Artists
• Zack Simpson • David Estes • Thomas Charveriat • Alexandra Verhaest • Yan Peijie •
• François Chalet • Adam Magyar • Frank Plant • Rose Tang • Lucas & Olivia Gurdjian •

I Love LEDs

From the NASDAQ billboards on New York Times Square to the bus stop indicators on the Chinese public transport, L.E.Ds(Light Emitting Diodes) illuminate our daily lives with more, or less useful information. They have become guides through the concrete jungle of modern society ordering us to drive slow, visit websites or simply display time on our irritating alarm clocks.

Nick Holonyak invented the first practical LED in 1962. Their cost-effective ratio made them an ideal tool to illuminate the next consumer generation. The pop art movement of the 60s started using consumer mass media strategies as a medium. Jenny Holzer worked in this tradition with text on different media such as the LED info panels, on which she displayed several of her ‘Truisms’. Phrases like "abuse of power comes as no surprise" placed in public space, revealing at the same time the propagandistic ways in which commercial media works, as well as making subtle political statements against conventional ways of thinking.

My immediate association with LED panels is one of slogans. Slogans should define the public identity of a certain product. They are supposed to carry out a univocal image for worldwide consumers to remember. Being a photographer, experience taught me that images are anything but universal. As we are, whether confronted with people of different cultures or with our next door neighbors often "lost in translation", the cliché of images saying more than a thousand words becomes a valuable truth. State of fact dissolves in a dance of associations, forming an inner dialogue of interpretations. The image becomes nothing but an unposed question, a white projection screen illuminated by the mind of the spectator. Every image creates a virtual space in the mind. Whether it triggers a memory or a new association. As time passes and the abstraction of history happens, trends, facts and personal experiences feed our mind in different ways. Certain historical facts enjoy importance and certain styles enjoy preference.
This stream of thoughts puts authorship in a new light. As artists we may produce work with a certain meaning and certain aesthetics while the image might be experienced and understood in a completely different way by any other individual. As well as we wrap our creations into the nurturing blankets of wordily explanations, eventually we throw the images we produce into public space to be carelessly or cautiously consumed by the spectators. I believe that the poetry of it all lies in the letting go of our convictions and letting interpretation flow in its own natural way.

With "I Love LEDs" we focus on that particular process. Using images, as well as icons, displayed in LED-form. What is left of the initial utilitarian usage of the LED display is a poetic space. Adam Magyar and Thomas Charveriat's vibrant tableaux vivants investigate the thin line between public versus private emotions. François Chalet's animations engage you in a dance through poppy virtual space while Frank Plant pins you to the spot with impressive cityscapes.

Alexandra Verhaest, Shanghai 2006. [ ↑ ]

Artists

Zack Simpson
Zack is Mine-Control's creator and principal artist. He was lured out of school in the eleventh grade to start a life of international computer hacking by a band of Chinese dissidents with a curiously strong desire to write really bad database software. After squandering his youth folding origami and writing compilers, he became the Director of Technology at the game company Origin / Electronic Arts where he helped create Ultima, Wing Commander, Ultima Online, and a host of other brand-name time-wasters. Later he started Titanic Entertainment with Jim and Ken where they created, according to C-Net, "The best game of all time that nobody bought." Both Origin and Titanic are now out of business, so what does that tell you? He currently splits his time between Mine-Control and the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin where he investigates his pet theories in molecular biology and helps build strange new life forms to amuse and horrify. [ ↑ ]

David Estes
David Estes is a multi-disciplinary artist interested in people and their relations to the world. Estes' most recent work amusingly explores the disparity between who we are and who we want to be. He is currently working on a project about happiness, So Glad You Are Happy to See Me and has recently exhibited his work in New York, San Francisco, and London. Estes lives in Ithaca, New York. [ ↑ ]

Thomas Charveriat
ThomasCharveriat (Paris, France, 1974 – lives in Shanghai) creates animatronic installations with GPS, SMS, video, sound, electronic data and humor that interact with the viewer. Complexity and elegance are combined to create sensorial atmosphere associated with vulnerability and apprehension. The artist currently exhibits on a regular basis in international new media arts shows, such as Art Futura and Observatori, and has collaborated with various art institutions such as Museo de las Ciencias Prìncipe Felipe, Museo Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso and the Museo Maritimo de Barcelona. [ ↑ ]

