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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.7, No.6
Publication Date: June 25, 2020
DOI:10.14738/assrj.76.8387.
Chen, C. H., & Hsieh, S. (2020). The Research of Aesthetics of Type as Image in Motion-Targeting Video Poetics at Type Motion: Type as
Image in Motion Exhibition in Taiwan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(6) 190-207.
The Research of Aesthetics of Type as Image in Motion- Targeting Video Poetics at Type Motion: Type as Image in
Motion Exhibition in Taiwan
Chen, Chih Ho
Department of Digital Media Design,
Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Sheng-Min Hsieh
Department of Visual Communication Design,
Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Characters are signs and symbols that record our thoughts and feelings
and allow the documentation of events and history. Later, the
appearance of motion images marked a new milestone in the use and
application of characters. Not only were the original function of
characters improved and enhanced, text that integrate sound and
images are also able to communicate much more diverse and abundant
information. This technique is commonly found in cinema, television,
advertisement, and animation. Thanks to technological advances, the
combination of characters, texts, or types and images once again
changed how we read. It has also created new meaning for our time.
Today, type image seems to have achieved an aesthetic autonomy of
their own. This has a profound impact on image and art creation and
human communication.
The emergence of cinema art in the late 19th century brought motion
into written media and greatly expanded the possibilities of art. In
today’s world of instant communication media, text and images face
unprecedented changes. Chinese characters are one of the most ancient
writing systems in human history. Unlike western alphabet, each
Chinese character has its own form, sound, and meaning. Chinese
characters are a highly figurative cultural element. This essay takes
Chinese characters and the works featured in the concrete
poetry/sound poetry and fragment poetry categories in the National
Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts “Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion”
exhibition as the subject of study to examine the history of text and
media and changes in the way we deliver information and communicate.
This essay also provides an analysis of the relationship between text and
motion image and the interdependency between culture and technology
and media. The connections and differences between Chinese
characters in different time and space is also investigated to highlight
the uniqueness of the characters as a medium, its application in motion
writing techniques and aesthetic forms.
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This essay focuses on the following four topics:
Artistic expression and styles related to the development of type as
image in motion.
Video poetics: the association between poetics and video images, poetic
framework, and analysis of film poetry.
Structure, format, characteristics, and presentation of meaning in
concrete poetry/sound poetry, and fragment poetry.
how Chinese characters are used in Taiwan and the aesthetic features of
type through the exhibited works.
Keywords: type as image in motion, Chinese characters, video poetics, video
aesthetics
INTRODUCTION
Background
From images of subtitles in early silent films to today’s digital videos, text have always played an
important role not only in art films, music videos, feature films, or commercials but also presented
numerous possibilities in other fields.1 Technological development from analog to digital add to the
diversity of type in motion, which is no longer limited to functional communication of messages, but
takes a further step forward in aesthetic uniqueness. Will this change our perception of type in
motion? What kind of changes will take place? This would be an interesting issue due to the variety
of ways text is used in different countries all over the world and the variety of ways we form,
structure, and give meaning to words.
In Taiwan we use traditional Chinese characters that are written differently from Latin alphabets
as shown in some of the exhibited works in the exhibition. The meeting and merging of multiple
Chinese characters lead to many issues and offer room for imagination. This takes the combination
of Chinese characters to a different dimension. For example, Chinese characters are independent
units, each with its own form, sound and meaning. But new meaning and tone and rhythm could
also be created when multiple characters are arranged or joined. Chinese characters are
“decorative” symbolic signs that respond to nature, transcend beyond reality, progress into the
imaginative, and feature the poetic. In the Internet age they are also experimental images in motion
and as a result derive many new practical applications and special terms. The unique graphic format
of Chinese characters has also facilitated new communication models and behavior.2 Thus these
characters has evolved from pure transmission of messages to an aesthetic level. Digital media turns
text from two-dimensional towards three-dimensional. Connection and understanding are created
through the interaction between the viewer and the artwork in view.
There is a saying in Chinese describing the close relationship between Chinese characters and
painting, “there is poetry in paintings and painting in poetry.” The application of technology and
media in art offers a different approach to video poetry and provides artists with abundant
possibilities. Therefore, the extensive use of video poetry is worthy of discussion and exploration.
