JiaoCha

The idea of the project JiaoCha was born in 2004 after spending weeks in the small village of Yunnan, a Chinese region where the population speaks almost exclusively Mandarin. Bluescreen did not share the language of this population, and was initially challenged by the non-verbal forms of communication that emanated from their contact. The meaning of words seems to disappear, replaced, almost naturally, by a new kind of communication, a more subtle and poetic one.

The JiaoCha projet was born right there and then : allowing this kind of significant experiences and poetic exchange to take place, through Internet,
between individuals in distant places, coming form different cultures and speaking different languages. What happens when we lack words ? What kind of relationship can be established beyond language, beyond the distances and the shared codes, which are part of common languages ? Can new relations be built from the exchange and fusion of pixels on a shared virtual platform ?

The JiaoCha process is a response to this questioning. It is based on an online interface (a tool) conceived for the project, allowing two users, who may or may not know each other, to come into contact and have a visual dialogue through the successive exchange of JiaoCha (visual crossings).

Since the first experience, and while waiting for its next public exhibition, the project progressively opened to different groups of users in many countries. Based on a specific use of this JiaoCha process, different publics are implicated to transport the project towards other formal and significant
horizons. These projects explore different dimensions of JiaoCha, thereby contributing to the project’s definition as « visual crossings ».

These JiaoCha projects take place within different frameworks, through exhibitions, video diffusion, theatrical performances or interventions in a public space.