GOLDEN NICA
The Sitter
Liang-Yuan Wang
"The Sitter" by Liang-Yuan Wang is a 3D animated story that is intended to reveal an ironic relationship between humans and technology.
""The Sitter"" is a 3D animated story that is intended to reveal an ironic relationship between humans and technology. The babysitter, a monitor-like appliance, is set up to take care of a baby when there is nobody at home. The ending reveals an intriguing riddle: when technology is both our slave and master, what will the world be like? Should we feel entitled to manipulate it, or are we the ones being manipulated by this phenomenon?
"The Sitter" concerns two themes: The relationship between humans and technology and the vivid imagery that reflects and explores that connection.
I have always been fascinated by issues of human curiosity and the desire to expand consciousness. The insatiability of human nature never subsides and the desire for transcendence always remains. The limitations imposed on us by nature drive us to explore and create technology that we once thought was science fiction, but is now "science fact". Based on this notion, "The Sitter" depicts our era as dominated by technology; it becomes a symbol of our lifestyle. Parents hand over their caring duties to an instrument that may exist in the future: "The Sitter", a monitor-figured caring system is the center of the story. "The Sitter" is a caricature of us, a parody of its own being, a "monitor". It is a monitor for us, and it monitors us.
I humanize the behavior of "The Sitter" rather than describing it as something alien to us. The approching pacifier signifies approaching transient satisfaction. It is also an umbilical cord between us and our contrivance. The baby, humanity, without "The Sitter" becomes dejected. Likewise, "The Sitter" will become irrelevant if it does not have the baby to care for. Technology is something that we can either live with, or become its victims. It is like a double-edged sword, a love-hate relationship.
"The Sitter" is an experiment of my perception, comprised of many contradictions. The futuristic story unfolds in an ordinary building; the vacant room is covered by complex fabricated constructions. "The Sitter"’s visual configuration is based on the transformation of a flat screen into a more complicated and dynamic form. The complexities of "The Sitter" are disguised by a plain cubic form. After "The Sitter" reveals itself, the perplexing devices are exposed. A toy clown is the only organic shape inside "The Sitter". Its random gestures with the pacifier, and its two amusing pictures make this synthetic combination appear more humane than the "virtual baby" who is covered by the ironclad bed sheet.
To represent the contrast between humans and machinery, there are two groups of lights. One group casts warm orange-yellow colors concentrated on the small area which is close to the window beside the bed. The shadows and other regions are contrasted by complementary colors.
"The Sitter" is a fantasy representing the liberation of my imagination about the future. Technology seems to give us more power to change, or at least offers the illusion of change. It creates a new set of solutions and problems. Ironically, the ending of "The Sitter" is not a positive one. Even though sophisticated technology was used for my production, in the end, I wanted to show that technology can be a decaying force on society.
By using the Internet super highway, I have found many databases that I can access, and user groups all over the world that I can contact. They helped me to complete the mission which was nearly impossible to do in such a short period.
The CG technology that we have developed is definitely branching out into other areas of art. I try to use technology to enhance my artistic abilities and not to restrict me or turn me into ist slave. In the future, I would like to further open my horizons and keep pursuing my synthetic beauty in the binary world, and achieving fulfillment as a digital artist.
|
