4th Taipei Digital Art Festival-Funky Light
Funky Light is here! It is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Instantaneous and Unpredictable
Since the inception of civilization and the development of digitization in the modern world, technology has played an almost omnipotent role; the ultimate expression of human intelligence has surpassed the combined history of the previous 3 million years. God creating the world has become an ancient myth; instead, increasing numbers of people seem to believe, that science has reshaped the world perspective. Today’s advances in technology, when compared to the unpredictable past of the world created by God, exudes a sense of radical change, which is representative of the gigantic cultural illusion and intrinsic quality that has not been clarified.
According to the description in Genesis “The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. God said, let there be light: and there was light.” The first day God created earth, light was employed to distinguish between day and night, brightness and darkness. As the first sacred object to be created by god, light is also unpredictable; in the field of civilization and science, light propagates energy through magnetic wave form and movement of atoms. Light has become something real, not just God’s miracle. In the trajectory of history, the progress of science, and the belief that God is the Creator of all beings are usually opposing viewpoints. However, today’s technology has become the new faith in modern society; its surrealistic approach has gradually been transformed into the role of the Creator. Technology has made God’s phenomenon of “Let there be light” indistinguishable, so who is the real Creator? Technology of today has created tomorrow, but does tomorrow create yet another unknown? Technology and God have become inseparable, and the illusions they present are equally impressive.
If “light” is a metaphor of modern technology and the force of the Creator, then the latest technologies created by men as the new role of the Creator, also possess the duality of reality and myth. Genetic engineering, cloning technology, space exploration, especially the Internet within the cyberspace, are all representative of the application of technology; as a result, a huge volume of information is transmitted regardless of time and place, and fully customized services are also available. Technology is like a sky web that exists in multiple dimensions; just like light, it has proved itself to be a magical creator of things.
Continuously expanding, men have enjoyed the convenience brought about by technology, however the cultural values of men have also been impacted, such as genetic cloning and ethics, the Internet and interpersonal relationships etc. The phenomenon that lingers between pragmatism and contradiction has made the world of today full of mirages and illusions, just as the Holy light of God has been transformed into the light of electricity and kinetic energy. Like the invention of movies, light and segments of pictures produce the seemingly realistic, continuous image; people immerse themselves in the realm of imagination, resulting in the increasing vagueness of the real world. The technological marvels of today are infinitely superior to that of movies made over a century ago; now the real and virtual worlds are almost undividable and we are surrounded by a mega virtual reality.
In the mega virtual reality world, the meaning of all visible objects become abstract, while the interpretive logic has been completely broken; how we conduct thinking towards technology and civilization in such a radical environment has become an important issue. “Funky Light” is a bantering neon flash without any substantial imagery; it is also a metaphor of technology development based on light. Furthermore, the contemporary scientific civilization is reexamined. Monsters do not really exist, rather what is real are the creators of reality and the illusions they create, as well as how to contemplate and reinterpret the problem of reality.
The 4th Taipei Digital Art Festival is based on the theme of “Funky Light”, and attempts to probe into the illusion and nature of technology and civilization. In terms of international exhibitions, many renowned creators have either utilized light to express the virtual reality of the modern world, or interactive installations are used to reinterpret the identity of the creator, in order to induce the multiple thinking of artistic language towards contemporary civilization. Several innovative creations have also opened new frontiers for domestic technology art. In addition, the opening “mapping” creation, as well as the closing performance by the French contemporary sound art, are spectacular performances not to be missed.
Opened this year, the Taipei Digital Art Center is the important driving force behind the 4th Taipei Digital Art Festival. As the first digital art center in Taiwan, its crucial role as a platform cannot be emphasized enough; having garnered experience from 3 previous digital art festivals, this year collaboration is sought with Taipei Digital Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei and Huashan Creative Park. In addition, cooperation is also sought with the Taipei Digital Arts Awards, Digital Art Criticism Awards, Artist Forum, Digital Content Institute Animation Day, K.T. Creativity Awards and Industrial Technology Research Institute etc. to form this year’s Taipei Digital Art Festival. As Taiwan’s first digital art festival, it is not merely a digital art related annual event, but also attempts to sort out unique contemporary issues and discussions in the new field of technology media.
