Four Dimensional Premonition
Art Installation Curation
Overview
Designed four wall hanging fabric installations for the products exhibition in Canadian General Tower (CGT), using the company's unique PVC fabric.
Incorporated the fabric leather for the interior of vehicles that CGT produces, and the company's values to make the series of pieces.
Timeline
June 2018 to July 2019
Process
Canadian General Tower's history started with a small private family business creating leather for the interior of vehicles in the 1860s. Gradually over two centuries of growth and expansion, CGT expanded to Shanghai in 2008 and Changshu in 2012. In their vision for the future, it was said that they seek to continue to increase their presence internationally. I wanted to incorporate the history of CGT, their value of teamwork, and the amazing support I felt during my experience into the artwork.
I was also intrigued by CGT's vision for their future which involved the four mega trends of automobile industry:
‘intelligentization’, ‘electrification’, ‘connectivity’ and ‘shareability’. It describes how vehicles are striving to become more autonomous, use battery-electric technology to become more environmental-friendly, connect to the worldwide network for more efficient communication and control, and changing the concept of transportation to becoming a public utility.
My final designs were based on the idea of these four mega trends. The design transitions from a more disconnected and chaotic look at the bottom to more elaborate and cohesive patterns on top to symbolize the growth of the company. Each piece's specific pattern and color describes a mega trend. You can read more about this at the bottom of the page!
I used the scraps of thrown away and blemished fabric to create these pieces so that I could minimize being wasteful. The fabrics did not have all the colors I need, therefore, I experimented with spray paint and decided to paint the colors onto the fabrics instead.
I used super glue to attach the cut out and spray painted pieces of fabric together
In process of making the 4 pieces
Little by little, I assembled the designs together. Since I created them on the floor when I raised them vertical, like how they would be hanging from a wall, they started to droop. I had to glue the rims of the fabric pieces completely down onto the fabric in order to create the full shapes.
Planning the dimensions of the wall and the installation
The pieces were made in increasing length and I decided to span it across the stairway, the longest hanging on the largest wall.
Workers helping me hang the installation pieces
I couldn't have completed this project without the support of the workers at CGT. They helped me create custom sized wooden frames, add a glass pane to protect the artwork, and attach it to the walls.
Placing the glass over the frames
I wrote an artist's statement to communicate the meaning behind the each art piece and how they relate to each other as a whole. This was framed on the same wall as the art pieces and you can read it below!
Final Pieces
This was the first time I was fully in charge of a larger project like this. I had to be disciplined and stay on schedule to be able to complete the project over two months. I realized how important it was to consistently connect with multiple people who supported the project to keep them updated in order to progress on time. I was also reminded again through this project how crucial the planning process it. In this project, I did not plan thorough enough the measurements of the frames compared to the art pieces and this took up a portion of time discussing with workers how I could attach my work onto the wall. I really appreciated everyone who was involved in this, I felt really proud of the final work displayed at CGT's new galley opening ceremony -- it was an experience that I won't forget.