Space of Fossil — Along to The Infinite

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Introduction

Space of Fossil — Along to The Infinite A Space-Time Journey from Chinese Traditional Landscape Painting

Individual Work 2019 Fall, Chongqing

Content

“There are three kinds of Infinite Space in Chinese Landscape culture: Looking up to the peak from the bottom of the mountain (infinite height); Look into the back of the mountain in front of it (infinite depth); Look forward from near mountain to mountain faraway (infinite far).”

Guo Xi, Acient Chinese Literati Painter

“All the techniques of landscape painting could be summarized to compress the Vast and Infinite Universe in the small paper with imagination. We can only see one Layer of mountain, but we could image our Journey among Layers of mountain.”

Shen Kuo, Acient Chinese Literati Painter

[1] From Reality to Layers - Deconstruct Hidden Space Concept of Ancient Painters in the Chinese Landscape Painting

Chinese landscape painting and Chinese garden are two important mediums for ancient Chinese literati to express their ideas of space. From the Chinese point of view, the universe is infinite and vast, which is one of the core ideas of ancient Chinese philosophy and often symbolizes the broad mind and temperament of Chinese literati. But at the same time, the medium of expression of literati is limited. How to express the infinite space in the limited space has become one of the core topics of ancient Chinese art creation. In Chinese terminology, this is called seeing the big in the small.

Because of the special recognition of space and art creation, the space expression of Chinese landscape painting is very unique. There is no physical perspective in Chinese landscape painting, and we can only see the superposition, the layers, of the landscape one by one. In such a superposition, ancient Chinese literati painters sought for the rhythm of aesthetics and the expression of the infinite world. Moreover, those famous painters with high techniques never drew their paintings according to what the real world looks like, but reconstructed their journey in the nature, the hidden journey of literati, with their residual image memory.

[2] From Layers to Space-Time Journey - Reconstruct Chinese Landscape Experience based on Real Environment

The project explores how to deconstruct the space concept in the Chinese landscape painting, the infinite space and the hidden journey of literati, and how to reconstruct this Chinese landscape space in the real environment, building a Chinese landscape narrative experience. The design process of reconstruction repeated the creation mechanism of Chinese landscape painting: how to create the infinite space in a limited space, and how to hide the journey among the layers.

Ancient Chinese also had an advanced understanding of time. They believed that time was not only infinite, but also reincarnated. Through active observation, they became one of the first people in the world to set a time scale and they created the lunar calendar. Year after year, they used 24 solar terms according to the moon’s changing track to help them with their agricultural production. In this project, time is served as an additional dimension, which is related to the local water environment yearly changes and is associated tightly to the layer element, to complete the creation of the whole spacetime journey.

引言

化石之境——走向无限 源自中国传统山水画的时空之旅

个人作品 2019 年秋，重庆

内容

“中国山水文化中有三种无限空间：自山脚仰望峰顶（无限高度）；望见前山之后（无限深度）；由近山望向远山（无限远方）。”

郭熙，中国古代文人画家

“山水绘画的一切技法，皆可归结为以想象将浩瀚无限的宇宙压缩于尺幅之间。我们只能看见一层山峦，却能想象自己穿行于层峦叠嶂之间。”

沈括，中国古代文人画家

[1] 从现实到层叠——解构中国山水画中古代画家隐含的空间概念

中国山水画与中国园林是古代中国文人表达空间思想的两类重要媒介。从中国视角看，宇宙无限而浩瀚，这是中国古代哲学的核心观念之一，常象征中国文人的胸怀与气度。与此同时，文人的表达媒介却是有限的。如何在有限空间中表达无限空间，成为古代中国艺术创作的核心议题之一。在中国术语中，这被称为以小见大。

由于对空间与艺术创作的独特认知，中国山水画的空间表达极为独特。中国山水画中没有物理透视，我们只能看见山峦一层层叠加。在这种叠加中，古代中国文人画家追求审美韵律与对无限世界的表达。此外，那些技法高超的著名画家从不依照真实世界样貌作画，而是以残存的意象记忆重构他们在自然中的旅程——文人的隐秘旅程。

[2] 从层叠到时空之旅——基于真实环境重构中国山水体验

本项目探索如何解构中国山水画中的空间概念——无限空间与文人的隐秘旅程，以及如何在真实环境中重构这一中国山水空间，营造中国山水叙事体验。重构设计过程重复了中国山水画的创作机制：如何在有限空间中创造无限空间，以及如何在层叠之间隐藏旅程。

古代中国人对时间亦有深刻认识。他们认为时间不仅无限，而且轮回往复。通过主动观察，他们成为世界上最早确立时间尺度的人群之一，并创造了农历。年复一年，他们依据月亮运行轨迹设定二十四节气，以辅助农业生产。在本项目中，时间作为额外维度，与局地水环境的年度变化相关联，并与层叠元素紧密绑定，以完成整个时空之旅的营造。