Kara Chin - Subsequent Hotchpotch

About

There is a lot to be confused about..  implications of fast evolving technologies like robotics and artificial intelligence for daily life; dilemmas for food and horticulture; and how best to incorporate transhumanist and nonhuman perspectives into dominant ideologies. 

Depictions of kitchen equipment that have sprouted arms and legs, are both a nod to smart devices - connected to the Internet so as to be able to monitor and make certain decisions - and Tsukumogami, a tale in Japanese folklore where once inanimate household objects gain sentience after 100 years of service. Badly handled objects foster vengeful spirits, determined to wreak havoc on their careless owners, while properly maintained items harbour friendly, mild-mannered dispositions. 

Two newly produced works, Your Chair’s Letting Off Steam (2020) & A Couple of Haunted Backwash Units (2020) seem to suggest the very being of DKUK is coming to life. As if, once the hairstylists go home, the scissors, styling products and cutting chairs could run amok...

Subtle architectural interventions mean Chin’s work weaves itself into the fabric of DKUK, at times disrupting the naturally occuring circulation and use of space. Snack Fountain (2019), a water feature made from recycled snack containers, has appeared in the middle of the shop floor emphasizing this area as a ‘public square’ where conversation and activity happens all around. In front of the window, a new half slat wall or disfunctional room divider has been constructed to frame the perspex and vinyl Future Tsukumogami Mosaic (2019). The double usage of semi-transparency within this piece plays further with the spatial design present throughout DKUK, where opaque materials have been avoided so as to not obfuscate any of the labour processes that are involved in running the space – from the office admin to the hoovering. There is an acknowledgement of the labour of humans, but also the work of objects, from those in the kitchen drawers to machines and robots. It is how we choose to relate to these and if their temperament will serve us well that is still up for debate.

Each work follows a common thread of the trials and tribulations of animated objects - mischievous haunted appliances, chaotic future technologies and fictional robotic devices.