Purpose
This essay takes the “Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion” exhibition, held at the National Taiwan
Museum of Fine Arts, as the starting point of its studies in an attempt to present issues in type as
image in motion from Taiwan’s perspective. Through this process, the essay aims to search for
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Chen, C. H., & Hsieh, S. (2020). The Research of Aesthetics of Type as Image in Motion-Targeting Video Poetics at Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion
Exhibition in Taiwan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(6) 190-207.
relevant arguments and explanations. The exhibited works present the magnificence of type and
the association with dramatic texts and guide viewers to reflect on their usual approach to
observation and reading through a macroscopic and profound attitude. The discussion begins with
an inspection of the carefully created works from modern painting to new media art and goes on to
explore the differences and similarities in different ages. The result is a clear presentation of type
as image and type in motion based on the history and theories of aesthetic practice.
Chinese characters have always been regarded as a highly imagery cultural element that blend well
into paintings. Yet the combination of Chinese characters and technology takes type from two
dimensional to three dimensional. Type becomes interactive and even takes part in the conversion
and becomes a creator of the process. The implication of a single sign is expanded and elevated to a
reference point for imagination and creativity. Therefore, this study aims to examine ways to take
simple message communication and transmission of thoughts to an aesthetic level and to guide
viewers through modern art theories and video poetics across time and space.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Formation of Modern Art Genres
The essay begins with the history of how the written text is used in western films to examine the
transformation of narrative texts from “ancient writing medium” to “new film media”. Many have
tried to overcome limitations posed by these textual carriers and to free the written text so that they
can be moved or be arranged to form a graphic image. This would allow text to continuously expand
its functions from “old” writing medium to “new” medium art and in turn lead to an unprecedented
external form never seen in written history. Films and modern new media did not pose threats to
the traditional writing system. Instead, they strengthened the latter’s impact. The following
paragraphs describe art genres that influenced the development of image and type in motion.
Silent Films- Early Narrative Films
Text commentary were added to films around 1907 to tell the story and to serve as subtitles for the
opening and the closing credits. The text here is an additional tool used to complement what is
lacking in images.3 Text commentary appear in the short break between images so that the audience
can relax their eyes. They could also be intentionally applied to shape the style of the film. European
films in the 1960s to 1970s use commentary in sound films to create an “alienation effect” proposed
by the playwright Bertolt Brecht in his dramatic theory.4 The alienation effect is meant to distance
the audience from drama or films. Brecht believes that if the audience is emotionally involved with
the characters on the theater stage, it would prevent them from reaching a calm and conscious
opinion of the performance. This theory involves the use of techniques designed to distance the
audience from the performance, such as scenes from a foreign country, scenes set in an obscure
time and space, or story-telling narrators.
Impressionism
French impressionist film directors after the 1920s were strongly against the use of written text in
films. Examples include Louis Delluc and Germaine Dulac, who strived or a new approach in
filmmaking away from established practices in literature and screenplay. Delluc defined films as “a
painting of light and shadow, a formation of light and shadow” and sought for a pure approach to
artistic expression in filmmaking. Impressionist films explore a realm beyond the real-life
experiences, applies experimental photography, and focuses on subjective psychological state of
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mind, for example mental states such as dreams, drunkenness, or faintness. Blurred shots and
superimposition are used to present the conscious state of mind. In general, impressionist films are
marked by an emphasis on “visual presentation” and less on “storytelling”. The fundamental intent
of impressionist films is emotional representation. Impressionist filmmakers aim for a poetic effect
on screen more than narrative effects.
Expressionism
Expressionism is a style of painting in the late 19th and early 20th century Germany with an anti- academic stance. Expressionist artworks are marked by the presentation of feelings rather than
depiction of the subject. A typical practice is to distort reality and to express the abstract,
particularly to convey feelings of fear. In his work The Birth of Tragedy, the German philosopher
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche found two forms of classical art. One is Apollo, who stand for
intellectual ideals and rational, orderly, rule-based, elegant art. The other is Dionysus, whose art is
malicious, chaotic, and insane. It comes from the human subconscious. It also has an intuitive
preference for bright colors, distorted forms and lacks perspective.
Fade-in text were used to visualize strange or gruesome images. For example, in 1920 the German
film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari used text to visualize and to imply mental hallucination. Written text
in the film The Golem appeared as light emerging from misty fog. Written text in films conveys
information that could not be communicated otherwise and makes the invisible visible.5
Early Advance Guard Films
“Advance guard” refers to new or experimental works as a result of continuous deconstruction in
art. It could also refer to pioneers or forerunners in any field.6 In the 1920s advance guards in
European film were conceptually inspired by Cubism, Constructivism, Dadaism, and Surrealism.
