Pak Sheung Chuen (b. 1977, China)
A Travel without Visual Experience, 2008

Tate Modern, London, UK / Visited28/06/2018

Artist goes on a “sightseeing” holiday to Malaysia blindfolded, taking 19 film rolls of random pictures with his his simple camera, images becoming his only visual memories from the trip. In the gallery he exhibits the images in a dark room, visible only in the light of the audience’s camera flashes…

There are interesting qualities in going for a sightseeing blindfolded, but to connect it to my current projects would require a bit too far-fetched relational work. It is the aspect of a photo show in a darkened room that requires audience to use their flash to be seen that makes it more relevant to me. I am interested in unorthodox ways of exhibiting work where installation is an integral extension of the work adding new meanings and experiences – tick! I am also interested in more active engagement and interaction between the audience and the work – tick! Audience makes the work visible – it is brilliant both in a literal sense and metaphorically, relating to the philosophical musing “does a falling tree make a sound if no one is there to hear it”…