Beyond physical limitations

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Beyond physical limitations

Friday, 14 June 2019 | Pioneer

Beyond physical limitations

Shanghai-based artist Lu Yang is exploring the human mimicry of robots by capturing the movements of dancers in India, Indonesia and Japan

We’ve known for long that dance promotes agility and brain development. But then we also know that we are not aware of what this most cerebral of organs is capable of. And sometimes it takes art to further this understanding.

Lu Yang, who was selected unanimously as the winner from a shortlist of three artists as the next BMW Art Journey’s “Human Machine Reverse Motion Capture Project,” has shown how the human body can be trained to overcome its physical limitations. Her research will explore the deployment of the human body in historical and present-day cultures, looking at traditional and contemporary dances practised in Indonesia, India, and Japan.

Steeped in the latest digital technologies, Lu Yang will employ sophisticated motion capture devices to record the dancers’ gestures, including facial, finger-and eye-capture techniques that can collect and analyse the subtlest body movements, and will mimic these using robotic technologies. Her works were exhibited in the Discoveries sector at this year’s Art Basel show in Hong Kong. Yang is represented by the gallery Société in Berlin.

She has demonstrated how in Legong, a traditional Balinese dance, for example, movement is controlled to such a degree that dancers are able to manipulate their finger joints individually. The facial and eye movements of India’s Kathakali dancers resemble the workings of sensors and motors in advanced humanoid robots. A similar robotic precision is expressed in the Japanese pop dances. Thus, Lu Yang’s Art Journey links traditional and modern cultural forms to radically transformative contemporary technologies. In a larger sense, it will look into how we negotiate our evolving relationship with machines that may ultimately surpass our human limitations.

“This gives a great starting point for long-term research projects. This is not just an art journey. It will be a wonderful start for me to open a new chapter of my creation,” says Lu Yang.

The international jury consisted of Claire Hsu, Director, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Matthias Mühling, Director, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich; Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, President Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Philip Tinari, Director Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing; and Samson Young, artist and winner of the first BMW Art Journey.

“What we found exciting about Lu Yang’s proposal and work,” the jury noted in its statement, “is the way she draws connections across time, space, and geography — traversing different realms — from Kathakali and Legong dance to Japanese pop with our potential future robotic selves. She demonstrates that humanity’s search for an answer to why we are here is continuous – it just takes different forms.” The proposed BMW Art Journey evokes urgent dilemmas in today’s society, the jury noted. “We appreciated the idea that the vocabulary within the database used for robotic human expressions would be expanded to include the expressions found in multiple traditions — a much needed expansion of reference points in today’s world.”

 Art Basel and BMW will collaborate with the artist to document the journey and share it with a broader public. In addition to Lu Yang, the shortlisted artists from the Discoveries sector for emerging artists at Art Basel in Hong Kong were: Clarissa Tossin (represented by Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles) and Shen Xin (represented by Madeln Gallery, Shanghai).

Launched in 2015, the Art Journey is a collaboration between Art Basel and BMW, created to recognise and support emerging artists worldwide. The unique award is open to artists who are exhibiting in the Discoveries sector during Art Basel in Hong Kong. A judging panel comprised of internationally renowned experts meet first to select a shortlist three artists from the sector, who are then invited to submit proposals for a journey aimed to further develop their ideas and artistic work. The jury reconvenes to choose a winner from the three proposals.

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