Yuxuan Qi

(index)
(works)

Digital/Media

We are surrounded by a constant influx of images, ranging from static to dynamic, two-dimensional to three-dimensional. Our environment feels inundated, almost suffocating, with their omnipresence. These images seem to be appearing everywhere, in every medium, occupying and expanding to all surfaces and spaces. Consciously and unconsciously absorbed by our minds, they linger as phantom imagery, prompting me to wonder: why are we so attracted to them, and what influence do they inflict upon us?

Diffused Surface is a multi-channel video installation that serves as a secondary reflection on the landscape of images surrounding us, which concurrently shapes our perception. Inserting photos taken in the physical world into the virtual space, and juxtaposing elements of nature with man-made structures, it constructs a staged spectacle of composite memory.

Video Stills

360 degrees / 4 walls-projection
Installation View
Brooklyn, New York
May, 2024

at millenium film workshop and various screenings

Underlayer (2023)

6’16’’ multi-channel video with audio, size variable
Unreal Engine 5, Computer Graphics

底层风景（二零二三年）
六分十六秒，多频道视频，尺寸可变

360° Rotation Immersive Experience
4-Channel Video Installation

Underlayer is a multi-channel video that introduces the rejection of linearity by embracing a multitude of perspectives. Weaving together flashback images that constantly appear in the mind as a haunting ground, with real-world locales drawn from the depths of past and present memories, these scenes thus undergo a blend and transformation through a process of displacement and ‘symsceny’. It prompts us to introspect and reconsider how our inner metamorphosis and formation of self are mirrored through, or rooted on the environments we dwell in when facing the void of the present and the landscapes that occupy our contemplative moments.

By merging and constructing recurring pictures from past visits into a digitally existing realm, this work seeks to understand the origin and subtle forces that imperceptibly shape our concurrent reality and identity. It forges a unique space that oscillates between the familiar and the surreal, obscuring the boundaries between historical or recording accuracy and the fabrications of memory.

Documentation from

NYU ITP Winter Show
December 17-18, 2023
230 Audio Lab, 370 Jay St, Brooklyn, New York

Exhibition brochure distributed during NYU ITP Winter Show
Print, Bind, Design/
Yuxuan Qi

Echoing the experiences with confronting floating memory, as mentioned by the film director Apichatpong in his book Memoria: “For years I usually woke up after three hours of sleep, fresh. Then I entered a ‘drifting’ stage in which scenarios came and went. It was not typical dreaming because in it I was doing nothing but being a spectator”, Underlayer emerges as a digital haven for both its creator and the audience. It offers a sanctuary for retreat, while providing multiple layers of anchor points and memory cues in conjunction with acting as a catalyst in our process of moving forward in time.

In Yuxuan’s recent practice, elements like tropical vegetation, monitors, narrow corridors, and cable cars converge to form a visual language, juxtaposing flat imageries with three-dimensional landscapes. She has developed a pattern and technique of observing vacant spaces during temporary pauses and brief interludes, before shifting to the next foothold. Within this limited time frame, Yuxuan attempts to envision the history of these spaces: what groups of people have passed through or traversed? What events have transpired at this exact coordinate? What kinds of emotion have imprinted upon the physical form that is still present in this space? These intangible elements coalesce into a tangible presence that remains constant in the world, and these ethereal elements crystallize into a persistent physical presence. In this context of intangibility, one certainty prevails: the enduring manifestation of its entity remains at the same spot in the world. With this ideation in mind, Yuxuan constantly revisits these insubstantial spaces for comfort and reassurance, extracting ‘useful pieces’ as a progression force and fuel to propel and further continue in life.

In this latest iteration of Underlayer, the reconstructed realm is divided into four primary scenes: the hall, the greenhouse, the hollow mountain and the plain at duck. Each scene occupies one of the four cardinal directions within the navigation system, constituting an integrated structure of artificial space within a physically existing setting. Stitching together various recorded motion capture data of daily movements and activities, the four sides of the video installation work together to depict duplicates of the artist herself. These representations, performing routine tasks like drinking a bottle of water, within a static temporal space and interacting with absent objects, symbolize the weary bodies roaming between the transitional areas from cities to their peripheral limits. This metaphor captures our collective quest and struggle to find a solution and direction in anything, caught in a world between the echoes of the past and the projections of the future.

Snow Study (from Honcho, Aomori) (2024)

Unreal Engine 5, Sound Design, Video
4’19”

Sound/
Unreal Engine Development/
Editing/
Yuxuan Qi

A digital simulation and study of the gentle descent of snowflakes, that serves as a resonation with the serene, hushed nature of perpetual metamorphosis harmonizing with our everyday surroundings – an often overlooked spectacle.. This visualization seeks to capture the minutiae of change and subtle transformation within a frozen moment in time that eludes the notice of passersby. Developed with Unreal Engine 5, it transforms this observational, temporary scenery into spatial consideration. Each descent unveils a unique duration, a distinctive route, and an unpredictable speed, yet collectively crafting a harmonious scenery, while presenting a fleeting and ephemeral panorama. It is a resounding declaration echoing in the profound silence of nature’s constant evolution.

