Private and Public Space

Wenxiang Su

English translations by Siying Zhou

Is there an absolute secret? It is the one that dissolves in heart. Secrets drive us to create an increasing desire for myths and unknown matters.

People generally divide things into private ones and public ones so that they can draw an enclosed line for their understanding of freedom. This line does not secure the safety of the inside area. It is rather a doorway through which abnormal matters are seen and unusual experiences are explored. A private space is often understood an enclosed field where people perceive openly. People tend to be attracted by all kinds of private spaces – those in physical form and those in consciousnesses.

The universe is not the only subject that human being have strong desire to know about. Human body is the other most popular research subject in human history. When the sexual difference is noticed deeply in the consciousness, privacy starts to be defined. Over open and conservative historic periods, human body seems always to be discussed as a mysterious matter. It is still one of the central research topics in present societies where people know much more about their bodies than before with the development of the science of human body. The strong interest in human body generates the curiosity on the spaces surrounded human beings. The spaces, such as living space, political space, provide a platform for people to perform.

The most private space can be shown through a secret that is generated from minds. René Descartes saw minds or souls separately from human bodies. They can be discussed as an independent subject that is not constringed inside a physical body, according to Descartes’s theory “Mind-body dichotomy and dualism”. Different from a physical space, a space that is defined in minds is hardly measured. Psychology is the science on this space. Art history, in my opinion, is the collection of records on artist minds’ activities. The difference of very individual mind makes the diversity in arts. I do not think that privacy makes uniqueness, in other words, there is no clear mark between being public and private. When people talk about privacy, they must mention the things that have been exposed to the public. When a public issue is discussed, it is often followed by the attention on a private individual.

Besides the perver, the reason for people’s great passion on private objects and secrets is perhaps that through perusing private matters people find their own values and positions in various situations.

‘Personal Space’ exhibition presents different perceptions and options of three young Chinese artists on ‘private and public’ subject. They show the audience their interactions with a public space. I look forward to seeing the understandings by four Australian artists to this difficult but significant theme.

I would like to give my appreciation to co-curator of ‘Personal Space’ exhibition, Steve Eland, director of 24HR Art NTCCA and Siying Zhou, program manager of 24HR Art NTCCA. I hope this is a successful exhibition.