陈 采 鋆 Caiyun Chen ( yunyun )
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Safe Distance 安全距离

March 2025
3 Channel Video
PAL, 16:9, 6m30s

Statement 展签 - Safe Distance 安全距离  Safe Distance 安全距离

March 2025
Video, PAL, 16:9, 6m30s


The Safe Distance series reflects concerns about the housing crisis, the wealth gap, and the state of the global environment. The material reality of modern life has deprived many of the opportunity to settle in physical spaces, leading to subtle yet profound shifts in human psychological states. When high-density developments give rise to abandoned buildings scattered across cities, when slums are forced into voluntary departure due to violent evictions, when iron fences in urban areas erect delicate class barriers, and when a home becomes a luxury, who has the right to a comfortable and secure life, and who is left out?

Artist orchestrates visuals to materialize these social contradictions as isolated spaces, positioning the viewer at a safe distance, peering into the scene from beyond the screen.

Video 1: Filmed among the architectural ruins of Belfast’s historical demolition projects, the desolate remnants stand as silent witnesses to the failures of modern civilization.

Video 2: Artist documents public rental housing in Shanghai, transforming it into a blurred landscape through digital distortion, morphing it into an imagined scenery. The viewer’s perspective is metaphorically positioned either inside or outside the fence, reflecting a sense of inclusion or exclusion.

Video 3: Artist collects panoramic images from Google Street of Palestinian cities before and after their disappearance. When homes are erased from existence, the viewer remains at a safe distance, coldly witnessing the exploitation of those who have been displaced.

Where Is Home? Housing, as a fundamental human right, is gradually being eroded by structural economic inequality and the relentless logic of capital. Humanity builds civilizations while simultaneously crafting its own failures. One day, when we too are forced to migrate and leave familiar environments, how will safety and distance coexist within this fragile reality?


Soundtrack
WORK-SD-002SÅfĒ DÏstance

Music forms a part of the Safe Distance series. The composition combines field recordings with processed acoustic elements, interweaving a melody inspired by The Slave’s Lament by Robert Burns (1792). The deep, mournful resonance is emphasized through a six-cycle prelude. The low hum of cars resembles the predatory movements of animals, while the sound of a camera shutter mimics the click of a gun’s trigger. The imagery is frozen in a state of oppression and violence. Quiet tension permeates the marginal spaces, attempting to echo the themes of displacement, isolation, and systemic inequality explored in the video work.







Safe Distance 安全距离

(Video 1)

March 2025
3 Channel Video
PAL, 16:9, 01’ 33’’







Safe Distance 安全距离

(Video 2)

March 2025
3 Channel Video
PAL, 16:9, 01’ 29’’

Safe Distance 安全距离

(Video 3)

March 2025
3 Channel Video
PAL, 16:9, 04’ 07’’