Calligraphy Square
Part 3 of the photo tour of Sharjah Biennial 12, 5 March - 5 June 2015. Curator: Eungie Joo; Associate Curator: Ryan Inouye. 51 artists and groups.
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Venue: Dar Al Nadwa
Kora. 2011–12
Video installation
27:54 minutes
Jawshing Arthur Liou creates video installations that employ digital technology to transform representation and reality. Kora (2011–12) highlights Liou’s 2,300-kilometre expedition from Lhasa through the Tibetan Plateau, ending at Mount Everest and Mount Kailash. The cathartic journey, which followed the passing of his daughter Vivian, included a four-day kora – a walking circumambulation – around Mount Kailash at an elevation between five and six thousand metres. The work retraces the steps of his search while presenting vast mountain landscapes, invoking a reverence for nature and space for spiritual reflection and sanctuary.
Liou captured the experience of his pilgrimage on an ultra-high-definition 4K camera, and structured it with a minimalistic acoustic soundtrack. Focusing on the path ahead from a first-person perspective, the work simulates the otherworldliness of his journey, with startling, ever-changing vistas witnessed through the hallucinatory scrim of limited oxygen. Liou’s slow, mesmerizing excursion around the sacred mountain wends through a pass strewn with colourful prayer flags – evidence of the spiritual quests of thousands of pilgrims before him.
© Still: Jawshing Arthur Liou
Repro: Haupt & Binder
© Text: SB12 Guidebook
Part 3 of the photo tour of Sharjah Biennial 12, 5 March - 5 June 2015. Curator: Eungie Joo; Associate Curator: Ryan Inouye. 51 artists and groups.