filament sphere site specific installation for Alte Sternwarte (old observatory, built in 1775), Mannheim; Germany Kozo-fibre, string 2022
The project at the Alte Sternwarte / Filament-Sphere
When we gaze at the vastness of the starry sky above us, we feel the smallness of our existence and sometimes the overwhelming loneliness of being a single living being. Among the natural sciences, astronomy is a field of study that is inseparable from the philosophical themes of the existence of man, the planets and the universe, finite and infinite.
When I stepped into this baroque vaulted space with its beautiful natural light at my very first visit to the old observatory, the image of a large fragile sphere, which echoes to the ceiling, appeared to my conscious.
The sphere, a geometrical object that is the three-dimensional analogue of the two-dimensional 'circle', is a fundamental object in many branches of mathematics. Spheres / sphere-like shapes are abound in nature, and also one of a very basic and natural form, which is one of the first shape a little child makes with bubbles, balloons or dumplings from play-doh, It is a form that rolls on and on, because it has no corners or planes.
The circle is a special form that has been used since the times of all ancient civilisations, East and West, to express many sacred and spiritual concepts such as the idea of cosmic unity, the infinity and cyclical nature of existence, the symbolism of celestial bodies, unity, infinity, wholeness, the universe, divinity, balance, stability and perfection.
'Ensō', a Zen calligraphic style in which a circle is drawn with a single stroke, is said to be a symbolic representation of enlightenment, truth, Buddha-hood and the universe as a whole, but its interpretation is left to the viewer. It is also used to mean 'a window into one's own mind'. Also it's continuous flowing movement of the circle, which has no beginning or end and is never caught in a corner, represents the mind that Buddhism teaches is free from captivity and attachment.
This idea of circle has been fascinated me for long time, and have been working on 2D format drawings / paintings.
Another series of my two-dimensional works on the theme of a connecting and expanding mesh / net - which I am seeking and fascinated by organic network of energy connections - to combine the idea of cosmological aspect on this sphere, I choose Kozo (mulberry) fibres as the material to work with, which has been used as the most basic material of Japanese paper, which I am familiar with.
When the bulk of a mulberry tree which has been prepared by boiling it with soda ash, is gently pulled and stretched, the long fibres connect with each other and spread out in a web. It is the process of expanding the existing patterns / structures of fibres of tree.
While working with this material in the atelier, I relive the ideas of our predecessors who thought of using these long, strong and flexible plant fibres as paper, and at the same time my imagination expands from the life-supporting web-like structure of living organisms to the social network on earth, where we live, and to existence at the quantum level, which is greatly connected to the cosmic scale.
The final image of this 'big cloud (or cocoon) ball' like formation, which will be hanging in the middle of the room low under the round ceiling, would be as a kind of tool for the viewers to meditate upon. A single sphere can symbolise the concept of cosmic unity, the infinity and circularity of existence, celestial bodies, divine spirits, unity, infinity, wholeness, the universe, divinity, balance, stability, planets, the earth..., and the imagination of the viewer will be further enhanced by the way he or she perceives it.
