Suki Chan's films concern themselves with light, in all its shifting, shadow-casting forms. Her latest work, however, focuses on the joys that light affords – perception, vision, sight.
The three-screen video work at Tintype gallery in London hits a lot of the city's current artistic buzz words. It's immersive, interactive and interdisciplinary. But in no way is it box-ticking or generic. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England, the work takes us on a high-tech voyage into the human optical system.
Chan is intrigued by the quirks of perception – when playing with a camera obscura, she became fascinated with how our eyes receive images upside down, and yet the brain interprets them the correct way up. Her film reveals how visual information is modified and processed by the eye and the brain in real time, and it becomes abundantly apparent that at any given moment we actually see much less than we perceive. Viewers, if they're brave enough, have the opportunity to evaluate their own rapid eye movements during the show, thanks to cutting-edge tracking technology.
This is no kooky science experiment, however. Chan's photographic eye (as well as being scientifically engaging) is probing, relentless and abstract. Filmed largely within the University of London's Senate House (where Chan spent time during her degrees at Goldsmiths and Chelsea College of Art) we're taken into the depths of the building – the boiler rooms and book stores – in a fitting allegory of the journey into the dark corners of the human brain.
Says Chan, ‘The more I investigated perception and how the brain processes information, the more miraculous and incredible it became: how impoverished and compressed information received via our senses can yield a coherent, high resolution, detailed and multi-dimensional world.’ The impressive film takes our understanding of vision, and flips it upside down. It questions what we see, what we don't, and how our brain fills in the gaps. The resulting work is a powerful mix of artistic prowess and scientific suggestion.
Chan's films concern themselves with light, in all its shifting, shadow-casting forms. This work, however, focuses on the joys that light affords – perception, vision, sight. Watch above. Pictured: Lucida, film still, 2016
Chan is intrigued by the quirks of perception – when playing with a camera obscura, she became fascinated with how our eyes receive images upside down, and yet the brain interprets them the correct way up. Pictured: Lucida, film still, 2016
Her film reveals how visual information is modified and processed by the eye and the brain in real time, and it becomes abundantly apparent that at any given moment we actually see much less than we perceive. Pictured: Lucida, film still, 2016
Viewers, if they're brave enough, have the opportunity to evaluate their own rapid eye movements during the show, thanks to cutting-edge tracking technology. Pictured: Lucida, film still, 2016
The impressive film takes our understanding of vision, and flips it upside down. It questions what we see, what we don't, and how our brain fills in the gaps. Pictured: Lucida, film still, 2016
INFORMATION
Suki Chan's 'Lucida' runs from 16 September – 22 October 2016. For more information, visit the Tintype website
ADDRESS
Tintype
107 Essex Road
London N1 2SL
-
Like a modernist iceberg, this Krakow house has a perfectly chiselled façadeA Krakow house by Polish architecture studio UCEES unites brutalist materialities with modernist form
-
Leo Costelloe turns the kitchen into a site of fantasy and uneaseFor Frieze week, Costelloe transforms everyday domesticity into something intimate, surreal and faintly haunted at The Shop at Sadie Coles
-
Can surrealism be erotic? Yes if women can reclaim their power, says a London exhibition‘Unveiled Desires: Fetish & The Erotic in Surrealism, 1924–Today’ at London’s Richard Saltoun gallery examines the role of desire in the avant-garde movement
-
Leo Costelloe turns the kitchen into a site of fantasy and unease
For Frieze week, Costelloe transforms everyday domesticity into something intimate, surreal and faintly haunted at The Shop at Sadie Coles
-
Can surrealism be erotic? Yes if women can reclaim their power, says a London exhibition
‘Unveiled Desires: Fetish & The Erotic in Surrealism, 1924–Today’ at London’s Richard Saltoun gallery examines the role of desire in the avant-garde movement
-
Tiffany & Co’s artist mentorship at Frieze London puts creative exchange centre stageAt Frieze London 2025, Tiffany & Co partners with the fair’s Artist-to-Artist initiative, expanding its reach and reaffirming the value of mentorship within the global art community
-
Em-Dash is a small press redefining the indie zine beyond nostalgiaThe South London publishing studio's new imprint 'Practice Meets Paper' translates a chosen artist’s practice into print. Wallpaper*s senior designer Gabriel Annouka speaks with the founders, Saundra Liemantoro and Aarushi Matiyani, to find out more
-
‘It is about ensuring Africa is no longer on the periphery’: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in LondonThe 13th edition of 1-54 London will be held at London’s Somerset House from 16-19 October; we meet founder Touria El Glaoui to chart the fair's rising influence
-
‘Sit, linger, take a nap’: Peter Doig welcomes visitors to his Serpentine exhibitionThe artist’s ‘House of Music’ exhibition, at Serpentine Galleries, rethinks the traditional gallery space, bringing in furniture and a vintage sound system
-
Who was Denton Welch, the cult writer and painter who inspired everyone from Alan Bennett to William S. Burroughs?Cult queer figure Denton Welch was a talented, yet overlooked, artist. Now an exhibition of his work at John Swarbrooke Fine Art aims to change that
-
Frieze Sculpture is back – here's what to see in Regent's ParkFrieze Sculpture has returned to Regent's Park. As London gears up for Art Week, here's what to see on the fringes
