Stickies Experiment
When you ponder if certain things really exist, try this simple activity with red and blue stickies: use red ones for things you believe exist and blue for those that don't. Your eyes will only see red and blue then. However, could the world be reduced to just two colors? If you look at those stickies again and again, you might begin to see some blurs, gaps or even other colors.
What is Santa Claus?
Do you know that the original model of Santa Claus is St. Nicolas, who existed in the fourth century? Throughout time, the representation of St. Nicolas' good deeds merged with the character of Father Christmas to create a character known as Santa Claus. Santa is loved in all different countries and time periods as a mysterious being, which does not fit in the discussion of gexistence versus non-existenceh. Have you ever really pondered about such beings? If you cannot find words that truly describe Santafs being, chances are you might not have thought about it. We need to come up with a word or a name that represents these beings. This word would become the key to understanding the mystery of Santa and the likes.
The Word
Let's call these beings hAEREALh. It is a term coined from merging the two words gREALh and gAERIALh. Beings that exist in between the REAL [such as Lady GaGa, Jack Derrida and Thamsanqa Jantjie] and the AERIAL [Micky Mouse, Peter Bishop and Kirito Kamui] are called AERIAL. Realities as you know them sometimes might seem unreal. Or the unimaginable might suddenly become a reality. When you consider all possibilities, the boundary between things is challenged and therefore, unstable. Is the modern perspective of what is there versus what not truly relevant to the complex world we are living in now? Is there only a void in between existence and absence? Positioning between the REAL and AERIAL, AEREAL might allude to new knowledge produced through these questions.
Recognition of the AEREAL
Today world is situated in a vortex of radical changes caused by the emergence of an unprecedented information technology and a new social structure. Responding to this profound situation, especially in the art world, there is certain gravitation towards re-questioning the traditional binary oppositions such as greality/unrealityh or gfact/fictionh. One of the many functions of art is to connect the past and the present, the known and the unknown, etc. and even to combine such joints. Artists, critics and historians have been creating new ideas and dialogues through referencing past discourses. The idea of reconsidering conventional knowledge and common senses by a collective efforts is the driving force behind the recognition of the AEREAL and the founding of YAP.
AEREAL and YAP
YAP artists operate within the concept of AEREAL. Although this concept was developed in concurrence to the founding of YAP in 2012, it is now introduced on YAP website for the first time. This announcement will expand YAPfs AEREAL activities. Change is a gradual process. AEREAL will influence the ways in which we define the real and the aerial. Hopefully, it will inspire us to consider all possibilities - so that we can answer not only A, but also Af to the below question. Welcome to a brave new world.
QA
QFDoes Santa Claus really exist?
AFI think he does. So be good for goodness' sake.
Af: Sure. And he has so many friends. They are considered AEREAL. Didn't you know?
2016 YAP
at Shanghai World Financial Centre
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