BROWNIE Project 画廊荣幸宣布将于2024年8月31日呈现 Dori Deng 个展「静噪 Clean Noise」。此次展出的十一件作品皆来自同一系列：Expansion Series（2020年至今）。Expansion 一词之于来说拥有多重旨意；它指向从作品本身无限延伸而出的光晕，或装置中某一处被放大的结构和物性，或（原）材料被拓展为量产的工业物的过程，或克制的视觉背后值得被细述的有关秩序与无序的隐喻。展览虽从策展人哈利的个人研究角度梳理并呈现 Dori Deng 四年间的创作，但也邀请观者主动寻找作品之间的微妙变化，感受艺术家不同时期的创作心境和材料技术。
Brownie Project is pleased to announce the presentation of Dori Deng's solo exhibition, Clean Noise, on 31 August 2024, featuring eleven works from her ongoing Expansion Series (2020 - present) at the heart which lies the multilayered meanings of the word expansion: the diffusion of light, the amplified structural or material qualities in a work, the increased availability of mass-produced industrial objects, and the elaboration of a discussion about orders and disorders hidden behind her works. While the exhibition arranges and presents Dori’s works from the curator Harriet Min Zhang’s perspective, it also invites the audience to understand differently, to appreciate the subtle nuances between each piece, and to experience the artist’s state of mind at different times of her creative process.
Dori Deng
扩展系列 1&2号
Expansion Series, Work No.1 & 2
2021
Photo by John MacLean
ⓒthe artist & Thames-side Studio Gallery, UK
在回顾创作 Expansion 系列的初衷时，Dori 分享道：“在现代建筑中，我时常看到一些基本二维图形被变化出复杂的建筑结构之中。甚至在今天我们依旧能在新建筑中发现，层层叠加而上的立体空间经常将基础图形延伸、扩展。有时候，建筑师有意将它们错开，使同一栋楼的不同居住空间面向不同方位，以此增添隐私感。” 将基本形状——例如圆形、方形、三角形——进行组合、搭建是该系列作品的起点。因此，除了10件装置作品以外，展览也将呈现 Dori Deng 的部分手稿。这些手稿与装置作品共同承载着她对基本形状与组合搭建行为之间关系的探索。
For audience to understand the factual aspects of her works, she shares her reflections on the creation of the series, “I often see basic shapes transformed into complex structures in modern architecture. Even today, it is unthinkable to design new buildings without extending or expanding ideas based on geometric forms. Sometimes, architects would intentionally rotate the floors so that individual spaces in the same building face different directions, providing a sense of privacy.” The composition of shapes and construction afterwards keep coming into our conversation. So in addition to the 10 installations, the exhibition will also present a selection of Dori's drawings which embodies her initial explorations of shapes and how she expands them into installations.
Dori Deng
扩展系列 15号
Expansion Sereis, Work No.15
2023
钢丝,电线, 玻璃, 不锈钢
Steel wire, glass, stainless steel
W1000 x D200 x H900 mm
Photo by Ash James
ⓒthe artist & Serchia Gallery, UK
Dori Deng
扩展系列 19号
Expansion Sereis, Work No.19
2023
钢丝,石头, 投影灯
Steel wire, natural rock, projector lamp
W800 x D1500 x H800 mm
Photo by Ash James
ⓒthe artist & Serchia Gallery, UK
Dori 的视觉语言克制、干净、规整，其中常有被精准切割的工业材料、将材料间物理力学具像化的铁丝、天然石材、自然光、人造光等。Dori 再以手工艺的方式介入物质之间，将本该用于工业或建筑场景的材料放入新的视觉秩序。展览标题“静噪 Clean Noise”中的 静/Clean 不仅呼应了Dori 作品呈现的气质，它也代表了一种被建构出来的洁净秩序，暗指人类向往秩序机械化的本能。而对噪音的引用是为引导观者思考秩序背后曾经发生过的无序，以及如今依然隐藏在干净表象之下的凌乱状态。
观者将在展览现场更深刻地感受到 Dori 创作背后的厚度与净度。前者提醒着我们：当谈及一些“原材料”时，我们已然忽视了“原生”一词的欺骗性，以及材料背后已上演了百年的工业化进程；大规模的自动化批量生产制造和加工使材料变得唾手可得，生产与消费秩序的形成也让我们逐渐忘却材料的内在特性。这也是 Dori 希望通过与手工艺结合，并以极简的作品呈现方式，引出的另一个问题：被精准切割和管理的玻璃、钢、铁丝等人造材料的背后，是怎样被隐去的叙事和噪音？而噪音——它是不被认可的声音，是工业的副产品，是无形的污染——在此成为了人类自私自利的又一个可笑象征。
Minimal. Neat. Organised. Precise. Dori often works with precisely cut industrial materials, metal wires that visualise the physical mechanics between different parts, as well as natural media like wood, rocks, and light. She challenges the idea of ready-made materials in industrial and architectural scenes by engaging with them through her crafting. Clean in the exhibition title not only echoes the aura of Dori's work, but also represents the common impression of an order, a social construct shaped by the perpetual momentum of mechanisation. Noise, on the other hand, refers to the disorder or chaos that once existed - if not still exists - under the clean appearance of the order.
