A two-part installation by Cass Leung Lok Kwan (Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University), Cindy Cheng I-Hsin (Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts), Nuriia Khasenova (Music Pedagogy, Zurich University of the Arts), Milos Stolic (Fine Arts, Zurich University of the Arts).

Intro

Meditation in Red begins with the attempt to adopt the color red as a common landscape. Through meditation, a discourse intended to express reflections, to guide others as well as the self in contemplation, the group collectively creates the experience by constructing bonds and ties among various disciplines.

Concept

The work presentation is composed of two parts. The first part with the pre-recorded audio inspired by the meditation practice of colour visualisation. Instead of having colours associated with different organs, the work focuses on the one colour red as a visual and metaphorical symbol in the quest of the search for a calmness. The second part with the formal presentation consists of four instalments including a live performance as the continuation of the audio piece, and composition of writing/text, photography, and moving images.

One connects to each other in overlapping fragments, in the often un-synced disposition between the organs. One finds his/her own pace within him/herself, along with whatever is provided. One finds familiarity in strangeness. One hears his/her own rhythm; And thus: what one sees is not what one hears, what one hears is not what one see.

Process

The entire work process was also for the group members to communicate and explore on the idea of bonds and ties, as well as the identity shift from individual artists to an artist group. With three members of the group from fine arts and one from music, the group first took to concept of noise/frequency and landscape/mindset as the centre of discussion.

During experimentation, the former played with the translation and edition of languages and ended up working individual memories into textual fragments which would become the main script for the first part of the audio performance, while the latter worked with the idea of white noise and prepared for live music composition.

During the post-presentation reflection, the music member revealed the mental challenge of having to ‘think first, do later’ (in fine art) as opposed to the ‘do first, think later’ (in music). Among others, there was also the disagreement of adopting the form of an obvious meditation practice for the audio-piece instead of taking the form of simply literature or poetry-reading.

Result/State of Play