Kangyi Cheng
Subject, object, human, nature, mind, body... This dichotomous mode of perception based on the exploitation of the environment, of other species, by humans is crude and arrogant. Mosses are like nomads in the wilderness, whose trajectory is full of contingency and uncertainty, which does not have the practical efficiency defined by humans and is not limited by the environment, and which constitutes a neglected world. Perhaps it is impossible to feel the growth or to read the words of the plant or its memory itself purely from its point of view…
In my practice, I started looking at moss and found it interesting. Unless used as a landscape plant moss rarely attracts attention, and if I hadn't moved to a new home I probably wouldn't have noticed it. The way in which moss grows is very different from other plants - constantly self-replicating and growing in unfamiliar environments - and this way of growth and migration resonated with me to a certain extent, and I wanted to explore the symbolism of moss and its relationship to itself in depth.
The narrative of moss
My project develops the exploration of moss plants in two different ways. The book explores human and nature narratives.
1. The mosses' reproduction and dispersal / the expansion of the colony map
2. The growth of mosses: aggregation, copying, pasting / the
domestication of plants by humans: gathering and collecting
3. The moss world in a microcosm / the bred landscape plant and ultimately the local archive
The experimental video, influenced by Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of perception, links two narratives of humans and plants through the metaphor of graphics and expresses another layer of thinking about the interaction with plants.
Medium:
Publication, experimental video
Burst the bubble
The theme of the project is the reflection on information and the relationship between us and information.
In my initial conception, big data or information cocoons are actually very broad concepts, which cannot arouse reflection or resonance.
I thought of 'using VPN' in China because this is a unique phenomenon. If you want to use Google, Youtube, ins, and some other platforms, you must connect via VPN. Due to the restriction and shielding of the network, we as Chinese people cannot fully receive information. At that time I was still in China and did not come to London, so I wanted to collect different voices through this unique phenomenon in China and publish these voices and reflections as publications, Bring it From China to London. This process is another form of 'speak up' or 'voice'.