Becoming Octopus
Single channel video
6:04mins
Becoming Octopus explores the tactility of the audio-visual, inquiries the differences between fiction and non-fiction, reality and fantasy, subjectivity and objectivity, closeness and distance through personal memories, and polyamorous erotic fantasies. Instead of an optical way of looking, a haptic looking is suggested by Laura U. Marks, the camera functions as an eye, also touches. The Octopus, a shape-shifter, a soft and moist malleable being, an embodiment of the erotic, a shortsighted sea-creature who knows the world mostly through touching, through muscular intelligence, an embodied cognition which does not necessarily processed directly by the central brain, the feeling of knowing someone by being physically close. Becoming Octopus attempts to arouse a multi-sensory experience that includes optic, haptic and auditory sensations.
Credits
Written and directed by Wei Zhou
Direction of Photography by Wei Zhou, Wei Zhang
Voiceover by Wei Zhou
Editing by Wei Zhou
Music Dead Pulse by JackCote
Stereo audio
1:24mins
The new audio work is a reflection on the original video Becoming Octopus, which I started developing in 2019 but disrupted due to the breakout of the pandemic. My understandings of the “touch”, octopus and intimacy are constantly shifting through this time. Instead of completely replacing the original idea, I decided to keep the work I did previously and make Becoming Octopus as an editable and extendable project, which I can always revisit and reflect upon.
Headphones are recommended.
Wei Zhou is a Chinese visual artist based in Glasgow, UK. Her art practice encompasses video, photography, sound, scent and text. Her works often reflect on the topic of sexuality, sense & sensory and eroticism.
Website: weizhou.cargo.site
Instagram: @wei_zzzhou