, and coincidental capturing is what drew Desmond to his works. He simulates many of Fan Ho’s techniques to develop his own works.

在艺术家对新黑色数码技术的痴迷之前他专注于摄影，他的灵感来自已故的 何藩 。何藩是以黑白照片闻名，他的照片讲述了香港贫民及其周围环境的故事。他对光，影和巧合抓拍的运用吸引着罗洛民并运用在自己的作品中。他学习了范浩的许多技术来创作自己的作品。

There is an emphasis on scale in many of Lo’s photos with skyscrapers and architecture being an important feature of his compositions. An interaction of light reflecting off surfaces while creating a new narrative.

在罗洛民的许多照片里都有一个重点规模：摩天大楼和建筑是他创作作品的重要特征，并利用其表面反射出相互作用的光进行创作新的叙述。

 

Recurring Nightmares (2019) by  Desmond Lo

循环的噩梦 (2019) by Desmond Lo

 

Gridlock (2020) by Desmond Lo

僵局 (2020) by Desmond Lo

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Someone Lived Here

某人曾住在这里

Overshot by Demond Lo

向上拍摄by Demond Lo

 

Lo’s artworks in his first solo exhibition titled Someone Lived Here uses cyberpunk as a visual genre to describe many aspects of the culture of Hong Kong. The genre, cyberpunk, mixes high-tech elements with low life to portray a much rougher and dystopian future. It echoes Hong Kong’s cramped environment and neon signs that illuminate its streets. It also draws attention to the big financial gap within the city which acts both as a financial hub and an old fishing village.

罗浩民在他的首次个人展览「某人曾住在这里」的作品中，将赛博朋克作为一种视觉流派来描述香港文化的许多方面。赛博朋克这种流派将高科技元素与底层生活结合在一起，描绘了一个更加艰难和反乌托邦的未来。它呼应着香港狭窄的环境和照亮其街道的霓虹灯招牌。它还引起人们注意到城市内部巨大的金融差距，既是一个金融中心又是一个老渔村。

The exhibition consists of two parts, Hidden Corners and Childhood Memories. It is a visual stroll into the “hidden gems” from the perspective of the artist. These re-imagined environments eventually project Lo’s childhood memories of a more vibrant and nostalgic Hong Kong onto a parallel dystopian universe. Lo’s recreations are desolate and familiar yet detached. There is a sense of yearning present in many of his nocturnal images.

展览分为两个部分：隐秘的角落和童年的回忆。从艺术家的角度来看，这是对“隐藏的珠宝”的视觉漫步。这些经过重新构想的环境最终将罗永浩在童年时代对一个充满活力和怀旧的香港的回忆投射到了一个平行的反乌托邦宇宙中。罗永浩的重塑是既荒凉的，熟悉的又尚未分离的。他的许多夜间形象都带有一种向往的感觉。

 

Rainstain [left] & Heavy Rain (2018) [right] by Desmond Lo

雨渍 [左图] & 大雨(2018) [右图]by Desmond Lo

 

RLD (2018) [left] & MK2032 (2018) [right] by Desmond Lo

RLD(2018) [左图] & MK2032(2018) [右图]by Desmond Lo

Desmond’s pictures have deceived some as they are not real photographs, just hyper-photorealistic. He constructs his worlds first through a 3D modeling program and uses the Octane Render Engine to create realistic lighting, shadows, depth, and refractions. Once his composition is set, he will use the in-program camera to shoot the “photo”. This led him to be accused of misleading his audience, many of whom, wanted to know where his works were captured to recreate it for themselves. He reasons that he was not interested in the redundancy of well-known locations that every photographer has already captured. He chooses to recreate his environments while implementing a canton flair of neon lights, tightly packed apartment windows, and overarching skyscrapers. A Hong Kong of his own making.

罗浩民的照片欺骗了一些人，因为它们不是真实的照片，而是超真实感的图像。他首先通过3D建模程序构建了自己的世界，并使用Octane Render Engine创建了逼真的照明，阴影，深度和折射。设定好构图后，他将使用程序内相机拍摄“照片”。这导致他被说误导观众，其中许多人想知道他的作品在哪里被拍摄的然后后期重新修改。他这么做的理由是，他对别的摄影师已经捕获的知名地点都不感兴趣。他选择使用广州风格的霓虹灯，紧凑的公寓窗户和高耸入云的摩天大楼的同时重建属于自己的环境。一个自己创造出的香港。

 

 

“You get these photographers who come to Hong Kong from overseas and shoot the exact same thing the exact same way. On Instagram, you see it ten times per day! For me, as a content creator, why would I want to replicate something that someone has done before?”