The advance guards sacrificed narration to develop new forms in cinematic representation.
Examples include Ballet mécanique (France, 1924), Anemic Cinema (France 1924/1926), L'étoile de
mer (France, 1928), Histoire de Détective (Belgium 1928/1929), Kreise (Germany, 1933/1934), A
Color Box (U.K. 1935), Trade Tattoo (U.K, 1937). Written text became one of the many artistic
elements in these films. An open creative approach was taken towards the written text, which was
treated as an independent aesthetic formal element that is partly reading and partly viewing.
Material Films.7
In the 1950s written text were applied creatively in the form of presentation that is unique to films
and films only. Material films play with film elements such as lighting, motion, time, and space and
worked to recreate cinematic scenes in a cinematic way. These films were introspective, meaning
that they create visual and audio effects through previously unnoticed background techniques, for
example flickers, cuts and edits, lighting, speed, color, and sound, or film perforations, numbering,
borrowing, collage, directly marking the negatives, manipulating the negatives without using a
camera.
Film theories following the 1950s prefer impure films.8 English film theorist and filmmaker Peter
Wollen mentioned in the 1960s and 1970s that it is only possible to create “film-style films” through
impure cinema and adding signs and meaning to a hybrid form of films. David Lynch’s film The
Alphabet (1968) and Stan Brakhage’s I... Dreaming (1988) use written text as a way to show
initiative in film design, which involves the practice of advance-guard with historical significance.
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Chen, C. H., & Hsieh, S. (2020). The Research of Aesthetics of Type as Image in Motion-Targeting Video Poetics at Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion
Exhibition in Taiwan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(6) 190-207.
There are infinite sets of connections in the combination of text and images (mostly
decontextualized shots). A wider and more extensive interpretive view of the combination of text
and images offers a special sense of aesthetic perception and creates a complex layers of meanings.9
Letterism
The first wave of avant-garde movement reached post-war Paris around 1946 in the form of
Letterism. Letterist artists and literati systematically applied letters and text into films. Letterist
filmmakers Isidore Isou’s work Venom and Eternity (France, 1951) and Maurice Lemaitre’s Le Film
esr deja commence? (English translation: Has the Film Already Started? France, 1951) erased the
conventional division line between film form and content and defy the conventional functional and
stylistic requirements of written text in films. Letterist artists worked hard to resist commercialism
in the film industry. Nonetheless, their innovative cinematic style later became a standard artist
practice for films and TV trailers, particularly in the opening titles for suspense films, thriller films,
and horror films.
Flicker Film
“Flicker” films are short and rapid succession of images played continuously in a hidden way,
usually resulting in uncomfortable visual effects that seem like technical errors. A strip of individual
images is projected mechanically on the frame to show the separation between the images.
Fluttering images and rapid visual flashes create “a reduced perceptive range of the primary state”
formed by written text made unrecognizable through the “flickering” mode.
Structural Film
Structuralist film theory emphasizes the perception of meaning in films and written media,
including elements such as the temporal structure, the movement of the camera, or a series of
montages. Examples include Ernst Schmidt’s 9/g Filmtext (Austria, 1967), Hollis Frampton’s Zorn's
Lemma (USA, 1970), and Peter Greenaway (Dear Phone, UK, 1976). This genre of films is highly
introspective. Structuralism is the deconstruction of cinematic elements based on linguistics to
analyze the correlation between the signifier and the signified. Since films are the assembly of shots,
plot, and sound, structuralist film theory based its analysis on the following questions:
1. What is this shot/plot/sound?
2. 2. Why is this shot/plot/sound handled in this way? What is it saying (to the real world)?
3. Is there some sort of pre-set emotion the artist is trying to evoke in the audience?
4. 4. Is this describing some sort of common ideology (myth)?
Avant-garde TV
The birth of television allowed people to communicate with other societies for the first time in
human history. In the 1960s and 1970s Dadaist artist and the Fluxus called for the integration of art
and life. But this was remained an unattainable goal for mass media at the time. In the early 1970s
artists such as Claus Peter, Ferdinand Kriwet, Stephen Partridge, Jean-Luc Godard (History of
Cinema, France/Switzerland, 1988) designed TV programs of their own using art films and video.
