Tony Chen
Sun Yuan, born in 1972 in Beijing, China; Peng Yu, born in 1974 in Heilongjiang Province, China. They both graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). They now live and work in Beijing, China. Sun Yuan/Peng Yu is the most important artist duo born after the 1970s. It is difficult to find a single word or sentence that can summarize their work from the superficial characteristics of their works. Their work constantly challenges our conventional visual experience, both in terms of the materials they use and the concepts they employ. Their works are often provocative and centered on intriguing and complex issues, including stem cell research and cosmetic surgery, terrorism, riots, and dogfighting, which sometimes create a sense of direct conflict for the viewer. They have had solo exhibitions in Quezon City, Seoul, San Gimignano, Beijing, and Hong Kong, and have participated in the Moscow, Liverpool, Venice, and Lyon Biennials, as well as the Aichi and Yokohama Triennials.
Their works often reflect the ambivalence of life and death, as well as the state of human existence. Look at Sun Yuan’s and Peng Yu’s previous works, they have experimented with metaphors and analogies in their methods of expression, using visualized objective objects to suggest certain known or unknown experiences, and comparing them to certain known or unknown righteousness. As far as the exhibition site is concerned, they have tried to create an immersion experience in the viewing system, covering and wrapping the audience with the special atmosphere of the site, emptying the audience’s existing consciousness and daily experience, and substituting them with the site’s situation and experience. The center of gravity of their explorations gradually focuses on the changing rules of reality in daily life. They said“As spokespersons for another world, we choose materials that are perhaps the most direct, that cannot be conveyed with other materials such as wood and paper. ”
Can’t Help Myself
In their installation Can’t Help Myself (2016), made at the Guggenheim, a robotic arm is programmed to sweep up red liquid (resembling blood) inside a glass enclosure. As the robotic arm attempts to clean up, the “blood” spills again, symbolizing the human struggle with containment, control, and futility. The ultimate goal of Can’t Help Myself is to evoke a strong physical, emotional and psychological response from the viewer, prompting them to examine the socio-political systems that plague today’s society, such as employers and employees.
The creation of Can’t Help Myself was planned with the addition of a shovel and a rubber scraper at the end of the arm. The robotic arm has a 360-degree working radius and is fully mobile via a programmable Kuka controller. The sculpture itself is powered by a cable connected to the robot’s base. The center of the sculpture is fitted with a hydraulic assembly consisting of 48 gallons of cellulose ether and crimson water that seeps out of the center of the sculpture. The robot is mounted on a 7 meter x 7 meter white wooden waterproof platform with space for wiring underneath. In addition to the platform, “Can’t Help Myself ” is surrounded by transparent polycarbonate panels to prevent liquid spills and protect the work. Inside the installation space, there are 18 LED lights and four GigE Cognex industrial cameras placed in a grid pattern on the ceiling. This allows the arm to recognize the area where the liquid is spilling and move towards it, squeezing the liquid towards the base of the robot. The Kuka robots were also programmed to perform 32 different dances when they weren’t being sent to squeeze different areas of the raised platform: Human vs. Machine: They highlight how technology can mirror or mimic human behaviors, revealing the absurdity in attempting to control it.
Since 2007, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu have been choosing to emulate or simulate specific scenes with other materials that have nothing to do with life. The artists have now become more skillful at transforming the passion of the works into the emotional surge of the viewer’s heart. In their artistic experiments, it is not the taboo itself that they want to break, but rather the unbearable truth of reality, so for a long time, their works have been more like a long-planned elaborate plan, or a ritual to face up to human nature.