Aqua Paradiso
Maryanto
〈Tirta Perwitasari〉, 2022.
Charcoal and carbon pigment painting on wall
300×1826.9cm
Commissioned by Asia Culture Center
Maryanto has created symbolic black and white paintings, drawings, and installations that refuse the romantic language of traditional landscape painting and deal with the impulses of colonialists and capitalists which are inherent in the development of technology, industrialization, soil pollution, and the exploitations of natural resources. Tirta Perwitasari depicts the landscape of Java, the environs of the artist’s residence, where active volcanoes emit vapor and the sacred spring is found. The title, Tirta Perwitasari, refers to the water of life and the essence of clean and sacred water. The artist awakens the values of respect for and preservation of nature contained in the traditional culture of Java and intends to find which alternative perspective such values would suggest to the crisis today. Javanese people have respected mountains and forests as spiritual spaces where supernatural powers are indwelled. “Partitan,” which refers to water and fountainheads, including wells, rivers, lakes, and the sea, has a significant meaning of the root of life. The traditional rituals, including “siraman,” a bath ritual to purify the body and soul by using water, and “Merti Desa,” a ritual to express thanks to the universe for presenting abundant nature, show the understanding of Javanese people about the value of fountainheads. Such traditional notions serve as the foundations to establish regulations that restrict the indiscreet use of water resources, excessive logging, or the collection of natural resources. While introducing the landscapes of Java and the local traditional wisdom, the artist explains that developing such wisdom and passing it on to the next generation is connected to the practices to care and respect nature and the environment.
Ligyung
〈My Jubilee ist Unverhemmet〉, 2018.
Yee I-Lann
〈Sulu Stories〉, 2005.
Maryanto
〈Tirta Perwitasari〉, 2022.
Dakd Jung
〈The Fount of Art〉, 2016~2022.
Adrien M & Claire B
〈Acqua Alta – Crossing the Mirror〉, 2019.
Hyewon Kwon
〈Liquid Vision – Prologue〉, 2022.
Vakki
〈Self-archetype of the Unconsciou〉, 2022.
eco orot
〈Jeju Coral Crochet〉, 2018~2022.
〈Plastic Mandala〉, 2019~2022.
〈Ocean Tears〉, 2021~2022.
BOO Jihyun
〈Where is it going〉, 2022.
Tae-Eun Kim
〈Rectangular System 〉, 2005(reproduced in 2022).
〈Black Bile〉, 2022.
Liu Yu
〈If Narratives Become the Great Flood〉, 2020.