Paul Chan.

New Museum, New York NY April 9 * June 29, 2008

A talk Paul Chan gave on April 30 at the New School to a sellout crowd in the setting of his current exhibition at the New Museum, "The 7 [begin strikethrough]Lights[end strikethrough]," documented his Middle East travels, protest efforts, and recent theater work in New Orleans. "The Spirit of Recession," as he titled this presentation, juxtaposed his activism with the different mode or mood of "The 7 [begin strikethrough]Lights[end strikethrough]," which is struck through with a sort of Armageddon in progress.

Although Chan's art is often lyrical, it cannot be divorced from the theoretical and sociological research that goes into its making. For instance, his 2003 tour de force Happiness (finally) after 35,000 Years of Civilization, an 18-minute digital projection on a handmade paper screen, brought to life outsider artist Henry Darger's drawings by setting them on the ideas of nineteenth-century French utopian socialist philosopher Charles Fourier. Happiness was followed by Chan's acid-popping tale of political horror and post-millennial alienation, My Birds ... trash ... the future (2004), a 17-minute, two-channel digital animation drawing on Beckett's Waiting for Godot, the Bible, Goya, and Blake, with bit parts played by the late rapper Biggie Smalls and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Comprising six, 14-minute [begin strikethrough]Light[end strikethrough] (2005-07) video projections, the score piece 7th [begin strikethrough]Light[end strikethrough] (2007), related drawings, a new video called Recessionale I and a new figurative drawing A Season For Sade 1 (both 2008), "The Seven [begin strikethrough]Lights[end strikethrough]" presents a cycle of death and renewal. Structured over the course of a day, each of the [begin strikethrough]Lights[end strikethrough] gradually spreads across floors and walls like light falling through windows. Beginning seemingly at dawn and ending in total darkness, after a while shadowy objects begin to appear and then collectively proceed to fly apart or plummet to the ground--trees, cell phones, birds, human bodies, telephone poles--as if a tornado had whipped across the world destroying everything in its path. The visitor literally enters the melee, adding her own shadow to the others hurtling around her.

Though remarkably similar in appearance, all the projections have defining peculiarities. 5th [begin strikethrough]Light[end strikethrough] is a triangle, 4th [begin strikethrough]Light[end strikethrough] a window in the wall, while 3rd [begin strikethrough]Light[end strikethrough] flickers across a table similar in proportion to the one used in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. 7th [begin strikethrough]Light[end strikethrough] is an actual music score, but rather than composing it with the usual crochets and expression marks, Chan uses bits of torn black paper. Their evocative up-and-down movement alludes to sounds, which is curious since the projected music is silent. As with all of Chan's work, the noise is in the background, displaced with regard to the pressing absence of what must be said but can no longer be heard.

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