Jin Han: New Media in Art

The Past is Never Dead  The idea of the video is inspired by the game series called Rusty Lake.  Logo of the game series When I read "march backwards into the future" by McLuhan, Rusty Lake was the first thing I thought of. It uses a surrealistic and symbolic narration to depict the relationship between the past, present, future and the inescapable fate. “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”  ― William Faulkner I used this quote from Rusty Lake in the video, originally from the novel Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner. As we move ever forward into the future, we cannot predict the future, but can only see the past. When the past becomes a memory, becomes a fact, it also becomes a destiny; and when we face the future - in fact, we face the past - we still cannot escape the shackles of fate. Water, trees, and tarot cards symbolize destiny, and although the tarot can tell fortunes, the predictions are still the reflection of the past. The scenes in the video, exc...

Our “Age of Anxiety” is, in great part, the result of trying to do today’s job with yesterday’s tools  - with yesterday’s concepts.   --- McLuhan, p.9          Even after about 50 years of the publication of The Medium is The Massage, we have not get out of from such “age of anxiety”. We are still “crossing barriers, erasing the old categories…”(McLuhan, 10)       It is anxious to change my academic focus from psychology to museums in the third year, and it is anxious to reconsider the nature of museums. It is always hard to cross barriers, to say goodbye to yesterdays. From today’s views, museums must be yesterday’s things. For me, a museum is more than a physical collection of artifacts, but an interactive space where thoughts, aesthetics, and emotions at different times blend and connect with the mind of visitors, constituting an inspiring journey in search of beauty and meanings in life.     Fred Wilson's museum ...