Referencing a real-life encounter in Aomori, Japan, where sunlight coaxed snow from a rooftop, I was entranced by the intricate dance of movements, shapes and ever-changing shadows. Each falling piece of snow, though seemingly uniform, bore its own subtle variations – a symphony of order amidst disarray, each imprinting its own ephemeral mark upon the landscape.

In Between the Window (2022)

Interactive Sound Installation, Digital Video Collage, Projection Mapping

Featured in

Rehearsal Art Book Fair, CICA Museum, NYU ITP Winter Show 2022

collaboration with Shiqing Chen
text edit / Chirui Cheng

In Between the Window is a digital interactive installation and an ongoing research project, exploring urban sound and visual spectacles in the downtown Brooklyn area. By reconfiguring and recreating the light projected by the glass curtain wall, the installation hopes to break with the industrialized modernist landscape and to discover the underlying, vivid, rhythmic urban space.

在窗之间是一个数字互动装置，也是一个正在进行的研究项目，探索布鲁克林市中心的城市声音和视觉奇观。通过对玻璃幕墙所投影的光线进行重构和再创造，这个作品希望打破现代主义城市所主导的工业化景观，并发掘那些潜在的，鲜活的，律动的城市空间。

Background

Qi and Chen have always been fascinated by the interaction between light and architecture in New York City. They believe that when light reflects and interacts between the modernist glass curtain walls, the texture of light would be recorded as beautiful as ripples on the lake. If we could focus our attention on a specific urban area and carefully record it, capturing the collision between the flowing light and the stillness of buildings, the lightscape of the city would present a spectacular light performance.

项目背景
陈诗晴和齐雨璇一直对纽约市中光与建筑之间的碰撞感到着迷。她们认为，当光在现代主义的玻璃幕墙之间反射与交互时，其质感就会像湖面的涟漪一般，光滑地被记录了下来。如果能将我们的目光聚集到一个特定的城市区域并展开记录，捕捉到那流动的光线与静止的建筑之间的交流，那么光的独特景观将会呈现一场精彩的视觉表演。
How it Works

The video collage section of In Between the Window is divided into three pieces, each corresponding to an instrument and enabling each piece to make a different sound from the community. In each piece, the variation of the playing speed would correspond to the values of the x-axis, the positive and the negative y-axis. Thus, every time the audience lifts the globe that represents the orientation of the sun in his hand, the pieces start playing in response to the audience’s gesture. The picture and the sound in the video change according to the speed of rotation; the faster the globe rotates, the faster the video plays. The changes in angle and speed on the different axes are the changes in sound and image that the audience gets.

In order to present such an effect, In Between the Window utilizes the accelerometer built into the microcontroller (Arduino Nano) to test the changes in angle and speed of the sun’s orbit on the coordinate axes. The data would be transferred into pre-edited Javascript to change the speed of the video playback to correspond to the changes in different pieces.

装置工作原理

利用单片机内部的加速度计，将其方向和俯仰值无缝地转化为p5.js界面中每个视频的播放速度，当人们引导玻璃球沿横向和纵向轴移动时，将根据手部的微妙动作“指挥” 一场视觉交响乐，与此同时，他们眼前图像中建筑表面的光影转换速度将相应地改变。视频拼贴中的每个窗格单元都与周遭社区的独特声音录音相对照，当人们与该装置互动时，他们将体验到音频和视觉组合持续变化的过程。

为了达到实时呈现的声影效果，在窗之间利用了在单片机中内置的加速度计来实时测试太阳轨道在坐标轴上的角度和速度变化。把这些数据转移到事先编辑好的Javascript中以改变视频的播放速度，从而对应三个模块中的变化。

Preparation

For half a month of researching, Chen and Qi recorded the changes of light between those glass wall buildings, as well as the sound samples from the community.

准备

在为期半个月的研究中，齐雨璇和陈诗晴记录了玻璃幕墙上的光影变化，以及来自社区的声音样本。

List of Buildings

建筑清单

300 Ashland
The Ashland
66 Rockwell Apartments
Hub
1 Flatbush
The Brooklyn Tower
7 Dekalb Avenue
City Tower
Hoyt & Horn
11 Hoyt
Brooklyn Point
Avalon Willoughby Square
AVA DoBro

Recordings

elevator arrival
elevator pressing buttons
elevator door opens
vacuum in the hallway
noise from construction site
closing the window
siren from the street
ringing the bell
hitting something hard
throwing trash down the trash chute

录音

一电梯到达
二按电梯
三电梯门打开
四走廊里的吸尘器
五远处施工现场传来的噪音 6. 关闭窗户
七街上的警笛
八按门铃
九楼下敲击硬物
十往垃圾管道里扔垃圾

Time
Nov. 11th — Nov. 22nd, 2022

时间线
二零二二年十一月十一日至十一月二十二日

2022 NYU ITP Winter Show

In December 2022, In Between the Window was officially presented to the public at New York University’s ITP Winter Exhibition. The location of the exhibition at NYU Tisch in downtown Brooklyn was uniquely significant for the project.