Audience will get a deeper sense of the thickness and cleanness of Dori's use of materials. Thickness refers to a web of meaning and a melange of social facts embedded within an object matter. For instance, as we mention the “raw material” in a work, are we aware that their rawness is rather deceptive, that they are ready-made materials which have gone through a controlled, regulated and standardised process of production? Our extensive need for automated batch processes - to produce varieties of sheet glasses, sheet metals, thin wires, light tubes - has distracted us from the large-scale manufacture that has been going on for more than a century. Dori’s works evinces an understanding that the relation between clean-cut man-made materials and a larger narrative begins long before a thematic reference as such is made. She develops it through a combination of craftsmanship and minimalist presentation. While cleanness not only refers to the clean-cut and the clean-fit, but also intends to mock the effort we put into a unthoughtful maintenance, in which we, on one hand, produce noise and chaos, and, on the other, try to eliminate the unwanted. Hence, noise - the unwanted sound, an industrial byproduct, a piece of intangible pollution - in this context becomes yet another laughable symbol for humans’ selfishness.
Dori Deng
扩展系列 25号
Expansion Sereis, Work No.25
2024
不锈钢 Stainless steel
W1400 x D700 x H130 mm
ⓒ the artist & Space of Time Gallery, China
个展「记忆的距离」展览现场，Space of Time Gallery, 北京, 2024
Installation view of Distant Memory, Space of Time Gallery, Beijing 2024
物质材料本身被想象、被构建成不死之身，它们因成熟的工业秩序显得取之不尽，这使我们沉溺于无限索取、无情使用的危险惯性。甚至，如今对材料生命周期的科普和重视或许也并未经过深思熟虑；我们自私地将无用之物视为“垃圾”，将“回收”的概念作为安慰剂……但这些为修饰人类社会进程合理化的漂绿（greenwash）行为又掩盖了多少浪费与污染问题？因此，作品在质问秩序与无序的同时，也邀请观者思考人类在介入原材料开发、生产、加工、消费等过程中建立的秩序是否真的有效且有意义。
Matters around us are often imagined immortal. The sophisticated industrial system led us to indulge in a dangerous belief of materials being inexhaustible and infinitely recyclable, resulting in relentless appropriation and heartless exploitation. Even though information about materials’ life cycles and criticism against unnecessary production are becoming more recognised, we seem unable to escape the inertia; we still consider useless things as waste to be thrown away, and the concept of recycling is merely a placebo. To what extent have environmental and ecological issues been covered up by greenwashing behaviours that rationalise humans’ desire for a more developed society? Therefore, while questioning order and disorder, Dori’s works also invite the audience to consider whether the process of material development, production and consumption is really meaningful.
Dori Deng
终结系列 9号
Termination Sereis, Work No.9
2018
不锈钢结构，玻璃，椭圆形反射聚光灯
Stainless steel structure, glass, ellipsoidal reflector spotlight
W25000 x D13000 x H1900 mm
Photo by Katharina Kritzler
ⓒthe artist & Light Art Weekend Berlin
Dori Deng
终结系列 6号
Termination Sereis, Work No.6
2018
黄铜棒, Mini-Source four 灯
Brass rods, Mini-Source four Lamps
W1200 x D1200 x H1600 mm
Photo by Marina Denisova
ⓒthe artist & Palazzo Galli Tassi, Italy
此次展览也希望观者关注作品在画廊内不同展厅所呈现的不同物象。白色展厅内丰富的光线层次和显眼的空间边界，与画廊深处低层高的黑色展厅中无限向内压迫的气氛，形成冲突。同时，Corridor 长廊计划也将被用来回顾与 Dori Deng 早期创作相关的决定性物件。这一附于主展览之上的半独立策展项目空间以 “The Analogue Room” 为名，试图通过陈列在长廊两侧展台上的物件，让观者了解贯穿于艺术家 Dori Deng 创作生涯中的具体线索。
The main gallery space with white walls and a high ceiling, along with the black boxes with dropped ceilings further inside, will offer different senses of aura to the audience. Dori, who has worked in theatres before, understands very well how perspective matters in a three-dimensional space. It will be interesting to observe the consistency within Dori’s works through her use of space. At the same time, the twelve-metre long corridor space will become The Analogue Room, showing objects that are dear to Dori and her practice. This semi-independent curatorial project space complements the main exhibition body, providing an opportunity for audience to understand Dori’s creative process in a richer context.
