One-Eye-Ball, 1999

Hong Kong 2016
One-Eye-Ball

Chi-Wen Gallery

Video/Film
Surveillance Camera, LCD Monitor, Fiber Glass
41.0 x 181.0 x 33.0 (cm)
16.1 x 71.3 x 13.0 (inch)
One-Eye-Ball is a sub-project of Peng’s Eyeball Displacement Project launched in 1999. The widespread usage of surveillance camera at that time attracted his attention, due to the fact that they can be used in the space where a human body cannot reach. Such a quality forms a solid visual foundation for non-anthropocentric ethics. One-Eye-Ball is a wearable sculpture that incorporates the viewers as part of it. The sculpture is not complete until the viewers have experienced it. A display screen is installed in the helmet with a camera at the end of the trunk, making itself an experimental machine designed to falsify anthropocentric ethics. This work is not intended to turn the hierarchical relationship between mankind and dog upside down, but rather to allow the viewer to experience the world directly from a "lower" standpoint. In other words, it intends to let you see your own image in the mirror and, beyond that, to activate all sensory functions and illustrate the predominance of visual perception in modern culture.

Peng Hung-Chih (b.1969) currently lives and works in Taipei and Beijing. The work of Peng Hung-Chih spans installation, video, painting and sculpture, incorporating elements of art, religion and humanity as a way to explore contemporary culture and reflect upon history. In his early works, dogs are the recurring themes and play a crucial role in the conceptualizations of a spiritual world. In the series of works entitled Canine Monk, Peng’s dog literally steps in the artist’s place as the creator, writing texts from religious scriptures on the wall. The most trusted companion of human beings is elevated to a performing subject, therefore replacing its human counterpart. Using different mediums and unique subjects to convey various artistic concepts, Peng forms an artistic style imbued with personal aesthetic properties. Peng has also participated in major international group shows such as the 2nd Fukuoka Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan (2002), the 10th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2007), In Between - Asian Video Art Weekend, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2008) and Moving Image in China 1988 - 2011, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2011).