Events

People are by nature social beings. People need other people to survive, and as such they tend to perpetually seek social interactions. However, human relationships are inherently complex and multi-faceted. The ideology of the series, Lián 連 and Liàn 鏈 begins with a pair of Chinese homophones “Lián 連 and Liàn 鏈” that, depending on the context, mean either “to connect” or “to enchain.”

Central to the mission of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts is a long-standing commitment to showcasing international artists; summer 2022 brings the 7th international biennial to Appalachian State University from Chile. The arts create narratives in many ways and from many, often differing, perspectives, providing individual aesthetic expression grounded in the history, cultural traditions, social conditions of the artists’ home countries. The result: learning opportunities that inspire global understanding and awareness.

“Unequal Scenes” uses a drone to illustrate the inscribed history of the world in a new way. The scars within our urban fabric, so apparent from above, can provoke a sense of surprise, at the same time they reveal our complicity in systematic disenfranchisement. By placing a non-human photographic actor – in this case, a remote-controlled drone – above these liminal spaces, a new vantage point is reached, previously reserved for the government and the very rich.