context
serena lee
affinities
practice
buckets
shopping carts
juice jugs
ladders
washing machines
dishwashers
toilet tanks & bowls
clothes pins
rope
wooden beams
milk crates
roof shingles
window parts: screens, frames
TV parts
bike frames
wheels
car parts
tofu tubs
restaurant-size tin cans
restaurant-size tubs
watering cans
cement tiles
plants: tomatoes, melons, choi
aquariums
shelves
chairs
styrofoam innards
eavestrough
tarpaulin
bus shelter advertising posters
rocks
tires
plumbing pipes
planters (big)
garden lights
sets of things in styrofoam
utility carts
cinder blocks
bricks
metal sheets
needle to
sea bottom
Close up, dynamic, crescendo (increasing in intensity and density); composition going between symmetry/'order' and dense chaos
Movements like twisting, pushing forward, outward bursts, splitting/fanning apart
Camera view is aimed at motion data point(s); starts with one 'body', then that point multiplies and overlaps/intersects with first 'body'
Camera traverses dense accumulated close-up layers of assets, that are absurdly scaled (some 'normal', some like 'Honey, i shrunk the kids'; often of the same thing: normal ) to the environment, blending into the environment.
Assets can be all 3 things, multiplied and layered:
- flat (image, cut out, with alpha channel PNG)
- surface texture on 3D model
- photogrammetry model
Assets:
Horse *
Mountain (3D model + flat Paramount image/GIF)
Tiger Print
Stars (flat icons + foil balloons)
Cranes: birds + machines
'Guitars': Banjo + Yi Wu
Peach *
Paper crane construction *
Environment:
Construction sites (large Carroll St. build + desolate empty corner lot)
Tai Chi Reference - Sections 2 & 7
SHOT 2
Shorter sequence, with cranes, less dense, slower
6. Slant Flying
7. Raise Hands
8. White Crane Spreads it's Wings
9. Brush Knee and Push (Left & Right, 4 Times)
10. Play Guitar
11. Step Forward Push and Punch
12. Push Forward
13. Carry Tiger to the Mountain
14. Cross Hands
*
SHOT 7
Longer sequence, more dense, with stars, faster pace - more 'confused'/cluttered
42. Right Separate Hands
43. 1st Raise Foot
44. Step Back Seven Stars
45. Step Back and Hit the Tiger
46. 2nd Raise Foot
47. Strike Opponent's Ears with Fists
48. Lean Back and Kick
49. Turn Body and Kick with Heel
50. High Pat on Horse
51. Step Forward and Punch
52. Push Forward
53. Carry Tiger to the Mountain
54. Cross Hands
Storyboard A:
'Camera aimed at'
Storyboard G
'Panorama like a Chinese scroll painting'
Slow, panning, steady zoom out and zoom in, linear, rhythmic with identifiable repetition
* play with integration of text like the red stamps/seals on scroll paintings
* play with the image/background creasing up like a fan
Movements like scrolling, weaving, separating, following along grids and lines
Camera view is steady as panorama 'scrolls' by; assets move along with the scroll and in counter movement (against the grain), interweaving vertical and horizontal
Assets: playing with scale but not too densely
Assets:
"guitar" (banjo + yi wu)
monkey
horse
feather fan
plastic raffia
"shuttles" - fabric loom, space shuttle toy (grid puzzle)
garden clothes rack grid - paper model *
brush painted elements/textures *
Chinese Cut outs (layers weaving/overlapping)
Environment:
lawn 'panoramas' with weird artifacting
Tai Chi Sections 3 & 8
SHOT 3
shorter, slower, more symmetry and simple repetition and weaving
15. Slant Brush Knee and Push
16. Turn Body, Brush Knee and Push
17. Grasp Bird's Tail
18. Single Whip
19. Fist Under Elbow
20. Step Back, Repulse Monkey (Left & Right, 3 Times)
21. Slant Flying
14. Cross Hands
*
SHOT 8
Longer sequence, more dense, more repetition, more weaving and different orientations (vertical, horizontal, curved and undulating like a fan)
55. Slant Brush Knee and Push
56. Turn Body, Brush Knee and Push
57. Grasp Bird's Tail
58. Single Whip
59. Play Guitar
60. Separate Wild Horse's Mane (Right)
61. Play Guitar
62. Separate Wild Horse's Mane (3 Times)
63 Play Guitar
64. Separate Wild Horse's Mane (Right)
65. Fair Lady Works the Shuttle (Twice)
66. Play Guitar
67. Separate Wild Horse's Mane (Right)
68. Fair Lady Works the Shuttle (Twice)
69. Grasp Bird's Tail
70. Single Whip
Chinese Scroll Painting example with (red) stamps/seals
SHOT 4
22. Raise Hands
23. White Crane Spreads it's Wings
24. Brush Knee and Push
25. Needle at Sea Bottom
26. Play Arms Like a Fan
27. Turn Body and Strike Fist to Back
28. Step Back and Punch
29. Step Forward and Grasp Bird's Tail
30. Single Whip
*
SHOT 10
78. Raise Hands
79. White Crane Spreads it's Wings
80. Brush Knee and Push
81. Needle at Sea Bottom
82. Play Arms Like a Fan
83. Turn Body and Strike Fist to Back
84. Step Forward and Punch
85. Step Forward and Grasp Bird's Tail
86. Single Whip
Storyboard B
'Elevator shot: Sinking, Falling, Floating'
Assets:
Cranes: birds
Cranes: machines
Abacus
milk crate
Goddess
Chinese Cutout
Environment:
Layers to 'fall through':
(3D locations)
garden,
construction site w/ cranes
(2D assets)
abacus,
fan,
lawn chair
Storyboard F
Zoetrope: Cloud Hands
Circular, rotating view, as if inside a zoetrope
Some play with light? as if backlit, or shadow play?