Sometimes written text and decontextualized videos were joined. Other times only written text
shows up on screen to urge the audience to be more than just a passive observer.
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Video Art
Artists such as Nam June Paik Wolf Vostell pioneered new possibilities in video technology and how
video art may be used to display and alter images. Subsequent artists viewed video technology as a
potential way of opening up new possibilities in cinema art. Video art could also be used to record
performance art. Austrian, Germany, and American artists began to use this new technology to
document the writing/textual process of their art in the late 1960s.
Media Critique and Introspection
In the early 1960s video technology took an experimental approach to play with color, light, sound,
and written texts in digital images. In the 1970s video artworks that criticized the consumer society
started to appear, for example the American director John Howard Carpenter’s film They Live (USA,
1988). In the film, special glasses were required to see the subliminal messages sent by aliens. Later,
the influence of conceptual art and Pop Art and the use of type images in video art became
increasingly evident. The use of images was the most distinctive difference between films and video
art at the time. Sound and written text were considered to be almost equally important. In videos,
it is not necessary to lay the audio track over with the images and the text is not part of the graphics.
Images, sound, and written text are regarded to be on the same level in digital and electronic media
from the outset.
Narrative Animations
Animation gives motion to previously still text and allows the invisible to emerge as visible special
effects. In a way, animation gives written text life and autonomy that is previously reserved for
actors or objects. The written text now plays a leading role in the animation. Text runs across the
screen and interact with the audience in experimental films, social critique films, commercial
advertisements, and music videos. The written text observes and moves like animals and other
objects.
SUMMARY
To conclude the above literature review, arguments and comments that are related to the aesthetics
of type and image in motion are listed as follows:
1. Text descriptions are used to create the “alienation effect” in dramatic theory. It also
establishes the independence of type images.
2. Impressionist films are “less narrative” and “more visual” and aim for poetics in its
presentation.
3. Expressionist films turns reality into abstract and makes the invisible visible.
4. Early advance guard films use less narration and convert reading into watching.
5. Material films manipulate cinematic elements and reproduce introspective language.
6. Early Letterism defies conventional written text and adopts the style of suspense and horror
film trailers
7. Flickering text creates an unpleasant visual effect.
8. Structural films emphasize perception of written text and observes the connection between
object and meaning from a subjective and introspective perspective.
9. Avant-garde TV use decontextualized text to guide the audience to observe at their own
initiative.
10. Video art manipulates the presentation of images using technology and converts images into
artistic text.
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Chen, C. H., & Hsieh, S. (2020). The Research of Aesthetics of Type as Image in Motion-Targeting Video Poetics at Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion
Exhibition in Taiwan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(6) 190-207.
11. Media critique plays with unconventional visual and audio elements to reflect on consumer
society.
12. Animated films and commercial advertisement give written text life, deliver information, and
evoke emotions.
13. Animated text design accompanied by music is no longer just lyrics but also part of cognitive
psychology.
14. Trailer sequence design is more than static communication. It is also about physical and
motion design of symbols with meaning and goes on further toward psychological
acknowledgement of the aesthetics of written images.
Video Poetics
Aristotle (384/383-322B.C) established the first systematic aesthetic theory in the history of
western culture. His intent was to study the internal structure and patterns of literature to
understand the origin of its beauty. Aristotle believed that beauty comes from the pleasant
sensation acquired through imitation. Aesthetics is an organic part of his philosophy. He also
considered that a development pattern for art and a set of creative principle could be found in
history and works of art. In his work Poetics he highlighted the importance of visual text by taking
it to an intellectual level rather than just perception. Thus, it is generally believed that the theoretic
source of video poetics originated from the “graphic sensation” described in Aristotle’s Poetics.
