Denoise
2022-2023
video Installation, dimensions variable
video (2022, single-channel video, 33 min 09 sec), inkjet prints, wallpaper, photography background stands, leaking screen, sequined fabrics, rhinestones, LED tubes
“Denoise” is an essay film about sand, noise, and the “arid world”. It was commissioned and supported by Guangdong Times Museum Media Lab. If noise is seen as useless in the broad sense, as an element that produces interference, then the definition and removal of noise are manifestations of power and capital, whether in dust control, satellite maps, sound or 3D graphic renderings. The film's images are composed of a series of computer interfaces. In “Denoise”, I use dreams and experiences of the arid world to bring together noise from different environments and mediums.
The second presentation of the video installation "Denoise" takes place in my solo exhibition "Samples of air". The following text is provided by the curator, Chen Min:
"In the essay film Denoise, Li Dan called the time that we live in, which has been monopolized by machine vision, human-computer interfaces and algorithms, a 'arid world'. The key, she claims, is to recognize its tactic of creating illusions: to set up the sampling criteria, aiming to distinguish between signals and noises, to remove useless, interfering elements, and, finally, to generate a smooth, coherent and 'hyperrealistic' surface without noise. By correlating sand, a material commonly seen as useless yet spread everywhere, with noise in information systems, Li Dan discusses the cleansing in the physical world at the same level as denoising in the digital world. As if it was revenge of impurity, the sandstorm swept over maps and territory and blew into the clean rooms that breed the infrastructure of the digital world. In the sampling system, there are some things that flicker and cannot be hidden, such as the sequins decorating the anti-sand scarves or the strange glows leaping from low-pixel maps. In the installation work of the same title, the artist uses a combination of various materials such as digital images, photographic equipment, fabrics and leaking computer screens, intended to add some glitches and traces to this smooth virtual world."
The reason why the space appears purple is that purple is the color used in 3D software interface when there are issues with materials, a color that makes 3D world creators feel uneasy. If traditional green screens in photography allow people to seamlessly enter virtual backgrounds, then the fabric filled with noise hanging on the photography backdrop frame shows the traces themselves.