“您知道那些从海外来香港的摄影师们都在以完全相同的方式进行完全相同的拍摄。在Instagram上，您每天可以看到十次！对我来说，作为内容创建者，我为什么要复制别人以前做过的事情？”

– Desmond Lo 罗浩民

 

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The EveryDay Project

每日项目

Works from Desmond Lo’s EveryDay Project

来自罗浩民的每日项目作品

Desmond’s drive-in digital art is inspired by the famous digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple on Instagram, who had been creating one piece of work every day for over 12 years without missing a single day. Following in Winkelmann’s footsteps, Desmond began to produce one work a day, every day. Not only does this exercise help him to get better at 3D modeling but it also challenged him to be creative even when he did not feel like creating anything.

罗浩民的数字艺术灵感来自著名的数字艺术家Mike Winkelmann（在Instagram上被称为Beeple），他每天创作一件作品已有12年以上，而且是坚持每一天。跟随Winkelmann的脚步，罗浩民开始每天制作一件作品，每一天。这项练习不仅帮助他在3D建模方面变得更好，而且甚至在他感觉不到在创建任何东西的同时挑战了他的创造力。

The individual work he puts out to the world covers a wide range of topics including society, politics, pop culture, and self-exploration. Employing a cinematic atmosphere and well-rendered CGI, he can instill an enigmatic aura for the viewer.

他向世界展示的个人作品涵盖了广泛的主题，包括社会，政治，流行文化和自我探索。利用电影般的气氛和精心绘制的CGI，他可以为观众灌输神秘的气氛。

Revival (2020) by Desmond Lo

复兴(2020) by Desmond Lo

Faith (2019) by Desmond Lo

信仰(2019) by Desmond Lo

 

Aftermath (2020) by Desmond Lo

后果(2020) by Desmond Lo

 

Despite the seemingly moody nature of Desmond Lo’s CGI works, he does not take his work too seriously. He remarks that although his cyberpunk is aesthetically pleasing for the audience, he is more focused on the underlying story it hopes to communicate, an exploration of the culture and life of people.

尽管罗浩民的CGI作品看起来很喜怒无常，但他并没有太严肃地对待自己的作品。他说，尽管他的赛博朋克在审美上吸引了观众，但他更加专注于它所传达的背后的意义，希望观众去交流体会一种对人类的文化与生活的探索。

Translation 翻译：Eva Li

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Nam June Paik poses during exhibition preparation

Recent influences of social media and the worldwide digitization have brought about important discussions on its effect on socio-political events. Looking back at this, acclaimed Korean American artist Nam June Paik’s (1932~2006) works come to mind. What were the implications of his works and what kind of issues have become a reality for the world today?

Nam June Paik, Magnet TV (1965)

Blue Buddha (1992~1996) by Nam June Paik, Video installation with 4 color televisions 
and neon light. Gallery artlink Collection. Photo by LEE Jung Sung

Known as the “Father of Video Art,” Nam June Paik pioneered many aspects of the use of technology as an artistic medium. He began experimenting with the relationship between technology and humanity, bringing both forms together and sometimes humanizing digital elements through interaction. 

Piano Activities, by Philip Corner, as performed in Wiesbaden, 1962, by (from left) Emmett Williams, Wolf Vostell, Nam June Paik, Dick Higgins, Benjamin Patterson and George Maciunas

Inspired by the Fluxus art movement which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product, Paik would meet John Cage among other prominent collaborators such as Merce Cunningham, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, and Wolf Vostell. Their collaborations would further push him to work with electronic art during his search for something new.

Fluxus artist collaboration with Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik

The Fluxus art movement challenged the notion of “high art” culture in which traditional institutions such as museums determine what is considered art and how it should be valued. Emphasizing the bringing of power back to the masses, it broke the boundaries of art and life through the use of humor. The art form is practiced through the start of a piece without a notion of coming to an end, leaving the outcome to be determined by the viewer. This notion is seen in some of Paik’s works but with an electrical twist.

