Virtual Garden

虚拟花园

digital video，2018

Francis Bacon said in ‘Of Gardens’ ,

“God Almighty first planted a Garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.”

However, nowadays we are losing our gardens in mind.

With rapid-developing information technology, the world has been going through a irreversible process of deconstruction. The collectivity has been fragmented into tiny pieces, the efficiency and benefit of each needs to be accurately calculated. Our time table is divided into different slots so that we cannot spare a complete block of time to enjoy the whistling of birds; our city is split into customised zones and it is almost impossible for everyone to afford a private garden of their own.

In this case, how can we rebuild our secret gardens? Can we only retrieve our spiritual territory in virtual space?

In this video of virtual garden in future, any input could be quantified, as well as the output generated. The garden itself is a hybrid of the natural and the unnatural. The currency feeds regular geometrical flowers directly rather than sunshine. Everything seems reasonable but uncanny. It implies the compromise between fragments and wholeness which we might make in the possible future.

富兰西斯·培根曾说，

“上帝创造了花园，人类能在这之中发现最纯洁的欢愉。”

碎片化浪潮解构了集体，我们无时无刻不精确计算着功用与效率。我们的生活被分解成small pieces，每一个碎片都被赋予其任务。从时间上来看，我们再难找到一块完整的时间去享受鸟语；而从物理空间上，城市个性化分区越发明显，也再难省出一大块空地，去布置花园。似乎这是一种再难找回的奢侈消遣。在这种情况下，未来的人们是否只能在虚拟空间之中构建我们的精神花园？

在这个作品中，我构思了一个虚拟花园。之中的每一朵花都由一系列算法生成。它们呈现为整洁而古怪的几何序列，并不断处于生长运动之中。当面对这样一群虚拟生命，观众不禁开始思考：培育虚拟生命与物理生命有何不同？投入了物理意义上的时间与金钱的我们是否依然能感受到情感羁绊？