Many arguments on visual image, mental image, poetic expressions of history and society, and the
relationship between poetry and painting could be found in western classical poetics history. It is
part of a graphic culture that is artistic and serves social functions.10
Graphic images are the product of human substance. Images embodies the conscious activity of the
subjective mind of human beings. Poetics and images are academically associated and connected
according to Aristotle’s poetics theory. Film narrative and ideographic study are placed within the
poetics framework. Poetics is not just a research method. It could also be applied to examine
different graphic forms, from photography, film, television, digital image to multimedia.11 The
combination of images, sound, and text created a new art form known as video poetry. Video poetry
is a short motion film blending poetry, images, and new media. Variations of video poetry includes
poetry film, fragment poetry and poetry expressed through images. Images express and reproduce
the human mind and makes the human mind concrete. This figurative feature of images is like a
shadow that reflect the mental state of mind. Artists reproduce images that express their intimate
thoughts that seem to press close and remain distant at the same time. The result is an embodiment
of creative aesthetics.
Poetry Film:
The first film based on poetry was The Night Before Christmas (1905) by director Edwin Porter
based on the poem Twas the Night Before Christmas, in 1822. The first silent short poetry film with
written text was Manhatta, directed by Paul Strand and Sheeler in 1921. This film was also regarded
as the first avant-garde film in the U.S. In 1928 the French artist Man Ray made the film L'Étoile de
mer (English: The Starfish) based on the lines in the poem The Ring of Stars by the poet Robert
Desnos.
12
Debate over films around 1910 led to experimental film-style text. Experiments on literary “film
style” gave rise to film poetics. In 1929, the film theorist Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov argued that
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Chen, C. H., & Hsieh, S. (2020). The Research of Aesthetics of Type as Image in Motion-Targeting Video Poetics at Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion
Exhibition in Taiwan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(6) 190-207.
through animated fragments and turn literary language into cinematic language. Artists focus on
the visualization of written text to describe the messages they wish to communicate.
Cultural Foundation and Unique Expressiveness of Chinese Characters
The ancient history of Chinese characters makes it unique in human civilization. According to
legend, ancient Chinese tied ropes into knots to keep records, which was believed to be a possible
origin of Chinese characters. It is also believed that Chinese characters could have originated from
Bagua (the eight diagrams in Taoism). One other possible theory was that Chinese characters were
invented by Canjie. Chinese characters transmit messages through sound and form. As Chinese
cultural continued to develop, aesthetic pursuit also continued to drive the abstraction and semiotic
progress of the characters into an integrated unit of symbols, text, and graphic images. During this
evolution process the characters developed structures that were artistic and expressive.
Characteristics of Chinese characters
According to Chinese historical records, Chinese characters were invented by a man named Cangjie,
who made graphic depictions capturing the traits of animals, objects, and nature. Legend has it that
gods and spirits cried during the night when Cangjie was creating Chinese characters. He observed
the sky and examined nature and ultimately invented his “bird track script”. His invention began
the history of Chinese civilization. It can be said that he was the first ancestor of humanities. The
graphic characters Cangjie designed captured the essence and the traits of objects. Since the graphic
characters are imitations of the object, the written words were easy to understand and to use to
keep record of events. Although Chinese characters went through many changes and evolutions, it
remained graphically based in nature.15
Each Chinese character is an independent unit with its own form, sound, and meaning. The
characters are structured by radicals and other components. Radicals refer to the source and origin
of the character. Other components add context and meaning. Each character could also be taken
apart. Different structural combinations derive different forms. Also, the characters are
monosyllables with its own pronunciation. Sometimes the pronunciation for the same character
changes when combined with other characters to form different words or when the context of the
phrase changes. Chinese poetry is unique in its rhythmic pattern and features an abundance of
emotions and culture.
Traditionally, Chinese characters are arranged vertically from top down while the sentences run
from left to right to form a paragraph. More recently, due to western influences, Chinese could also
be written horizontally from left to right and sentences run from top to bottom as in western
languages. This added an interesting and varied touch to the language. The following are some of
the characters’ features:
1. Individually structured, can be disassembled or assembled.
2. Can be presented graphically as semiotic symbols.
3. A single unit includes form, sound, and meaning, easy to understand.
4. A single rhythmic syllable that is compounded by its visual appearance.
5. Can be arranged in multiple ways for reading purposes.
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Chinese characters are designed graphic images and a kind of symbol. As a symbol it is not only a
font style but also delivers information. There is also inherent meaning when visual elements are
added to the characters through design.
