The work of Michael Dean takes language as its starting point–– translating the form, meaning and texture of text into sculpture. Using a variety of materials, he intertwines the experiences of writing, reading, and looking, all while attempting to provide the audience with an equal and dialogical encounter with the work in an intimate way. His arrangements of concrete, cement, paper, and cable ties constitute the “flesh of words.”

This year, the New York Times posted an online piece entitled “Welcome to the Post-Text Future,” which includes seven articles calling out the decline of text-based communication and the mainstreaming of memes. In my view, ShanghART’s exhibition ‘Analogue LOL’ is a response to this call. At a time when text is gradually disappearing and sounds/images are becoming our universal language, it is particularly crucial to think about how systems of expression in the forms of text, symbols, and the Babel Tower of Emojis inevitably lead us to question the essence of language. Dean’s sculptures explore the evolution of language: how it is spoken through speech, shaped into writing, and interpreted in reading.

Victor Wang, curator of the exhibition, interprets ShanghART’s space as a blank page for Michael Dean, which justifies the layer of white paint on the walls of the exhibition hall. There is noticeable difference between the paint color and the original white wall, a nod to Kazimir Malevich’s ‘White on White.’ The wall and floor are thus rendered like a stretch of paper, and standing one-by-one on top are the sculptures based on the LOL form.  In content, interpretation and physical appearance, these sculptures not only show the shape of the letters, but invoke the symbols and visions related to “laughing out loud (LOL.)” That is, under the latter, Dean’s initial “word” is gradually dispelled, the concepts are materialized, and the intimate emotional content of the work steadily diffuses away during the process of visitors viewing the work (the artist also refers to this concept as “entropy.”)

At the beginning of the interview, Dean referred to the study of hermeneutics, which is key to understanding his works. The artist, over the course of the interview, kept referring to hermeneutics, using the example of crossing paths with a tree (see interview): “If I stand in front of a tree, the tree and I must have a simple (interactive) moment. No one would think that my interpretation of trees (interprete) is incorrect.” This is also the type of direct experience that artists hope viewers can have with their works.  And so, it fits with the ideas of Hans-Georg Gadamer, who was a decisive figure in the study of hermeneutics. Gadamer regarded “understanding” as a two-way interaction between the subject and the object: understanding is no longer as a one-way projection, but rather, is a conversation. According to Gadamer, viewing a piece of work or reading a text is a dialogical process, and in Michael Dean's works, the entropy of meaning plays the same role.


"Art Fragment" Dialogue with Michael Dean

Interview: Lining / Translation: Chen Jiaying

Q: Based on your previous work, one can see that you often use materials to create symbolic or writing-based sculptures. What are the differences between the material and textual languages you employ, and the expressive potentials of each?

Michael Dean: Actually, this has something to do with the idea of the hermeneutic, of interpretation. For me, when writing exists as just flat black ink on a page it is a conventional experience that you are the reader and then there is the writer. For me, I struggle with the idea of looking for the author, as opposed to the experience of the writing. So I started thinking about how I could share my writing in a way that is not about the writer, but it is about the experience of the writing that I am sharing.

To some extent, my creative motivation comes from the urgency of being in the physical world. So, if I stand in front of a tree and have a moment with that tree, no one can tell me that I interpret it incorrectly. It is me and and it is the world. As for writing, there may be an interpretation that is right or wrong. Turning language into a world is a way of turning it into reality. The idea is that I can take my writing, which is flat, and take me and my own intimacy. I use pen and paper to rehearse the forms, such as the meaning of laughing and crying at the same time. But when it comes to how I share these ideas, I need it to happen in a way that I stand equally to the sculpture.

So this is the way I work. Every exhibition has an area of focus or subject. But in materiality (material), this may be related to nature–- as human nature or street-based nature, as lots of little physical things people have written or left behind. I can think of those objects as inadvertent thoughts in their behavior patterns. Nature is reflected in the rubbish abandoned and left behind.


Q: In this exhibition, you talk about the transformation of language through materialization, and the understanding of semantics and aesthetics at different levels. What do you think about bringing a Western term such as “LOL” into the cultural context of China, as well as global emoticon packages? How do you feel about this trans-cultural exchange?

Michael Dean: I am just a person, so I can not speak on behalf of the West meeting the East. It’s about a person being in the world. I decided to go with the emoji that is “laugh out loud” to catch a feeling in the air. Somehow, with our thumbs, we can implicate lots of different things: happiness, sadness, people being tripped, and so on, so we can link this expression to these objects. These works naturally turn LOL into something more public. That is, you do not have to understand LOL to understand the works. I only use the word as an excuse for all of the things the word means together. And then, this Western word disappears and everyone can understand these works. It's working title.

In a way, if you think of it as a system, I could have found a Chinese word to use, but that would be fake. And by materializing the concept, I can make the audience from Shanghai not have to read LOL or feel its related emotions. This is the moment “I,” as author and artist, vanishes, leave only works and moments of intimacy between the audience and works. We are all exposed to this expression in advertising, politics, and people using the language of other things to convey meaning.


