Ice Cream Discourse, Woman Made Gallery, 2023, Chicago, US, Photos by Ji Yang
Video (Left screen): The first United Ice Cream Assembly closes today, by Hailing Liu
Video (Right screen): The News You Missed in 2020, From Every Country in The World, by Wendover Productions
Ice Cream Discourse is a mixed-media installation. The artist created an alternate universe, space-time experience that blurs the boundary between reality and virtuality. With the two-channel video, found objects, AR interaction and a diffuser spreading sugary ice cream smell, audiences are invited to a multi-sensory experience: the visuals, the acoustics, and the olfactory.
This interactive project aims to create a fictional, absurd narrative which explores the distance between real life and media representations, and our insecurity and loss of control during pandemic crisis and social-political unrest. The installation was initially developed from the artist's experimental video work, "The first United Ice Cream Assembly closes today," which was created as fabricated news during the pre-pandemic in 2020. According to the news, an organization "United Ice Cream" addresses its first assembly to declare its mission of maintaining peace. News in 2020 were used as contrasts to the alternate universe created by the artist. Live streaming ABC News and News collection by Wendover Productions were displayed as parts of the installation separately, when the installation was shown at SAIC Gallery in 2021 and Woman Made Gallery in 2023.
______________________________________________________________________
Press
Ice Cream Discourse, SAIC Gallery, 2021, Chicago, US, Photos by Jiaqi Li
Left monitor: Loop screening of "The first United Ice Cream Assembly Closes today"
Right monitor: ABC live streaming news source from Youtube
Ice Cream Discourse, Woman Made Gallery, 2023, Chicago, US,
Video by Ji Yang, Editing by Hailing Liu