In one of the fundamental texts of Taoism, Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou Remembers a dream in which he was a butterfly that rose through heaven without reminder of his human form. When he wakes up, however, he is firmly in a two -footed body and leads to an important question: is he a butterfly who dreams that he is Zhuang Zhou or a man who dreams that he is a butterfly?
This old story of transformation and the thin line between the states of mind informs a dazzling new installation Chiharu Shiota (earlier). “Metamorphosis of consciousness” hangs shimmering lights and weak butterfly wings above an iron with a twin bed. Shiota rejects the strict separation between body and mind and refers to her belief in the ability of the mind to continue to exist long after the last breath. “While we glide asleep every time, it is a rehearsal for death – a journey beyond the body,” she says.
Example of the artist’s interest in memory and knowledge, “metamorphosis of consciousness” is just one of the compelling works in the monumental exhibition Silent void bee Red Brick Art Museum In Beijing.
The show to be seen until 31 August, the show revolves around the continuous explorations of Shiota into the “presence in absence”, this time that such studies are extended to ideas of emptiness that relates to Eastern philosophy and lighting.
The exhibition includes an antique Tibetan Buddhist doorway that anchores ‘gateway to silence’, an explosive installation that brings the extensively cut wooden structure into a dense, criss-crissing labyrinth of string. Red Thread, one of the artist’s favorite materials, symbolizes relationships. And in this case it is an invitation for introspection and finding a consciousness of the present moment.
Metaphorical interlacing of art, memory and faith, Shiota literally visualizes the Intextricable Web in which we are all bound, regardless of geography or era. Peaking like “Echoes of Time” and “rooted memories” contain materials such as soil and large stones, which present the passage of time as cyclical and the past, as always shape the present.
Born in Osaka, the artist lived a large part of her life in Berlin, and Silent void Also cuts her roots on more worldwide experiences. Shiota compared her understanding of herself with the way in which salt molecules only appear as crystals after water evaporates. “I was not visible as an individual in Japan,” she says. “While I didn’t know who I was, what I wanted to do and what was needed in the water, I feel that I became an individual and crystal and understood those things by coming to Germany for the first time.”
Another example of finding presence in absence, Shiota’s migration and discovery experience offers an important touchstone for her thinking and practice. She adds: “Absence does not mean disappearance, but rather an integration into a larger universe, which comes back in the flow of time and forms new connections with all things.” (Via design tree))
