Ways of Seeing

When we walk into Hang Tian's solo exhibition, we will discover that "photography" undergoes a series of experiments in an artificial way. The plane image has disappeared, and the entire exhibition hall resembles an immense installation art. These different ways of displaying and seeing are based on Hang’s exploration of the ontology of photography as a language. In order to grasp the content and meaning of photographs, people tend to establish a corresponding connection between the subject and the object in the act of seeing and then form their own objective cognition or emotional projection. Hang deliberately enfeebles the connection between the subject and the object. In the gap between the two, he embeds the observer’s physical perception in order to integrate different parts of the entire seeing process. Six series of Hang’s works are presented in this solo exhibition. The internal sense of space within the photographs is the basis and characteristics of these works and their spatial representation is also highly emphasized. Through the use of materials, “Spatial Focus" shows the depth and multidimensionality of images and simulates the sequence of human gaze. Works such as "Lake Surface, Staring from Bottom to Top " and other works explore the depth of seeing and by employing bizarre shapes, challenge our conventional expectation that photos must be flat rectangles. Works such as "Ben Nevis, 10:53-13:10" put continuous landscapes together into a complete whole of layered images, restoring the complexity of time and the form of seeing. If the act of seeing the works mentioned above resembles the kind of gaze that often takes place in a traditional art gallery, for the other three groups of works, the audience are asked to see not just with their eyes but with their entire body and to move around instead of standing still in order to acquire a richer spatial perception when roaming around the exhibition hall. “100 Meters” and “On the Train” simulate the seeing experience of people walking and sitting in the train respectively, weaving multiple photos streams to trace the physical state of bodies in the act of moving. “Hell Valley” was created based on the experience of observing a volcanic crater, which attempts to restore the spatial relationship between the body and the object through image sculpture. Nowadays, people tend to overemphasize the content of images. Hang, however, desires to address the fringe of image that’s often neglected, and to contemplate the medium of photography in a more conceptual way. The act of seeing is commonly recorded with the use of image, while through the decomposing, arranging and constructing of image Hang invites his audience to re-experience a new "way of seeing" and "self-awareness," which are the immediate result of our daily life experience.