Image Presentation of Chinese Characters
“Creation” is the product of concepts or ideas through a unique “format”. It could be text, lines,
actions, or camera shots. Chinese characters are one of the symbols in visual communication design
whose purpose is to facilitate cultural exchange and communication between people. Thus, it is a
critical means in graphic design and visual communication. This is similar to signs. Chinese
characters are widely applicable and adaptable as they are able to add new concepts, elements, and
functions in response to changing times. This is particularly important in the Internet age since type
image is used in the communication between different cultures. The union between Chinese
characters and other writing systems integrates into new means of communication and produces
new usages, styles, and features. It also affects how we read and think.
Delivery and communication of information was more or less one-way before motion images
appeared. It is more about the visual sense compared to other senses. Later, motion images emerged
to produce rapid audio and visual effects that are entertaining, exciting, and fascinating. The
intensive transmission of motion images in daily life, the rapid flow of information in time and space,
the intentionally manipulated presentation speed and special effects all enriched the significance of
texts and images. In addition to the conventional narrative function, texts are now used to convey
different meaning through changes in the order and route of appearance, speed, and font size.
The Internet world is composed by text, sound, and motion images. Reading on the Internet is no
longer linear as we switch between links. Our thoughts become fragmented and image based. This
has created a new type of culture, which in turn affected how texts and images are presented.
Compared to texts, images are easier to remember. Images take the two-dimensional to three- dimensional, allow interaction with the artworks, blend tangible “written text” with personal
aesthetic experiences, integrate the artistic and imagery qualities of Chinese characters, create fun
from interactive technology, and facilitate connection and attachment to artworks.
Type is also a designed image. Type is open to different ways of combination and inner connection.
Different structures lead to different artistic conception. Type defines the aesthetic perception and
mental profile of human civilization. The design of types is a process of planning the position,
proportion, and correlation between objects in a three-dimensional space. It is an unique thinking
process that begins with the designer and extends to the thinking process and the mental activities
of the audience.
RESEARCH METHODS
Research Methods
Artistic creation is a process that goes from “visual image” to “mental image” and then “conceptual
image”. “Visual image” is an accumulation of life experiences. “Mental image” is memory and
recollection of visual images. “Conceptual image” is a notion, an idea, or an artistic conception that
comes from the blend of visual and mental images and ultimately results in a finished piece of
artistic creation in a different form. Studies in this type of aesthetics are often based on facts, which
are deduced and reasoned to reach research conclusions. The conclusions could also be based on
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Chen, C. H., & Hsieh, S. (2020). The Research of Aesthetics of Type as Image in Motion-Targeting Video Poetics at Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion
Exhibition in Taiwan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(6) 190-207.
the professional expertise of the research scholar or expert. This essay explores the aesthetics of
works selected by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts for the “Type Motion: Type as Image in
Motion” exhibition by analyzing the type and image in motion as seen in the exhibits. The following
is a brief description of the two research methods adopted:
1. Literature Review Analysis: collect related essays and literature to investigate the history,
style, and meaning of type and image in motion.
2. Comparative Analysis: collect images of type in motion to analyze form, style, and the
dynamic presentation of Chinese characters.
Research Scope and Limitation
This essay approached the study of video poetics from the following four aspects: first retrace the
history and development of videos and acknowledge the connection between video poetics. This is
followed by an observation of the relationship between video and social reality and popular culture.
On the one hand videos express social reality. On the other hand, videos are also able to influence
social reality. Third, study the connection between video production and technical innovation.
Videos are not just a form of art, but also a type of medium. Digital technology changed the format
of videos and continues to outline the future of a technology-based society. Lastly, a structural
analysis of expressive elements in video art and the textual research within in order to understand
the underlying creative concept.
The exhibits at “Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion” exhibition at the National Taiwan Museum
of Fine Arts were grouped into sixteen different categories. Out of the many categories, “concrete
poetry/sound poetry” and “fragment poetry” are selected as the main focus of study on account of
their connection to video poetry and also due to limitation of space. Another research focus is
“Chinese characters” in the hope of developing a clear understanding of the current state of the
aesthetics of Chinese characters as a type and an image in motion.
RESEARCH ANALYSIS
The following is an analysis of how texts are used in images and its features and an exploration of
discourse related to video poetry based on review of the above-mentioned literature. Also included
are studies on the characteristics of Chinese characters and aesthetic presentation to serve as the
theoretical basis for analysis of the following works by Taiwanese artists. Six artists and their
“figurative poetry/sound poetry” works were selected from the “concrete poetry/ sound poetry”
category of the “Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion” exhibition, held at the National Taiwan
Museum of Fine Arts. Also, out of the eighteen artists in “fragment poetry” category, eight artists
and their works were selected for comment and analysis, including four artists who work mainly
with Chinese characters.16
Comments on “Concrete Poetry/Sound Poetry”
Below are comments on the form of application and poetic features of works by six artists, including
Marc Adrin, Gerhard Rühm, Jörg Piringer, Stephan Groß, Ottar Ormstad, and Josef Linschimger. (as
shown in Table 1).
