Aesthetics and Freedom of Human Beings
Chan Kwan-chi (Hong Kong)
Could art set human beings free from social turmoil? In Aesthetics and Freedom of Human Beings the only spectator in the installation is trapped inside a particular space for 31 minutes while having complete “freedom" to create their own artistic experience. Once the button is pressed, no two spectators would walk on the same journey.
Artist’s Statement
The work is inspired by Liu Xiaobo’s PhD thesis on Aesthetics. In the thesis he saw art appreciation as the most sophisticated human activities and should be celebrated among human race, yet a lot of times appreciation is conceived as a passive activity. By giving the spectator the power to take certain amount of control, I hope the spectator will turn into an actor, an active art appreciator that could spread art for a better society.
