Zhanchao Pan
Petri Dishes
Petri Dishes
2024
Installation
60x42x64 cm
Cabinets, Petri dishes, memory foam, Led lights, glass beads, epoxy resin, eggs, ink,
acrylic paint, water beads, transparent printing paper
2024
Installation
60x42x64 cm
Cabinets, Petri dishes, memory foam, Led lights, glass beads, epoxy resin, eggs, ink,
acrylic paint, water beads, transparent printing paper
The search for the self is rarely a one-person task, and when people are trying to figure out who they are, trying to find the key to themselves, they invariably turn to others, because an individual's sense of self is not innate, but gradually formed through interactions with others. People see themselves through the eyes of others, as if they see themselves in a mirror, and understand and know themselves through the reactions, evaluations and feedback of others. In people's lives, there will be many such mirrors, from which we will get a lot of reflected images of ourselves, so as to assemble a "self". However, when there are more and more mirrors, the reflected images will also be unreal, or become distorted due to uncontrollable factors, and the self-consciousness will be disturbed or even shaken. This is the key to the cohesive self, its core is a dynamic flow of life force, elastic and interactive. When external pressures arise, people who form a cohesive self are not only less likely to be overwhelmed, but are also able to fully interact with the outside world.
All the moments of uncertainty, perhaps they are triggered by self-uncertainty.
In other words, if a person's ego is seriously attacked, as long as there is cohesion, the person can be renewed, even more mature and stronger. But like the gap between theory and reality, how do you achieve it? Perhaps the vast majority of people are looking for the road.
In the installation Petri dishes, the cabinet with frosted glass doors is an abstract form of my "self", and the six petri dishes are fragments of myself that I have acquired from others and left behind. The petri dishes are divided into two parts by two light controllers (the viewer can control the controller, adjust the light intensity and switch). I was born with something that I couldn't choose (family, genes), and I was born with something that I chose (partner, friend, growing self), and these pieces make me who I am, but they also interfere with me, sometimes they are equal (when the light is equal), sometimes one part is dominant (when the light is weak), and sometimes they are not. This alludes to the entanglement and division of my own self, seeking a state of harmony and unity within myself.