Ten Thousand Things · Origins of Fiber
Artists
1
works
1
Princes Cancong and Yufu, Opened up the land in the dim past.
— Li Bai. “The way to Shu is hard”. Trans. Qianzhi Wu.
Ten Thousand Things · Origins of Fiber
In ancient times P’ao-Hsi came to rule the world. Looking up, he contemplated the phenomena in the sky, and looking down, the patterns on the earth. He observed the markings on birds and animals and their adaptations to the earth. From nearby, he took some hint from his own body, and elsewhere from other things.
More
Text/Texture/Culture/Civilization
Artists
5
works
12
In the beginning was the Word.
— Bible.
Text/Texture/Culture/Civilization
When Ts’ang Chieh first created writing (shu), he probably imitated the forms according to their categories; so the figures were called “designs” (wen). Later, when the writings were increased by combining the forms and phonetics, the results were called “compound graphs” (tzu).
More
Lines
Artists
4
works
8
We step and do not step into the same rivers; we are and are not.
— Robinson, Thomas M. Heraclitus Fragments.
Lines
We step and do not step into the same rivers; we are and are not. — Robinson, Thomas M. Heraclitus Fragments.
More
Emotion/Intellection/Recall/Remembrance
Artists
11
works
16
Cut it, it doesn’t sever;
Sort it, as entangled as ever
It is a great sorrow to part,
Creating an entirely different feeling in my heart !
—Li Yu, Joy in Seeing Each Other. Trans. Frank C. Yue.
Emotion/Intellection/Recall/Remembrance
Faraway lies that star, the Oxherd; she sparkles, the Maid in the River of Stars, She stretches her pale and delicate hand, clacking, she whiles away time with the shuttle. A day is spent and her weaving not done, as her tears fall down like the rain. The River of Stars is shallow and clear, nor are they so very far apart. But across that bright and brimming stream, she gazes with longing and cannot speak.
More
Composition
Artists
15
works
21
Terms for archetypes of conception of the “relation” in the world: 线索(clue)、经纬(latitude and longitude)、网络(web/network)、组织(organization)、系统(system)...
General terms for colors that froze in the process of laboring(weaving and dyeing): 红(red)、绿(green)、紫(purple)、绛(crimson)、绯(scarlet)、缥(pale cyan)、缁(black)、素(white)、绘(chromatic)、绚(variegated)…
Morphology terms about thoughts and emotions:（思）维(cognition)、（情）绪(sentiment)、缅（怀）(remembrance)、缘（分）(destiny)、（演）绎(deduction)...
Terms related to actions about craft and poiesis: 编(fabricating)、织(weaving)、纺(spinning)、纳(darning)、缝(sewing)、绣(embroidering)、系(tying)、缉(stitching)、缚(binding)、累(accumulating)、缄(sealing)、给(giving)、缮(mending)...
Terms for order and disorder: 综(synthesizing)、统(uniting)、纪(disciplining)、级(ranking)、缩(shrinking)、紊(harassing), 约束(limiting)、总（總, summarizing）结(knotting/ending)...
Terms about speed and subtlety: 纾(loosen)、缓(slowness)、纤(slim)、细(slender)...
Terms related to the marks of progress: 继(maintaining)、续(continuing)、结(ending)、绝(eliminating)、终(concluding)...
Words about the complexity and uncertainty: 纠结(entangling)、缠绵(lingering)、缭绕(wreathing)、缱绻(intertwining)、绸缪(attaching)、绰约(winding graceful)、缥缈(dimly discernible)、纷繁(numerous and complicated)...
Composition
Terms for archetypes of conception of the “relation” in the world: 线索(clue)、经纬(latitude and longitude)、网络(web/network)、组织(organization)、系统(system)... General terms for colors that froze in the process of laboring(weaving and dyeing): 红(red)、绿(green)、紫(purple)、绛(crimson)、绯(scarlet)、缥(pale cyan)、缁(black)、素(white)、绘(chromatic)、绚(variegated)…[1]
More
Weaving
Artists
7
works
7
Again and again, picking mulberry leaves, not lamenting starving for raising silkworms.
They eat the leaves in your basket and reward you with silk for your loom.
With silk in return, where your gauze is woven.
Poor girl, she raises silkworms but dresses not in silk; ‘tis lamentable you produce silk and die for others.
— Pan Wei, “Ode to the Silkworm Farming Girl”
Weaving
The shuttle flies, the loom creaks, Assiduously we weave day and night— Old Germany, we weave your shroud, We weave into it a three-fold curse, We weave; we weave!
More
Net/Web
Artists
7
works
9
The word network indicates that resources are concentrated in a few places — the knots and the nodes — which are connected with one another — the links and the mesh: these connections transform the scattered resources into a net that may seem to extend everywhere.
— Latour, Bruno. Science in Action: How to follow scientists and engineers through society
Net/Web
All things influencing one another as the jewels of Indra's net reflect on one another endlessly.
More
Tying Knots Stories
Artists
3
works
3
One of the oldest games there is, cat’s cradle. Even the Eskimos know it.
— Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle.
Tying Knots Stories
The novel title “Cat’s Cradle” is actually a string trick that we have played as kids. Grownups would create various string figures between their hands. "Cat's Cradle" is one of the string figures. However, there is neither a cat nor a cradle in the figure, only emptiness. This, in fact, is nothing but a trick. In this novel, the “Cat’s cradle” becomes the general symbol of all tricks and emptiness.
More
Pure Reason(Special Project)
Artists
21
works
23
The Way cannot be cultivated. If one says that he has attained the Way because of cultivation, even so, the Way will still be broken, and one will be equal to the realm of sravaka. If one says that he does not cultivate (the Way), he would be no different from a mortal.
——Mazu Daoyi, Quotations from the Ancient Sonshukus
The stone pagoda of Jinyin, in front of the seat of government, was originally one of the twin pagodas of the Jinyin nunnery, on which were carved Buddha images and scriptures. It is now behind a private house, obscured by wind and rain, with a peaceful light like a lit lantern.
——(Xianchun) Lin’an Zhi (Records about Lin’an from the Xianchun Reign [1265-1274]), Volume 82
Rarely could the heart go through all the motions, but the ruggedness lies in the dust... If we are enlightened by the subtleties of Dharma, we will be able to cultivate the pure cause.
——Meng Haoran, “After returning to the mountain, for Master Zhan”
Preface of Pure Reason
The project is called “Jingyin” (净因) because it originated from the pedestal of a stone pagoda from Jingyin Temple, which was built at the end of the Five Dynasties and is housed in the Hangzhou Museum’s collection. The main body of the original pagoda, the statues and scriptures inscribed on it, as well as the temple itself (located on the west side of the Old Renheshu Road at HEHUACHITOU), have all disappeared, except for the octagonal base of three layers with the “Nine Mountains and Eight Seas” patterns like Mont Sumeru which can still be seen chiseled around the top layer of the earth lining. Now, the base is displayed in the open air at the foot of Wushan Hill in the center of Hangzhou, on the North Exhibition Hall Square outside of Hangzhou Museum.
More
