International Artist in Residence

Lien-Cheng Wang
“Parallel Cities”

Urban life is sustained by a great flood of concealed pipes and cables such as electric wires, Internet cables, telephone wires, water pipes, and gas pipes. However, they exist in a parallel universe which is invisible to the human eye. It seems that people only give weight to what happens at the terminals of these pipes and cables (e.g. telephones, Internet servers and clients). A similar phenomenon occurs in the mass media. People are unconcerned about the process of data transmission, even though the process works in the form of coarse transmission of visual data. People behave like this not because they intend to, but out of sheer inertia. The development of modern anatomy reinforces this impression. Nowadays, people simply receive the messages transmitted from the mass media without reflections.
In“Parallel Cities”, with a high-speed direct-current motor, Lien-Cheng Wang shapes laser beams into a light tube to imply that the space is full of pipes and cables. He also uses semi-reflecting mirrors to simulate the flood of pipes and cables in a city. These pipes and cables are visible but untouchable. He arranges them and the prerecorded radio jamming in a pair, and thereby provides the audience with an extraordinary experience. In sum, this work deals with the direct relation of the pipes and cables to the residents in a city.