During the event, the audience was highly interested in the visual presentation and light effects of the project, and it provoked thoughts and discussions from a variety of perspective and created a meaningful dialog in the community.

二零二二纽约大学冬季展览
二零二二年十二月，在窗之间项目正式在纽约大学的冬季展览向公众展示。展示地点选择在布鲁克林市中心的纽约大学对这个项目有着独特的意义。

Special Thanks特别鸣谢
Yeseul Song, Daniel Rozin, Elias Jarzombek, David Currie

In Between the Window shown at CICA Museum, Korea
Featured in the Voices group show
October 11-29, 2023

Exhibition Catologue
Press

Project Brochure featured and shown at Rehearsal Art Book Fair
September 15-16, 2023
University Settlement, New York NY

Research - Yuxuan Qi, Shiqing Chen
Book Design - Shiqing Chen
Text - Chirui Cheng
Asset Collection and Management - Yuxuan Qi

Press

Traces (2023)

Desktop Performance, Livestream, OBS Studio
Livestreamed on twitch (March 9th, 2023)

轨迹（二零二二年）
桌面表演，直播

Traces leverages the immediacy and shared presence inherent in the livestream performance formats to heighten the audience’s sense of being truly present in the moment. Through reassembling fragments extracted from different segments of a day and projecting coordinating imagery onto the functionality of objects, Traces digs into the dissected components that collectively shape our lives. This performance unfolds as live footage and pre-recorded videos are interwoven, guiding the viewers into a labyrinth of intentional disorientation and fostering an atmosphere of confusion. Meanwhile, it acts as multiple channels providing glimpses into the concurrent reality and tasks perpetually pursuing us in pursuit of a ‘more efficient’ equilibrium.

《轨迹》利用桌面直播这一表演形式固有的即时性和共同参与感，试图加强观众对当下真实存在感的体验。通过重新组合从一天不同时间段提取的片段，并将相对应的图像投射到物体的功能性上，这个项目深入挖掘了构成我们生活的分解组成部分。这场表演以直播画面和预先录制的视频相互交织着展开，有意引导观众进入一个故意被混淆的迷宫并营造出一种迷惑的假象。同时，它充当了多个通向我们生活本质的渠道，提供一瞥进入我们那不断追赶一个‘更高效的平衡’的同步现实。

Leviethos (2023)

Virtual Production, First Person Experience
Stone Jewelry from Penultimate

Collaboration Project

Role: Unreal Engine World Building and Development, Production Assistant, Photo Documentation

Inevitable Closure (2023)

Interactive Website, Web Art, HTML/CSS

必然的落幕（二零二三年）
互动网站

Inevitable Closure transmutes the chronicles of a physically existing project into an interactive web-based experience, with an intent to discuss the elapse of time and the slippery slope fallacy. Drawing inspiration from the narrative backstory of ‘Arrow Factory’, an independently run art space in Beijing that only endured from 2008 to 2019, it probes into the inherent nature within its development constrained by external forces and regulations. Charting the three critical stages that ultimately led to its cessation after eleven years, Inevitable Closure abstracts this process into a portrayal of predetermined destiny shared by all entities, whether organic or inorganic.

For Your Safety (2021)

Single-Channel Video Installation

For Your Safety discusses the interplay of gender and sexual orientation within the current Chinese social landscape and its subsequent challenges, unveiling the issues around censorship prevalent in media and societal representations. Referencing the ubiquitous sign language seen at global checkpoints, this project employs it as a metaphor, highlighting the obscured information and controlled narratives pervasive in the country's media sphere.

This metaphorical lens exposes the filtering of public imagery and the silencing of voices, particularly those of celebrities or Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) who have allegedly transgressed gender norms. The security apparatus becomes symbolic of the mechanisms used to enforce conformity to masculine ideals while simultaneously fostering fanatical adoration for femininity in men within the fan culture. Through juxtaposing authoritative scrutiny and the watchful eye of a totalitarian regime, "For Your Safety" uncovers the paradoxical tension between the government's promotion of hyper-masculinity and society's fascination with femininity in male figures.

Yuxuan Qi (index) (works) Digital/Media

Diffused Surface

Underlayer In Between the Window Snow Study Traces Inevitable Closure

Sound/Performance

(-1s), 1s, (+1s)

HKCR Untitled

Percussive Exhaustion [1] [2] NocteSquare [1] [2]

Photo

Rain Listens to the Sky

(info) (archive)

© 2024 Yuxuan Qi

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