We recently connected with Vesper Guo and have shared our conversation below.
Vesper, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
In my case, work-life balance must be the base. I believe it is the ground for curiosity and passion to thrive and sustain, which then sprouts all the essentials that support a creative to go beyond a mere spark of an idea to the practical production of embodiment.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a new media artist and creative developer. I have a background in film, video and animation, and now I am combining this skillset into interactive narrative design with a focus on website experience development.
A recent project of mine is “nonplace.site”, an online space as well as an exhibition that is currently on view as part of The Wrong Biennale. Nonplace.site recreates the disorienting experience of navigating one’s own computer file system in search of distant memories. It draws attention on the act of rummaging through folders and files, which easily evokes the feeling of surfing the hidden corners of not only our personal digital space but also the web – filled with fragmented glimpses into the past, traces of forgotten context, missing pieces, and a blurring sense of self.
Nonplace.site is extended from my master degree thesis proejct of the same name, and is later adapted into the current form of a collective space. I am the developer and curator of this nonplace; for this opportunity with The Wrong Biennale, I also invited my friend and artist Yan Shao on board to co-curate the group exhibition which involves other fantastic artists. Feel free to check it out at its name/url! If you are an artist who wants to show your works here, please reach out as well!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I am definitely grateful for my knowledge of art history and film studies. The former really grounds my understanding of the development of art across a broad timeline, and brings a spectrum of humaninity into thinking about art as an intersection. It helps me disenchant the concepts of art and beauty, which then takes me closer to a more comprehensive perspective.
The study of film paved my understanding of perception, which I think is primary and prior to questions of creation. Even when I transition into new media and interdisciplinary practices, this perspective still inspires me!
These foundational studies were essential to my development as a creative, so I would love to share a tip from my own growth – learning from the past and history to build your own perspective (not with AI) is crucial. This is especially helpful in an era where new technologies rapidly generate with resulted waves of novelty and anxiety.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always looking for folks who share the same interests and approaches as me, while also having their own unique perspective! Since my current focus is on website, film, animation, and any other screen-based media, I welcome anyone who works with these forms or has related interests to collaborate and chat with:)
Currently, I am also developing an intiative that aims to build a community of digital literature with Chinese ideograms. This project stems from my personal practice of reconfiguring the way of reading and writing Chinese characters digitally as a narrative itself, taking inspiration from concrete poetry, language encoding, game design, performance art, filmmaking, and of course, net art (or browser-based culture). The focus on Chinese characters comes from my identity as a Chinese speaker with a personal interest in storytelling in my mother tongue. Beyond the personal layer, I found that Chinese as a lingustic context is not very developed in digital literature and exists on the margins of this Latin-script-centric genre, in which case I wish to bring its potential into attention to creatives and audiences who share my language. This project emphasizes narrative approach, which is fundamentally different from font aesthetis as in graphic design. In such a case, this community is interdisplinary at its core and welcomes creatives from all backgrounds to share, collaborate, inspire, and learn together. Whether you’re a coder, artist, writer, or enthusiast interested in pushing the boundaries of digital Chinese character storytelling, I encourage you to get involved!
Feel free to connect via Instagram or my website!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://guoyingzi.com
- Instagram: @blinkingcaret
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yingziguo000vesper/
Image Credits
Image credits to participating artists in the exhibition: Cameron Alexander & Vidya Giri & Vesper Guo & Sylvia Ke & Michelle Letheris & Peixuan Ouyang & Yan Shao & Jingyao Shao & Kristopher Yizhen Shi & Jo Suk & Masha Vlasova & Sam Zanowski Website and posters designed by Vesper Guo.
