Su Chang

Expedition, photographs on archival paper, 100 x 73 cm, 2011

This series is about adventure. Man is always in a state of discovery, which is not the same as invention since the process of knowledge acquisition entails risk. When Edison invented the electric light, it was through a process of numerous failures that ended when he discovered that glass could provide a covering for the filament and that tungsten could act as a wick. The important thing was not the light but the process of learning the attributes or properties of these materials. It is in following the same vein of thought that the X-ray machine was invented and penicillin was discovered. At the same time in America, Haley’s Comet was also discovered. In this way we can say that the refrigerator was discovered, a device which creates a low temperature zone in a small area. And then there was James Cook, who discovered Antarctica. I think this mood of release and the excitement of discovery is often concealed by a sense of habitual logic.