Kinetica Artfair
Ruey-Shiann Shyu
Ruey-Shiann Shyu
Taiwan
Writers Vessel 1997
A work of art may be composed of a single or hundreds, to thousands of different components; yet, despite this massive complexity, Ruey-Shiann Shyu aims to create visually, an impression of simplicity. Through various rhythms which are based on precise mechanical theories that result in a type of ‘poetry in motion’, Shyu tells stories from his own cultural background. Shyu views the absolute precision of mechanical movements as an abstract language. This abstract language conveys a living philosophy, which transcends the visual image of the work. He uses mechanical elements both as a creative media and as a deeper exploration of the meaning of life. Artistic creation makes it possible for machines to be infused with living energy through the rhythm created from the combination of precise components and repetitive mechanical motions. The use of mechanical elements both as a creative medium and as a deeper exploration of the meaning of life means that Shyu’s machines are infused with living energy.
Writer’s Vessel is a group of quills, arranged circularly into a mechanical ring, which during its circulation, moves the quills in such a way, that creates as it were, an impression of a visual poem, representing the writer’s magical stream-of consciousness, as a way of the art of knowledge or the art of writing, and the movement caused by the writer’s energy of mind and body.
