By Yiler Huang
There are many art pieces in the world. Different artists use different ways to express their idea through their artwork, some of them are special, some of them are cool, and maybe some of them are weird. Recently, we visited the Transistor art exhibit Taipei MOCA art gallery. The name transistor is related to our studies in electricity this semester. During the visit, we saw many special art pieces. Some of them are creepy, some of them are weird, and some of them are interesting. There were two artworks that gave me the most impression, they are Second Life: Habitat and A Walk of 100 Kilometers. However, I don’t suggest people visit the exhibit, and I want to tell you why.
The first artwork that gave me the most special feeling was Second Life: Habitat. When I saw it, I thought it was very creepy and it wasn’t giving me a good feeling. The art piece has two parts. One part was two huge glass tanks that had a mosquito larva farm, and an electrical device that kills mosquitoes. The second part of the art piece is a computer and a mouse. In the description of the artwork, the device that kills mosquitoes sends a signal to the computer every time a mosquito is killed. Every time the computer receives a signal, it creates an avatar in the computer. The avatars could be controlled by the audience, they could eat, drink, and walk in the computer generated space. Yet, the avatars die after 10 hours. I think the author is trying to express that the mosquitoes gained a second life after their avatar was created in the computer. I think people might also have the same feeling as I got, because the place where the artwork is was dark and very stressful. After seeing this artwork, I thought the mosquitoes in the glass tank were very miserable. This is because they were born only because the author had some messages to tell people
The second artwork that left my impression was A Walk of 100 Kilometers. This artwork also has two parts. There was a piece of big white paper on the floor, and another piece of paper on the floor that was slightly shorter. There were lines that were drawn by the artist with pencils. This artwork left a strong impression on me because it is the most usual looking artwork I saw during this trip. While the other artworks all looked very creepy, this one gave me a feeling of steady and calm. In the art piece, the artist walked with a pencil on the paper while drawing. Eventually, he had drawn a 100 kilometer line with many pencils, and many footprints on the paper on the floor. I think the artist is expressing that his will and concentration are so powerful, so he could walk with a pencil for a hundred kilometers. I think people are going to feel surprised if they realized that the artist spent a long time walking on the art piece, because it wasn’t something normal people would have the patience to do. After seeing this artwork, I realized that people could be very patient. The artist spent a year walking on paper everyday, which really amazed me. After leaving the museum, I am still impressed by how patient the artist was.
The last art piece that left an impression on me was called R1. The artwork was a human looking robot that has a speaker in the center of it. The way people look at this artwork is to put your head next to the robot, and listen to the sound that comes out of the speaker. It gave me a really uncomfortable feeling. The reason why was that the robot looked very creepy in a really weird way. It was bald, and didn't have hands or legs. The face looked like a human face, but many unnatural things about it could be spotted if people looked at it long enough. In the description of the artwork, the artist said that he wanted to show the audience the relationship between humanoid and people. While experiencing this artwork, people needed to hold it close to their face to listen to the voice of the robot. Which the artist thinks is a way to make humans make contact with androids. I think this art piece is really creepy. I won’t be surprised if someone told me that it is a Halloween decoration. However, I think other people might think differently from me. This is because when we were looking at the artwork, there was a person who was listening to the sound of the robot for a long period of time. He even came back once after he left. This art piece is still in my head after I left the exhibit. I still think it makes me uncomfortable. It might be a good artwork to me, but it is definitely a good Halloween decoration due to its creepiness.
Overall, I think this exhibit is very creepy. I think this could be because that was the feeling the artists wanted to give the audience. In this exhibit, the artists were trying to transit the relationship of human and technology. This could be seen in many of the artworks that have interactive technology involved. For example, there was one artwork that requires the audience to plug your phone onto a cable, and it takes electricity from your phone to power up a circuit that has a TV screen connected. Another example would be a battery of a car powering other electrical devices so they could work. Finally, I don’t suggest you visit this exhibit, because there were many creepy things that could make people uncomfortable. However, there must be people who like the exhibit. This is because artworks are the messages artist wanted to express. Most of the time, there are not right or wrong ideas, only ideas people like and ideas people hate.