Interdisciplinary practice project report
From prehistory to science fiction
Motive and Significance of Interdisciplinary Co-operation
One will eventually end up confused and exhausted if he concentrates only on his own profession, therefore, interdisciplinary offers an opportunity to relieve the confusion and exhaustion. It will not only be able to urge the interaction among different professional domains, but also bring fresh inspiration and breakthrough.
Chinese artist Mu Xin wrote in his Literary Memoirs:” Art, philosophy and religion are all human narcissism to me, their possible beauty, truth and kindness could only be discovered at a distance; If you treat religion as philosophy, which means there is a section of distance, then you’ll see clearly what religion really is, and this rule is the same with philosophy and art. My point of view is that, if you believe in a religion which is regarded as an isolated concept, then you will be confused. Moreover, I believe that my point of view also applies to philosophy and art.“ That is the reason why we should separate ourselves from our professions while looking upon them, then we will probably be more aware of what we do.
Objective
As an artist interested in history, I seek the motive of creation in history from time to time. Unfortunately, the creation based on interests will fade out as interest reduces and the motive weakens in the meantime.
Apparently, history repeats, just like how Einstein described war,” I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” I acquired more enduring motive while studying history and intend to discover those invariable rules by researching prehistory and human history, in addition, I would like to combine them with my acquainted artistic means to create my work and express my reflection on civilization.
Action
interview
My first interviewee was Chris Manias, lecturer from KCL, his profession is prehistory. My first question was “What effect and influence do you think art have on prehistory?” He believes that fact illustration based on scientific investigation, as a part of visual presentation can help to revive the real appearance of prehistoric biont. According to him, there is an artistic form called paleoart（The discipline of palaeoart, a branch of natural history art dedicated to the reconstruction of extinct life, is an established and important component of paleontological science and outreach.） based on articles of Mark P. Witton, Darren Naish, and John Conway.<Commentary：State of the Palaeo Art>
Palaeoart (image from internet)
We can see that paleoart has gone deep into all kinds of domains, such as toys, books, films. I realized that paleoart is a relatively accurate artistic form which is based on science and it serves science in a way, it’s a way for the public to know prehistory. I intend not to just present the state of prehistory but to render the world more thoughts and significance with the help of prehistory. Chris suggests that people can read a brief history of humankind to know more about human civilization.
Qingming Festival
Kangxi Southern Figure
At the same time, I interviewed another Chinese artist Zhang Tong（interested in history). Zhang Tong thinks painting helps to record history and can be used in historical textual research, like Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival and Kangxi Southern Figure. At the same time, history or original art bring inspiration to artists, for example, Paul Gauguin once sought inspiration from the primitive tribes in Tahiti islands.
While interviewing HU Chen, student from Imperial College London PHD, we talked about AI and future design. He believes the development of AI will complicate virtual network, but exterior presentation will be simplified, for example, in the concept of urban brain, the operation of the whole city is like a brain, every change of traffic lights and the movement of cars are controlled by AI. The operation is accurate and complicated but invisible, however, the appearance become simpler, like the urban brain, it might appear to be a box.
Reading and reflection on a brief history of humankind
Whether in modern countries, medieval churches or ancient tribes, the foundation of all kinds of massive human cooperation exists only in collective fictions. There exists no God, no country, no money, no human right, no law or justice outside human conjunct imagination. The contracts we sign nowadays are essentially the same with sorcerer rituals in tribes - once we sign it, all magic works from that moment. Human civilization has developed for such a long time, we have been accustomed to those fictions and we trust the value that they brought to us. I began to realize that my motive of creation weakened because of the weakened curiosity. In The Story of Art, the author E.H. Gombrich compared the presentation of artists’ talents to the growing of a pearl - its core was only a dust, impure and probably for religion, money or war, but artists’ talents developed on this core. Without economic interests, all these supports my motive were interest and curiosity. When history retrospected its origin, I began to jump out of all the familiar fictions and reconsidered everything to rebuild the new curiosity.
Iron sticks and fossil by Hongyang Zhang
The creation of iron stick
I began to depict an iron stick as my practice. Initially, it was only a straight stick. However, I thought I should give my iron stick a bit more design and curves. It resembled the ‘immediate’ evolution that humankind experienced. This simple stick represents civilization. The design of it is both primitive and future. It will emerge differently in all kinds of places. It might be in a fossil, under the sea, in a desert and even in the cities, higher than a skyscraper. Moreover, this stick will also appear from the past to the future, throughout the birth and extinction of human beings.
Developments and outputs
Tutorial with Jack Clark - He thought my ideas were very similar to some of the scenes in the film ‘ 2001: Space Odyssey’ by Stanley Kubrick. It was when a group of orangutans find a monument in front of their lair. This monument then transformed into a space when the orangutan threw the bone. After that, human find the same monument on the moon as well. So that Jack suggested that I could seek out more possibilities in science-fiction ways.
Tutorial with Graint - He suggested I could try and co-operate with sci-fi writers.
The Matchstick Man
I got into contact with a graphic designer Wenqi Yao, she created some science fiction short films. After a series of discussion with her, I created an artificial character called ‘The Matchstick Man’. I believe ‘fire’ was one of the milestones in the evolution process of mankind. Historiography showed that Chinese ancestors used matches in AD 577.
The Matchstick Man( design by Hongyang Zhang, model by Wenqi Yao)
Conclusion
During my interdisciplinary progress, I inspected my artistic creation at a different angle. I also became more clear with what I should be doing. By communicating and cooperating with different people, my ability of expression strengthened. This is a meaningful experience to me, and it again built up a solid foundation for further co-operation with people from different fields.
matchstick man: collect human soul as fuel.
This is an imaginary new era. The time is set in future, our Mother Earth is damaged after the World War. The Human Civilization recedes hundreds of years, most of the earth surface is destroyed and is no longer suitable for human to live on. Under the impact of nuclear radiation, the survived living creatures are mutated, huge and fierce. After this disaster, the Earth is covered by thick fog which is actually a kind of steam, this steam contains a new element X. This element is deadly to human but it also contains huge energy this is easy to extract and control, and its stock is enormous. The steam during out from the bottom of the Earth makes it possible to operate large machinery, a brand new Steam Era shall open up to Human Civilization.