“D
uring insertion into cold water through slush wave hitting shore, the body first is restricted by liquid slush. Then the skin, sensitized by temperature near freezing point, experiences scratches from sharp, tiny blocks of ice. Passing the area of liquid slush pushed and gathered near shore line, the body enters a brief zone of freedom in sub-zero water without ice.“
T
his is a description from one of my experiences in cold water. In an ongoing- project at a fjord in east Iceland, I am researching, collecting memories of water through immersion into water body. I used fishnets collected on site to make garments to wear while moving through -3°C water. I simulated the otherness of fishes through measuring, cutting, tailoring used fishnet for my physical body. I experienced my own non-humanness by entering the water with only the tailored fish garment. My skin was in direct contact with used fishnet’s color, smell, solidified fluids secretion from fish, as well as the coarseness and stretchiness that comes with synthetic fabric. My body saw fishes pulled and dragged underwater.
A
nother inseparable part of my praxis is ‘insertions’ into foreign body. It’s only in retrospection that I acknowledged the silence required to re-connect with my experiences in deep space of senses. Movements can shift our bodies' perceived idea directly. Transnational, trans-territorial moves(horizontal) trigger awakening, cultural shocks and creative outpouring. Deep submersion(vertical)induces changes in pressure, time perception and state of awareness. In these different motions, I direct and re-direct according to my re-orientation in dis-orientated habitats. I tell and re-tell my relations following the psychological transformation of my own experience. These designs provide frameworks for how I intuit a subject in question, an object in contact and how I navigate into horizon.
Bio
Lin Ni (Last,First; they/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker working with water. They approach their subject in question through physical and fictional insertions into liquid bodies such as time, space. They are drawn toward the gentleness in poetic relations, such as the momentary blue during Nordic twilight, making wood fire, tasting snow, deep skin dive in the Ocean, while evaporating binary, colonial practice through their art based action. Their recent salmon series I am Salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha W.I.P, and I am Salmon, Oncorhynchus masou formosanus W.I.P have been exhibited at Anteneum Art Museum and HIAP Augusta Gallery in Finland. While other works have been shown internationally at Haus Der Statistic, Kunstkraftwerk, Helmut Space, Herðubreið Gallery, Saari Residence, Songshan Culture Warehouse, Flat Earth Film Fest, Dahab Film Fest. They were nominated for Chi-Po-Lin Film Award, New Taipei City Documentary Film Award in 2023.