Alexandra Verhaest
Alexandra Verhaest received a BA in photography from Sintlukas school of Arts, Brussels. At the moment, she is fulfilling her MA graduating project in China. In her work, she explores the thin line between the collective history and the personal past. She questions authorship as well as the importance of photography as a medium to depict history, using urban legends, internet blogs as well as duff history books as a source of inspiration. In the past three years of her education she has been focusing on documentary photography. She is strongly searching for a new image language rebelling against documentary tradition.
Her graduating project is investigating the concept of Red Tourism. This new form of tourism is promoted by the Chinese government and encourages people to visit sights of revolutionary importance. She examines the relations between modern China and the bases on which it was founded, at the same time questioning the way in which tourism works. Completing the project, she is working in residence at Island6 Arts Center. [ ↑ ]

Yan Peijie
Yan Pijie (born 1981 inQingdao, Shandong Province, China) lives and works in Shanghai. He received a Bachelors degree in Sculpture from Shanghai Normal University. Yan has shown extensively all around China in Art institutions and international galleries, some of his exhibitions include "Gui Lin Shan Shui Sculpture Exhibition" (Shanghai Sculpture Space 2006), "We Are Doing" Modern Art Exhibition (Duolun Art Gallery, F6, 2005), and "Say Me, I Say" Sculpture Exhibition (Immateriality Art Gallery 2002). [ ↑ ]

François Chalet
At the edge of animated film, the Swiss graphic designer François Chalet is inspired by Tex Avery, the rigor of Swiss graphics, techno and Japan. Chalet's ultimate weapon is humor. In 1998, he directed two spots for MTV which lead him to create the visual identity for the MTV Europe Music Awards 2001. Later, the prestigious German publishing house Die Gestalten Verlag paid tribute to his illustrations with a book entitled "Chalet". He has been commissioned for campaigns notably by Escolette, Mistubishi or Expo '02. His animations always tell a story and follow the rhythm of the music. In 2005, he took part in the "Serial Killer" show / installation (production Maison des Arts de Créteil). He presented a piece of visual music during the exhibition “D.Day” at the Centre Pompidou from June 29th to October 17th 2005. In his graphic work Chalet creates an expanding universe of minimal, often abstract characters, all based on a very tight geometric framework. Although he references a clear, almost archaic formal language, his characters radiate charm and loveable emotion. [ ↑ ]

Adam Magyar
Adam Magyar (Debrecen, Hungary 1972) is a graphic designer. Recently, Magyar has been experimenting with the concept of urban people depicted in confined spaces such as taxicabs, waiting rooms and elevators where there is nothing special that they can do. His projects consist of photogaphs shot from strictly geometrical perspectives, and show how common and frequent non-action is in our lives. Magyar has had several exhibitions in Budapest like Kashi Vishwanath Express, TaxiJam and Comearound. [ ↑ ]

Frank Plant
Frank Plant (Baltimore, Maryland, US, 1969 - lives in Barcelona) is primarily involved in creating drawings out of welded steel. These are simple and direct studies of the forms and compositions of everyday objects and patterns both natural and man-made. Welded steel has always been the principal medium for Plant's work, whether in his two-dimensional pieces such as his fingerprints series or his earlier three-dimensional kinetic metal sculptures that incorporate found objects. [ ↑ ]

Rose Tang
Rose Tang was born twice; first as a boy on the beautiful hills surrounding Taichung (Taiwan) in 1967, and then, in Shanghai, at the turn of this century as the most promising Chinese artist of her generation. Rose is extravagant, rebellious and fearless, and she indiscriminately touches on all aspects of Chinese culture. In her work, Rose tries to understand the impact and influence that culture, relationships and family values had on the development of her sexual identity. Rose Tang's work captures much of the essence and uniqueness of her identity journey by presenting a delicate balance of sociological analysis, social perception, facts, style and history. [ ↑ ]

Lucas & Olivia Gurdjian
Lucas & Olivia Gurdjian like to define themselves as "un-static & creative people".
Based in Shanghai, the team covers graphic design, photography, video, fashion and performance art. Together they co-founded Warehouse Studio as the extension and evolution of what they have developed for more than 10 years. They combine image, sound, and conceptual ideas into a flowing stream of fresh work with a strong personal vision. [ ↑ ]

Special thanks to all who have helped to make this exhibition a reality.
Especially: Christopher Charveriat, Margherita Salmaso, Zheng Guoyang, Kang Jingfang, Wang Junfeng, Yang Longhai, Yasmin Sabet, Nadia Wagner, Yu Wei, Zhu Yumei, Jerome Letens, friends and families.