TV Garden (1974) by Nam June Paik

His installation titled, TV Garden, features 40 TV sets dispersed at odd angles in a patch of plants as if they were blooming. The screens feature clips of dance and music from various cultures, sending waves of rhythm and sound through the ecological environment. The line between two contrasting elements, nature and technology, are blurred while intertwining to offer a visceral experience for the viewer.

Electronic Super Highway (1995) by Nam June Paik

One of Paik’s most notable works is the Electronic Super Highway. This installation is composed of multiple TVs surrounded and broken into all the states of the US by neon bars. It represents his understanding of the US and explores the multi-cultural element of the country featuring clips that viewers may associate with each US state. Kansas is represented by the movie  The Wizard of Oz while Indiana shows the Indy 500 and so on.

Inspired by the development of the US highway system, the clips are sped up to simulate the feeling of looking out the window of a moving car. Paik brings to light the idea of unbound connectivity and communication through technology as the highway network did for the country’s transportation system. The work remains eerily relevant to this day with many new interpretations such as misinformation from information overload and stereotyping.

TV Buddha series (1974) by Nam June Paik

The TV Buddha series unites historical elements with the futuristic. While it alludes to the concept of an infinite loop and observes the relationship between technology and humanity, it also encompasses themes such as surveillance and self-absorption of society in media. The installation works to share art with the masses. It becomes a code translated by the viewer based on their experiences and views born from different perspectives in time, culture, and ethnicities.

A look back at a selection of his TV works are only a small part of his rich journey. Finding new meaning through the Fluxus movement he discovered a new passion in video and sound. From there he studied electrical engineering to develop his new art form that was once a tool for governments and broadcast stations. In this sense, the late Nam June Paik truly stands out as a pioneer in many fields.

“Art changes the world. Good art and new art present new perspectives to the world. Nam June Paik was such an artist.”

– Curator and Art Historian, Wulf Herzogenrath

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ABOUT THE ARTIST | 关于艺术家

Niki Passath is an Austrian robotics artist engaged in his work with the sculptural conditions of robots and the idea of artificial intelligence. His artistic creations search for answers to the mystery of life, the people, their emotions, social behavior, their behavior compared to machines and to the surrounding nature.

Niki Passath是一位奥地利机器人艺术家，他用机器模型和人工智能的概念来实践自己的艺术创作。他在创作中试图找寻关于生命的奥秘，人类和他们的情感，社交行为，并将人类的行为与机器对周围环境的反应来做比较。

A few weeks ago Niki Passath opened his show, “Robotic Conditions” at the JITU Creative space in 798 Art District, Beijing. He demonstrated creative works through his mechanical inventions and also invoked curiosity among the audience. In an attempt to better understand how one enters this career path and the thinking behind his creations, Madness reached out for an interview. Let’s take a look below:

几周前，Niki Passath在北京798艺术区的吉图创意空间举办了他的个展“机械化状态”。他在个展中展示了他的机械创作艺术，同时也激发了在场观众的好奇。为了更好地理解艺术家是如何选择创作媒介，以及他的创作背后的思想，Madness邀请这位艺术家和我们进行了一次对话。

Live performance by Niki Passath at JITU Creative Space Beijing

1. How did you get started on these robotics art projects? 

  你是如何开始机器人艺术项目的？

When I was 5 years old, I started to learn to play the violoncello and continued to study classical music at the university in Graz. After finishing school I studied architecture and finished my studies in media arts and digital arts. During these times I had already created machines, robots, and tools with which I created my art. My first art piece was the robotic tattoo performance “Kurt“.

当我5岁的时候，我开始学习大提琴，之后在格拉茨大学学习古典音乐。完成学业后，我又学了建筑，并且完成了在媒体艺术和数字艺术方面的研究。在这段时间里，我已经开始我的艺术创作，比如机器、机器人和其它工具。我的第一个艺术作品是机器纹身表演者“Kurt”.

Robotic Tattoo performance “Kurt” by Niki Passath

Later I realized that this might have to do with my musical background: Using the music instrument creates the music and a very strong and intimate interaction with a machine leads to the art. 

后来我意识到，这可能与我的音乐背景有关：使用乐器来创作音乐，其实是一件与机器之间拥有强烈而亲密互动的一件事。这也通向了我后来艺术创作的道路。

I was always interested in many different things and having the possibility to study in an academic context was very important for me. Nevertheless, every method and skill I use in my art practice, I learned in an autodidactic way. 

