Chang Gao: Erotic Proximity

Short Description / Kurzbeschreibung

I make art using eroticism and Supernormal Stimuli, an evolutional psychology theory and feminist eroticism to evoke people’s desire to address the post-colonialism, eco-feminist and cultural hegemonic repression in public space.

As the description of the work: “Sensuousness is like the energy of honey, the touch of the finger, flowing and flourishing my skin, warming my heart, and remaining in my dream. An erotic dream where the reality is repressed and fails to be represented, detached in this hegemonic and increasingly closed system of our world. However, I believe that art, especially sensuous art is able to escape, and create an opportunity to breathe, to dream, to imagine, to fantasise, to play and display. An erotic world with the sensational, caring, love, fragility, sensitivity to feelings, the sharing between differences, creates encounter and emergence, a fold and force, which drives energy to make a change. Therefore, I believe art can make the world a better place to live, a place where allows the existence of differences, different voice and opinions, different colour and different ethnicities, different positions and identities to coexist.”

Eroticism as an empowering force that nourishes our body and connect us with the deepest feeling and sensitivity between each other, towards feminist ecology, the society and politics. As Audre Lorde summarised: “For the bridge which connects them is formed by the erotic — the sensual — those physical, emotional, and psychic expressions of what is deepest and strongest and richest within each of us, being shared: the passions of love, in its deepest meanings.” Erotic as the deepest meaning, allows feminist and many other identities to be aware of themselves in a fullness of the depth of feeling. It is an energy which produces empathy, values that we share together. The film Erotic Proximity explores how to keep this shared energy flowing and empowering the political repressed community to express their voice.

Interprets And Location / Interpreten und Ort

Chang Gao, Berlin

Short Biography / Kurze Biographie

Dr. CHANG GAO
Berlin and London based Artist, Lecturer at University of Art London, Doctor at Royal College of Art, Public Art Researcher at Public Art Research Centre of China, Director and Establisher of Social Innovation Research Lab at Central Academy of Fine Art. Chang recently obtained PhD degree at Royal College of Art in London. Her research topic overlaps the fields across psychology, politics, philosophy, sexuality. She is a multiple media artist uses sculpture, robotics, AR interface, film, photography, hologram installation. She uses eroticism and supernormal stimuli in art making, derived from evolutionary psychology, which trigger the audience’s desire regardless of racial, cultural, gender or individual differences. She contends that the energy induced from this desire represents people’s particular status and position, which potentially disrupt and even reshape the existing social-political and cultural issues such as cultural hegemony and postcolonialism.