Junkai Chen
Bagua - Installation - 2017
presented as part of the exhibition panorama 19
The Bagua installation arose from the notion: 八卦, the eight trigraphs that are the concrete representations of Yin and Yang. It is one of the oldest stratum of the Yi Jing. The Yi Jing was created more than thirty centuries ago. Hence, these eight elementary forms in nature are created from the two lines of Taiji Yin-Yang. By permuting these two lines, and by grouping them in threes, we can make up eight symbols.
These eight elements represent different sensations. In the piece, the artistic language takes the form of two video projections onto a mobile “screen.” Each element is embodied by a specific movement. The Bagua brings with it the notion of movement, it’s the nucleus of the theory of the interior. The image and circular “screen” merge and evoke the mythical movements of the Bagua. Lastly, the installation operates in two timeframes.
One is performance based: I’ll interact with the work thanks to an enhanced sword. The body merges into the audiovisual movements.
The other becomes an interactive installation:the framework stills exists and varies. Visitors can play with the piece in order to find their particular language.
Junkai Chen
Born in 1987 in Shanghai, China, Junkai Chen studied at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, and at the Villa Arson Visual Arts School and the Conservatory of Nice, in France. Junkai uses audiovisual creation as a tool to do his performances. He always tries to find new musical instruments and visual installations to tell his story, combining his own experience with different cultures. He currently lives and works in Lille, France, where he is a student at Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains.
Production
Acknowledgments
Yann Robin, Pablo Valbuena, Christophe Gregório, Cyprien Quairiat, Sébastien Cabour, Liang Heng, Zhu Yunyi, Huang Pang-Chuan, Liu Xianyin, Wang Wenhao
