Suki Chan Takes Us Behind the Scenes of Lucida at Tintype, Sept 16th - Oct 22nd
Suki Chan was born in Hong Kong and lives and works in London. Chan studied at Goldsmiths University of London and Chelsea School of Art.
Lucida is Suki Chan’s second solo show at Tintype, and is supported by the Wellcome Trust Small Arts Awards, University of Salford Art Collection and Arts Council England. The project was commissioned by the University of Salford Art Collection and the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) in partnership with the Centre for the Study of the Senses, University of London and Tintype.
As you approach Tintype on Essex Road, you will see a large vinyl graphic of an eye chart on the shop front window. If you look clsosely at the eye chart, you can unravel the details of the show Lucida. The eye chart is inspired by an early eye examination chart first published in 1907 by a German eye doctor George Mayerle, who worked in the US. George Mayerle first created this eye chart to aid other ophthalmologists to diagnose eye ailments. I fell in love with this eye chart when I first came across it and worked with designer Carl Stratton to create a version for the show that modernised some of its interesting elements.
The radial dial in the top centre tests for astigmatism. The two circles with lines either side of this tests the muscular strength of the eyes. In the original, there are seven vertical panels that test for acuity of vision: characters in English, German, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Hebrew and the centre panel comprising of symbols for patients who were illiterate.
Here on the window, there are two languages that relate to me: English and Traditional Chinese. Some of the symbols relate to the location of the gallery, the project or to myself.
As you enter the gallery, it may take a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the dark environment before you see two large video projections on the wall and one small circular projection.
If you happen to go into the gallery on a quiet day and you are the only person in the gallery, the soundtrack will be more ambient. However, on a busy day, ‘extra’ layers of the soundtrack will be revealed and you may find yourself listening to a voice recounting their early personal experiences of perception, how their theories developed or perhaps someone losing their sight through Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
The visuals range from historical medical illusions to close-up shots of the eye lit with a slit-lamp machine and various spaces transformed into camera obscuras. The film was partially filmed in Senate House and the tracking shots through the library, boiler rooms and underground service tunnels are visual metaphors for the interior structures of our eyes and brains. On the second projection is a simulation of the retinal image of someone watching the film. The original film is here inverted, blurred around the periphery, with a large dark circle relating to the blind-spot which is insensitive to light, and a web of blood vessels; these sit on top of the photoreceptors and should in theory impede vision. You may also observe that the only area that is sharp is in the very centre of the image. On the third circular projection is a simulation of the information that one part of the brain receives. If someone sits on the chair, both the second and third projections will move according to the actual eye movements of that particular individual.
The multi-screen video installation reveals how visual information is modified and processed by the eye and the brain in real time. By using the eye-tracking technology, viewers can reveal their own rapid eye movements - something we are normally unaware of.
SUKI CHAN | LUCIDA
16 September – 22 October 2016 Private View: Thursday 15 September, 6.30 – 8.30pm
T I N T Y P E 107 Essex Road, London N1 2SL, UK Tel: 00 44 (0) 207 354 4360 info@tintypegallery.com www.tintypegallery.com