我总是对许多不同领域的事情感兴趣，并且在学术背景下的学习对我来说非常重要。尽管如此，我在艺术实践中使用的每一种方法和技巧，都是自学来的。

2. What is the purpose of these artistic robots?

创作这些艺术机器人背后的动机是什么？

“My projects always start with a question. “

“我的创作总是以一个问题开始。”

I am mainly interested in humans, human behavior, social systems, communication and motion as language. By understanding a machine I created I start to understand a lot about myself and humanity in general. For example, if you create a machine which can walk around in nature, you will realize what amazing unconscious skills we have that we can navigate easily through almost every kind of surrounding. 

我主要对人类、人类行为、社会系统、交流和运动这类主题感兴趣。通过理解我创建的一台机器，我对我自己和人性也有了很大的了解。举个例子，如果你创造了一台可以在大自然中行走的机器，你将会意识到我们拥有的惊人的无意识技能，因为我们可以很容易地在几乎所有的环境中进行活动。

“ZOE” by Niki Passath, an attempt to represent human and interpersonal relationships with machinery

I always create a new robot for new performance or exhibition. It is very important for me to make everything by myself and also to use a restricted set of materials. Cheap and easily available. 

我总是为新的表演或展览创造一个新的机器人。对我来说，自己亲手做每件事是非常重要的，而且要使用一套受限制的材料。便宜而且容易买到。

I often traveled around the world and always wanted to be able to create my art pieces wherever I am. This was on one hand, a restriction but on the other, gave me the possibility to act as an artist ubiquitously.

我经常在世界各地旅行，总想在任何地方都能创作出我的艺术作品。一方面，这是一种限制，另一方面，也是一个让我可以在何时何地都能创作艺术的机会。

At the end of the day, machines have the purpose of supporting me to find answers. By using them, together, we become symbiotic elements which create together the art pieces.

最后的最后，用机器创作的目的是帮助我找到一些答案。通过使用它们，我们一起成为共生的元素，共同创造出艺术作品。

“Volker” by Niki Passath

3. You mentioned that Volker (seen above) was made with the intention of playing with and stimulating emotion. Do you think that this emotion could be more of an illusion that the viewer experiences?

你提到了制作Volker（见上图）的目的是用来刺激情绪的产生。你认为这种情绪的产生会不会更像是观众幻觉？

In this context, I like to talk about interpreted emotions. For sure the machines don’t bear emotions but they can create emotions. 

在这种情况下，我想聊聊对情绪的理解。毫无疑问，机器不会有情感，但它们可以创造情感。

There doesn’t seem to be an interest in the form of the machine, only in its function. Before the industrial revolution there were “artists” like Jaques Vauconson who created an animatronic duck or Jaquet Droz, who as a clockmaker created an android who was capable of writing any kind of text, actually some see this as one of the first computers, or Wolfgang von Kempelen who created a machine which could speak and created the famous chess player automaton. 

人们普遍对机器的形式没有兴趣，只是在它的功能上。在工业革命之前，有像Jaques Vauconson 这样的艺术家，他创造了一个电动鸭子和钟表匠Jaquet Droz，以及一个能够书写任何文本的机器人，实际上有些人把它看成是最早的计算机之一。又或者是Wolfgang von Kempelen发明的可以说话并创造出著名象棋玩家的自动机。

The backside of a Jaquet Droz automaton

Some of these inventors went into industrial developments creating machines to produce products for masses, others, went into illusionism, like Von Kempelen’s famous chess player which in fact was not an automaton, but more like a person hidden within the machine.

这些发明家中的一些人进入了工业发展阶段，创造机器来为大众生产产品，而另一些则进入了幻觉主义，就像冯肯普伦著名的象棋手，事实上它并不是一个机器，而更像一个隐藏在机器内部的象棋手。

Generally, the creators of the automatons seem to have had more interest in philosophical questions… what does writing mean? does the ability to write a letter with your own hand, mastering languages in a way, make us human? Isn’t it the possibility to speak or the ability to think in such a complex way which makes us humans?