Assets:
Shopping carts
Bicycle wheels (no bike frame)
Chinese cutouts (as 3D layers)
Clouds from Monkey figurine (no monkey)
Fan (feather)
Star balloons
Egg cartons
Environment:
Paper cloud 'panorama'
Tai Chi REference SEction 5
SHOT 3
shorter, slower, more symmetry and simple repetition and weaving
15. Slant Brush Knee and Push
16. Turn Body, Brush Knee and Push
17. Grasp Bird's Tail
18. Single Whip
19. Fist Under Elbow
20. Step Back, Repulse Monkey (Left & Right, 3 Times)
21. Slant Flying
14. Cross Hands
*
SHOT 8
Longer sequence, more dense, more repetition, more weaving and different orientations (vertical, horizontal, curved and undulating like a fan)
55. Slant Brush Knee and Push
56. Turn Body, Brush Knee and Push
57. Grasp Bird's Tail
58. Single Whip
59. Play Guitar
60. Separate Wild Horse's Mane (Right)
61. Play Guitar
62. Separate Wild Horse's Mane (3 Times)
63 Play Guitar
64. Separate Wild Horse's Mane (Right)
65. Fair Lady Works the Shuttle (Twice)
66. Play Guitar
67. Separate Wild Horse's Mane (Right)
68. Fair Lady Works the Shuttle (Twice)
69. Grasp Bird's Tail
70. Single Whip
Storyboard C
'Camera fixed to...'
'Fanning out'
Assets:
Lotus
Plants
Fan (feather)
Star balloons
Egg cartons
Bicycle wheels (no bike frame)
** lawn chair unfolding?!
Environment:
Tai Chi Reference Sections 6 & 11
SHOT 6
33. Left High Pat on Horse
34. Right Separate Kick
35. Right High Pat on Horse
36. Left Separate Kick
37. Turn Body, Kick with Heel
38. Brush Knee and Push (Right & Left)
39. Step Forward and Punch Down
40. Turn Body and Strike Fist to Back
41. High Pat on Horse
*
SHOT 11
89. High Pat on Horse
90. Slap Face with Palm
91. Turn Body and Single Lotus Kick
92. Brush Knee and Push
93. Step Forward and Punch to Opponent's Lower Abdomen
94. Step Forward, Grasp Bird's Tail
95. Single Whip
Assets:
Environment:
Tai Chi Reference Sections 9 & 12
Storyboard D
Birds' eye view
SHOT 9
73. Snake Creeps Down
74. Golden Cock Stands on Left Leg
75. Golden Cock Stands on Right Leg
76. Step Back and Repulse Monkey (Left & Right 3 Times)
77. Cross Slant Flying
*
SHOT 12
96. Snake Creeps Down
97. Step Forward Seven Stars
98. Step Back Ride the Tiger
99. Turn Body and Slap Face with Palm
100. Turn Body and Double Lotus Kick
101. Shoot Tiger
102. High Pat on Horse
103. Slap Face with Palm
104. Turn Body and Strike Fist to Back
105. Step Forward and High Pat on Horse
106. Step Forward Grasp Bird's Tail
107. Single Whip
108. Conclusion of Tai Chi Chuan
Storyboard E
SECTION 1
1. Beginning of Tai Chi Chuan
2. Raise Hands
3. Play Guitar
4. Grasp Bird's Tail
5. Single Whip
A slow sequence - calm beginning to tai chi chuan:
Start with "Floating glitch" ("Backyard with Video")
Camera does a slow zoom out - to reveal "Backyard" is within many concentric 'balls' - each is a porous surface, rotating slowly:
Surfaces/Assets: (things that are quite porous)
cloud patterns
fan texture
calligraphy ('play guitar')
cutouts that are more 'floral-looking' (i.e. these ones here)
abacus
plants/leaves
Environment: [the interior of the concentric balls]
Chinese cutouts - example scan (they are always in RED)
'[Free fall] promises no community, but a shifting formation.'
- Hito Steyerl, In Free Fall: A Thought Experiment on Vertical Perspective
Needle to Sea Bottom explores balance as a movement, not a state.
This contradictory composite of meditation and rampant growth is a visual diatribe on materialism, gentrification in Chinatown, immigration, and 'the politics of verticality'.
Pinching from Hito Steyerl’s In Free Fall: A Thought Experiment on Vertical Perspective, Needle to Sea Bottom elaborates upon 'a fall towards objects without reservation, embracing a world of forces and matter, which lack any original stability and sparks the sudden shock of the open: a freedom that is terrifying, utterly deterritorializing, and always already unknown.’
Collapsing space and time in free fall, household objects move together through the 108 sequences of Tai Chi Chuan, in an environment alive with hoarded detritus and building materials, constantly overgrowing and deconstructing itself. Shifting in and out of her village dialect, the artist's grandmother describes various houses she's lived in: her childhood home in Hoi Ping in southern China, and places on D'arcy, Sullivan, Huron, and Coxwell in Toronto. The artist repeats her grandmother's words, stumbling through Hoi Ping dialect and re-tracing unfamiliar interiors as the linear choreography of Tai Chi Chuan bursts into fragments, spilling in wild contradiction of perspective.
Commissioned for 'Everything in Place', group exhibition curated by Modest Eyes collective and co-produced by Public Visualization Lab for Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
Technical Production by Public Visualization Lab:
Immony Men
Luke Garwood
Jonathan Silveira
Patricio Davila
3 channel video installation
Cantonese Hoi Ping with English Subtitles
Colour, Sound
Toronto, 2017