Aware-of-Vacuity, 2019
Performance, stainless steel, fabric and sound
Commissioned by Times Museum
Sound: Nobutaka Shomura
Performed at The Racing Will Continue, The Dancing Will Stay curated by Leo Chen Li at Guangdong Times Museum
Performers: Gu Yi, Li De, Li Jinhua, Zhang Jiachen. Zhang Jianxiong
Supported by HKADC
Based on the classic novel Journey to the West by Wu Chen’en Aware-of-Vacuity is a new commissioned work by Times Museum that combines an installation of objects with performance. The ring, sticks, and fabric used in the performance symbolize the power that the protagonist Sun Wukong (as known as the Monkey King) both possesses and resists. Isaac Chong Wai uses abstract structural form and collective performance to represent the balancing act of power that occurs between the collective and the individual, creating a metaphor pointing to current social realities. Does such equipment reveal the invisible forces in today’s structural dilemmas? Who controls and wields these forces?