一般来说，机器人的创造者似乎对哲学问题更感兴趣……写作是什么意思？用你自己的手写一封信，掌握语言的能力，就意味着我们成为人类吗？难道不是有说话的能力，以及可以用如此复杂的方式思考的能力更使我们成为人类吗？

In a way my robots create illusions, but the intention is to start with these illusions a thinking process which stimulates subjective insights about oneself.

在某种程度上，我的机器人创造了幻想，但最终的目的是它们如何激发对我们对自己的主观认识，让人更了解自己。

Painting Traces by Niki Passath

4. Why do you find painting with hands different from painting with electronic traces?

用手绘画和用机器绘画有什么不同？

My robots always act in a partially unpredictable way. So they are programmed to act autonomously. I have programmed the algorithms so I understand the principle. Same as if I look at a pianoforte, I can understand how this instrument works, but I still am not able to play it. This requires practice.

我的机器人总是以一种不可预知的方式行动。所以它们当初被设定的时候就是自主行动。我已经编写了算法，所以我理解了这个原理。就像我看钢琴一样，我能理解这个乐器是如何工作的，但我还是不能演奏它，这需要练习。

Rip In The Multiverse, 2015 240 × 120 cm Acrylic and watercolor on paper, Niki Passath

By using my robots I always want to archive something. With each performance, I learn more about my own instrument so we become a more combined body and create together. Sometimes I have to react to its behavior, but as I can predict what the machine will do, I can learn to use it in my personal way. Somebody else using one of my machines would create a different output. 

通过使用我的机器人，我总是想要存档一些东西。每一次表演，我都能更多地了解我自己的机器，这样我们就能成为一个更综合的一体，一起创造。有时我不得不对它的行为做出反应，但是因为我可以预测这台机器会做什么，我可以用我个人的方式来使用它。其他人使用同样的机器产生不同的输出。

For me, the learning aspect is very interesting. During performances, I learn to use the robotic painting instrument and during this learning process, the relationship between me and the machine evolves. 

对我来说，这样的学习总是很有趣。在表演过程中，我学会了使用机器人绘画工具，同样在这个过程中，我和机器之间的关系会不断发展。

“I like to have emotional relationships with my robots.”

“我喜欢和我的机器人建立情感上的连接。”

5. As an artist, did you have any projects you wanted to do but could not?

作为一个艺术家，你有什么项目是你想做但还没做的吗？

I have a lot of ideas and also a lot of projects in my mind of which some are quite utopian. As my projects grow evolutionary and are not planned in advance (only the question is defined), I generally don’t have “projects I want to realize“. 

我有很多想法，在我的脑海中也有很多项目，其中有些是很乌托邦的。随着我的项目不断发展，并且没有提前计划（只有问题被定下来），基本上我没有“想要实现的项目”。

Sometimes there is the need for much learning before being able to start the artistic process. It took ten years for me to act intuitively with the materiality of electronics, sensors, and motors. After learning these skills new ideas come up, like how now very interested in artificial intelligence. 

有时候，在开始艺术创作之前需要大量的学习。我用了10年的时间来更直觉地使用电子设备、传感器和马达的材料。在学习了这些技能之后，新的想法就会出现，比如现在对人工智能非常感兴趣。

6. Lastly, do you have any future projects coming up?

最后，你未来有哪些项目？

Actually, I am learning the first steps into artificial intelligence. I know this will take a long time. During this time, I will think more about the human body as a machine. 

实际上，我正在学习人工智能的第一步。我知道这需要很长时间。在这段时间里，我将更多地把人的身体想象成一台机器。

If I can program little machines to have a certain behavior, why should it not be possible to program myself to act after a certain pre-defined algorithm? Going back to the comparison with classical music: Not all musicians need a technical instrument like a piano or a violin or a flute, there still are vocalists which use their own body as an instrument, the voice.

如果我能编程机器让其拥有特定的行为，那为什么不可能在设定一个特定的算法之后，让自己在特定的环境下行动呢？回到与古典音乐的比较：不是所有的音乐家都需要像钢琴、小提琴或笛子这样的技术乐器，仍然有歌手用他们自己的身体作为乐器，也就是他们的声音。

For more on the artist: http://niki.xarch.at

Edited by Stephanie & Poppy

Photos provided by Niki Passath and JITU Creative Space

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jin@createcdigital.com 

WeChat: jin-nebafrom

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Chief Editor

wenyan_zhu@createcdigital.com 

WeChat: zhuwenyanppy

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