“Read My Lips” is an interactive sculpture of Andy Warhol's face with mechanical eyelids and lips. Inside it, there is a computer that controls twelve step motors for the eyelids and lips. While connecting to the Internet, the work will post questions to its Facebook every week. These questions are artistically relevant, including subjects like the meaning of itself, its social significance, aesthetic aura, cultural and historical heritage, opinions from critics and fans, and even its price and potential buyers. When its Facebook friends read them, they may post responses. Then the work will scan through these answers and read back the responses silently with a text to speech engine. The artist will prepare the first 52 questions for a year-long period. Here are some of the questions:  What am I, in your opinion?  How many days that you can live without art?  Am I a gadget?  How many dead artists are on Facebook?  Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Do you feel if you have already lived your 15 minutes?  If I am available for sales, would you consider purchasing me? When the work is going to run out of questions, it will post a request of new questions to its Facebook friends and get more supplies of the questions. But when it depletes all the questions, it will become silent. In other words, the artwork will be “virtually alive” as long as its audience keeping responding. The initial concept of this work was inspired by the growing number of deceased artists’ Facebook accounts. Right now, there are around fifty Andy Warhol’s, and thirty Salvador Dali’s Facebook accounts (including two “Salvador Dali's Mustache” accounts). This phenomenon provides interesting insight on the ownerships and meanings of artists’ works and artists’ selves. For these Facebook accounts, the deceased artists’ personas are maintained and regenerate by the community, and become meeting places for the artists’ fans. This work explores this concept. The meaning of this work is not constant. It was set by the artist initially, but then it invites people to join this meaning-making process. Its life span is determined by the responses of its audience. 這件作品的靈感，來自於我最近接受到一些facebook的交友邀請，而邀請者卻是一些已經過世的藝術家。 例如台灣的畫家席德進，張大千等，都紛紛出現在facebook上，而且朋友成群；這些過去的名人，從墳墓裡爬出來，在facebook上與大家分享他們的藝術光環。數位時代似乎超越了生死的藩籬，死去的歌手Michael Jackson，不但可以拍電影，還可以與活著的歌手混音對唱，完全打破了生死的藩籬。 這樣的操作，讓我想到以前的民間信仰，將過世的偉人，從墳墓中祭祀而出，成為民間的神祇；例如行天宮即將過世的武將，轉變為寄託信仰的神像；每當進入寺廟中，看到廣大信眾和神明講述自己生活中的私事與願望；這樣的情境，與自己成為席德進的朋友，在他的網頁上流連忘返，感覺有種異曲同工之妙。 這件作品，便是一個實驗，將死去的紐約藝術家Andy Warhol製作成機器人，他可以連上網路，並在自己的facebook上接納交友請求，發表意見，閱讀朋友留言，並將留言默默唸出，並隨著展覽，周遊列國。 而他『活著』所需的能量，就是他在社群網路的關注與留言，如果有人不斷關注他的話，這件裝置就會持續地運作下去。然而，如果在社群網路上面，不再有人關注他的活動，裝置便會停止運作，也就意味著他的死亡。

• published: 28 Mar 2011
• views: 551

“Read My Lips” is an interactive sculpture of Andy Warhol's face with mechanical eyelids and lips. Inside it, there is a computer that controls twelve step motors for the eyelids and lips. While connecting to the Internet, the work will post questions to its Facebook every week. These questions are artistically relevant, including subjects like the meaning of itself, its social significance, aesthetic aura, cultural and historical heritage, opinions from critics and fans, and even its price and potential buyers. When its Facebook friends read them, they may post responses. Then the work will scan through these answers and read back the responses silently with a text to speech engine. The artist will prepare the first 52 questions for a year-long period. Here are some of the questions:  What am I, in your opinion?  How many days that you can live without art?  Am I a gadget?  How many dead artists are on Facebook?  Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Do you feel if you have already lived your 15 minutes?  If I am available for sales, would you consider purchasing me? When the work is going to run out of questions, it will post a request of new questions to its Facebook friends and get more supplies of the questions. But when it depletes all the questions, it will become silent. In other words, the artwork will be “virtually alive” as long as its audience keeping responding. The initial concept of this work was inspired by the growing number of deceased artists’ Facebook accounts. Right now, there are around fifty Andy Warhol’s, and thirty Salvador Dali’s Facebook accounts (including two “Salvador Dali's Mustache” accounts). This phenomenon provides interesting insight on the ownerships and meanings of artists’ works and artists’ selves. For these Facebook accounts, the deceased artists’ personas are maintained and regenerate by the community, and become meeting places for the artists’ fans. This work explores this concept. The meaning of this work is not constant. It was set by the artist initially, but then it invites people to join this meaning-making process. Its life span is determined by the responses of its audience. 這件作品的靈感，來自於我最近接受到一些facebook的交友邀請，而邀請者卻是一些已經過世的藝術家。 例如台灣的畫家席德進，張大千等，都紛紛出現在facebook上，而且朋友成群；這些過去的名人，從墳墓裡爬出來，在facebook上與大家分享他們的藝術光環。數位時代似乎超越了生死的藩籬，死去的歌手Michael Jackson，不但可以拍電影，還可以與活著的歌手混音對唱，完全打破了生死的藩籬。 這樣的操作，讓我想到以前的民間信仰，將過世的偉人，從墳墓中祭祀而出，成為民間的神祇；例如行天宮即將過世的武將，轉變為寄託信仰的神像；每當進入寺廟中，看到廣大信眾和神明講述自己生活中的私事與願望；這樣的情境，與自己成為席德進的朋友，在他的網頁上流連忘返，感覺有種異曲同工之妙。 這件作品，便是一個實驗，將死去的紐約藝術家Andy Warhol製作成機器人，他可以連上網路，並在自己的facebook上接納交友請求，發表意見，閱讀朋友留言，並將留言默默唸出，並隨著展覽，周遊列國。 而他『活著』所需的能量，就是他在社群網路的關注與留言，如果有人不斷關注他的話，這件裝置就會持續地運作下去。然而，如果在社群網路上面，不再有人關注他的活動，裝置便會停止運作，也就意味著他的死亡。

• published: 28 Mar 2011
• views: 551