ANGELA SU. PAPAY GYRO NIGHTS ART FESTIVAL 2017. ORKNEY

Mesures et Démesures
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Mesures et Démesures begins with photos of lunatic asylums, Jean-Martin Charcot’s patients affected with hysteria and Cesare Lombroso’s archetypal criminals. The narrative then meanders further through another popular practice at the time -- spirit photography (Lombroso curiously became an ardent believer of mediumship and spiritualism later in his life), and ultimately leads us to an unexpected turn with snapshots of tear gas, riots and mug shots of anarchists.

The video subtly prompts the audience to contemplate the political abuse of psychiatry, such as the practice of incarceration of political dissidents in mental hospitals, and the attempt of social and individual control through psychiatry. Madness is the disease affecting anyone who lives in her/his own world, anyone who has an opinion which is different from others’.

Collective madness is sanity. Whether these people pose real danger or not depends on one’s perspective: social and political norms derived from science and conventions, the majority’s moral power and hierarchical power relations that are all constantly in flux.

In white clothes, we actually see God with the toilet!
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This work is created in the style of medical videos in which symptoms of patients are documented along with the narration of a doctor. Here, the austere doctor's narration is juxtaposed with the patient's absurd but poetic schizo speech.

This video centers around Cerebro-Pneumogastric Nerve Disorder (CPND), an imaginary mental disorder fashioned after socially constructed diseases such as hysteria and schizophrenia. The name of the causative agent, Claviceps vampyrellidae, is derived from Clavicep, a genus of fungi that might have been the source of accusations of bewitchment that spurred the Salem witch trials. The video aims to reflect the absurdity and the underlying power dynamics in social hierarchy behind socially constructed diseases. It ends with the patient having a severe fit and in the final moment he composes himself, approaches and turns off the camera. The ending questions whether the patient was coerced into performing, or if he was really the doctor's accomplice.

Born in Hong Kong, Angela Su received a degree in biochemistry in Toronto, Canada, and later graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Ontario College of Art, Canada.

Su’s diverse practice often merges science and visual art. Fascinated by illustrations of old medical books, Su’s works investigate the perception and imagery of the body through metamorphosis, hybridity and transformation. Through her performance-based works, Su examines the body under pressure, and the tension of the artist’s dualistic state of being when under physical endangerment or distress.

Su has participated in international exhibitions such as 17th Sydney Biennale, The 2nd CAFAM Biennale, The 2nd Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Artists’ Film International 2014/2015 (Whitechapel Gallery, Istanbul Modern, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, and The Cultural Centre of Belgrade). Su’s works have been exhibited in Hong Kong galleries, including Blindspot Gallery, Gallery Exit and Para Site Art Space; and overseas galleries, including Saatchi Gallery (UK), Rossi and Rossi Gallery (UK) and Siverlens Gallery (The Philippines).

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