Relation Ship

Zoey Lin

Originally from Taiwan, Zoey Lin began as a fine artist investigating realism in painting and drawing. Her work has evolved into multimedia works examining the existence of matter and the tension between the perceived surface layer and an imagined flowing underlying layer. She examines this tension in diverse subject matter utilizing collaged physical everyday objects and organic textures. Six years ago, observing and shooting mold growing on a wall day by day, She observed the decaying process via time, environment, and human factors. Wall mold grows, decomposes and proliferates in a similar way to more highly evolved creatures. By analyzing the conditions and the motion and comparing it to biological evolution, Step by Step (Stop motion, 2012) became the pilot animated film for three animation installation pieces in 2013-2014: Semi-liquid Space, Breeding Ground, and Fish-Bird Community. These three pieces contained an imaginative organic design that evolved in three different manners: living characteristics, sociological metaphor, and exploration of techniques intended to visualize the growth of the mold. She is interested in the duality of what you see versus what lies underneath. Her ideas are inspired by both the concept Assemblage proposed by Deleuze & Guattari and the concept Plissement by Merleau-Ponty. Assemblage examines social complexity and its relationship to emphasizing fluidity and exchangeability. Plissement emphasized the body as the primary site of knowing the world, and that which is perceived cannot be disentangled from each other. These philosophies permeate her work in both the ideation process and the visualization. The animation installation, Mental Black Hole (2016) examines how people perceive depression as opposed to the invisible activity taking place in the brain. This media-based installation, in the form of physical space with three-channel projection, presents a creative interpretation of the amygdala and hippocampus’ physical manifestations of depression. Currently, She is exploring the technology of photogrammetry in order to align physical and virtual components and create an immersive VR experience utilizing hybrid techniques.