interdisciplinary

I work between performance, 3D animation, experimental video, and electronic music. I am highly influenced by Shanghai's underground electronic music culture and clubs, and the queer communities that participate in these spaces, and the localization and decolonization of the westernized definition of queer in Chinese clubs. Through post-club aesthetics, my works present the duality of visibility of the Chinese queer identity in the clubs and the simulation of physical and virtual spaces for the Chinese queer community. My works hone in on the meaning of public space for Chinese queer people and how dance parties can shelter their queerness from the Confucianism tradition value that less supports non-mainstream ideologies and non-heterosexuality. In this paper, I explore how post-club aesthetics influence the Chinese underground club scene, the queer culture within Chinese politics, the Chinese definition of queerness, and the post-club methods of creating spaces to make queer identities visible and redefining the public space. I investigate these topics with my selected works to research how the post-club aesthetic functions in my visual language, and to examine and support my argument of why I choose the performance, electronic music, video art, and virtual reality to gain queer visibility by creating post-club experiences.

Language—both spoken and written—has, is, and always will be susceptible to spin, manipulation, obfuscation, and misinterpretation. This paper explores how communication's inherent vulnerability has long formed the core of my conceptual inquiry. As a visual artist, I am a tireless experimenter—with both ideas and materials. The foundation of my interdisciplinary practice is my artist's books, which have been referred to as "patchwork quilts of the subconscious." Projects related to my book practice include performance videos along with text-based drawings, paintings, and sculpture that may be characterized as both personal and social critiques. As the inherent nature of humans remains impulsive and fallible, these works may illuminate our unconscious reluctance to convert rational awareness into a more positive and sustainable life practice. My final thesis project will demonstrate emboldened approaches to these facets of my practice. I will present up to thirty new artist's book entries, a dozen new hand-sculpted UNBOUND book prints (up to 7 x 10 feet), five new text-based works on paper and canvas, and one new wall sculpture fabricated in mirrored stainless steel.

In this paper, I examine how stigma against mental illness informs my artistic process, the current state of this stigma and how it manifests in society, and methods for combating and overturning the resulting ableism. This paper begins with a survey of my practice. I approach my work from an overall perspective, and investigate processes, themes, techniques, and mediums. The second half is dedicated to the pursuit of a single theme: anti-stigma intervention. I focus on a concrete examination of the current stigma against mental illness in the United States, and propose ideas for avoiding tropes, stereotypes, and depictions that reinforce it. Following this, I provide examples of current work from other artists and myself, as we strive to undo the ableism present in today's media. Throughout the paper, I reference thought and literature by two disability advocates/activists: Johanna Hedva and Mia Mingus. The accompanying thesis artwork, an installation titled "Purgatory" that constructs a typical psychiatric waiting room with supplemented, unusual props, explores the idea of existing in a physical place that is both familiar and unfamiliar, leaving viewers with an uneasiness similar to that which is commonly associated with seeking psychiatric treatment.

In this paper, Bodies Treading in Data Fog, I discuss how memory and language allow one to make meaning from stimuli. As stimuli grow farther away from an individual's existing framework of knowledge, the vocabulary for specific naming depletes. This work is framed through the need to relate, not only to each other but also to the objects that surround us. The body works as a catalyst for the lens I'm looking through. We are working towards finding a place to exist. The Uncertainty Avoidance dimension in cultures explains the tendency one has to categorize ambiguity: it is humankind's search for truth. By becoming the mediator of the objects and materials used, I produce a constant questioning of intent for the viewer; I am questioning why these objects and materials exist, why and how they are used in this conditioned state, and why it matters to us. Juxtaposition between object, material, and imagery aids as another form of an amplifying technique. Through this meditation by means of material and objects we are able to reflect on what it means to be human and live through this current data fog.

My thesis project is a series of shipping boxes that can be transformed into foldable and portable furniture. People can cut and fold the shipping boxes according to the directions printed on the boxes, and turn the boxes into furniture. In this set, there is a table, a stool that fits underneath the table, modular cabinets of various sizes and the three kinds of standing desks. All of the assembly requires only a knife, except for the "Book" standing desk, which requires glue. The 30-inch-tall table can be made from 5 large and medium shipping boxes. The 17-inch-tall stool can be made from two medium shipping boxes. The slim box forms the shape of the stool. The flat box can form an "X" shape that supports up to 400 pounds. The cabinets comes in various sizes, but the structures are identical: a smaller box serves as a drawer that fits in a slightly larger box. The cabinets can stack on top of each other. Both the "Book" and "Italic" standing desks can each be made from one small shipping box. The "Bold" standing desks can be made from 3 medium shipping boxes.

This thesis explores the relationship between global migration, social class, surveillance and cultural displacement, by using walls, Virtual Reality, motion capture data and animation. As a screen cut in half by a wall, the immigrant's identity is stuck in a limbo in between worlds. The installation is composed of three screens. A tv shows immigrants' navigation of their home, through Google Earth VR App, and processed motion capture data of their movements. Another one presents a plane flying in an empty space and a model obtained by the motion capture data. A 360° goggle completes the installation, showing the making process of both the other two videos. Place Holder is a platform for portraying the condition of in betweenness of immigration and the vulnerability of the body to surveillance, when crossing borders.

A central question has been, how can my practice change the culture of sexual violence? This has led to an interdisciplinary studio- and community-based practice that seeks to shift the culture by building and empowering a community of victims, working across disciplines to create a third space where art can facilitate and create safe spaces, and fostering growth in a collaborative environment, through loose, flexible frameworks. I consider several factors for shifting social perspectives about sexual violence within my practice, including the reality of rape culture in the United States, my interactions with movements both inside and outside the art community, and the limitations of a solely studio-based practice. My thesis paper traces how my work is informed by these considerations, beginning with a focus on participatory projects and covering five major areas that support the transition and decisions within my practice while attending graduate school: identity, trauma, art and political critique, artistic influences, and the incorporation of process, material, and movement. The paper concludes with my thesis project, an interdisciplinary display of personal work and documentation of a series of art meet-ups and workshops which I facilitated up to and continuing after graduation.

By examining phenomenology and the work of Julia Kristeva along with outlining an historical progression of experiential artists stemming from the sublime and onto body artists, this thesis defends the rationale and methodology behind the performative endurance work 5 Day Fast: [My Theses on Art], also known as 5DF, by Nick Rivers. This body of work is influenced by research and exploration of perception, the body, 'self', and 'the other.' Being concerned with Ontology and existence, the desire to transcend our reality and existence through art, in art, and with art is taken up as a political statement; a reaction against the current socio-political climate, the mundane, and the trivial concerns of life. Instead, 5DF is a refuge into art; an examination of how we are all connected and related to one another. 5DF challenges the truth and clarity behind the individuals' perception and authenticity.