Studio Dyan Jong
Dyan Jong creates light installation art endemic to Los Angeles, repurposing film lights to create large scale, immersive temporalities. The film lights are a nod to her origins as an image-maker in music + entertainment and are never hidden, but openly present, to acknowledge their role in shaping Hollywood "movie magic". Light is no longer used to create an image for consumption but transformed into a lived experience for the audience, to encounter + document themselves on "set" as both consumers + creators.-photos thanks to Driely S.
Recent News
Baby’s first art grant! Excited to share the news about my Individual Artist Fellowship from California Arts Council, in collaboration with LA Performance Practice.
Beyond Garden on the cover of 生活
LIFE Magazine China, March 2022
Written by Jiaoyang Li, Edited by Jin Jin Xu
LA DESIGN FESTIVAL 2020
VIRTUAL LIGHT + SOUND INSTALLATION
BEYOND.GARDEN
A collaboration between Studio Dyan Jong, Aaron Santiago, Lucy Yao and Nick GreggPoetry by Carlina Duan, Jiaoyang Li, and JinJin Xu
June 23, 2023Coming soonLA Design Festival 2023, THE ROW DTLAVideo thanks to Jane Kok
December 28, 2022Proof of conceptAt-home research and small scale prototyping
December 31, 2021Proof of conceptAt-home research and small scale prototyping
October 15, 2020Coming soonEl Mirage Dry Lake Bed, Adelanto, CA
September 24, 2020 - presentCollaboration with Aaron Santiago, Lucy Yao, Nick GreggPoetry by Jin Jin Xu, Jiaoyang Li, Carlina DuanLA Design Festival, http://beyond.garden
July 5, 2020Proof of conceptAt-home research and small scale prototyping
February 8, 2020Collaboration with Richard TranleySGV Lunar New Year Festival x DopiumSan Gabriel Mission Playhouse, San Gabriel, CA
June 23, 2019LA Design Festival x Dopium RE:PURPOSELA Plaza Village, Los AngelesVideo thanks to Tara Wucjik
August 30 - September 2, 2018626 Night Market Art ProgrammingSanta Anita Race Track, Arcadia, CA
June 9, 2018Collaboration with Eva KangLA Design Festival x Dopium DimensionsA+D Museum, Los Angeles
November 4, 2017Dopium LAMandarin Plaza, Chinatown, Los Angeles
CV
------------ SOLO SHOWS
2020 WELCOME - El Mirage Dry Lake Bed, Adelanto, CA
------------ GROUP SHOWS
2023 CyKiK - decades (in space) - Alcova Miami 2023 - Miami Art Week, Selina Gold Dust Motel, Miami, FL2023 SPECTRUM - LA Design Festival 2023 - The ROW DTLA, Los Angeles, CA2021 dotGIF by Crazy Multiply, Seoul, Korea2020 BEYOND.GARDEN - LA Design Festival [Offsite], Los Angeles, CA2020 AUTONOMY - SGV Lunar New Year Festival, Dopium - San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, San Gabriel, CA2019 ARASHI Exhibition: JOURNEY, LA gifs - Sony Music Roppongi Museum, Tokyo, Japan2019 SIGNAL - LA Design Festival, Dopium RE:PURPOSE - LA Plaza Village, Los Angeles, CA2018 Photogenics Art Book Vol 3 group exhibition - Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA2018 ARRIVAL - 626 Night Market - Santa Anita Racetrack, Arcadia, CA2018 FILE Festival GIF - Sao Paolo, Brazil2018 TRANSCEND - LA Design Festival, Dopium Dimensions - A+D Museum, Los Angeles, CA2017 RESILIENCE - Dopium LA - Mandarin Plaza, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA2017 SHOOTERS - Treason Gallery, Seattle, WA2014 Eyebeam-Off-The-Grid LittleNets gif.local - Governor’s Island, NY
------------ PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS
2023 EDM - This Otherworldly Installation at Miami Art Week Featured Vinyl Adorned With Rocks From Outer Space2023 DesignBoom - vinyl record with embedded real outer space rocks spins at alcova during miami art week2023 DesignBoom - your guide for the must-see events at LA design festival 20232022 LIFE Magazine China March 20222021 The Laterals 06: In Conversation with Dyan Jong2018 Photogenics Art Book Vol 32018 The Laterals 01 “A Portrait of a Trip”2018 The Fader “Artist Dyan Jong Moves Time With Light”2015 Photogenics Artbook Vol 2
Spectrum (2023)
June 23, 2023
Medium: Joleko 800, Viper fog machines, LEE FiltersDimensions:Commissioned by: LA Design FestivalLocation: The ROW DTLADescription:
Prototype II (2022)
December 28, 2022
Medium:Dimensions:Commissioned by:Location:Description:
Liminal Feelings (2021)
December 31, 2021
Medium: Light installation with velour, fog machine and Source 4 LekosDimensions: 3’ x 3’ x 3’Description: Continuing my series of at-home small scale prototyping. Light installation research in my backyard with fog and lekos.Made while crossing over from 2021 into 2022, this ephemeral veil of light and smoke presents a cusp of transition that both separates and welcomes the passenger into an uncertain destination.
