https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZBHw1KyxJ6SCs8e0qOBdkvM2p5ng-PVRPQ8waCZ1kq4/edit?usp=sharing
Project Title: Growth is a process of disenchantment with the world
Proposed By: Jiazhen Luo
Contact: [email protected] +1 917-834-8046
Instagram: @nicoAsdfghjk
I want to use this project to document how I understood the world and the things around me at the age of 20. This is deeply inspired by a story I once wrote, "High Hopes," where the protagonist is trapped in a room with no doors. The people in the room need to use the objects within to achieve a sense of stability and balance in their inner world, thereby helping them continue to live. The characters and the room in the story are modeled after myself and my bedroom, where I spent most of my college life in less than 200 square feet. I spent most of my time alone, possibly due to my introverted nature and my disenchantment with the surrounding things.
I have deeply felt the process of continual disenchantment with the things around me throughout my growth. I have always felt inferior in front of the things I admired. When I was young, I envied my classmates' beautiful pencils; in junior high, I envied the boys' nice sneakers; in high school, I envied those who got offers from world-famous universities; and in college, I envied the young artists who held exhibitions in renowned galleries. However, as I grew up, I gradually became disenchanted with these things I once admired and coveted. For some reason, when I finally obtained these things I had longed for, their shiny, attractive filters faded away, revealing a "false" veneer, and I no longer derived happiness and joy from them.
After going to college, I arrived in the legendary New York, a destination people from all over the world aspire to reach. Living here, I became disenchanted with the city, filled with exhibitions and galleries that seem pale and empty, food that, despite its various titles, tastes similar, overpriced small goods wholesale stores, and the few old Chinese movies that have been shown in independent cinemas year after year. After I started studying at Parsons School of Design, the best art school in the United States, I became disenchanted with the study of art. My classmates and I, alike, pilfered from the works of previous artists, piecing together inspiration to create crude art installations that tell profound artistic concepts. Inequity and strikes also exist here.
Art itself is similar. Listening to artists explain their creative ideas is a process of disenchantment, or more accurately, a letdown. When artists use thin language to explain the imagery and environmental elements, all the mystique, vague imagination, and emotional resonance are pierced through. Once the mysterious veil of art is lifted, everything becomes too boring.
After continually becoming disenchanted with things in life, this disenchantment with the things around me did not alleviate my stress; instead, it made me more anxious. It's hard for me to know what I truly want.
When I truly encounter or obtain something, recognizing its essence and no longer being captivated by its appearance, disenchantment occurs. In my work, I want to use sound to describe this phenomenon. I aim to create an environment filled with sounds, where people can interact with the sounds within this space and alter their texture.