Lin Ke

A dancer wrapped in plastic wrap

Link (2011-2015)

 A woman with headphones sitting in front of three screens
Lin Ke, »Link« (2011–2015), in »New Sensorium«, ZKM 2016
© ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Photo: Harald Völkl
Combining sixteen video pieces, played in order via projector as if playing a series of films, and four independent videos played via television – welcome to "link" world. The Chinese pronunciation of my name, Lin Ke, is similar to the English word "link". This coincidence corresponds to how I make my art-works – mouse-clicking to link all kinds of random images, thus keeping a record of my thoughts. In computer operating systems, behind each movement we make lies a series of hidden codes. Clicking the links that appear in windows allows a part of myself, my hand, to extend into the digital world. Without a mouse and keyboard, I can't capture them.

The names of my pieces have no meaning, only some suggest a concept. These titles are: »Robinson Crusoe« (a hard drive drifting in the ocean), »Pu« (the sound of a fart made with the mouth, for creative file folders), »swing swing« (a rotating marquee around the moon, with dancing music, makes it more like a disc) »Today« (daylight changes during a day, by means of Photoshop), »Traditional Romance« (with romantic background music, using Photoshop to alter the lights in an exhibition space), »Fire Desktop« (desktop file folder is on fire, but it's okay), »Star Travel« (2013) (in a star-filled image clicking a few points into several lines simulates space travel), »Wind of Virtual Memory« (to the sound of waves, sails are moved, by the heart or the wind?), »lightning01« (a Mac­made selfie is another kind of lightning), »Download Rain No. 02« (waiting for a download is like waiting for the rain to stop), »Beach of Tokyo« (I want music about the future, based on classical music, with an elec­tronic amplifier), »Engineer« (a selfie could drift around the Earth, each mouse-click being a spaceship), »Moon Light« (ancient Chinese poets love to make poetry in moonlight), »Lens from E-world« (a programmer is also a pianist), »+« (the symbol"+" is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pain-filled), »Moon« (the moon is a spaceship itself), »Watching 01« and »Watching 02« (of course I am behind you), »Lightning02« (taking a selfie at night) and »Helmsman« (for Daft Punk and StarTrek).