Puzzles and Riddles

Abstract

In this MA thesis, I will investigate and discuss my graduation project and how it has been researched during the process.This writing runs parallel to my art practice and is connected the theory of “Three orders” of Lacan” to the concept of “The Realm with Me”, which was redefined by Chinese artist critic Guowei Wang and originally illustrated as the “sublime” by Immanuel Kant. I have aimed to find my own way to consider the aesthetic concepts and open the surface of my body to navigate the fragmentation in my dreams of remembering and transform them into the narrative texts and patterns to rewrite them into a larger context. Additionally, I will explore such concepts as childhood, family and identity in my works.I have divided my work into five chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on the aesthetic concept of the sublime which brings out the idea of “The Realm with Me”. In it, I will look at my works through the theoretical foundations of aesthetics and a brief exposition of psychoanalytic theory. The works of Freud and Lacan provide a theoretical framework to understand the identification of art and sublime. I will then distinguish three different orders of Lacan’s theory to be helpful in terms of my expression.Chapter 2 focuses on the background of Chinese urbanization, defined as a process during which laborers move from agriculture to manufacturing and from countryside to urban areas. It will look at my works based on extensive research and fieldwork of the greenhouse in my hometown of Huzhou, China.Chapter 3 focuses on my personal experience. The impact of family, society and environment is significant in understanding trauma conditions and relationships. I will start by narrating a personal in-between experience that led me to question how I deal with childhood trauma and the traumatic fragments in my dreams, which is the beginning of my research process and explore how it will be transformed into images. Dreams also serve as an essential element and material in my art practice.Chapter 4 will conclude what has already been written about. During the above process, a contextual, philosophical and informational ground will be provided by this writing, which is concerned as a connecting element, both as a description of my artistic process and as an integrated part of my work.2Chapter 5 mainly concerns my art practice on the basis of my personal experience and other artists' works, which has led me in my pursuit to discover artistic creation from anxiety, trauma and fear in the collective memory from my dreams. I will look at contemporary artists who are also interested in the idea of childhood trauma and how it appears in their work. In addition, I will describe my video installations and sculptures and connect my art practice with activity of play, a form of surrealism. The puzzle game will be provided as a method to understand how those theories are related to my art practice and bring the research into the field of art-making.The final chapter is a reflection for my MA degree solo show at Hulduland, in which I intended to approach the research in this thesis into practice. Through the process of creating the artwork and contemplating its outcome, I would like to make a conclusion for my MA degree practice that could lead me to potential further development.