Loy Luo Space：An Open Theater on a Street Corner
-The emergence of a new, open, street corner theater showcasing art that chooses you, not the more traditional other way around. The emergence of a genuinely open theater comes from the encounter between "I" and "another me" after "I" walks out of the original me! ---Loy Luo
I have been thinking and exploring the concept of theater and its role in art presentation for some time. The focus is on the thinking about the textualization of contemporary art in 2022 (see "Replying to Chen Jiaying's Criticism of the Textualization of Contemporary Art with an Exhibition as an Example"), In specific practice, it focuses on the creation of the "Abstract Theater" series of art that has been going on for the past two years. That is, whether abstract or concrete, an artwork is not an object with a fixed narrative. As the theater itself, an objective carrier can encourage various participants to enter it, and re-sing and act according to their own feelings, even forming their own double scripts. Therefore, no matter contracting art space to creating artwork, the essence is creating a theater, namely, creating a kind of spiritual extradition. This is what I have taken great care to create with Loy Luo Space.
The Loy Luo Space originated from a decision to open my personal creative environment to other artists and audiences. In this theater artworks are not only objects, but also living and active characters; when artists create works of art, they not only give objects abstract and anthropomorphic life, but also give artworks a certain identity. This enables them to have an equal exchange or interactive relationship with artists and appreciators.
If artistic creation cannot successfully empower objects, it can only mean that its creation is a failure. In fact, what we usually call an art collection is not a one-way choice of collectors from a high position. It is more like the mutual attraction, dialogue, understanding, acceptance and even love between the artworks themselves and the viewers in the theater. Contrary to common cognition, artworks are the more dominant party, that is, artworks themselves can choose their own collectors.
Good art is not about dazzling people's eyes or showing off how unique it is, but about releasing the spiritual energy it carries. Art theater is not about creating a lofty, oppressive, psychedelic atmosphere that makes people feel insignificant or neurotic, nor is it about making worthless things valuable. Instead, it is about letting other stakeholders truly "be present" and participate in it by entering the "theater", thus forming a state of active exchange of spiritual energy.
In July 2024, Loy Luo Space reopened at 101 Lafayette Street, and the new space is more in line with the theater intention of spaces as described above. The logo of Loy Luo Space is shaped like an open theater, transforming it into a shared interactive display and creation platform. From a purely visual perspective, L+L can be made a cross, symbolizing an important intersection in the New York art district. L+L also can be enclosed in an open space, which stands on the street corner, and exudes such a bright and optimistic atmosphere, it even radiates in the quiet dark night.
Note: The concept of "open theater" in this article is moved between space, objects, and people)
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By Loy Luo
Edit by Chris Jones
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