Q. Does the language system conveyed by your work allude to the language systems created by the world today?

Michael Dean: Although each of my exhibitions is about different subjects, the use of the alphabet is still a main principle of my work. I come from a background where there is no art. I remember when I first went into the gallery, museum, or the church, and when people felt that they were supposed to go and think about human beings, I felt I did not have the corresponding cultural background, educational background, color skin, or history, to understand these things. I felt that they were not for me. I hope my art can be understood without knowing anything, and it can still change your life.

I am not always successful. It is very difficult to create a situation that allows viewers to know that they can also be free. We are too accustomed to looking for the press release and more information. Each exhibition is a process of learning, and I continue to choose between legible and illegible forms, between more open and more closed. In my consciousness, my writing has a rule that I hope that the work can reach a symmetric state of intimacy. When the viewer knows they can be free, I can also become free. I let all the meaning appear as an object, and the viewer can freely inject his own history or their memory into the work. I cannot and do not want to touch these things of theirs, but they are there, and the audience and I exist in such a state of equality.

Q: Do you have any reflections on the first time you went to a gallery, museum, or church, and did not have the right cultural background to understand these things? What were you questioning?

Michael Dean: Writing was my thing, but writing as in literature is connected to class and power–– your ability to pay for books and education. Imagine a young boy who tries to write. He knows there are many good writers in the world, but he can't afford to buy books, and the government closes the library for financial reasons. For me, I want to write in the best way. If they’re telling me I cannot have access, then fuck you. So I thought about how I could present my writing experience in the best possible way, and people gave me these opportunities.

I think it's important that in language, it's important to put yourself on the other side and see whether the other is rewarded. To me, art is a human thing, it should not be exclusive; or, to some extent, it can be exclusive, but it should always present an open door to everybody. I don’t want to risk sounding like a happy hippie, because it also works the other way around too. People can go into an exhibition and say, ‘This means nothing to me.’ 

Q: When you came to China to do this exhibition, you researched many materials. What are some materials you have used before coming here, and which ones are different?

Michael Dean: To some extent, the material is the same. So that's why I have confidence when using concrete or paper materials. These materials have shaped us at the same speed. In fact, the actual material is the same. When I first came to China, I came just like an ordinary tourist. And for the second time, I went to other places besides Shanghai. When you can't speak the language, you have to rely on the kindness of your friends to access the fabric of things. It's a beautiful moment when you hear similar sounds of machines at a street corner.

My hometown, Newcastle, is a big city along the river. Later, I went to London, which is also a big city along the river, and Shanghai is the same. I am very accustomed to these riverside cities and their development. During my second visit to Shanghai, I discovered that all the buildings are growing and it’s harder to see the river.

Q: When you use steel or concrete in your work, do you think more about the spirit of material itself or about its functional properties in the environment?

Michael Dean: When I wanted to transform the world into objects, I started to make physical things. From a practical point of view, I think about how I can make a huge impression of cement, like a huge casting with a smooth surface. I want this shape to be maintained, so I mix the concrete right and reinforce it. I am a writer, and I am from a manual labor family. They work with their hands, but I would be terrible at if I only did that. If I use one medium alone, I will feel like I am falling out of love and lose enthusiasm, so I combine these two kinds of media.

I want my work to be solid and to continue to convey their messages for a long time. I do not deny that works cannot be preserved in the history of art. This is related to the concept of entropy, which is related to how materials are destroyed or how new materials become old. Humans have the ability to throw emotions to these things, which may also enable us to make use of analogue. It's a funny thing when you use concrete or a stupid sculpture to produce crying, laughter, or other emotions which are formless.


Q:  What is the intention, function and message of including cable ties and hands in the works?

Michael Dean: From a practical point of view, cable ties are very common used, but you can also look on the Internet that some people in Australia use them to imprison children, or in detention centers to bind people. When you use a material, there’s the chance it can go in many different directions, but I am still trying to limit and hold it back too. When I look at the material, I will question it as much as possible, but in the end, there will always be something outside of my interpretation. But with cable ties, I try to think of their common use, looking at them as a common person.,

My work is created with everyday objects, not too posh or exclusive. In daily life, people will be interested in something strange that catches the eye and a take photo. When you walk on the street with your cell phone, you may see a funny shoe, or something weird (maybe a funny looking bottle) and hold onto those little moments. These funny things may make you want to keep those unseen moments, and for me, I've been looking for these curious instances for my whole life. I never know what these moments mean, like when someone straps a shoelace, but I can now use these as material to express "love" or other feelings.

Hands have many meanings. They may mean good luck or promise. Crossing fingers may mean you are not sincere. That is to say, if you say "I love you" when you cross your hands, it may mean that I do not love you. So many gestures have the possibility of double interpretation: a fist can mean I oppose you or I support you, a “V” can mean victory or peace. The interpretation of these gestures depends on from what angle you are looking. And my work is like a neutral way of dealing with these things, like when we see a tree or something else destroyed, but we know that new things will grow. Just like a writer who can provide rich meaning; everyone can say yes, no, hashtag, whatever.