Chenle Li | Not a Single Word of Wisdom: A Video Installation

 

“Water is like the glass,” captured from a child, is extended to five different textures. Children’s words are always based on the real world but contain a certain amount of fantasy components, half-genuine and half-imaginary. Taking this as an inspiration, the project explores the mysterious relationship between text and moving images by projecting a short conceptual art film into a pool filled with water. The work is played in a loop, starting with water, going through 5 different media, and ending with water.

The ideas do not necessarily follow a logical sequence, and almost every line of text in the work is not true. Still, texts are connected with each other and cooperate with the installation itself to create a unique semi-narrative environment that is fictional.

Most of the video resources were captured inside parks, while some of the audio came from people’s random chatting. These video recordings are casual street photography taken at a respectful distance, of people engaging in mundane activities. Like small pieces of cloth cut from different materials of clothing, restitched, and joined together to form a new piece of fabric.

Projection through water connects the looping video with the real world. Water is the beginning and end of the video (as a point of the cycle), and it is also the medium through which the video is projected. Due to its transparent texture, as the projected object, water is not visible, but indeed exists. This echoes the video’s make-believe theme: almost every word is not the truth, but an inner logic exists between the connection of the sentences.

In addition, the reflection of the video’s moving images is also reflected onto the ceiling by water, turning straight lines into blurred and overlapping curves. The moving images become larger, but the color remains the same, which provides soft light and shadow for the whole project display, improving the immersive experience of the video installation.