Sophia De Leon On Sun Yuan and Peng Yu
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, live and work together to create controversial and conceptual art in Beijing. Both born in the 1970s, Yuan and Yu draw the attention of an audience by their absurd and unconventional take on political and other contentious world issues. They also use unusual materials to curate their works, such as human fat and machinery. “Can’t Help Myself”, was a mechanical exhibit commissioned in 2016 by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. A robotic arm with a brush at the head surrounded by a pool of blood-like liquid. Enclosed in a glass case, the machine’s only objective was to keep the crimson-tinted substance in one place, by sweeping the liquid towards itself with the help of the squeegee-like brush head. However, the machine’s pitiful attempt at containing the liquid becomes a never-ending struggle. With each frantic pull, the arm begins to splatter the liquid inside the case along the glass walls, the blood-like fluid slipping from its grasp.
There are multiple interpretations of the machine’s impossible task, considering the description of the theme for the Tales of Our Time exhibit at the Guggenheim museum was quite different compared to the card at the Central Pavillion of the 58th Biennale in Venice for the May You Live in Interesting Times exhibition. In the Venice Biennale, the description states “the uncontrollable liquid that the machine keeps trying to contain conjures what they perceive to be art’s essential elusiveness, its defiant refusal to being pinned down and fixed in place” This ties into the idea of fluid slipping out of the grasp of the machine, as the liquid substance represents the elusiveness in such a way that is the concept and ideology of art itself.
The Tales of Our Time exhibit presents the work prompted by “challenging the conventional idea of place.” The artists showcased in this exhibition bring light to overlooked cultural narratives. “Tales of Our Time is not a monolithic report on the state of contemporary art in China, nor does it encapsulate any artistic trends or phenomena. Instead, it highlights the unique aspects of each artist’s perspective.” Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s work fits perfectly into the theme for this event and the movement within the piece makes for a refreshing take on abstract expressionism.
There were also other interpretations, dealing more with political and societal objectives. One concept relating to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. The violence and bloodshed, going back to the spread of the crimson liquid inside the exhibit being sprayed and scattered within the glass. But the audience can only experience and see it from an outside perspective, the transparent walls acting as a barrier.
However, the artists don’t formerly authenticate these ideas. Because Yuan and Yu focused on more absurdity on controversial topics, their own perspective differs from the broader ideas of the exhibits. Initially trying to test the abilities of a robot and how it could work when an artist experiences a lack of willpower or motivation. The names of the actions used to program the robots defied the standardized professionalism, an unsaid sense of pressure felt by many artists, as they were more ludicrous than what you might usually see in the robotics classification. Although there are times where they use a darker sense of humor to portray more contentious topics, they still incorporate the serious aspect of these ideas into the work, to express a powerful and emotion-invoking experience for the audience.
My initial interpretation of the piece before diving into more of the research was broader and strayed farther from the idea of it relating to the experiences an artist goes through. I first came across a video of the exhibit in action. I watched the arm pull the liquid in, and when it moved to the other side to try to contain the blood-like fluid flowing on the other side, even more, liquid escaped the clutch of the arm. It was almost sad. Watching this robot, something that doesn’t have any emotion, try its best to keep the fluid from spreading, yet desperately failing. No matter how hard the arm tried, it spread the crimson substance farther and it only made matters worse.
When reconsidering the name Can’t help myself, it reminded me of letting your emotions take over and getting the best of you. How sometimes you can’t help but stay attached to things or even people who could be toxic or bad for you. The machine kept trying to hold on to the liquid and trying to keep it all in one place. Which to me, meant either attempting to keep destructive relationships and memories together or failing to contain your emotions and messily trying to hold them back in a chaotic matter, resulting in spreading your emotions out to and exposing them to others; the audience on the other side of the glass.
To me, not depicting a certain meaning or confining a work of art to one definition, is more intriguing to the audience. Because I didn’t know what the meaning of this mechanical arm, infinitely squeegee-ing what looked like blood was, I began to make my own connections based on what I knew. I began to create my own perspective on it and my own interpretation. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu definitely had an amusing and entertaining time while they were curating this, as well as their other unusual works because they added their own spin and humor to it. They left the true meaning of their absurd and intriguing art to the viewers, making the experience an enjoyable one.