KIANA PAN
Manmade Witness
2023
Digital Video, Paper Mache Sculpture
01’18
Styles shift and materials change, but the effect of our built environments remain constant. From classic to gothic, romanesque to contemporary, our surroundings permeate our lives. But, we also affect architecture's direction. Throughout history, despite evolutions, architecture reflects the people who create it. Presently, architecture is increasingly corporate: fully functional yet no longer “extravagant”. Despite critiques, this conformity is reflexive of our current times. These buildings affect, shelter, and witness our lives throughout history.
The Pipeline
2022
Single Channel Video
5474x2050
​In a world of increasing internet consumption, constant exposure to curated timelines and recommended feeds strengthens and radicalizes previously moderate ideas. Political pipelines of both the left and right form slippery slopes that easily lead individuals towards indoctrination and conspiracy. Combined with parties increasingly defined by their opposition to the other, extreme views become the norm, and the internet proves itself to be one of, if not the most, influential aspects of our modern lives.
Destruction (The Cycle)
2022
Single Channel Video, Projected Instillation, Paper
01'51
Destruction (The Cycle) analyzes how our past interacts with destructive human nature. Destruction can be physical through water and fire, or cultural-- loss of universal stories means loss of history and memories of people long gone. Mankind commonly destroys our myths, books, past, and culture through fire, while nature destroys both man and fire through flood.
Archeology, 3500 A.C.
2021
Single Channel Video, Mixed Media
In Archeology, 3500 A.C., a future civilization looks back at current times. Archeologists often get things wrong about the past, and perception that ancient societies are primitive creates overfocus on religious explanations. Things that we hold as fundamental truths change as we progress in time and technology. So, what truths do we currently hold now that might be disproven in the future? And what truths will exist in the future that don’t correctly interpret the past?
Aim High...
2021
Single Channel Video, Mixed Media
1280p x 720p
This project is a video piece combining the myth of Icarus from Ancient Greek mythology, the myth of Chang’e from Ancient Chinese mythology, and modern news clip audio. Done in the style of shadow puppet shows, this piece aims to explore pride, greed, and modern human endeavor to find the balance between helpful and harmful innovation. The project comments on mankind’s constant urge for power and innovation, asking “how far is too far”.
Quarantine: March 2020 till… (unknown)
2020
Performance, 3 Channel Video
01'00'02
This piece explores time and boredom, and the opposite feelings of creativity and tediousness that come from not having anything to do, especially during covid lockdown and quarantine. This piece depicts 3 panels with separate silhouettes over an hour-long period of time, along with a clock and ticking sounds. This project is intended to be played on loop.