From Fei Jun
I have a collaborated installation called Gesture Cloud is showing in Av@ar 2 at CMoDA, Beijing from April 14th to 28th. The show is closing on April 28th. It’s a work that developed from 4 years research on human gesture with Toronto based artist Judith Doyle, we are interested in exploring surplus value of gesture and transformation of gesture, etc. I sincerely invite you all come to see the work and love to hear your feedback.
The description of the work
GestureCloud is an ongoing collaboration where Judith Doyle and Fei Jun ask, how can labour be transposed via gesture across networked conditions, to have material effects elsewhere in the world? For example, can surplus labour in a factory in China activate events in virtual conditions, accruing value that would return to the factory workers? GestureCloud collects gesture using motion capture technologies. The artists have adapted new 3D depth cameras and game controllers for gesture research and creation, grounded in socio-economic and cultural analysis.
In 2010 in Beijing, GestureCloud’s field research included performing factory gestures for motion capture and transposing the data to animate virtual objects including a specialized avatar. In 2011-2012, GestureCloud adapted a hands-free game controller for use as a portable documentary motion capture camera, tested on location in workplaces.
For the Av@tar 2 exhibition, GestureCloud converts a zone of the gallery into a factory floor where labour – stacking, pulling, stomping, lifting – will be performed by gallery visitors and collected with an onsite motion capture system. This effort will power a light bulb in various night life locations in Toronto, across a 12-hour time zone difference. The process will be displayed on array of CRT surveillance monitors, and with live projections.