The Pong: The Sun, Observers, and A Discussion, Lin Yi-Chun Post-Residency Exhibition

About Exhibition

Text/ Lin Yi-Chun

…There is no rain there The light is always the same and the temperature has not changed One degree in a million years The water is H2O. The Ice is as pure as snow and consequently the air is N4O and To make a long story short. That is a physical paradise…. If the crust Was removed, it would be a Sun bright enough To destroy the earth…

— Cat. #0024，Letter from Edward, To The Scientific Community Thru The Mount Wilson Observatory

“Observatory,” a vantage point for human observation, has been regarded as the home of God and a sacred place, where indigenous people worship; it has likewise been considered as a demonstration site for the complexity sanctioned governance, and eventful astrology, since the time of feudalism. Astronomical observation in the past, from naked eye, photographic technology to wave detection, has allowed us to interpret the mysteries of distant unknowns by constantly capturing and comparing cosmic images and invisible waves with scientific methods. The observation today is conducted not only through the eyes, but more through engaging the fingers following instructions, data calculations and the visual interface with each other. Daily disturbances, atmospheres, births, places with light, entertainment, daytime light pollution; those phenomena are constantly hazing human’s imagination of purely physical environments, creating the distance, and blurring toward new forms.

The force of Gravity, one thinks about archiving under the scale of the universe or gazing at the passage of time when it’s moving forward. It is said that the massive duplication of industrial society is about the production and repetition of functionality and purpose. In this sense, its operations may be merely the longing for the extension of time, as well as the greatest resistance to the sense of separation, while the explicating discourse begins to become trivial, and the resulting actions become more chaotic and their purpose finally unclear.

“The Pong,” a surrounding force field in a room full of sunlight. Time and space collapse. The materialized time appears as specimens of organs in the archival room, shining with all kinds of memories refracting each other. The sunlight here has no weight, but has suddenly appeared, as if in the jungle magically gathered: the archive managers, astronomers, amateur observers, and the public, slowly driving us to the top of the mountain, rustling in haste. From daily observation, scientific measurement to memory images collaging, the journey opens up dialogues and discussions of cross-textual and non-mainstream knowledge construction, subjective experience, imagination, and speculation.