Tiantian Luo
About
Tiantian Luo graduated from the Communication University of China in 2020 with a Bachelor degree in Art and Design for Film and Theatre. Her work is heavily influenced by the metaphorical space of theatre and the audiovisual language of film expression, developing into stop-motion animation, film and installations that utilise aspects of illustration and photography.
Her practice often explores the hidden but pervasive phenomena of modern society from a surreal perspective, blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy by establishing connections between the on-screen and off-screen. Her work has been exhibited in Shanghai, London and Paris, and was shortlisted for the 8th China Biennial of Illustration (2021) and Hiii illustration (2021).
Exhibition
2023 Clairière, Galerie Sentiments, Paris, France
2022 Annual Exhibition, Southwark Park Gallery, London, UK
2022 Emotion Theatre, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2021 Bonjour Art Book Fair, Cross-border World Expo Park, Shanghai, China
Statement
My experience of growing up in different cities has made me very interested in modern urban space, where physical and abstract space come together to form the 'city' I experience and observe. My work revolves around this duality, from the perception of architectural structures and spatial layouts, to the consideration of topics such as information environments, class divisions, personal illness and intimacy. From phenomena to architecture or architecture to phenomena, the two are transformed into one another and as a whole within and in relation to the identity of their presents.
Mall, Mall, Mall - Film
The mall is one of the most universal urban spaces. I explored Westfield in London's West End as a site to offer a critique of a theatrical architecture that uses light, visual culture and sound to conceal consumerism and manipulate visitors. A reflection of a modern lifestyle of entertainment and consumption, where people are often willing to enter the trap of illusions to pursue fleeting moments of pleasure in a repetitive life. The mall is just one of the many containers that carry the illusion. Transitory moments of consumerist satisfaction disappear and the process of pursuit is repeated.
Malls or advertisements, the consumer culture they represent, always present a flat and distorted picture of life, reappearing in facsimiles of malls that can be found in most cities, in most countries. In Mall, Mall, Mall, I use the printer as a metaphor for a patterned consumer life, with the still printed images seen throughout the film emphasise this sense of reproducibility. I try to present an unfamiliar, unrealistic mall so that the viewer can re-enter this familiar place and re-examine the modern life we live in.
Mall, Mall, Mall - Installation and book
Medium: Projection, board
Size: Variable
Mall, Mall, Mall-book
Medium: Artist book
Size: 30cm*30cm, 22pages
Film-2
Medium: Digital
Size: 03:44