Jingjing Shen’s Portfolio
Jingjing Shen is an artist and researcher whose work involves media studies, philosophy of technology, emerging technologies, and contemporary art. She obtained her BA (Hons) at Glasgow School of Art, received her MA from the Royal College of Art, and completed PhD research at the University of the Arts London and the University for the Creative Arts. Her PhD research investigates the interrelation between the culture of speed, technologies, and contemporary art through practice-based and theoretical inquiries. Later, she was introduced as a "high-level talent" by the Communication University of China, and was invited to teach the "Ecology of Photography Art" course at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Shen was named as one of the new talents in 2015 Wallpaper* Graduate Directory, and was selected for the New Creatives talent development scheme by BBC Arts and Arts Council England, and China National Arts Fund. Shen was a winner of the Adobe Design Achievement Award, and Asia Digital Art Prize. Her works have been exhibited worldwide, including New Youth - The 4th Academic Experimental Art Documentary Exhibition, Shanghai Biennale, and Asia Digital Art Exhibition, etc.
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SINGULARITY
‘Singularity’ is an immersive virtual reality experience that combines technologies including 3D scanning, head-mounted display, and immersive sound design. The inspiration for this work grows from the artist's personal experience of living in an accelerating digitized world. The artist creatively associates the relationship between racing games and Moore's Law, also The Law of Accelerating Returns that appeared in the human’s technology development history. In racing games, users can usually accelerate by collecting props. According to The Law of Accelerating Returns, every time new technology is invented, the acceleration curve rose exponentially. The two phenomena coincide. This work uses the rationale of racing game as the basis of designing the experience’s structure. The audience will be able to explore many technical metaphors that we once used, as well as ones we are currently using, including mobile phones, Bluetooth, Information superhighway, chatbots, etc. The audience will experience the accelerating virtual reality world through observing and collecting the metaphors, and finally achieve the "singularity".
Technology advancements are occurring faster and faster in an increasingly digital world. Ray Kurzweil claims that the singularity will happen by 2045. Steven Shaviro states that ‘like it or not, we are all accelerationists now'. Based on research on the history of technology and the culture of speed, ‘Singularity’, an immersive and interactive VR experience, attempts to visualize the singularity which is approaching at an accelerated rate and invites the audience to rethink the relationship between living organisms and inorganic intelligence.
The VR exprience can be downloaded from Steam.
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LAPSE
This project is built on the basis of Baudrillard’s concept on hyperreality, Jean Baudrillard proposed four historic phases of representations that attempts to replace reality in his book Simulations, from a “reflection of a profound reality”, distorted reality, absence of profound reality to pure simulation that has no relationship with any reality. He also propositioned “three orders of simulacra”, including simulacra focuses on counterfeits and false images, simulacra dominated by production of these false images and simulacra lies on ultimate simulation. The concept of “hyperreality” where the boundaries of reality and fictions blurred that Baudrillard termed closely related to the fourth stage of sign order and third order of pure simulation where reality and fiction ultimately collapse. Through creative practice, this project aims to create a series of imagery to simulate third order of pure simulation where reality and fiction ultimately collapse, and to demonstrate how collective memory can be attacked.