MAP 2016/2017

Xi Zheng (Cece) Critical Rationale

Beyond the Face, 2017 Beyond the Face (2017) focuses on the remediation and mediation of the face. It moves beyond the boundaries of the ‘ghost’ and the ‘shell’ to challenge the idea that the outer is a reflection of the inner person. The work further raises the questions that how does photography use the face not only in human, but also in terms of itself as a medium? And how individuals understand the face? The face not only itself but also appeared in the photo might be without a message, as it was, unless it is used to represent and express ideas or creativity from photographers. This idea from McLuhan ‘A key characteristic of all media is that the content of any medium is always another medium. And because of it is given another medium as the content, which made the influences of medium strong and intense.’ In 17th century, the French philosopher Descartes’ Dualism separated people in soul and body. He thought people’s body is made up of material entity and spiritual entity, which are interacted, influenced and cause-and-effect on each other. After this in 18th century, opposite dualism, the Monism, the soul as an immaterial substance, it’s not made of ordinary atomic matter. Also, the British writer Arthur Koestler made the word ‘the ghost in the machine’ to rebut Descartes’ Dualism that the mind is at once a whole and a part. It could seem the people as the material, but different with the pence or an apple, the most special part is people have mind, consciousness, function. We could express our creativity, we could control our face to express emotion and feeling. But in Duchenne smile electrical stimulation experiment, we found some time, the expression of face might not look like what we see. In Ewing’s book making face pointed out the face becomes a battleground of science, technology, industry, commerce and art. We could use the face as medium to express idea and creativity. This project is an autobiographical series that through metaphor reflects on the identity crisis I went through when I was in adolescence and what happened after that period. The thousands of images focus on Mandibular Prognathism a condition where the lower chin protrudes beyond a predetermined imaginary line of the upper jaw. This distinctive facial structure has a negative impact not only on the mind and how an individual perceives themselves, but it also has negative physical implications like leading to speech impediments. After studying theory of media, I realized that when we look at a face in a piece of photographic portraiture, this is what we see the remediation of the content of one medium

into another. Furthermore, today, each of visual elements we saw which would go through different media appropriate, fix, imitate and reconstruct each other. So, all the meaning of the content we see are reprocessed by mediation. And how to see the content which is influenced by the development of advanced media technology. We are not seeing reality of a media text, but someone’s version of it. Inspired by cognitive neuroscience research conducted by the Kanwisher Lab. Their research shows that the region of the brain used to recognize the inverted face is that which is used in the recognition of landscapes and objects rather than that used to recognize faces. I draw connections between the inverted face and mountain scenes. And the project blends EEG brain waves with close-up photographs of chins to create a facial landscape alluding to tradition Chinese paintings and ink drawings of mountains. Also, In Bolter and Grusin’ studies show that it is worth mentioning the concepts of immediacy and hypermediacy, which figure into a ‘double logic’ of remediation. Immediacy refers to the idea that our culture wants to erase all hints of mediation by making the medium invisible. while hypermedia refers to the exact opposite – wanting to infinitely multiply our media and heighten our awareness of them. With immediacy and hypermediacy of the process of remediation, the medium will represent the diversity characteristic. The sense of presence is removed, which be stead of the more intuitive and more real appreciation response from the viewers. Immediacy made the viewer forget the existence of media. And, believe themselves are in the objective presentment. It is one of the ways of implementation of remediation. Photography as a mechanical camera system, the basic principle of this is chemical reaction overlays mechanization. There only the intuitive and real image in the viewers eyes and ignored the imaging process. In viewers respects, medium be removed, the process and medium that are used which be shielded, this contributes to focusing art itself. And the production the content from media get the intuition and transparency. And remediation also made the ole media much more popular, in this project, the traditional paintings now come in to viewers eyes as the digital or mix multi-media ways. The new media didn’t make painting decline, but, these approaches a new way to bring the old media close to audiences. Ideally, this made audiences face directly to a diverse view of experience. The old media and new media made a mediation each other.

Bibliography

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. university of the arts london . lcc . media school . . master of arts in photography UNIT FOUR – RESOLVING OUTCOMES

FINAL PROJECT PROPOSAL The Project Proposal is the main tool that helps you think through your project and its development in the different phases of the MA. You will need to submit up-to-date versions of it for your different assessment points and we recommend amending it as you go along to develop a language how you talk about your work. It will feed into both the development of your Critical Context Paper and into the Critical Rationale of your final exhibition project: > Please treat the Final Project Proposal like a submission for a commission to an external institution you are applying for (i.e. Arts Council).

