CATALOGUE OF LIGHT
The 2 slideshows below present the 2 parts of the installation "Catalogue of Light". Each panel is a contour map, at 1:25000, of one of the islets belonging to Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll, the two atolls in the Marshall Islands that have been used by the United States government as nuclear testing sites in the Pacific Proving Grounds between 1946 and 1962 without consent from the local residents.
Each line seen in the panels is created by a burning stick incense tracing on thin Japanese paper, and each map is made by layering the paper with charred edges. Incense is often used in East Asian temples to commemorate the dead or pray for the good, or in various parts of the world during meditation or therapy. Fire in the nuclear weapons is a destructive force. However, shrinking the same element, fire, a million times and using it as a technique on paper, as seen in the incense traces, reveal the elegant and peaceful side of Fire.
These works of incense traces are installed in two adjacent rooms in the gallery, with the islets of Bikini Atoll in one room, and the islets of Enewetak Atoll in another room, both arranged in the same geographical sequence of the islets in reality. A QR code is placed just above the floor under each islet, which, when scanned with one's mobile phone, leads to the satellite view of the corresponding islet in Google Map. The viewer may walk around the gallery and choose to scan random QR codes, explore the geographical area virtually on their phone, during which they may encounter historical bomb craters that resemble scars along the atolls, as well as spectacular texture and colours of the lagoons.
The 2 slideshows below present the 2 parts of the installation "Catalogue of Light". Each panel is a contour map, at 1:25000, of one of the islets belonging to Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll, the two atolls in the Marshall Islands that have been used by the United States government as nuclear testing sites in the Pacific Proving Grounds between 1946 and 1962 without consent from the local residents.
Each line seen in the panels is created by a burning stick incense tracing on thin Japanese paper, and each map is made by layering the paper with charred edges. Incense is often used in East Asian temples to commemorate the dead or pray for the good, or in various parts of the world during meditation or therapy. Fire in the nuclear weapons is a destructive force. However, shrinking the same element, fire, a million times and using it as a technique on paper, as seen in the incense traces, reveal the elegant and peaceful side of Fire.
These works of incense traces are installed in two adjacent rooms in the gallery, with the islets of Bikini Atoll in one room, and the islets of Enewetak Atoll in another room, both arranged in the same geographical sequence of the islets in reality. A QR code is placed just above the floor under each islet, which, when scanned with one's mobile phone, leads to the satellite view of the corresponding islet in Google Map. The viewer may walk around the gallery and choose to scan random QR codes, explore the geographical area virtually on their phone, during which they may encounter historical bomb craters that resemble scars along the atolls, as well as spectacular texture and colours of the lagoons.
Title: Catalogue of Light - Bikini Atoll
Dimension: 15cm W x 20cm H x 4cmD (6in W x 8in H x 1.5in D) per panel, 22 panels in total.
Material: Mixed media on wood panel (lit incense tip traces on layers of Japanese paper, and transparent waterproof acrylic medium, QR codes stickers of 4cm x 4cm below each panel on the bottom of the wall, Google Maps)
Dimension: 15cm W x 20cm H x 4cmD (6in W x 8in H x 1.5in D) per panel, 22 panels in total.
Material: Mixed media on wood panel (lit incense tip traces on layers of Japanese paper, and transparent waterproof acrylic medium, QR codes stickers of 4cm x 4cm below each panel on the bottom of the wall, Google Maps)
Title: Catalogue of Light - Enewetak Atoll
Dimension: 15cm W x 20cm H x 4cmD (6in W x 8in H x 1.5in D) per panel, 41 panels in total
Material: Mixed media on wood panel (lit incense tip traces on layers of Japanese paper, and transparent waterproof acrylic medium, QR codes stickers of 4cm x 4cm below each panel on the bottom of the wall, Google Maps)
Dimension: 15cm W x 20cm H x 4cmD (6in W x 8in H x 1.5in D) per panel, 41 panels in total
Material: Mixed media on wood panel (lit incense tip traces on layers of Japanese paper, and transparent waterproof acrylic medium, QR codes stickers of 4cm x 4cm below each panel on the bottom of the wall, Google Maps)
Title: Misfits, Offcuts, and Castaways No.1
Dimension: Variable
Material: Mixed media (moving images, plastics, wood and coal ashes)
4 minutes 10 seconds
All camera work, images, and editing by Yi Dai except for 4 footages appropriated from the US Navy's recording.
Dimension: Variable
Material: Mixed media (moving images, plastics, wood and coal ashes)
4 minutes 10 seconds
All camera work, images, and editing by Yi Dai except for 4 footages appropriated from the US Navy's recording.