Welcome (2020)
October 15, 2020
Coming soonMedium: Light installation using 2 K5600 Joleko 1600sDimensions: 100’ x 30’ x 20’Location: El Mirage Dry Lake Bed, Adelanto, CaliforniaDescription: Welcome is an immersive light installation in the El Mirage dry lakebed, a popular film location in California. The special effects fog diffracts into open gates of light, creating an opportunity in the bleak landscape.Team:Producer: Annee Elliot
Location Scout: Mike Green
Music: Light Lines by Lucy YaoStill Photography: Driely Vieira
Cinematographer: Andrew Yuyi Truong
1st AC: Felipe Larrondo
Assistant: Ligeia Moltisanti
Color: Gabe SanchezDrone Dudes:
Pilot: Andrew Petersen
Camera Operator: Jake Howard
Drone Tech: Tyler Higgins
BTS photographer: Colin LeiboldSpecial thanks to Tribe7 for sponsoring Blackwing7 lenses, and SYNC Photo Rental for the equipment.
Beyond Garden (2020)
September 24, 2020 - present
Medium: Web-based virtual light and poetry installation made using UnityDimensions: N/A, size of your computer screenLocation: http://beyond.gardenCommissioned by: LA Design FestivalDescription: Web-VR poetry installation collaboration between Studio Dyan Jong, floorkids.studio, and Nick Gregg. Beyond Garden creates a space for healing, togetherness, and encounter, within the confines of a browser. The concept was led by a desire to create a digital Chinese garden, or "yuan," which are public spaces for visitors to contemplate the harmony of man and nature. As a visitor enters the mysterious, dune-like capsules throughout the landscape, they find themself immersed inside bi-lingual poems whispered and written by diasporic Chinese poets (JinJin Xu, Carlina Duan, Jiaoyang Li).
Prototype I (2020)
July 5, 2020
Medium: Light installation with pegboard, velour, fog machine and sunlightDimensions: 3’ x 3’ x 3’Description: First in my series of at-home small scale prototyping. VR light installation research in my backyard with fog and sunlight.I was planning my solo light installation show for May 16, 2020, but as we know, all live events became postponed indefinitely re: pandemic. I’ve continued to research my ideas in quarantine, with the purpose of screening speculative pieces for my eventual show.Inspired by paper architecture models, I created a small scale prototype in my backyard as a proof of concept using sunlight, Home Depot pegboard, black fabric, a rented fog machine. The “installation” was a 3ft cube, which is a fraction of my usual large scale immersives, but since no one can attend my “show” in person (due to social distancing), the size of the piece is irrelevant.I filmed this WIP footage with my cell phone and 360 camera, and the results were unexpectedly immersive. The focus of this series will be on pre-visualization for a future light show and exploration of digital immersion.
Autonomy (2020)
February 8, 2020
Medium: Light installation using Dedolight 1200, Rosco hazersDimensions: N/A, filled to fit the venueLocation: San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, San Gabriel, CACommissioned by: Dopium LA x San Gabriel Lunar New Year FestivalDescription: Collaboration with Richard Tranley. The volumetric projection of the Chinese character for “individual,” 个, invites viewers to contemplate: “What does the second generation view as prosperity?”
Signal (2019)
June 23, 2019
Medium: Light installation using Dedolight PB70, Rosco hazersDimensions: N/A, filled to fit the venueLocation: LA Plaza Village Apartments in Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA.Commissioned by: Dopium LA - RE:PURPOSE in conjunction with the LA Design Festival.Description: A volumetric beam of light symbolizing the yellow signal in traffic, meaning “proceed with caution”, yet also suggesting a potential future climate where artificial suns are necessary, should this warning not be heeded.The brief of [RE:PURPOSE] centered around the wordplay of "in regards to purpose," in its multiple interpretations. Whether it be examining our personal narratives as artists, questioning the intention behind the materials we chose to give them form, or the sustainability and future lives of those materials in the context of our climate.My chosen medium in all of my installations have been film lights, selected and repurposed from the same sets I learned to use them on, from my background in production. The film lights are also repurposed in the sense that they are rented and returned to equipment rental houses, to be reused on a different production every day. Lastly, the film lights are also repurposed in their role, from an object that shapes the art end product (he image), to becoming the subject of the art itself.Special thanks to Kevin Burnstein, Richard Tranley and William Hu.
Arrival (2018)
August 30 - September 2, 2018
Medium: Light installation, velour on 12’ x 12’ truss w/ Joleko, using 1 K5600 Joleko 1600, Rosco fog machineDimensions: 12’ x 12’ x 1’Location: Santa Anita Racetrack, ArcadiaCommissioned by: 626 Night Market Summer Art ProgrammingDescription: Freestanding Chinese moon gate, representing the corridor traversed between Taiwan & the 626 of LA. The moon gate, a circle rising up out of the earth, is a traditional Chinese landscape element that serves as a portal between connected spaces. By stepping over the threshold, travelers symbolically transit the barrier separating one world from the next. The complete circle celebrates the family unit, the generational cycle of time, and a conduit for reunion.Special thanks to Brian Wong, Kevin Burnstein, Loan Hoang, Debbie Jong.
Transcend (2018)
June 9, 2018
Medium: Site-specific light installation using 3 K5600 Joleko 1600s, PowerfoggersDimensions: 40’ x 30’ x 12’Location: Architecture + Design Museum, Los AngelesCommissioned by: Dopium LA - [D/MENS/ONS] in conjunction with the LA Design Festival.Description: Collaboration of Dyan Jong and Eva Kang in response to the prompt, “Why do you create?” A portal of light was created out of 3 planes of light, suggesting a path to an elevated plane.
Resilience (2017)
NOVEMBER 04, 2017
Medium: Site-specific light installation using 2 K5600 Jokerbug 1600, PowerfoggersDimensions: 35' x 36' x 7'Commissioned by: Dopium LALocation: Chinatown Mandarin Plaza, Los AngelesDescription: 8000 beams of light, each representing one hundred of the estimated 800,000 Dreamers enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as of 2017.