( 文Text / 哈利 Harriet Min Zhang ）
Dori Deng
Dori Deng 是一位居住和工作在英国的跨媒介艺术家。她专注于运用投影光去探索光这一媒介的时间性和结构性，从而勾勒出独特的光、空间和时间组合。Deng 的艺术实践在秩序和机遇之间找到平衡，通过精准且逻辑的编排组合手段创造出一种自然有机的和谐。她的灯光作品给予受众一种具有张力的切身体验。光作为一种难以掌控的抽象的媒介，恰恰给予了 Deng 的一种运用的自由感，使其不受传统艺术形式的限制。她的灯光作品跨越了雕塑、建筑装置，甚至舞台表演等多个领域。
过去十年间，Deng 以研究为基础，实验为方法的模式推进了她的创作，并建立了一个以不同主题为系列, 同时相互交错的严谨系统框架。创作主题植根于建筑和音乐创作，涉及空间和时间的概念。近年完成的《终止系列》（2015-19）是一种与历史建筑的对话，探索了记忆如何通过物理构造形成和转化。这些装置作品是在意大利佛罗伦萨的加利亚·塔西宫、布雷西亚的蒙蒂宫和德国柏林的阿尔特明等特定地点创作的。《节奏系列》（2012-18）和《测量系列》（2009-11）的现场行为作品采用了现代舞的符号化方法，重组了人体与建筑景观之间的节奏跟空间互动。这些表演作品参展与英国伦敦艺术节、法国巴黎不眠夜艺术节，并在英国的ICA、南岸艺术中心以及许多其它非传统的公共空间中呈现。
Deng 对光这一媒介的敏感性进一步拓展了她的创作广度。她与新当代古典音乐有着超过十年的合作实践。合作者包括英国歌剧导演内蒂亚·琼斯、奥斯卡提名英国音乐人米卡·莱维、奥利弗·科茨和作曲家劳伦斯·克兰。2023年，Deng 与英法作曲家约瑟芬·斯蒂芬森合作，为法国阿维尼翁歌剧院的新歌剧《Three Lunar Seas》创作了大型灯光和空间装置的舞台设计。
DORI DENG (b.1985) is a Chinese - British multidisciplinary artist living and working in the UK. Dedicated to the medium of projected light, Deng investigated the temporal and structural qualities of the medium and orchestrated unique composition of light, space and time. Deng's art practice balance order and chance - forming harmony by engineering the organic. Her lightworks offer tangible experiences with temporal immediacy. Light as an abstract medium liberated Deng's creativity from the limit of form or scale, her lightworks ranged from sculpture, architectural installation, to staged performances. Light functions as either the object or the subject, but a sensual abstract - a tool to evoke our unaware notion connected to architectural space, further to time.
Over the past decade, Deng advanced her practice through a research-based, experimental-led manner, processed within a rigorous framework of subject-focus series. The subject matters rooted in architecture and music composition, which refer to space and time. The recent completed Termination Series (2015-19) were processed in dialogue with historic architecture, investigating how memory form and translate through the physical construct. Installations were site-specifically created at Palazzo Galli Tassi in Florence, Palazzo Monti in Brescia (IT) and Alte Münze in Berlin (DE). Performances from Rhythm Series (2012-18) and Measuring Series (2009-11) adapted the notation-based method of contemporary dance to reassemble the temporal interaction between the human body and architectural landscape. Performances commissioned by Art Night London (UK), Nuit Blanche Paris (FR), shown at ICA (UK), Southbank Centre (UK), and many more unconventional public spaces.
Deng's sensibility to time through the medium of projected light has further extended her practice in collaboration with contemporary classical and new music. Collaborators include theatre director Netia Jones (UK), musicians Mica Levi (UK), Oliver Coates (UK), and composer Laurence Crane (UK). She has recently created her first large scale stage installation commissioned by Opera Grand Avignon (FR), a new contemporary opera Three Lunar Seas in collaboration with composer Josephine Stephenson (UK/FR), premier in 2023, Avignon, France.
哈利
Harriet Min Zhang
哈利，独立策展人和作家，本科毕业于亚非学院社会人类学，硕士毕业于皇家艺术学院当代艺术策展。她探索人类学与当代艺术文化实践之间的跨学科合作方法，将民族志式的写作视为研究方式，并将阐述式的“厚描”视为理解艺术实践语境的关键。她尤其关注不同学科和知识体系之间的细微差别，质疑那些试图用骗术（conjuring）和神话（myth-making）的修辞混淆视听的美学和知识主体。她近期对死亡与医疗化现象的兴趣主要体现在对材料来世和手术暴力的研究中。
Harriet Min Zhang is an independent curator and writer, with a Bachelor's degree in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and a Master's degree in Curating Contemporary Art from Royal College of Art. She explores approaches to cross-disciplinary collaborations between anthropology and contemporary art and cultural practices. She considers ethnography as a research method and the notion of an interpretive thick description as the essential for a contextualised understanding of artistic practices. She recognises nuances among different disciplines and bodies of knowledge and contests situations of conjuring and myth-making that regenerate aesthetic and epistemological codes. Her current interest in death and medicalisation is embodied in a research of material afterlife and surgical violence.
