Final Cut [Pro] is frequently used software to edit video and became, in the recent years, a perfect companion to many artists. Artists make use of this tool to combine video footage with sound, text, and special effects to create and weave their piece of work; their next installation; their very final digital video. Editing a movie, “cutting” it to make a whole is a crucial process that a filmmaker or a visual artist needs to go through to complete a movie or a work of art. This action is actually a process, which can be intellectually time-consuming and require the participation of many specialists/contributors (sound, coloring, technical assistance, special effects and beyond). In addition, the action of capturing, marking, editing, manipulating and managing information on the other hand always opens up a multitude of ways of thinking and story-telling for an artist, all of which is freeing yet at the same time, demands meticulous planning and construction.

This implicit “collaborative” experience as well as a non-linear creation mode that editing offers responded well to our curatorial approach which we developed in close collaboration with select visual artists, musicians, architects, programmers, dancers and designers. In this sense, Final Cut as a title allowed us to reflect and contemplate the possible effects of a non-linear cultural system to generate an on-going contemporary dialogue. While for professional artistic community, Final Cut remains a video editing software, for many others who are not familiar with the tool, the title releases questions about issues of history-making as much as about the inherent nature of the programmatic content, about an ultimate cut, this final point of no return that is slated exclude or include information in a variety of possible ways.

As curators, we also wanted to go beyond the simple eArt concept (electronic art); as we think electronic art is an expression that easily can get misunderstood: it is nothing different than art, it is only one of its possible declinations. Final Cut aims at creating a platform for eArt where public can see the potential of art and perceive it to be beyond only a form of a mechanical or digital interactivity.

Technologies of representation have continuously advanced over the past century and engaged the public en-masse and now, be it from still to moving images, from abstract animations to big-scale film productions and now in the past ten years to the Internet to the zero-energy LED interfaces. Most of the recent social capabilities allow the public to participate in direct situations. Advertisement for instance became popular and ubiquitous in China, as they reflect the dreams, aspirations, insecurities, or fantasies of a mass public. The impact of advertisement industry as blasted virtually from every corner in the city is intriguing sociologically: How does consumer culture affect the personal? How does it affect the way people define their own identities? The increasing significance of display technologies has the capacity to engage more and more people. The social nature of advertisement screens as a medium engenders greater innovation and provides a platform for stories and issues untouched by others. Final Cut intends to come in there where a dialogue is needed, between the highly anticipated effects of technology on culture and possible new communication platforms on representations of artistic content and reflection on contemporary society.

It is also the curators’ decision to eschew dialogue in favor of compelling visually-led non-linear narratives. While production values seem to get ever-higher in art-making, as art- and culture-makers take advantage of the steadily lowering prices of high quality digital technology, this program is designed to offer visceral experiences through artworks that are to act as an index of the values and needs of a society because they are invested in the local cultural life. In them be it through installations, performances or video screenings, the hierarchies and values of art-making are deconstructed and aligned with the original artistic intentions of collaboration, generosity, and a central concern with how we reflect deeper meanings in our communal experiences within public space, market and the media, all where we are to continue to share empathy, opinion-making, and history-making.

Proposed Artists / Projects:
40 + 4

Hipic.org

Aaajiao with Nunu, Ling Xi, B6 and Alizia Borsari

Christian Marclay (with musicians Bruce Gremo, Ben Houge, Elliott Sharp
Wu Na, Yan Jun (颜峻) and more!))

Dead DJ+Chen Xiongwei

Feng Mengbo

Wang Yuyang

Zhou Xiaohu

Michael Bell Smith

Shih Chieh Huang

Terra Bajraghosa

Takeshi Murata

Eric Siu

Architecture: Wang Luming & Wang Zhenfei