Lu Hsian-fu (
His two current works on exhibit at the Juming Museum (
Real Virtuality: How to Change Faces (
PHOTO COURTESY OF LU HSIAN-FU
According to Lu, this is what will happen in the future, when people's "essence" can be digitized and become data existing in cyberspace -- a person will have one or more virtual existences, or avatars, in cyberspace.
Once we achieve this type of technology, "we will enjoy greater freedom. We will be able to achieve things we have never dreamt of in the physical world," Lu said in an interview. "On the other hand, our avatars will be in constant danger. They will be subject to other people and their avatars' manipulation or attack," he added.
The various faces of Lu's virtual clones show a spectrum of emotions -- from outrage to rapture. Some faces are carved to resemble Peking opera faces of personalities such as the brave Chang Fei (
PHOTO COURTESY OF LU HSIAN-FU
Lu also seeks to show that something may go awry when people are transformed into data. Some of the faces are missing a nose, covered all over with eyes, or simply blurred.
Real Virtuality is meant as a revolt against the worldwide trend to create virtual reality.
"Virtual reality imitates the physical world. It uses computers to reproduce what is `out there.' Nowadays, people seem to place an excessively high value on creating perfect verisimilitudes," said Lu. The project is the artist's way of reminding people that it's more important to do the opposite, "to turn what is inside our head outside, to realize what is virtual, abstract or conceptual."
PHOTO COURTESY OF JUMING MUSEUM
At a time when facial animation technology has recreated nearly perfect human expressions for Hollywood blockbuster movies, Lu does the opposite by turning what he imagines our faces can look like into concrete images.
Real Virtuality: How to Change Faces is the fourth part in his e-series (易【e】系列) at the Museum. Playing with the many different definitions of the Chinese character 易 which sounds like the letter "e," to evoke the idea of electronics, the projects in the series are all thematically based on modern technology.
Bed to the power N = Bed for N People (床的N次方=N人床), Lu's other work at the museum, is the third part in his
The dozens of beds in this installation are piled into a pyramid. In making this installation, "I want to show how our familiar beds can be transformed into something totally different. It's easy to pile them up. And since no beds are disfigured or welded together in the process, they can later resume their identity as beds," said Lu.
This demonstrates that the object, bed, is "changeable" (變易), "easy" (簡易) to change, while remaining "unchanged" (不易) at the same time. This variable use of the concept of 易 was inspired by the Han-dynasty scholar Cheng Hsuan's (鄭玄) idea of three 易's. Conforming to Cheng's theory, the form of the beds change, but their essence remains intact.
For Lu, the e-series acts out the spirit of the digital era. "Zeros and ones are easily combined and aligned into all possibilities, while the essence of those basic units remains the same," Lu said.
Art Notes
What: 'Real Virtuality: How to Change Faces' (實擬虛境：易【E】容術) and 'Bed to the Power N = Bed for N People (床的 N 次= N 人床)
Where: Juming Museum 2 HsiShih Hu, Chinshan, Taipei County (台北縣金山鄉西勢湖二號)
When: Until Aug. 31
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