This article is the featured artist interview on the topic of Game Media. We interviewed the renowned Taiwan interactive artist Huang Hsin-Chien, who in the past led several well-known game manufactures such as Sony and Sega. The interview introduced Huang’s background as how he became a gamer, and how he later combined art and commerce together. Also, this article will reveal Huang’s choice of art style and Dialectics of Form.

Q: Shall we start with your family and educational background?

Both of my parents were teachers. My mother was an art teacher, which probably influenced me. I was born in Taipei. I also grew up in Taipei. I have two brothers and one sister. I studied mechanical engineering in National Taiwan University. I won the school’s Academic Achievement Award twice. After graduation, I shifted my attention to industrial design and studied in Art Center of Design, starting from bachelor’s degree. After that, I applied for Institute of Design, IIT, a college nicknamed the “New Bauhaus.” I won full Moholy Nagy Scholarship and obtained master’s degree there. When I was on the half way of PhD, I left school and began my career because my director was seriously ill. I am now an eternal doctoral candidate.

Q: Anyone who inspired you to do digital art?

I think the person who inspired me most was Laurie Anderson, who I worked with after graduation. During the time we worked together, I saw the true spirit of an artist. Afterward, I worked in the game industry for seven years. Still, the seed planted during that time finally flowered and I decided to be a full-time artist.

Q: What is the major direction of you art?

I’ve tried interactive network art, interactive installation, animation films, interactive performances, digital prints and sculpture. Right now I am interested in opto-mechatronic interactive devices, virtual art based on computer and mobile phone platforms.

Q: You have worked with people from different fields such as the world-famous voice artist Laurie Anderson and Lei Guanxia. Would you tell us more about that?

I have always been very interested in the idea of “inter-discipline.” I applied this concept not only as an artist, but also as a commercial project leader. I found the idea of inter-discipline could push me to think differently and go deep into fields I normally would not. It provided me a good chance to comprehend how people in different fields see things and what their concerns are. The kind of knowledge broadened my view and skill, influencing my future work.

Q: Please tell us your favorite media/new media art work, artist, or art project.

I remain a faithful audience of Laurie Anderson. I am also a fan of Maywa Denki. There are many new media art artists who I like very much.

Q: Have you been to any interesting exhibition or participated in activity recently that you would like to recommend?

I went to Yuan Kwong Ming’s Slow Tech exhibition in Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei. It was great. I studied industrial design in the past so that product design also fascinated me. Recently the DragonFly flagship store was reopened. The place was great, too.

Q: What kinds of problems do you most often encounter in large-scale projects? How do you overcome the difficulties?

I think the most appealing, the most troublesome, and the most problematic part in interdisciplinary activities is dealing with people. It takes tremendous time to bring people from different fields together, to form consensus, to unify values, and to work on the same goal. Sometimes it is almost impossible. For instance. When working on 

“Specimens of Memory (記憶的標本),” we needed transparent acrylic printing. However, there was no way we could make the manufacture understand our requirements. In the end it cost lots of time and money to solve the problem. Thus, I would say there are several ways to solve the problem. One of them is trying continuously to communicate and giving concrete examples so that people from different fields can see and touch what we wish to achieve. In the end there will be a team consensus. And of course, another way is using money. As long you have enough money, there is always a way to settle your problems.

Q: What is your plan for your future art career?

In university I thought I would be a mechanical engineer. At Art Center, I thought I would be a product designer. Later, I worked in the computer game industry. At that time I though that’s it and my life was settled. But no. So now I give up making any long-term plans. Plans can never catch changes. I can only say I plan to be an interesting person? I hope I will never stop being curious about things… I am interested in exploring and meditating the essence of everything, regardless of its nature. As for art discourse, I am not really into it.

Q: Let’s talk about your work. Is “narrative” an important element of your work?

Yes, that’s why I named my studio “Storynest”.

Q: You mentioned the term “Brain Child” in you website. If the relationship between artist and artwork seems to be arbitrary, where should we posit the audience?

I think the relationship between author and work itself is arbitrary, a factor that motivates me to create art. I want to appreciate the beauty of art. However, once a work is completed, the relationship between artwork and viewer does not involve the artist. Different people have different experiences and have lived different lives. Consequently people have different ways to interpret and understand an artwork. I think it is a very personal relationship. Artists should not interrupt or donminate this relationship. Still, artists should be totally responsible for their work like a father is for his son.

Q: Many of your artworks are concerned with Dialectics of Form (eg. “Heart of Koi”, “Passage”, “Exchange Experiment”). Does it imply that logical thinking is a priority for your work? Also, does it have something to do with you engineer background?

