As information technology develops, people’s habits of receiving and spreading information are undergoing profound changes. Fragmentation and entertainment have become important features of online information dissemination. “Be short, explosive, and fast” has become a strategy used by many content producers to attract attention efficiently, while audience increasingly seek strong sensory stimulation and immediate gratification. Grey Point, a Chinese curatorial team, noticed this phenomenon and curated the exhibition 8 Sec Catching to explore how individuals and society may be transformed under the circumstances. Opened on 28 September in Guangzhou, China, the exhibition brought together twenty-eight worldwide active artists. They delved into Internet culture, sensory stimulation, and the “attention economy” of the information age, and presented the online world from multiple perspectives. Through their works, creative and insightful artistic experiences are offered to the audience.
Umme Hanny, an innovative architectural Indian designer, is dedicated to exploring the complex relationship between building environments and human psychology. Her video work Reality? envisions a future in 2049, where human’s addiction to dopamine can cause disconnection from reality and isolation from society. By the time, the virtual and the real may be deeply intertwined with the advancements in neuroscience, and people will be simultaneously exposed to the influences of the both of them. Customizable sensory stimulation in the virtual realm can produce such high levels of dopamine that people will use it as an escape from reality and get addicted. Meanwhile, the overwhelming amount of content on the Internet and the the virtual world’s manipulation of human attention create suffering. In short, Hanny reflects on the potential consequences of intensifying virtualization in the Information Age.
Chinese artist Qing Xu, in her work Post Info Schemes, analyses the phenomenon of overloaded information and the factors contributing to information cocoons within post-truth contexts through illustration, digital narratives, and installation. Besides, she attempts to explore the origins and dissemination of biased information, and discuss how the social media shapes the audience consciousness and creates cognitive biases. In her work, trees are regarded as the message transmitters, and their growth symbolize the dissemination of information. Xu reveals the interaction
between individuals and centralized information from a third-party perspective which transcends both communicator and audience. She encourages viewers to think critically about existing sources of information and consider others. She tries to help people find their way to the truth in this world full of biases.
3D digital artist Ziyan Zhang is known for her unique visual aesthetics and existentialist perspective. In her work The Third Memory, a world of fragmented information becomes an “infinite memory space” that endures endlessly. Theinformation in the space is likened to an addictive sweet. With each interaction on the screen, “digital desserts” drop to nourish the creature called “Overeating”. This scene metaphorically reflects the impact of online information on traditional human memory. Her work echoes the confusion and disorientation of people in the digital age, and at the same time provides an opportunity for viewers to reflect on how human memory has been affected by changes in the way information is stored.
Through the unique perspectives of several artists, the works in this exhibition not only demonstrate the complexity of the information-based world, but also present critical thinking about the characteristics of contemporary information dissemination and interaction. Viewers could experience the artists’ concern about the phenomena of overload information, information cocoon and virtual addiction in these works. Rich in sensory experience, these artworks catch the audience’s attention to review how the information interacts with people and the profound impact that it has on them. In this highly discursive artistic journey, the audience can temporarily detach themselves from the hustle and bustle, slow down and focus their attention on the realities behind the fragmented information in the present day.
The exhibition is presented by GREY POINT
Exhibition Venue: LOWLOWLAND, No.16 Gui Gang Yi Road, Yuexiu District,
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Theme: 8 Sec Catching
Producer: Xiaohui Wu
Curators: Zijian Chen, Xiaohui Wu, Xinyi Liu
Exhibition Design: Zijian Chen, Yuzhi Lin
Execution: Zijian Chen, Yuzhi Lin, Xiaohui Wu, Jinhuan Hong
Visual Design: Xinyi Liu, Jinhuan Hong
Publicity: Xiaohui Wu, Shiwen Tang, Xiaoxuan Zhang
Editors: Xiaohui Wu, Yuyang Hu,Shiwen Tang, Zijian Chen, Xinyi Liu
Photographers: Zhi Zhong, Shan Zhao
List of Participating Artists: Jiachen Wang, Biying Chen, Yaohan Chen, Yuhe Hu, Qianqian Jia, Karen Wang, Mathijs Hunfeld, Dot Als, Nathan Smith, Umme Hanny Ilkalwale, Shuwen Wang, Qing Xu, Fan Yang, Baijie Liu, Ziru Chen, Leixinyi Li, Xin Yue, Lidi Fu, Zixin Yan, Chenxi Zhan, Hongzheng Wu, Ziyan Zhang, Raine Li & Jiayi Lin, Xuanya Pan, Sicen Kuang, Jiayi Lin (Maggie), Lin Jiang (Artists listed in no particular order)