My friend Azizi Al Majid a.k.a Aji (@azizialmajid), an Indonesian artist introduces me as an "environmental artist" but I'm not so sure I can stake that claim. Aji is a smart ass, in a good way, check him out, also happy to make introductions. We're currently working on something together...In a meeting with British artist Ryan Gander threw in "neo-conceptual" when he saw what I was doing. This was in 2004. I remember we were discussing a piece I was making that translated a small Sol Le Witt drawing into sound. So, I'm wondering if all of this makes me a "neo-conceptual environmental artist"?!
At art school (in London) and thereafter I started out making drawings considering the kinds of space it can occupy, as well as performances and installations that were motivated by the idea of "thinking out loud", a way of forming ideas into a reality, existing in a moment of emergence, and that also tapped into chaos theory. My current practice is about the weirdness of interconnections between personal experience and collective narratives, slippages between daily life and existential thought.
During 2016-2017 I made site-responsive multimedia installations in artist residency contexts focused on nature and its function within storytelling and the mindset that forms locality. These projects include "Natural Forces Emotional Measurements" in Bandung Indonesia and "Coastline Paradox" in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. The installation "temple sea feng shui" about my hometown Sai Kung Hong Kong was first shown at Circuit Artist Film and Video's Phantom Topologies 2016.
In 2018 I went back to Indonesia to work with Gustaff Iskandar, Common Room Networks Foundation in Bandung, learning about the connection between environmental sustainability and Sundanese cultural practices. I recorded with gutteral choir Ensemble Tikoro reading the prologue of a traditional narrative prose about the origin of rice written by a member of Kasepuhan Ciptagelar. I also collaborated artist Azizi Al Majid (Aji) and Ilham Nurwansah, a researcher of Sundanese writing. From these relationships, in 2019 I most recently made the video Hands Make Symbols.
Check me out @mind.sette for random insights on daily life which is mostly not about art. Follow my new drawing account @artofanimalattraction est. December 11 2018 for some facet of art but not definitively as such.
I am currently based in Los Angeles and enjoying its environment! I can be reached via Instagram or email at josettechiang@gmail.com. Thanks!
JOSETTE CHIANG /ART