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Abstract
Dancing Brush video installation is dedicated to legendary Taiwanese dancer
Tsai Jui-Yue (1921-2005) in the memory of her suffering, creativity and faith in
life. This work reveals the true meaning of Chinese scroll paintings as an infinity of
time and space. It draws on the notion of mobility as expounded in the I Ching or
Book of Changes. Dancing Brush creates a modern cityscape where the principal of
Taoism, ancient Chinese landscape painting, and calligraphy meet new media
aesthetics.
The focus of this thesis is to reassess media arts practice and aesthetics via the
traditions of Chinese Taoist aesthetics. The research was conducted in three dimensions:
“non-linear aesthetics” in Chinese arts as the new media art form, “unity of emptiness
and fullness” as the animation principle, and “subtraction aesthetics” as the principle of
creativity. I propose Dancing Brush video installation as a presentation of “aesthetics of
wandering contemplation”. The work suggests a feature of Chinese moving image
aesthetics as a ‘spatial montage’ form of media arts.
I applied the Taoist “decreative-creative process” as the creative method in
which the “decreative” process leads to the “creative”. The “decreative-creative
process” is based on the Taoist teachings of zi-ran (spontaneity) and wu-wei
(non-action). I interpret it as “subtraction aesthetics: less is more”. The process is to
eliminate interferences with restricted narrative format and visual effects, then to
receive the immediate presentation of things as pure materials. Through the subtracting
process, it gains
not less but more.
Kong Bai (emptiness or formless) in Chinese art is the result of subtraction
aesthetics. It reveals the creative principle derived from the Taoist idea of “usefulness of
useless”. The ‘subtracting process’ in creating animation is to bring ‘unknown’ to life.
The ‘image beyond image’ is the product of “unity of emptiness and full” where
Chinese artistic realm yi-jing is created.