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Chen, C. H., & Hsieh, S. (2020). The Research of Aesthetics of Type as Image in Motion-Targeting Video Poetics at Type Motion: Type as Image in Motion
Exhibition in Taiwan. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(6) 190-207.
No. Author Portfolio Example
5
Ottar Ormstad Comments on When
Form of Application
(1) Use text to perform artistic arrangement.
(2) Transform concrete poetry collections on book pages to electronic video format.
(3) Sew the words and characters together to show that visually everything is in complete harmony.
(4) The poems and the implications the audience receives depends on their linguistic skills.
Video Poetic Features
(1) Add subtle variations in layout and letters and provide multiple poetic possibilities by offering meaning and
visual impression.
(2) Wander between reading and observing and forms multiple connected scenarios.
(3) Drifting between text and type, content and form, dialectical poetics is created in the interaction.
6
Josef Linschimger Comments on Text
Image
Form of Application
(1) Add geometric art qualities to the text through variations made to the letter lines.
(2) Contrast and blend different elements “type and image”, “abstract and concrete geometric shapes”.
Video Poetic Features
(1) The words “image” and “text” are presented in diverse colors and gradually expanded from lines to surface.
Use recognizable words and letter and color differences to reach different perceptions and feelings and create
new intuitive
poetic sense.
Comments on “Fragment Poetry”
Below are comments on the form of application and poetic features of works by eight artists,
including Andrew M. Gribble, David Alexander Anderson, Sebastian Lange, Anna Duquennois, Chen
Huei-Chuan, Wu Laza Tzu-Ning, Huang Hsing-Chien, and Lin Shu-Min. (as shown in Table 2).
Table 2: Comments on “Fragment Poetry”
No. Author Portfolio Example
1
Andrew M. Gribble Comments on Poetic
Motion
Form of Application
(1) Poetry verses composed by text and randomly arranged in different real scenarios.
(2) Features the deconstruction in early avant-garde film and present consciousness in a surreal
manner.
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No. Author Portfolio Example
Video Poetic Features
(1) Poems are written in rain, in water, and in space with an open casualness and flowing uncertainty.
Deconstruct consciousness to capture deeper mental state with intentional poetic images in stream
of consciousness.
2
David Alexander Anderson Comments on Tongue of
the Hidden
Form of Application
(1) Poetry is visualized into Persian calligraphy and read in English and Persian. The concept revealed
in the uttered words is conveyed through images.
(2) Reproduce the written subject matter to add to the narrative dynamic presentation.
Video Poetic Features
(1) Poetry and painting merge to create a narrative and surreal scenario. The uttered sound of the inner
mind transmits distant philosophical thoughts. The magical colors interweave into textual images
with rich fantastical ideas.
3
Sebastian Lange Comments on
Flickermood 2.0
Form of Application
(1) Use modern video production software “After Effects” to create visual effects such as movements,
flashes, and flickers.
(2) Background music accompany the poet Shelley’s poem, which talks of transition and transformation,
as if responding to the mutation of special effects.
Video Poetic Features
(1) Emphasize ideology in a seemingly Impressionist film approach. Manipulate type images to present
the subjective mind and spirit.
(2) Letterist aesthetics with characters flickering horizontally and vertically mixed with Impressionist
subjective visual images.
4
Anna Duquennois Comments on Hunter's
Green
Form of Application
(1) Using the “erasure poetry” technique to highlight text, similar to “restructured poetry”. Borrow from
art concepts.
(2) Imitate animation collage.
(3) Time-lapse photography
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12. Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel, 2015, p16.
13. Christine Stenzer, 2015, p15.
14. Chen Ruei-Wen, 2009, Deleuze’s Images: The Starting Point of the Movement Image, p7.
15. Lin Hsiao-Yu, 2015, p37.
16. Examples in this article were selected from the 2015 National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts “Type Motion: Type as
Image in Motion” exhibition.
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