"Open Sky"

As part of Open Sky 打开天空, an exhibition curated by Gu Zhenqing 顾振清 at Chongqing’s first privately owned contemporary art museum, the Changjianghui Contemporary Art Museum 长江汇当代美术馆, island6 (六岛) was invited to present its take on the theme of technology creating new possibilities with human perception and interaction.

In island6’s showcase at Open Sky, artists explore intimacy and the shifting concept of private life in a world that is increasingly accustomed to baring all. As people willingly push more of their personal moments and thoughts online and observe endless hours of other people’s lives through reality TV, we wonder where the door left ajar will lead.

As we find the woman in "Kiska Vibe" drowsing in her lingerie, waiting for our contact, we sense we have been let into a space behind closed doors. Though as we follow her seductive and open prompt to call, triggering her intimate response, we wonder if she knows she is being watched. To what extent did she invite this? Did she mean to share so much or are we imposing?

Similarly, in "Waiting for Godot", our subjects stand waiting in the hiatus of a day, in the most public of places, roadside. Yet they do not know we stand on the opposite side of the street, and other side of the glass, staring unflinchingly at their every move, as we were always taught not to in public. As we reflect on the many apps and services we now use that track our geolocation information, we play with the dynamic of being able to affect people’s lives when the feed of information about location and activity is not mutual.

And as our gaze lifts to the girl in "A Wire With a View", precariously balancing above the buildings for all to see, we are captivated by the beauty and fragility of the moment as she juggles the competing focuses of her love and life. Has she chosen a life exposed as the deep red fish in the tank of "Nian Nian You Yu", in constant motion though never escaping an audience?

In its final exhibition for 2012, island6 was featured alongside over 30 new media artists from China, Taiwan, UK, USA, Italy and Japan including Miao Xiaochun 缪晓春, Xu Zhongmin 许仲敏, Sui Jianguo 隋建国, Yang Qian 杨千, Shy Gong, Diego Zuelli and Akino Kondoh, displaying a huge range of disciplines including painting, installations, animation and 3D video. island6 goes out with a bang and takes to the Open Sky for the start of 2013.