Harriet Min Zhang
哈利
1. Projects
Somewhere in the fog / 霧下症狀
Clean noise / 靜噪
Time moves with merciful slowness... / 慢鐘
Under the gavel / 一聲千兩
The enduring ephemeral / 慢漫
Echoes of Mt. Qomolangma / 珠穆朗瑪的迴響
I spoke to them
Parallel
Blue cables in Venetian watercourse / 他山之石，新代理人
People’s Park Plinth
2. Public programmes
3. Writings
4. Translations
5. studio@DING
6. About
7. Chronological archive
Clean Noise / 靜噪
Dori Deng’s solo exhibition
at BROWNIE Project, Shanghai
from 31 Aug 2024 to 2 Dec 2024
Exhibition text
BROWNIE Project's CORRIDOR, a 12-metre long, 7-metre high and less than 1-metre wide dark narrow space, is a venue to support young artists in presenting multi-media work. For the exhibition Clean Noise, we have also named it The Analogue Room and used it to show objects that have been dear to Dori and her practice. This semi-independent curatorial project space provided an opportunity for audience to understand Dori’s creative process in a richer context. Here we presented a mechanical metronome, a display of failed/cancelled materials, a film station, a duo-slide projector, and one of her Drawing Studies.
Why do we say the available Chinese translations of the word analogue are accurate and loose at the same time? Dictionaries would explain it as ‘comparable’, ‘similar’, ‘analogical’, but in most contexts today there are complex connotations that we cannot overlook. However, to reach these connotations, we need to recognise its original meaning which is often the theoretical foundation for understanding it further. Therefore, accuracy lies in the fact that its direct translation entails that the word represents a simulation of reality. It is only when we acknowledge the significance of its direct translation or description - a simulation of something - that we can recognise the development of the word and the different dimensions that support it. For example, the emergence of digital photography rendered us a pronounced contrast between digital and analogue. Our perception of the word “analogue” has certainly shaped its meanings and now it also means ‘mechanical’ ‘physical’ ‘bodily’. Although the translation between one language to other fails in that we cannot find a perfect word that fits every context, the semantic differences between languages further confirm the existence of analogue - translating is an analogue act and process that creates gaps. Therefore, we decided not to give The Analogue Room a Chinese title.
i
Metronome / 節拍器
heuristic; the rhythm of all things started
啟示的；一切節奏的開始
For Dori, the metronome is a sentimental object as it was used in her first formal piece of artwork (a live performance) after university. It symbolises Dori’s passion for music, sound and rhythm. It also symbolises the rhythm of many things in this exhibition. A mechanical metronome does not need an electric battery, but runs from a spring-wound clockwork escapement. For uniform beats, the metronome should be placed on a hard, level, unmoving surface. These conditions are ignored by contemporary digital metronomes. As they exist in the virtual, they will never lose momentum so easily while repeating movement.
ii
Evidence of trials / 試驗的痕跡
bodily; each failure is a gain
身體性的；無序指向有序
These materials have either been sacrificed for testings, or been considered useless leftovers or waste. They stand for the degree of disorder in a standardised system. They also represent an inquiry about readiness. On one hand, when do we consider something to have gone wrong? Why aren’t discrepancies allowed? On the other, when is a work ready? When is anything ready?
iii
Film station / 觀片台
programmatic; handmade imagination
程序的；手工製造想象
The film station presents a light box, eight hand-cut slides, a LEE Filters swatch book. The slides were the previous analogue materials Dori used in the first 10 years of artistic practice. At first, after using digital projection, she started searching for the light source with purer structural form and without the pixel. She looked into analogue slide projector and hand cut slight films with metal tapes and colour filters. The lee filter is typically used for theatre lamp / lighting. Dori used it for the hand cut slides for projecting colour shapes onto objects. The film station presents essential parts of her previous practice which entails her love for the analogue.
iv
Projector /投影機
mechanical; pure source of handmade light
機械的；人造燈之本源
In contrast to conventional digital projectors. this old projector from the 1950s is an analogue and mechanical device. For Dori, it shows “purer projected light”. Yet, it also symbolises humans’ desire to automate the process of viewing, to make seeing easier. This projector was burnt out in Dori’s last solo exhibition, as if it is no longer compatible with today’s circuitry. Does this also suggest an obsolescence or a death? We will soon realise the mortality of the seemingly immortal beings.
v
Drawing study - Expansion series No.1 / 結構研究 - 擴展系列 1號
reciprocal; a process of constant adaptation
相互回報的；不間斷的思維構想
The creation of this drawing symbolises the very start of the whole series. In the actual work, light, glass and metal wire are the essential materials, which are crafted and combined so elegantly to realise a composition of primary shapes - circle, triangle and square. The drawing of No. 1 wraps up The Analogue Room, as it is the perfect witness to a journey of visualisation and materialisation of the act of expansion.
