TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – What was initially inspired by a poem grew into an in-depth and unique exhibition titled Perception Omnifold by international artist Jiabao Li who explores the augmentation, alterations, and curations of world-view through interpretations of interspecies co-creation, technology, and biology.
“The exhibition I think shows a really nice diversification of different topics from interspecies co-creation to climate change and I really think that people in the community will really enjoy seeing how technology, biology, and design are all being utilized in this one exhibition,” Said Tanmaya Bingham, Indiana State University Art Gallery Director, and Instructor of Curatorial Practice and Final Exhibition.
Working in and with various forms of artwork, Li utilizes AR, AI, and VR in her work to help viewers engage with and reflect on their perceptions and interactions.
“A lot of my work talks about perception. What we see in reality is not what we actually see. It’s mediated by our own world, our senses, our opinion, behavior, our view of the world and that’s how our perception changes,” Li said as she stood in front of one of the pieces in her exhibit Squid Map.
While working at the Kewalo Marine Biology Lab in Hawaii, Li collected native sand from the island, both black and white, to create a more interactive exhibit for a squid at the lab. Li arranged the two colors of sand to depict both the United States and China. As the squid naturally integrated the two colors of sand to establish its home, Li wanted to showcase the perception of the squid and how little it cared about the concept of borders.
“The level of awareness, whether its awareness of the mediation or whatever of our own world, or technology around your perception, and once you’re aware of that, everything you see, you start to question ‘oh, what is reality? what is the thing you actually perceive?'” Li said. “And of course, the interspecies co-creation work and the climate-related work are about recognizing there’s alternative intelligence beyond human intelligence and try to shift from the egocentric where humans are at the top of the pyramid to ecocentric where we are intertwined with our species, we are interconnected to this world,” she continued.
Perception Omnifold is free and open to the public. The exhibition will stay at ISU’s Yang Family Art Gallery from August 21 through September 22. A reception for the exhibit will be held on August 31 from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. and at 4:30 p.m., Li will give an artist talk about the exhibit.
Li, originally from Shenyang China is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin and holds a masters degree in technology from Harvard Graduate School of Design and a bachelors in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore. Li has many more projects in the works that include the intersection of biology, technology, and interspecies co-creation.
“We are really privileged to have Jiabao Li here. It’s an honor to be able to host artists who are internationally known as well as faculty at other institutions and doing very very relevant work. And so for ISU to be able to house that I think is a really great honor,” said Bingham.
The gallery hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and is open until 6:00 p.m. on Thursdays.
