Live It Alive 02
"Art with a
— Ian Cheng, Serpentine Gallery, 2018
nervous system."
After the Emissaries, Cheng takes another step forward. BOB — Bag of Beliefs — is no longer a simulation populated with characters. It is a unique creature, with a personality, a body and a life scenario that evolve from exhibition to exhibition.
What sets BOB apart from the Emissaries is that the public influences it directly. Through BOB Shrine, a mobile application, visitors could send stimuli to BOB in real time — forcing it to correct its own beliefs. Each exhibition leaves a trace in BOB. The artist created the rules, launched the creature, and since then he simply watches. The unpredictability is no longer a side effect — it is the work itself.
With BOB, the answer becomes more complex. The artist created the creature, but the public shapes it, exhibitions transform it, it mutates without Cheng's intervention. He is no longer really in control. He observes. The question of authorship becomes blurred — BOB belongs to Cheng, but BOB is no longer quite what Cheng created.