Revised-2-Research-theoretical-text

SM4140 Graduation Thesis

Name : Chan Kwun Yee, arfee (ID : 50692653)

Project title : “Body-landscape”

Advisor : Prof. Linda Lai

Research-theoretical-text

History is assumed to be based on facts and in the form of a coherent story. But I want to argue that facts and fiction are not always separable, and history is full of contradictions. In my project, I use maps, a spatial form, to subvert the simplifying single-line chronological conception of history.

The whole project has gone through several versions and there were lots of changes but the core thesis remained unchanged and I will discuss later in the text about the significance of changes along the journey.

Versions gone through：

- 1^st version： “Floating City, an Imaginary Landscape”;

- 2^nd version：“The Cartographer”;

- 2^nd 1/2 version：“A Journey’s Map, a Mapping Journey”;

- 3^rd version：“Body Landscape”.

History consists of fabrications and contradictions/

History is not a neutral account of past events

Inspired by works like Xixi’s My City, Oscar Ho’s Hong Kong Stories and 董啟章’s 天工開物．栩栩如真, in which compile an alternative writing of the city’s story, I concerned about fabrication components of history.

History appears as a form of narrative description of past events and was thought to be based on facts and authentic materials. However, the concept of “facts” is problematic. The assumption of “facts” holds an essentialist concept which suggests that, there is a reality which exists independent of, beneath or beyond, language and ideology. I want to argue that, ‘reality’ cannot be independent of ‘subjects’ who perceive it and the way one narrates it. Thus there are only multi-realities and they are unstable. And so, ‘who speaks’ and ‘how to speak’ is as important as ‘what to speak’.

Based on this query, I put my research area on the narratives and representations about Hong Kong’s stories created by artists instead of studying “historical records”. My approach first challenged the concept of ‘reality’ by accepting fabricated stories as a source of authentic materials.

History as narration

Collected the narratives, I then put them into a virtual-map-archive for audience to visit. The use of a form a map will be further discussed in later section. Here, I would like to address that this creative intervention also responds to the previous arguments built. My intervention is a composition of a new narrative based on the collected narratives. Hence, it could be considered as a second layer of narrative, which is self-reflexive and re-emphasizing that history itself is never a neutral presentation of facts but always a representation under a context.

As the research area is about famous artists and well-known works, the biases, personal point of views and frames of the authors are obvious rather than being invisible.

As the project morphed, the research area shifted but caught the same focus in the critical thinking of history-making.

I carried on the doubt of subject matter, and tried to map another issue: female bodily experience of their uterus. This pushes one step further, concerning what should be written in history. In feminist view of history, there are many issues ignored and under-discussed under the patriarchal ideology, which tends to think in a dualist way and de-power one of the duals. For example, “masculine” is superior than “feminine”, and “body” is considered “feminine” in contrast to “ration” is considered “masculine”. So here, I took bodily experience as a subject which worth to be written into history, and it actually is a deviant act to “his-story”. Bodily experience was not thought to be appropriate as historical record, since it is not “objective”. But rooted from discussion above, I have argued that, there is no independent reality and thus, females’ recalling of their own bodily experience of uterus is not less trustable than a government’s document about the changes of politics.

In writing history, historians based on their observations on the critical examination and selection of sources and synthesize them into a self-stand narrative.

History is ambiguous. There are authors. It is not objective truth. à intend to identify the “authors” or “protagonists” rather than being invisible.

Via visualizing the collected Hong Kong’s narratives in a virtual map-archive, the chronological convention of history-writing is broken down, whereas spatial relationships arise. The virtual-map-archive encourages a new understanding of history-writing which abandons any simple causal relationships and simplifying single-line narrative with the strong juxtaposition form. And the reading of such spatial-history-narrative is like a flâneur wandering in an imaginary space.

