Low Fever, 2017. Some sketches and sculptural details
Low Fever, 2017. Some sketches and sculptural details
Low Fever, 2017. Some sketches and sculptural details
Low Fever, 2017. Some sketches and sculptural detailsLow Fever, 2017. Exhibition documentation
Low Fever, 2017. Installation view
Low Fever, 2017. Installation view
Low Fever, 2017. Installation view
Low Fever, 2017. Installation view
Low Fever, 2017. Installation view
The artist investigates the interplay between nature and life in ecological contexts, placing colorful wooden sculptures in a forest and imbuing them with an animistic essence. The use of electronic devices enhances the immersive experience, encouraging public participation and creating a collective gathering reminiscent of a contemporary ritual. This process aligns with Lucy Lippard’s theory in Public Art: Old and New Clothes, which advocates for art that is rooted in local histories and ecologies, fostering a deeper connection between communities and their surroundings. Inspired by this framework, the artist sees their work as a bridge between ancient animistic practices and the collective rituals of modern society.
Historically, animistic practices have often revolved around communal activities. In ancient times, rituals like witchcraft performed around campfires symbolized collective human expression. Today, modern gatherings such as political protests serve a similar purpose. The artist identifies parallels between these practices and the animistic traditions in their hometown’s Chu culture, where witchcraft was closely linked to the reverence of tigers, snakes, and toads. Ancestors crafted tiger forms from tree branches as talismans for protection, demonstrating a deep integration of natural elements into spiritual practice. In Eastern art, mythical beasts frequently combine the features of various animals and are elaborately adorned, reflecting a cultural tradition of merging nature with the supernatural.
Animism, often defined as the belief in souls or the attribution of consciousness to natural and inanimate entities, raises critical questions about the boundaries between living and non-living, human and non-human, and symbolic and material. Anthropologists, since the 19th century, have framed animism as the failure to delineate these distinctions, proposing it as the root of all religion. However, such framings have been critiqued for their role in colonial representations of the non-European world, as scholars like Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and Philippe Descola have argued for more nuanced understandings of animistic worldviews that challenge Western dichotomies between nature and culture.