Metaphysics

Curator Samuel Wang

Artist Patrick Li

Statement

是什么让生活变得特别?

人一定要活得出彩、耀眼吗?

存在主义者加缪在《西西弗斯的神话》表达出也许意义并不在高光时刻,而在无尽的重复与平凡之中。可在这个崇尚成就、自由的时代,"平凡"似乎变得不可接受,尤其是在如今这个复杂的社会中。

那么,美国社会究竟是什么?开放、民主、多元?还是一种更复杂、难以描述的存在?

为了探索这个问题,我们在网络上邀请了二十位位生活在美国的华人,每人获得一台一次性胶片相机。

他们用镜头记录下各自的日常。那些常被忽略、却真实构成生活的画面。

我们将收回的胶卷冲洗进行艺术化创作,以生长在中美两国文化之间的角度审视这个社会和这片土地。

我们试图呈现一种在中国人视角下的美国。平凡的照片造就了这样的艺术创作,平凡的生活也应如此。

Statement

What makes life special?

Must one always live brilliantly, basking in the spotlight?

In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus suggests that meaning may not reside in moments of glory, but in endless repetition and the quiet ordinariness of existence. Yet, in an age that worships achievement and liberty, the "ordinary" seems almost unacceptable—especially in a world as complex as ours.

So, what is American society? Open, democratic, diverse—or something more intricate, more elusive?

To explore this, we invited twenty Chinese individuals living in the United States, equipping each with a disposable film camera. Through their lenses, they captured fragments of the everyday—moments often overlooked, yet profoundly real.

We developed and reinterpreted these films, reflecting on this society and land from a vantage point suspended between two cultures.

We aim to present an America seen through Chinese eyes. Ordinary photographs have birthed this work, just as ordinary life itself deserves to be beheld as art.

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