Jiang Zhuyun’s creative and research areas encapsulate a range of multimedia mediums including installation, performance, internet, sound, and digital computation. Jiang uses technology to “expose” personal experiences and memories to the audience, and in turn, procure an introspective response in the reality space. In Gazing into the Panorama, the work captures the viewer’s gaze through an eye-tracking device, and when one gazes into a certain direction, the screen will present a view and perspective that’s completely opposite to where one looked at, allowing the work to interact in a cycle of error and feedback. As Jiang Zhuyun states in an interview: “The image of the old house in Gazing into the Panorama is a house near my home, whose owner refused to comply with a forced housing demolition effort in the area. If the audience does not stand directly in front of the screen, then they just see an old, traditional home. But if the audience looks around in front of the screen, they will notice that it is the last standing house in a land of dereliction. The eye-tracker moves in accordance to the movement of the viewer’s eyeball, but presents content that is completely in contrary of the view of the eye. This work is a discussion on the way we view, and it is inspired by the horrifying memories I suffered due to dyslexia as a child growing up. The viewer is actually gazing into my view when I read, and stores the data of my eye movement into a device, then through this device a certain emotion is expressed. Just like the famous quote by René Descartes, ‘I think, there I am’ – I am thus attempting to store a man’s thinking onto a device.”

(Edited by Lijie Wang & Miao Zijin)