back to Clean Noise
哈利
Somewhere in the fog / 霧下症狀
Clean noise / 靜噪
Time moves with merciful slowness... / 慢鐘
Under the gavel / 一聲千兩
The enduring ephemeral / 慢漫
Echoes of Mt. Qomolangma / 珠穆朗瑪的迴響
I spoke to them
Parallel
Blue cables in Venetian watercourse / 他山之石，新代理人
People’s Park Plinth
2. Public programmes
3. Writings
4. Translations
5. studio@DING
6. About
7. Chronological archive
Clean Noise / 靜噪
Dori Deng’s solo exhibition
at BROWNIE Project, Shanghai
from 31 Aug 2024 to 2 Dec 2024
(along with The Analogue Room in BROWNIE’s corridor)
Exhibition text
BROWNIE Project's CORRIDOR, a 12-metre long, 7-metre high and less than 1-metre wide dark narrow space, is a venue to support young artists in presenting multi-media work. For the exhibition Clean Noise, we have also named it The Analogue Room and used it to show objects that have been dear to Dori and her practice. This semi-independent curatorial project space provided an opportunity for audience to understand Dori’s creative process in a richer context. Here we presented a mechanical metronome, a display of failed/cancelled materials, a film station, a duo-slide projector, and one of her Drawing Studies.
Why do we say the available Chinese translations of the word analogue are accurate and loose at the same time? Dictionaries would explain it as ‘comparable’, ‘similar’, ‘analogical’, but in most contexts today there are complex connotations that we cannot overlook. However, to reach these connotations, we need to recognise its original meaning which is often the theoretical foundation for understanding it further. Therefore, accuracy lies in the fact that its direct translation entails that the word represents a simulation of reality. It is only when we acknowledge the significance of its direct translation or description - a simulation of something - that we can recognise the development of the word and the different dimensions that support it. For example, the emergence of digital photography rendered us a pronounced contrast between digital and analogue. Our perception of the word “analogue” has certainly shaped its meanings and now it also means ‘mechanical’ ‘physical’ ‘bodily’. Although the translation between one language to other fails in that we cannot find a perfect word that fits every context, the semantic differences between languages further confirm the existence of analogue - translating is an analogue act and process that creates gaps. Therefore, we decided not to give The Analogue Room a Chinese title.
i
Metronome / 節拍器
heuristic; the rhythm of all things started
啟示的；一切節奏的開始
For Dori, the metronome is a sentimental object as it was used in her first formal piece of artwork (a live performance) after university. It symbolises Dori’s passion for music, sound and rhythm. It also symbolises the rhythm of many things in this exhibition. A mechanical metronome does not need an electric battery, but runs from a spring-wound clockwork escapement. For uniform beats, the metronome should be placed on a hard, level, unmoving surface. These conditions are ignored by contemporary digital metronomes. As they exist in the virtual, they will never lose momentum so easily while repeating movement.
ii
Evidence of trials / 試驗的痕跡
bodily; each failure is a gain
身體性的；無序指向有序
These materials have either been sacrificed for testings, or been considered useless leftovers or waste. They stand for the degree of disorder in a standardised system. They also represent an inquiry about readiness. On one hand, when do we consider something to have gone wrong? Why aren’t discrepancies allowed? On the other, when is a work ready? When is anything ready?
iii
Film station / 觀片台
programmatic; handmade imagination
程序的；手工製造想象
The film station presents a light box, eight hand-cut slides, a LEE Filters swatch book. The slides were the previous analogue materials Dori used in the first 10 years of artistic practice. At first, after using digital projection, she started searching for the light source with purer structural form and without the pixel. She looked into analogue slide projector and hand cut slight films with metal tapes and colour filters. The lee filter is typically used for theatre lamp / lighting. Dori used it for the hand cut slides for projecting colour shapes onto objects. The film station presents essential parts of her previous practice which entails her love for the analogue.
iv
Projector /投影機
mechanical; pure source of handmade light
機械的；人造燈之本源
In contrast to conventional digital projectors. this old projector from the 1950s is an analogue and mechanical device. For Dori, it shows “purer projected light”. Yet, it also symbolises humans’ desire to automate the process of viewing, to make seeing easier. This projector was burnt out in Dori’s last solo exhibition, as if it is no longer compatible with today’s circuitry. Does this also suggest an obsolescence or a death? We will soon realise the mortality of the seemingly immortal beings.
v
Drawing study - Expansion series No.1 / 結構研究 - 擴展系列 1號
reciprocal; a process of constant adaptation
相互回報的；不間斷的思維構想
The creation of this drawing symbolises the very start of the whole series. In the actual work, light, glass and metal wire are the essential materials, which are crafted and combined so elegantly to realise a composition of primary shapes - circle, triangle and square. The drawing of No. 1 wraps up The Analogue Room, as it is the perfect witness to a journey of visualisation and materialisation of the act of expansion.
back to Clean Noise