Time-based history and space-based maps

History is a time-based narrative, it often appears in a chronological form. Such chronological convention offers a easy way to read and seems to be neat and tidy. However, it is not without implications. The chronological convention assumes things happened to be in a causal relationship and it is deterministic. (historical materialism/ determinism) It over-simplifies the world and appears in an excuse that : makes the story easy to tell. In moving images, there have been arguments from Deleuze to challenge such concept. And in history-making, Michel Foucault has also pointed out that

Using a spatial form as a tactic to subvert the chronological convention is political, whereas it provides constellations of narratives rather than causal linearity. (~ tableaux vivant > Hollywood : progression ) There is a rejection to story comprehension tradition with over emphasis on progression and through the form of a 2D plane, I aim to explore a multi-focus narrative strategy and thus, the work encourages active reading.

Map as spatial narrative

Possibilities of map as spatial narrative

- sequence of images

- constellation of elements

How to deal with human experience

- fabrication of history, experimental history, post-modern history writing

- history as narratives, ambiguity and open-ness of history

- ethnography

a spatial form (2D)

- mapping, cartography, geography

my intention

- subversions of grand narratives (mapping those were not considered to be mapped):

- (in 1^st version) research on “stories” which are not considered as “historical records”,

- (in 2^nd version) maps based on personal experience,

- (in 2^nd version) intend to map areas being ignored,

- (in 3^rd version) personal bodily experience as landscape to be mapped. (maps tend to show something more “permanent”, “general”, “shared/public places”)

- binary positions breaking

- personal – public

- stories, fabrications – history, truth

- flourish – permanent

- micro – macro

- subjective – objective

- metaphor : body ~ landscape

-

Mapping as a method to intervene a place/ history

(seems better to use “mapping” than “cartography”)

(what word is more appropriate than “history”?)

mapping as ethnography

Research-theoretical-text

M4140 Graduation Thesis

Name : Chan Kwun Yee, arfee (ID : 50692653)

Project title : “Body-landscape”

Advisor : Prof. Linda Lai

Research-theoretical-text

Structure of the text

- 1 sentence brief about the project

-

History is assumed to be based on facts and in the form of a coherent story. But I want to argue that facts and fiction are not always separable, and history is full of contradictions. In my project, I use maps, a spatial form, to XXX the concept of chronological history.

my start point :

Curious and concern about how to deal with (research, study, analyze and represent) human experience(history?), in a spaital form (2D)

History

- fabrication of history, experimental history, post-modern history writing

- history as narratives, ambiguity and open-ness of history

- ethnography

- chronology, time based

a spatial form (2D)

- mapping, cartography, geography

my intention

- subversions of grand narratives (mapping those were not considered to be mapped):

- (in 1^st version) research on “stories” which are not considered as “historical records”,

- (in 2^nd version) maps based on personal experience,

- (in 2^nd version) intend to map areas being ignored,

- (in 3^rd version) personal bodily experience as landscape to be mapped. (maps tend to show something more “permenant”, “general”, “shared/public places”)

- binary positions breaking

- personal – public

- stories, fabrications – history, truth

- flourish – permenant

- micro – macro

- subjective – objective

- metaphor : body ~ landscape

- d

Combining history and geography

Mapping as a method to intervene a place/ history

(seems better to use “mapping” than “cartography”)

(what word is more appropriate than “history”?)

mapping as ethnography

Map as a narrative form

- sequential images : 拓背圖

- multi-focus in one single image : 子宮們的曼陀羅

Project Report

SM4140 Graduation Thesis

Name : Chan Kwun Yee, arfee (ID : 50692653)

Project title : “Body-landscape”

Advisor : Prof. Linda Lai

Project Report

1^st version : “Floating City, an Imaginary Landscape”

- research on narratives and representations, for instance literature work (e.g. Xixi’s My City) and film work (e.g. Fruit Chan’s movies) of Hong Kong’s story(s)

my thoughts :

- history itself is narrative, representation.

- Question of historical resources : authentical? Truth? Records?

