Ice Cream Discourse, Woman Made Gallery, 2023, Chicago, US, Photos by Ji Yang
Video on Screen: Left: The first United Ice Cream Assembly closes today, created by Hailing Liu
Right: The News You Missed in 2020, From Every Country in The World, by Wendover Productions
Ice Cream Discourse (2020-2021)
Video + Scent + AR Installation
Ice Cream Discourse is a mixed-media installation. The artist creates 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. In different versions of Ice Cream Discourse, actual news online is displayed with "The first United Ice Cream Assembly closes today" , from live streaming news (SAIC Gallery, 2021, Chicago, US) to news source in 2020 ( Woman Made Gallery, 2023, Chicago, US).
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