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MFA exhibit invites visitors to challenge perception of space

Design | Media Arts graduate student Hsin-Yu Lin’s solo exhibition, “Kin Ku Ki Kwan ( The Encyclopedia of Timid Knowledge),” will open Thursday in Broad 1250. The wax-covered installation will be accompanied by a game, which Lin said will guide viewers to interact with the sculpture and space. (Maryrose Kulick/Daily Bruin Senior Staff)

By Emaan Baqai

April 15, 2015 12:15 a.m.

The original version of the photo caption accompanying this article incorrectly stated the opening date of the MFA exhibit. It is Thursday, not Wednesday.

Wax drips onto a convoluted pipe that spans a hallway of the Broad Art Center.

Design | Media Arts graduate student Hsin-Yu Lin sits underneath the installation as she speaks of her interest in objects and the social purpose they serve in a space. The hallway, which she describes as charming, is where the sculpture for her solo exhibition winds through.

“I chose this hallway because it’s one of those weird spaces in a building that never gets used. … It’s just somewhere you have to pass by to get out or go somewhere instead of acknowledging this space with a different perception,” Lin said. “I definitely am interested in challenging people’s perceptions and the way that people look at the world.”

Lin’s solo exhibition, “Kin Ku Ki Kwan (The Encyclopedia of Timid Knowledge)” will open Thursday in Broad 1250. She is one of seven Design | Media Arts master of fine arts candidates hosting solo exhibitions this year.

The wax-covered installation will be accompanied by a step-by-step text adventure game. Describing the game as a mental obstacle course, Lin said the game will guide viewers to interact with the sculpture and describe the space in an unconventional language.

“The game addresses the physical space here, but in a language that has a sense of psuedo-rationality,” Lin said. “It’s a very sort of tweaked type of information of the space that’s really trying to mix fantasy and reality.”

Her other works will be mostly installation-based and similarly serve as somewhat of a mental obstacle course, Lin said.

Lilyan Kris, a Santa Monica College student and resident at UCLA Game Lab, helped Lin with her wax installation after collaborating with her in the Game Lab.

“I really love working with her because (her work) is super intuitive and she’s really open to collaboration,” Kris said. “It feels very organic.”

Interested in producing art related to social practice, Lin said she generally creates pieces that either present works related to activism or engage viewers in a social way and challenge their relationships to their surroundings.

Recently, she has focused on investigating Chinese internet censorship by creating memes, GIFs, software and other projects related to the subject, which Lin said she hopes will engage people over the internet politically.

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Design | Media Arts graduate student Hsin-Yu Lin's solo exhibition winds through a hallway of the Broad Art Center. The installation showcases a convoluted pipe sculpture covered in dripping wax that Lin said was influenced by her childhood experiences. (Maryrose Kulick/Daily Bruin Senior Staff)

The work she does unrelated to activism, however, tends to be a little more whimsical and fun, Lin said.

“I feel like I get into my serious activism mode really hard and then need to take a break and get back into work (like in the exhibit), which is a lot more intuitive for me,” Lin said. “When I make art completely out of rationality (for activism work), some kind of primal energy gets taken away.”

Design | Media Arts graduate student Peter Lu, who had his own solo exhibition run last week, said he and Lin assisted each other with their installations.

“Her artwork tends to be all over the place, and more connected by her ideas rather than the format it takes,” Lu said. “Interacting with her ideas and concepts has been really fun because it gives insight into her thought process.”

Lin said her experience as an only child is influential in her work, especially the wax installation.

“I remember times when I would travel with my mom and wander in the hotel, looking at different things and trying to make up my own games and figuring out the relationship between things I observed,” Lin said. “It’s a lot about how you take a space or situation that you’re immersed in and try to gain a sense of agency from that.”

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Emaan Baqai | Alumna
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