imagine art after

shape of a soul 灵魂的形状

agenda building and office stuff                                          1900 euro

glass making expert and equipment and material          4800 euro

construction in animal crematory                                       2500euro

transport :  tickets, stuff moving ,living cost                     5000euro

total: 14,200 euro

Hi Eline,  thanks for your suggestion, acturally i already sent the email including what you said to crematory before, but havent get any reply.  And i also contact with Glasblazerij van Tetterode before, but also havent got any reply,i asked for appointment with technical advisor .

Then i found out that the way i thought is not right, this project only could happend when you got the permission from family, so i thought why not i set up a office agenda do the bussiness of catching “soul” of people( this is what i called performance)

when i get the contract, then it would happend in future, and people buy they own soul from me.

this agenda would be quite commercial looking alike

the sequence of my project was wrong.  waiting the crematory`s permission is hopeless.

the reasonable sequence is first  finding the people who aggree that i could use they or their family`s smoke from crematorium, then we make a contract then realize it

so the project will be change

i will make a office for catch soul in public space, i prepare the contracts and show the sample that catch from plant eg.

so it becomes a kind of performance.

the budget will include:

office equipment: table, lamb……

glass piece of try out: expert of glass making,equipment rending, material…

living and working cost of me :  round way flight ticket between China and Uk , lodging expense，food…….

works` transportation

yes, i agree with you about that.

But what i want to say is if i only show the glass shape and the sound installation and the agreement papers and some potos,can you find out it is really happened or not?

if not, do you think it will influence the impact?

But  i will try my best to realize the project in the “real” way as i plan before, i think the process would be very interesting for me, i sure that  i would benefit a lot by this experience.

it’s kind of relevant if ‘shape of soul’ is produced in a crematorium since it will lend itself effortlessly to a rather powerful narrative. if the objects are produced independently at/with glass manufacturers for a fictional construct, the impact will be completely different.

you say: “Is it important to realize a project in a documentary (i mean everything is really happened) way?   i think it is really depends. As i think it is really about what you would like to relay more: the weight of life more or the concept more?”

it’s not about what is more  important. it’s about the fact that ‘documentary’ versus ‘fiction’ does not comfortably translate into ‘life’ versus ‘concept’. many ‘documentary’ approaches have very strong concepts.

Hi Breda,    em, i dont think it would be affacted by the change,

as i wrote before , the exhibition content and way of the two situation (really happen and ficiton happen) are same. eventhough i get the permission of  cunstruction and smoke collection, i still dont want to create a show that too directly,  too much information, or i say over information. and i think  this project could easily give audience the feeling by some agreement papers and some “photos” and sound and the soul， if they could use a little bit imagination。And of course i can`t see the importance to say this is fiction or really happended.

but i feel it is a difficult question when i think about the question of  fiction and documentary?  Is it important to realize a project in a documentary (i mean everything is really happened) way?   i think it is really depends. As i think it is really about what you would like to relay more: the weight of life more or the concept more ?  of  course sometimes there is compromise or fear or laziness mix in the process of making decision. But i always think about that the beautiful way to touch the heavy theme is in lightest way. Is it true, maybe for audience the result is same ,but for the people who make the choice it is totally different, maybe he/she miss the very important part of project,  the importance between process and result?  but maybe all of above it is just a nonsense confusion. I made a unnecessary opposition between life and concept,between process and result,between the fiction and documentary….

what do you think?

how will the representations of human, animal and plant ‘soul’ be affected in case the project moves from ‘documentary’ to ‘fiction’?

the production process will be:

1 studying of two crematories in amsterdam ( now still waiting for the permission of research in  crematory)

a: sound recording

b:try to get permission of family who would like to give the smoke of their family member when  their use cremation.( sorry about my english)

c: try to get permission of construction in crematory

2 studying of glass making,to find out which is the best way to catch the smoke for glass.

3 show the glass shape of soul and sound installation and agreement papers

There are two solution to fit two situation.

First: i get the permission  then everying would be carry out as above.

Second: if i dont get the permission( 89% i couldn`t get permission of construction in the crematory and use of smoke)

the result would be the same. Only the process would be totally fictious. I will make a  documents by myself  such as :agreement paper,pictures…..  to make people believe that it is really happened( and i think maybe happened or not happened it is not different)

and i will cooperate with glass makers to produce the shape of soul in the very strict and reasonable way.

sound installation:  motive metal piece , speaker

Although the result of Two solutions would be similar，the cost would be different, the second one compare first one would be  cheaper.

The rough budget will include  five parts:

1  glass making : hire one or two glass maker,rent studio ,material

2  sound installtion : technic expert of electric and metal, material

3   the living and working cost  of me

4  the construction (if get permission) : material ,workers,mechine

5 works` transport from amsterdam to uk

besides animal and human i also try to catch the shape of soul of plant.

there is a story about a plant which as an important family member died by unknow reason, and the family insist use the same way as human to treat the plant, they make the formal ceremony and then  cremate the body of the plant.

i imagine when the three shapes exhibited, there would be not any marks to show which is human which is plant and which is animal.

when people see this work, there is a mind would come out：ah， this is about the idea of equal。 when we say equal,it means in the past centuries we have not a right view of being. And when we say equal it always means we are in higher position and the one which we would like to equal is in lower position.  And all of this is up to our idea: human has the highest IQ in the world so we deserve the position, what is the fact?

Has Man a Function in Universe ?  (a title of a book)

and even though we build the grave for dead people to distinguish from other beings,but as time pass by the body will mix with plant with animal with everything, in the end all the works of establishment of differentiation become nonsense.

i think  what i want to do just show the one kind of  reality of the world.