Lei Han & Wayne Kirby

Wei Shi

FILE 2018 | VIDEOART
Electronic Language International Festival

Abstract:
This body of work plays out of a tension between form and the formless, aims to make connections between the seen and unseen forces at play in nature. It is an artistic reflection on my journey in seeking connections between art, science, philosophy and the fundamental questions of human existence. The work conducts poetic, meditative or contemplative viewing experience which hopefully helps evoke viewer’s aesthetic sensibilities and further one’s self-awareness. “Wei Shi” refers to the process of becoming. The stages of the formation of things are described temporarily. “There is a beginning’, writes Zhuang Zi, an ancient Chinese philosopher, observing that ‘there is not yet beginning to be a beginning. There is not yet beginning to be not yet beginning to be a beginning.’ At first, it is not just that there are no things, but that things have ‘not yet begun to be’ in the state of being just about to become, which is to say in the process of becoming.

Biography:
Lei Han is an artist, educator and designer. Her work, often inspired by nature and everyday life, explores notions of perception, memory, transience and time. Lei’s work in experimental video, animation, interactive art and installation, has been exhibited at galleries, museums, and film festivals nationally and internationally. Including Shenzhen & Hongkong Bi-City Biennial, China, the State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece Biennale; CYFEST, Russia, D’CLINIC Studios, Zalaegerszeg, Hungary, MADATAC 09, Spain, Krannert Art Museum, Illinois, the Arts Center, St. Petersburg, Florida, The {Re}HAPPENING experimental art event, Black Mountain, NC, Asheville Fine Arts Theater, Asheville Museum and the North Carolina Visions program. Lei received her BA from Shenzhen University in China and her MFA from Memphis College of Art in Memphis, Tennessee. She is currently an Associate Professor and Chair of the New Media department at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Wayne’s compositions and multimedia artworks have been performed and exhibited at Carnegie Recital Hall, Symphony Space (NYC), Museum of Modern Art PS1 (NYC), 80 Washington Square East Galleries, North Carolina Museum of Art, Walker Art Gallery, Spirit Square, International Electronic Music Plus Festivals, Cumberland Science Museum, Belcourt Theater, River Sculpture Festivals, and other venues.
He holds degrees in music from The Juilliard School and Yale University and received the Doctor of Arts degree in Studio and Environmental Art from New York University in 1981. He studied composition with Jacob Druckman, Krzysztof Penderecki and electronic music pioneer Bulent Arel.Former professor of music and director of the NYU Music Technology Program, Kirby served as Music Department Chair of the University of North Carolina Asheville for nineteen years where he currently holds the title of Ruth Paddison Distinguished Professor.