Moving Image Design
Robert Chang Lun Chang Chien
Robert (Chang Lun) Chang Chien is a film director, multi-disciplinary artist, portrait photographer, designer, and educator from Taipei, currently based in London. He has academic backgrounds in architecture design, interactive art, and civil engineering. Working as a professional photographer for more than a decade, he has been involved in the education of photography, giving lectures at many universities in Taiwan. Besides, his works have been exhibited in New York, London, Paris, Taipei, Tokyo, and other cities. The majority of his works are concerning the relationship between human memories, feelings, landscapes, and natural environments.
Awards
Selected entries, Tokyo International Projection Mapping Award, Tokyo, 2020
First prize in Advertising, People’s Choice of Prix de La Photographie(PX3), Paris, 2015.
Total 17 honorable mentions of International Photography Awards(IPA), NewYork, 2015.
Second prize in Portrait Category of Prix de La Photographie(PX3), Paris, 2015.
Second prize in Fine Art and Advertising Category of Prix de La Photographie(PX3), Paris, 2014.
Second prize in Self-Portrait Category of International Photography Awards(IPA), NewYork, 2014.
Exhibitions & publications
‘Working in Progress Show 2020’ co-exhibition, Royal College of Art, London, 2020.
’ Future museum’ co-exhibition, Royal Academy of Art, London, 2018.
‘Fish in the moon’, fiction film production and screening, Taipei, 2018
‘6:59’ visual art solo-exhibition, Taipei, 2016.
‘Misted Essence’ photobook publication and exhibitions, Taipei, 2016.
’ Taipei Moment’ photography co-exhibition, Taipei, 2016.
’Flow of Aura’ photography solo-exhibition, Tainan, 2015.
’Cinematic Architecture’ performance and installation exhibition, NewYork, 2011.
‘On the Cross Road’ photography exhibition, Tainan, 2011.
‘ It’s not Film’ documentary film festival, Tainan, 2011.
Arctic region is the epicentre of Climate Change. In 2019, there was a funeral in Iceland for its first-ever loss of a glacier, and the Greenlandic people have been having the highest suicide rate in the world for years. Arctic people are now showing symptoms of anxiety, ‘ecological grief’ and even post-traumatic stress related to the effects of climate change. Hence, I went to Iceland for a field study in November 2019 to film footages and record sounds, plus interview local people and researchers to understand how these people living in the front line of Global Warming feeling about the changes of their home environment.
In 2020, I have been devoting myself to do researches remotely and create multi-media projects with experiences that could guide spectators from all parts of the world to raise their curiosities, understand and notice the issues related to 'Solastalgia' happening in the Arctic.
Narstalgia — To watch the film, click and enter the password: nar2020
Narstalgia — To watch the film, click and enter the password: nar2020
Narstalgia
Since I knew that Iceland hold a funeral for its glacier lost to climate change, I went there for a field study in 2019 to film footages and record sounds, plus interview local people and researchers to understand how these people living in the front line of Global Warming feeling about the changes of their home environment. “I am really afraid that Iceland would not be habitable in the near future.” Says an Icelander that I interviewed in the field study.
Nevertheless, Narwhal is one of the typical animals only living in the Arctic region, and many of them could be observed in the ocean near Greenland. According to the book,’Arctic Dreams’ written by Barry Lopez, the name of Narwhal has the connotation of human death since the old-time; some still call the narwhal “the corpse whale,” and the unfounded belief that it is a cause of human death, or symbol to be associated with human death. Sadly, Greenlandic people are suffering from a serious suicide issue, and eco-grief might be the most important reason. To specifically describe those ‘Solastalgia’ happening in Arctic regions, especially including the serious suicide issues in Greenland, I used narwhal as the metaphor in my film and coined ‘Narstalgia’ as a new term being the title of my project.
Briefly, I have been trying to create a project using multiple mediums including 3D animation, sound design, visual effects, moving images and filmed footages shot in Iceland to express the notion, which is Narstalgia.
To watch the film, please enter the password: nar2020
Medium:
Experimental FilmSize:
1920x1080 Full HD | 7mins
Blue Ephemera — To experience it, click the link and enter the password: be2020
The moving image related to the sonic journey is generated by two footages I filmed, which are the snowing landscape in Iceland, and the fireworks in London, respectively. The scene of fireworks not only represents a vanishingly ephemeral object which can indicate the melting sea ice and glaciers in the Arctic but also symbolise the carbon-generating activities happening in urban areas. Eventually, the pattern looks like a blue planet having rapid changes, which is our earth.
To experience the project, please click this poster and enter the password: be2020