Light

Su-Mei Tse
Light
2014
9minutes 24seconds -loop
video on screen

Su-Mei Tse is a leading contemporary artist from Luxembourg, who explores the personal perception in use of symbol, metaphor or analogy combined with universal experience. She works on various media ranging from sculptures, video, photographs or installation, all coordinating given factors in each place. Born to a Chinese violinist and an English pianist, Tse early grew up with music as part of her daily life. In Paris, she studied visual arts accompanied by musical studies at the conservatory with focus on chamber music, which experience led her to incorporate the elements of music into her artistic practices. Being a cellist herself at the same time as a visual artist, Tse creates a variety types of works that go beyond the boundaries between visual art and music, going back and forth the mixed identity of West and East.

This video work titled Light captures a close-up view of a candle burning. The fire burning in a slow and quiet manner evokes an upcoming end at a glance, but a closer look will show that the candle wick starts to grow at some point in time. This is because the video is played backwards from the middle. This simple manipulation by the artist suggests us to rethink the concept of “time,” which we premise with no doubts and throws a question to the eternity of an object or a phenomenon.

(Commentary & Translation: Tomoya Iwata)