My intervention :

- blurring the dualist position : history-stories

- research on narratives : question of “objective”, “real”

- visualize the collected Hong Kong’s narratives in a virtual map

- link up the narratives with “places”

- for audience : to discover Hong Kong’s stories (an imaginary Hong Kong) in an imaginary landscape

- emphasize on “spatial narratives”. Using spatial methods rather than emphasizing the time-dimension/ chronology which normally used in history-making

literature review : Power of maps, The others histories

Knowledge learnt from SCM acquired

- research work (cultural studies, ethnography)

-

Problems encountered and focus-shifted

- too large scale of research area and lack of research focus

-

2^nd version : “The Cartographer”

Subject matter

- invisible places of Hong Kong (“invisible” means those are not being awared, like abandoned)

- places which called no attention to Hong Kong people, or rarely emphasized in maps as they are not “useful”

-

-

- more S. I. like

- drifting as tactics

Work done

1. mapping/ drifting exercise
2. an experiment of map-making : personal Hong Kong map, eliminating

literature review : Power of maps, Cartography

3^rd version : “Body Landscape”

Subject matter

- bodily experience

- micro-level, personal

- actually same concern as in the 2^nd version : concerning places that are not being awared, noticed, talked about but I think needed to be discussed, brought to the light

-

Map(a) : fe/male bodies, boundary or connection

- time dimension of a map

-

Map(b) : 拓背圖

- 拓印 instead of projection

- abstract, low reconizability

Map(c) : 子宮的曼陀羅

- visual realization of 4 women’s bodily experience by 1 author

- fabrication/ fictional components emphasized

- imaginary map (a place that doesn’t exist physically/ geographically)

- perspective : like chinese paintings

discoveries

(cultural level)

Map(a)

Map(b)

- a sharing process, almost like a ceremony/ ritual

-

Map(c)

- unheard stories

-

3種地圖

如何勘探或介入一個地方/空間的歷史, 並以視覺圖像方式呈現

3種地圖作為表述的試驗.

1) 時間面向 : 男女體交合的地形圖

2) 拓印 : 背痛

3) 曼茶羅 : 想像世界的地圖

(1) 時間面向

- 嘗試把一貫地圖顯示的時間微量化, 以至於是分鐘單位的

- 強調邊界

- 符號替換

- 地圖作為一種比喻

- recognizability

(2) 拓印 : 背痛

- 近似投影法, 拓出「地理表徵」

- 如水墨畫

- 也是一種visual ethnography

- 在地理及空間意義上, 比例最為接近原物

- 幾乎沒有可供詮釋的符號

- recognizability 的反面

- 製圖過程中對製圖對象的加深認識

(3) 曼茶羅 : 想像世界的地圖

- 結合了訪問, 並把口述歷史以視覺想像出來 (visual fabrication)

- 極微觀的口述史

- 地圖的多視點表現形式

- 結合畫像與錄像, 有聲音元素.

- 極多symbol

- 主觀想像最多

- 製圖過程中對製圖對象的加深認識

- 因不是對應物理上的地方, 因而recognizability不適用.

閱讀身體的方法

極不同的風格與取向

2nd day of shooting- preparation

Apr 10th

金魚

魚缸

玻璃樽

花紅粉

玻璃杯

with Video Choreography

- draw on body and shoot

- choose a place, choose a costume, choose a part 用camera 觀察自己

e.g. fee : 肚腩 + 飲水 + 畫地形線 / 背, 脊椎, 家族的曲線 / 痛的線

Women Make Waves

- 女性自拍

mapping exercise

- body parts, in touch with

maps of body; our maps

The video = my own map creating process

 

Mapping workshop, mapping exercises as visual ethnography

- in touch with your body parts

- body parts, adjectives, metaphor (an automatic writing exercise)

- creating your own legend

 

Research-theoretical text

Mapping/ Cartography as a method to intervene a place/ history

What is a map? (theoretical definition)

• graphical form

graph (i mean not geographical map, but like mindmaps, conceptual maps)

geographical maps, atlas

Process of mapping

• investigation of a place

measurement, statistics

being there… ethnography?

• COMPRESSION : put into a 2D plane, which includes 3D, 4D information
• Geo-spatial relationship + other information
• Provide knowledge : history making?

The form of map

 

Producing map as visual ethnography

• How does map tell story? (just like : how do photos tell story?)
• How to analyze maps and their hidden message? (vocabulary of maps, psychoanalysis)

Map as a narrative form

• sequence of maps : sequence of images
• maps : not linear, 2D

inter-linkage, zoom in/ out

layers (same place but different information)

Feminist approach : auto-ethnographical cartography