Do you have time to go out and play today? Although I highly recommend going to the zoo or botanical garden, or getting closer to nature in a more original way, this article is about choosing to go to an exhibition and a brand new way of appreciation.
In the post-pandemic era, landscape-style exhibitions have emerged like mushrooms after rain, and “internet-famous exhibitions” have become a form of exhibition that has had a place in contemporary art yearbooks. The inconvenience of long-distance travel has led more and more people to pay greater attention to cultural and artistic activities in their own vicinity. During this period, more artists have presented eye-catching fast-consumption works and exhibitions to the public. Whether this is a lonely carnival that people satisfy each other based on compensatory psychology, we need not delve into it too deeply. Pursuing happiness and satisfaction is a basic human need and instinct, and it is acceptable whether it is right or wrong. However, beyond this, we should not overlook the fact that there are still artists who silently cultivate their own fields, not seeking fame or fortune, but only to realize their pursuit of art and share their thoughts and insights with the public.
Or, these unassuming exhibitions may be your choice when you are tired of the “hype” and seeking richness and tranquility. After all, taking photos, selecting and editing them, and posting them on social media to attract attention, those likes and comments are just one after another external stimulants. Still, for the sake of our physical and mental health, we need time to settle and dissolve.
Meditation In Incense is a representative of this type of exhibition that even has a healing function. While the queue for the ukiyo-e exhibition stretches long, the “Today Between” space at the Today Art Museum quietly showcases a sculpture/installation exhibition that requires the audience to calm down and engage more senses to fully experience its essence.
Compared to the Today Art Museum main hall which emphasizes both academia and popularity, the Today Between, located on the east side of Beijing’s 22nd Art District, is clearly more low-key. With artist Ouyang Wende’s unconventional creations, it is a place that can only be truly appreciated by those who can calm their minds. The curator’s eye for talent is evident as they discovered this artist’s work among the many diverse booths at last year’s West Bund Art and Design Fair, allowing this artist, who is currently the only one in China known for using “fragrance” and scent as a creative medium, and their work to gain more public recognition.
Upon entering the exhibition hall, before even stepping inside, there is a complex aroma that fills the air. Unlike ordinary air fresheners found in many exhibition halls, which often have a strong odor after being set up, it is not necessarily due to the venue’s handling. It is also not a cheap, combustible incense. Instead, it is more like the scent one would encounter when visiting a temple, evoking similar emotions for the author, but the nose still perceives it as different. Thinking that the body is smarter than the mind, there is no need to overthink it and just take a stroll into the hall.
The space of Today Between is not a typical white box exhibition hall, and the works on display are not immediately discernible as fancy creations through visual means alone. After carefully examining the exhibition labels and viewing the works from a distance before approaching them, I gained a unique and personalized “way of viewing” that perhaps only I could fully appreciate.
The artist spoke about the creative process in a gentle and understated manner, mentioning that in addition to experimenting, preparing and blending fragrances, they also needed to roll small fragrant pills, about the size of medicine pills – these are the “Counting pills” pills, the basic element of each artwork’s creation. If we consider the traditional practice of ancient literati sniffing and wearing fragrant pills, then at this point, the artist’s creation can be said to be complete.
But he didn’t stop at this point.
After nearly twenty years of careful research and experimentation, Ouyang Wendong has clearly not forgotten his expertise in sculpture, which he learned during his time studying in Europe. He has combined the Chinese medicinal spices’ balancing nature of coolness, warmth, and heat, and arranged them in minimalist geometric shapes in the form of fragrant pills. Due to the pill’s inherent diameter, the works cannot be called paintings but should be considered installations, if not sculptures.
The small fragrant pills are arranged in secret, like brushstrokes on a canvas. However, as time passes, the gaps between them change, much like how people who gather voluntarily or are forced to do so naturally form more detailed groups over time. Differences and barriers exist between individuals because every person is unique, let alone fragrant pills that are rolled and shaped by hand. Yet, when considering the “common roots” of these basic elements, the lines that naturally form on the surface of the artwork appear to be a kind of abstract and Zen-like “divine inspiration.”
As for the minimalist visual style and the literal meaning of “minimalism” in the exhibition arrangement, it is also the artist’s way of presenting the creative process and the realm of thought to the audience. Hopefully, you can immerse yourself in the fragrance of the artwork, meditate and experience it, and even close your eyes if you wish. Memory and thought are already beyond the visual dimension, and we can even say that although 90 to 95 percent of human cognition is through visual input, the visual sense itself, due to its near-monopoly perception, has become the strongest obstacle to human self-awareness and knowledge of the world. At this moment, the sense of smell and fragrance are not only the best way to temporarily isolate yourself from the outside world, but also the most exquisite guide for self-healing and awakening by directing your perception towards yourself and your inner self.
It may sound complex and mystical, but in reality, everything feels so natural when you are in the exhibition hall. The exhibition labels indicate that the number of fragrant pills on each artwork corresponds to an actual count, but it also has a deep association with Buddhism. For us, who have a collective subconscious and cognition, this is not something difficult to understand. It’s more accurate to say that simply by observing and smelling the artworks in the exhibition hall, one can gain a deeper understanding.
For me, what was even more impressive was when I had viewed all the artworks and walked towards the exit, I suddenly realized the magnitude of the works and the profound impact they had. Inside the exhibition hall, it was not just a thin layer that hung on the exhibition walls, almost like a painting, due to the fragrant pills’ small diameter. Instead, the works continuously emitted a strange fragrance, which grew and expanded with time and temperature. This intangible volume filled the entire exhibition hall, and this was the true “multi-sensory immersive exhibition experience.”
The intangible and diffuse space is the artist’s way of presenting the uncertain expectations that he still holds and deepens, even after decades of studying and traveling in Europe. The fragrant pills themselves seem to be a silver lining that the artist offers to the restless and chaotic society of today, not by eliminating the definite object, but by providing a place for more people’s minds to find solace.
Indeed, who would have thought that another possibility of sculpture is to be experienced through senses beyond the window of the mind?