Yuyan Wang

Look on the Bright Side

Look on the Bright Side by Yuyan Wang comprises a single-channel video and light installation. The work is based on a 2018 initiative in China to launch three artificial moons into orbit above major cities to provide continuous daylight. Set in an oppressively illuminated environment, the images depict lethargic crowds in megacities, surrounded by glowing neon lights, and workers in LED factories performing repetitive tasks on an assembly line in a kind of trance state. Wang depicts the imposition of relentless light as a form of capitalist authoritarianism and neocolonial control that demands ceaseless productivity, while ignoring the ecological and human damage inflicted by the renunciation of darkness. Édouard Glissant’s call for “le droit à l’opacité” (the right to opacity), a form of postcolonial resistance, inspired this project. Look on the Bright Side portrays a nocturnal community based on overpowered efficiency—a community active, available, and connected, where the mysterious zones are replaced by a homogeneous brightness. Under the authority of everlasting lights, the film depicts the capitalist myth—the immateriality of new technologies and tries to trace the “light” back to its terrestrial origins.