Artist Statement

For me, everything is a rhythm. The passage from day to night … the ebb and flow of the tide … the changing seasons … the beating of my heart …. the inorganic hums of computers … the daily stream of commuter traffic … the rotation of the planets … There is a constancy - and an interconnectedness - to these, the rhythms of Life. But much more than their cyclical nature is an affirmation of the capacity (both in nature and within each of us) for growth, transformation and renewal. This is the basis and inspiration for my art.

Form mirrors content … I believe that change is best expressed in media that is equally as changeable - media which unfolds over time. I choose to work in the mediums of video and audio for this very reason. It is art that cannot be rushed. Art for which the audience is implicitly asked to consider its willingness to pause … to move away from surgical-strike skimming and sound bytes … to go deeper and delve beneath the surface …

Life's rhythms inherently possess a 'breathable' quality - a dance of give and take - a complex web of relationships - some causal … some random. It is because I wanted to infuse my work with this same 'breathable' quality that I began to introduce elements of interactivity into my art - specifically in my net art piece, The Connections Project (2002) and in my interactive sound and video installation, Son Image (2005).


I am fascinated by and continue to explore the way in which feedback control transforms the role of the audience: no longer solely a spectator but an active participant in the creation of the experience and the construction of its meaning.

My work is wordless, non-narrative and often non-linear.
Rather than offering a singular interpretation, I am more intrigued by the layered meanings created in juxtaposing the modalities of image, sound, interactivity and indeterminacy. I seek a language that is more gestural - more symbolic - more visceral than words.

To give expression to visions that draw upon my experiences in art, music, science and engineering … to synthesize these fields of endeavour as different windows peering in at the same truth … to embrace both mind and heart … this is the joy I have found in creating.


Alison Chung-Yan (2006)