Well, for me, it is very important that viewers “use their head.” I think it is also the essence of interactive art. The biggest difference between interactive art and video game is the former pushes people to think. I think the climax of beauty is the moment we understand a certain aesthetic concept both intellectually and viscerally. It takes both sense and sensibility to reach that certain point.

Q: Is “memory” a theme that constantly occurs to you? We saw it in many of your works….

I am probably a nostalgic person. One of my teachers once said that all people stay in certain time. Some stay in the 80s’, some in 90s’. I guess I probably have stayed in Taipei of the 70s and 80s. I use this as a reference point for myself. All my perceptions and memories begin from this point.

Q: Let’s talk about the years you worked in famous game companies. What did you learn or gain during that period?

In my early career days, I worked in the Sega Interactive Development Division as a leading artist. We developed game systems such as Genesis, X32 (a server that became obsolete before entering the market), and Saturn. Afterward, I was recruited to Sega’s headquarter in San Francisco as the artist director and involved with the R&D of Dreamcast .Two years later, I worked for Sony Computer Entertainment America. In the Santa Monica Studio there, as an art director, I was responsible for the development of a PS2 game, Kinetica. Looking back, all the projects I participated in were first-generation video game software whose consoles were new to the market. Consequently, I had lots of experiences working on games that were still on their primary stage and no real entity. I worked in environments full of chaos and uncertainty, and then I went forward, and matured.
 
It takes three specialties to develop a video game: game design, art design, and computer programming. Accordingly, I also gained lots of interdisciplinary working experience while developing a game. It is very useful for my current work, when it comes to time management or negotiation and communication.

Q: How old were you when you owned your first computer? And what’s your opinion on the so-called computer or video game generation?
I owned my first computer when I was in high school. It’s an Apple II. Since high school, I could not leave computer…. All my jobs were related to computer. Sometimes I wonder how could I live without it.

I think good video games could teach players many things. One time I was reading a book by historian Huang Renyu (黃仁宇). The book talked about army training and supply. At that time, for me those concepts were quite vague. It was not until I started to play real-time strategy game did I realize the importance of supply, formation, and assembly. I think one never stops learning, so it is hard to say whether computer is a good or bad influence for study.

Q: Could you share more of your videogame stories with us? Could you list some of the game consoles you have played?

I guess Atari is the earliest. I went to video game arcades quite often since junior high school. Then there were Nintendo, SFC (FC), Sega’s genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast. And the recent Sony PS2. I never stopped playing computer games as well, mostly adventure game, RPG, real-time strategy game and First-Person Shooter. I am not a big fan of handheld game though.

I think the conversion from 8 to 16-bit did not bring significant changes. Instead, the transition from2D to 3D, and later the fast-growing graphics card technology, contributed vastly to the rapid-developing game industry. (Q: Does computer game also affect digital art?) Certainly. Computer is the companion of the new generation. It is easier for young people to accept the idea of making art on digital platform than the older generation.

Q: What’s your opinion of digital artists participating in commercial activities? How to obtain a balance between art and commerce?

Artists have been working for commerce since forever. It is only until modern times that the tradition is interrupted. I think artists should be able to achieve finance independence like Zen master Bai Zhang’s teaching that “no labor, no food.” Artists could not reply too much on grant and teaching position. These things diminish the contact between people and artist. It undermines the development of art.

Take Storynest for example. Besides supporting Storynest, commerce also opens a window for me so that I can see what’s happening outside. Also, it brings lots of people-to-people
encounters. I would not deliberately classify myself as an artist. I just do what I like to do. It is just that right now, some of the things I do can be catalogued as pure art and some commercial art. The so-called “balance” does not exist.

Q: Finally, what advice would you give to the digital artists in Taiwan? 

The most interesting thing about digital art is its variety. It’s hard for me to speculate its future development just based on my past experiences. However, for me, I have great expectation for digital art that it can bring audiences to appreciate the beauty of technology, provide aesthetic experience and spiritual satisfaction. It can make “beauty” part of human’s future hope.

Inter-discipline, duplicability, and boundless network, are the most important characters of digital art. Thus, digital artists could have the whole world as their stage. Well, at least, that’s what I can say for now.

Viewers of my website come from everywhere from the world, mostly USA. Digital art is unique that artists may communicate and interact with audiences without the help of museums, galleries, and dealers. I think digital artists should make good use of its advantage and establish a new relationship with the audience.   

【Profile】

Huang Hsin-Chien
Birth:1966/1/13 (Taipei)
Location:Taipei
Website:http://art.storynest.com
Interests:Digital arts, computer, dogs

(Interviewer: Wenchi Cheng. Trans. by Hsu Tien-ning; edited by Chang Bay-wen)