FU Space Exhibition : MachineMade Digital Aura
Were we to regard mechanical reproduction as a necessary, technological prerequisite for the cultivation and popularization of modern design then we might also conclude that, nowadays, digital mass-customization is re-enabling design works, imbuing them with all the delicate existence of handmade artifacts.
However, a question arises: Is the iteration of contemporary technology able to completely retrieve the artistic authenticity of the design works undermined by their mechanical reproducibility? Is it able to bring back their perceptual uniqueness, their aura?
In the exhibition, we re-examine and re-interpret persistent arguments in Walter Benjamin’s "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by asking a post-humanistic question: having intentionally eliminated human intervention in the production process, should digitally mass-produced works continue to be defined with our social constructed concept "copies"?
Different from the inherent binary opposition between original and replicas in manual reproduction or mold and products in mechanical reproduction, digital mass- customization does not rely on any replication mechanism built upon an original template. Rather, it upholds a proliferation reflecting the unfolding process from a virtual diagram to its infinite actualized results.
Process of the production and representation of the results collapse into each other.
While the processory logic of digital algorithms is projected into the physical state of the design work through the processes of the machine, the machinery process itself also affects the transformation of the design work in a subtle way due to the accidental deviation of material, energetical or informational exchange. When juxtaposing machines and humans under a flat ontology, those processes and transformations, either visible or invisible, would perform in the same way with what is celebrated as creative or productive errors in manual production. Further, they would reveal the unique presence of the design work in time and space while constructing its artistic authenticity through historical testimonies.
In this way, the concept of “originality” and even “authenticity” might be eventually dissolved, or else distributed equally into each of the actualized results.
Beyond the oppositional structure of terms “autonomy” and “everyday” in artistic discourse, this post-humanistic detachment forms another estrangement between the design work and the viewer. Can this relationship produce a meaningful aesthetic experience? Can the viewer form empathy with the machine as a creative subject or even co-collaborator? As aura decays during the transformation of art from traditional forms to more modern expressions, can or will it be reborn in the digital age?
Curatorial Statement/Chao Yan
FU Space Exhibition
MachineMade Digital Aura
Exhibition Information
November 7, 2020 to January 5, 2021
Westbund FU Space
（Building 11, 2555 Longteng Avenue,
near Fenggu Road）
Artists
Fab-Union, Zhang Zhoujie, Philip F. Yuan
Exhibited Projects
Weaving Chair Series 编织椅系列
Fab-Union
Becoming Chair Series 渐成椅系列
Fab-Union
Growing Table Series 生长桌系列
Fab-Union
Endless Form® Serie 无尽之形系列
Zhang Zhoujie
Bio-Inspired Chair 仿生椅
Philip F. Yuan, Xiaofei Hong
Photos(Bio-Inspired Chair) 摄影（仿生椅）
Philip F. Yuan
Host
Fab-Union
Support
DigitalFUTURES World Association
Opening Events
Opening Time
November 7, 2020 (Saturday) 14:00
Opening Symposium
November 7, 2020 (Saturday) 14:30-16:30
Speakers
Zhang Zhoujie
Independent Designer/Digital Artist
Lyla Wu
Neuni Group CEO
Zoe Zhang
Director of the Research Department at CAA Art Museum
Assistant Director and Head of the Research Department at China Design Museum
Wanli Mo
Curator/History&Theory Scholar
Lim Zhang
Fab-Union Research&Design Director
In Conversation with
Aric Chen
Professor and Director of the Curatorial Lab, College of Design & Innovation, Tongji University
Curatorial Director, Design Miami
Philip F. Yuan
Professor, CAUP Tongji University
About the artists
Fab-Union
Fab-Union is a design brand, a research and development (R&D) department under Shanghai Fab-Union Technology Co., Ltd. Since 2014, Fab-union has expanded into an interactive platform for international architects and designers. It not only bulit collaborative laboratories for computational design and digital fabrication, but also launched a robot programming software named FURobot. Fab-Union’s Design team intends to make connections in multidiscipline including architecture, design, art, education and related fields by implementing digital tools and technology in the design processes. Through the continuous evolutions of digital technology, Fab-Union aims to break the boundaries of human creativity and offers more possibilities on the explorations of living environment in the age of digital.
Zhang Zhoujie
Zhang Zhoujie graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. He established Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab in 2010. He is a pioneer in the realm of digital creativity and established a new digital furniture brand Endless Form to promote a new direction for design in the digital era. His work is known for being independent, experimental and futuristic. His collections have been exhibited widely around the world and selected by museums as well as individual collectors. His work has appeared in mainstream media such as Wallpaper*, The New York Times, and Vogue, and he was profiled as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company in 2014.
Philip F. Yuan
Philip F. Yuan is a professor in College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) at TongjiUniversity, visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 2019) and Thomas Jefferson professor at University of Virginia (UVA, 2019).His researchinvolves the implementations of prototypical methods and advanced manufacturing techniquesandfocuses onhow digital tools offer thepossibilityof a new authorship for today’s architects based on an understanding of culture, materials and the built environment. His projects have received many international awards, and have been published, exhibited worldwidesuch as Milan Triennial (2013), Shanghai Biennale (2014), Chicago Biennale (2017), Venice Architectural Biennale (2018),Shenzhen/Hong Kong Bi-City Biennaleof Urbanism/Architecture (2013, 2019) and have formed parts of several renowned museum collectionsincluding Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and M+ Museum in Hong Kong.
About the curator
Chao Yan
Chao Yan is a postdoctoral researcher at Tongji University, committee member of DigitalFUTURES World, and curator at FU Space. He was a visiting lecturer at China Academy of Art from 2014 to 2018, and a visiting scholar at University of Virginia in 2019. His work focuses on the intersection between the architectural theory and philosophy since 1960s, and he has conducted researches particularly around the history and theory of the body, the philosophy of technology and digital design theory. His recent work includes body media and digital technology of the 20th century, history of digital fabrication, etc. His research has appeared in a variety of publications, including AD Architectural Design, Architectural Journal, Time+Architecture.
编辑 | Xinjie
FAB-UNION is the most advanced digital design and construction platform in China. Scholars, architects, designers, experts and relevant enterprises, institutions and academic groups of digital construction both inside and outside the United Nations pay attention to international digital design and construction news, recommend excellent digital programming and construction works, and promote the development of digital construction technology. Create social space for cutting-edge digital practitioners.