2013-2014 日夢之所 Their Rooms, Their Dreams

This is a visiting project based on the idea of peering into the private space of others. I chose the city"London" in England as the place of focus, since it is where I had studied and lived for years. There are 30 participants in different age groups fom different living districts and countries, with various jobs. By ways of distributing leaflets and sending random emails, the artist was invited to enter others' private spaces (houses/rooms). After oberservation, photographs, and interviews, I decided t use painting as the medium to convey my ideas. 

 

" For our house is our corner of the world. As has often been said, it is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word."- Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space＊

Since the room is the final stop of the whole day, it carries within the habits that creat a space of privacy and secrurity. The structure of the room (the living pattern and interior design), the objects ( the private possessions and furniture) and decorations ( the ways of disply) reveal people's tastes, favors, identities, cultural backgrounds and religions. For me, those spaces are not only place of livig but also the backgrounds against which the inhabitants' life narratives are played out. Also, these are sites for floating thoughts, dreams and ideas. 

 

The room may symbolize one's inner mind and present the traces of living. On the other hand, for most of people, the room is a place of repose for a long-term traveler. Unlike my previous work, in which I focused on the memories and appearance of my own spaces, I have changed the focus to " the others". The artist was invited to walk into others' houses, listen to past stories and sceneries, and observe the randomness of life. Through the language of painting that convey the invisible atmosphere and feelings, the speicific spaces were transformed into soft and emotive sites for reveries. 

 

 

＊Gaston Bachelard, (1969), The Poetics of Space, Beacon Press Boston U.S.A.