• Unit Four: Final Project Proposal (> submit as part of Unit Two Assessment and as part of Unit Four assessment in final show together with installation grid)

NAME: Zheng Xi (Cece) PROPOSED TITLE: Beyond the Face RESEARCH KEYWORDS: Facil Landscape / Remediation / Emotion Brainwave waterfall plot RESEARCH QUESTION: How does the face as medium in terms of photographic close-up remediate emotion? RESEARCH SUBJECT / CONTENT > What do you want to say about your subject matter? What is your position in the field? How are you exploring it through practice? What is original about your work? What are you adding to the current debate? If we ask what is the content of contemporary photographic portraiture? The answer may be that the content is the face. (Ewing, 2006, p.12) However, the face as “the content” as “another medium” in terms of “the medium” photographic portraiture might be without a message, as it was, unless it is used to represent and express ideas or creativity from photographers. In the meantime, when we are looking at a face in a piece of photographic portraiture, this is what we see the remediation of the content of one medium into another. (Bolter and Grusin, 1999, p.5) Furthermor, today, each of visual elements we saw which would go through different media appropriate, fix, imitate and reconstruct each other. (Bolter

and Grusin, 1999, p.31-34) So all the meaning of the content we see are reprocessed by mediation. And how to see the content which is influenced by the development of advanced media technology. We are not seeing reality of a media text, but someone’s version of it. (Yi Heng Zhao, Yi Rong Hu, 2014, p.173) How does photography use the face not only in human, but also in terms of itself as a medium? The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud said ‘With every tool man [sic] is perfecting his own organs, whether motor or sensory, or is removing the limits to their functioning.’ (1989, p.279) The photography could be understood as the medium which is the extension of ourselves, which means it has influenced on and extended the human capacity for sight, memory of things that the naked eyes can not see and our limited brain capacity can not recall. In this content, we could understand the people as the medium, and the human-face as another medium which is extended through the mediation and remediation of the photographic medium. Thus, this is the reason why photographic portrait has always played an essential role in our daily life, whether it is in various forms of advertising for commercial purposes, in yearbooks for social and commemorates purposes, or in passport or ID cards to certify legal identity. David Bate in his book Photography: The Key Concepts points out that portraiture is more than ‘just a picture’ because photography is not only part of our looking at one another, but also involves how we see each other. (2014, p.81) ‘A portrait can be concerned with likeness as contained in person’s physical features, and it can also represent the subject’s social position or inner life, such as their character or virtues.’ (West, 2004, p.21) Viewers try to fathom the person beyond what they see, the subject’s identity beyond the portrait, (Bate, 2014, p.93) which results in bringing pleasure to the process of recognizing a portrait. (Bate, 2014, p.99) APPROACH / METHOD / STYLE / FINAL EXPERIMENTATION Please show prints at tutorials (rather than digital files or contact sheets) or bring your own laptop when showing video work (edited down to 5min footage). > What is your visual approach? How can you consolidate your visual experimentation to date in a body of work? Which voice are you adopting? What is your editing strategy? What is your practice? What kind of artist are you? Provisional executable plan A: The photographic installment NEEDS ANALYSIS > Do you need to learn any other skills in order to finish your project? A: 1. Camera obscura theory; 2. Physical theory of transparent and reflection; 3. 3D print; 4. Bionic sense technique; 5. Virtual sensor design; 6. Chinese shan shui painting；7. Screen print；8. Time-lapse photography; 9. Multiple-exposure photography; 10.lighting room/ PS editing process；11. Darkroom process; 12. Studio lighting; 8. Latex casting;

PRESENTATION > How do you see this work in the gallery context? How can it be installed in the final show – on the wall or how else in the space? What do you need to make installation successful? Installation requirements including fittings, exhibition furniture, lighting etc. Installing on the wall or hanging here from the ceiling. PRODUCTION / BUDGET How is to going to be produced? How much will it cost to make the work? How long does it take to be made and installed? Material fees will not exceed £1000. RISK ASSESSMENT You will need to conduct a risk assessment for your project and for any shoots that are not covered by the initial risk assessment. Fall down from the ceiling ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS: > Who is involved in your project and how are you going assess and to protect them as well as yourself (confidentiality, consent, research integrity, risk, beneficence)? Do you need approval? Model releases? They are only part of face (for example: chin). RESEARCH DOCUMENTATION / CRITICAL RATIONALE / EVALUATION Evidence of your research process needs to be collected in your Research Documentation and presented in tutorials and during assessments. It also needs to be referred to in your Critical Rationale. > What are the historical and contemporary context and key concepts? How would you map the context your work sits in? How do other voices differ from yours? Which theoretical methods are you using? What is the main argument for your approach to the project? What is your conclusion?