6 minutes excerpt of a 14 minutes video, with sound, 2020
Sound design: Kikù Hibino
Cello solo: Ping Huo
Videography: Dylan Jordee & Xiong Lei
when the East of the day meets the West of the night is an experimental film about a shared moment in time across a great distance between my homeland, China, and my adopted country the United States. I filmed the setting and rising suns in two continuous takes, from opposite sides of the Pacific coast. From Hulu Island near Beijing to Half Moon Bay near San Francisco, the cameras slowly move laterally as the sun descends and ascends in two skies that mirror the arc and trajectory of my two selves. The dual scenes represent this state of longing and surrender that has become my wandering identity.
The sound track is a layered combination of ambient nature sound and electronics, as a cosmic reflection of melancholy and nostalgia in the waning warmth of the sun. When the sun from the China side emerges in the lower half of the diptych, my mother, a retired classical cellist, contributes a solo as if to call out to me with her instrument. An ancient historically significant Chinese rock formation named “Jie Shi” 碣石 comes into the China side in the beginning of the video. Similarly, on the American side, a rock formation appears at the end. Both rock formations symbolize two figures standing on the edges of the Pacific Ocean, contemplatively gazing into the distance and through the passage of time.
《当日之东遇见夜之西》是一部实验性影像，刻画了我的故乡中国与我的第二故乡美国之间跨越宏大距离、共享的片刻。我分别在北京附近的葫芦岛和旧金山附近的半月湾，用两个连续镜头拍摄日落和日出。镜头缓缓地沿着天海交接的水平线移动，记录太阳在两片天空中升起与降落的轨迹。这两幅画面相互映照，如同两个象征着我漂泊不定的身份的弧线与轨迹。
影片的音效融合了自然环境与电子音乐的层次组合，以一种宇宙般的感知反映出日光渐弱中的惆怅与渴望之情。当中国那一侧的太阳在下方初升时，我的母亲，一位退休的古典大提琴演奏家，以她的琴声独奏，仿佛通过她的乐器向我呼唤。影片开头，在中国一侧的画面中，缓缓进入了曹操《观沧海》中古老的“碣石”。同样，在影片结尾，美国一侧也出现了一块岩石。这两块岩石象征着伫立在太平洋两岸的两个人，沉思地凝望着远方，穿越在时空的流转。
Press:
THE OVERVIEW: Artist Yuge Zhou on People and Places, Commonality and Compassion, East and West
Video Stills