Exhibition floor talk | Dreams, illusions, bubbles and shadows: Catching eternity in a flash of light
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Output Type
Other
Publication Title
Exhibition floor talk | Dreams, illusions, bubbles and shadows: Catching eternity in a flash of light
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
School
School of Arts and Humanities; ECU Galleries
Description
Xinwei XU | Dreams, illusions, bubbles and shadows: Catching eternity in a flash of light
Exhibition Statement | This exhibition explores concepts of non-linear time and emptiness and is informed by my research into the multiple intersecting stories of the world’s earliest dated printed book, the Diamond Sutra (868). This highly significant and rare early Chinese translation of a key Buddhist text, now preserved in the British Library, was illicitly removed from a sealed cave in Dunhuang, China and brought to the UK in 1909. The removal of this cultural artefact and other Dunhuang manuscripts is widely seen in China as being a national tragedy. Juxtaposed with the tragedy, this sutra has been rewritten by multiple materials for the purpose of conservation, including Western papers, Japanese paper, Chinese paper and recently repaired with Japanese paper. Paradoxical to numerous substantial changes, the Diamond Sutra records the elusive Buddhist thought on emptiness which was originally taught by the Buddha around 500 BC.
Central to my project is a stated aim that the sutra and the other 50000 manuscripts must be repatriated to China.
The exhibition is comprised of installations and videos with an aim to create immersive experience that contrasts ideas of emptiness and materiality, eternity and impermanence, past and ever-present. The exhibition shows my material translations towards the Diamond Sutra through videos and a special type of bamboo paper sourced from my hometown in Jiangxi Province, China. Known as liansi zhi, the paper has been used for printing for hundreds of years, is imbued with the culturally-rich memory of local makings and printings. Both video works and paper installations were made based on the idea that matter is not only an object and only exists in one time but contains infinite folds and intricate textures of time. Apart from these ideas, the exhibition examines how Buddhist emptiness can be materiality.
The exhibition is divided into four spaces, each examining different themes through artworks. The first space examines materiality and emptiness. The second space examines impermanence. The third space examines conversation and conflict. The fourth space examines works emerged spontaneously. These spaces are not sequential, but organic. The exhibition forms a story and a translation of the Diamond Sutra (868) that I may never see, touch or read aloud again.
Artist Bio | Xinwei Xu is an artist, translator and researcher and currently a PhD candidate immersed in her practice-led research at Edith Cowan University. Her artwork concerns cross-cultural themes, non-linear time and Buddhist emptiness. She now focuses on the study of the 868 printed Diamond Sutra, as well as doing art practices pertaining to the non-linear temporal structure and content of this sutra. Since 2016, she has been translating books on art and design history. She also worked as a lecturer for 3 years in Jiangxi province, China.
Additional Information
Exhibition dates: 21 November–11 December 2024 | Floor talk: Wednesday 4 December 12:30pm–1:30pm