A deep breath is the first step towards connecting to yourself. That’s what the Chinese artist J. Jiang realised during quarantine and encourages people to do so as well. She is a visual artist who through different forms of art, such as video, installation, live performance, painting and drawing expresses both deep inward feelings and literal experience. Furthermore, her art mixed with poetry, sounds and syllables gives audience a sight of a synesthetic experience. Viewers’ senses are stimulated and they are fully immersed into the art. In addition, J. Jiang ’s contemporary dance experience combined with Tai Chi practice and yoga creates a connection between her frame of mind and body.
Our Remote Culture Journalism Intern Jisoo Seo had a chance to ask her some questions.
Immersion and arousal
Jisoo: Please tell us about the work process of ‘What is the sound of breathing’.
J. Jiang: The idea stems from my bodily experience during quarantine. The only places I was allowed to go were outside in the natural environment and in my mind. Therefore, I spent most of the time listening to plants and myself no matter if I was taking a walk or meditating. After being stuck for a few months, my body was eager to move. Then unconsciously, the movement evoked my previous dance and Tai Chi experience. I call it moving meditation which gives me so much comfort and helps a lot to de-stress and calm down.
Jisoo: How do you associate ‘body,’ ‘materiality,’ and ‘energy’?
J. Jiang: We are not this body. The body is just a material like brush and canvas, through which the flow of energy and concentration are exhibited.
Jisoo: Assuming that the world and the self cannot be distinguished ontologically, how can experiences of what is seen through the body (me seeing the world) or cannot be seen internally (how the world sees me) take place?
J. Jiang: if you concentrate enough or are dedicated to practicing meditation, you may realize that we are not our eyes, we see through eyes; we are not our ears, we hear through our ears. We live in this body but are not this body. Therefore, it does not matter how our body is seen—all the material is an illusion and temporary; it will be annihilated after some time. We are the spirit; we are the soul. It is essential to recognize it.
photos by Fanni Papp & Paul Melzer for PILOTENKUECHE
Naturalization of noise
Jisoo: Which immersive and sentimental effects take place during the process of physical reappraisal through choreography?
J. Jiang: My body movement is improvisation. It is stimulated by the present energy field and the energy within my body during the performance.
Jisoo: Do you usually imagine a specific form?
J. Jiang: No, the form happens naturally according to the theme I want to approach. There is no limitation in my head. I always try to choose the most appropriate form to express the notion.
Jisoo: How do your drawings and performances enter into a relationship?
J. Jiang: They are all instinctive. Both of them naturally flow from the body. Drawing is about personal aesthetics and visual inspiration, while performance is able to establish an enclosure field resonating each audience’s sense and the engagement is more effective than drawing, I think.
The scenery of sounds
Jisoo: Please share about the idea of ‘existence.’ How can we sense existence?
J. Jiang: Through breathing. The more concentratedly you breathe, the more you feel the existence.
Jisoo: Nowadays, how can spirituality and the body be defined?
J. Jiang: I do not want to define anything. There is nothing that needs to be refined. Nowadays we just need more focus on our breathing, take a bit more time to stay still without any disturbance, listen to the sound of breathing.
Catch up with J’s activities on her website and her instagram or in person at the following shows in Leipzig.
airy democratic spirituality
Alte Handelsschule.
Giesserstr 75
vernissage:
20 Aug
19.00 – 22.00
open:
21-25 Aug
12.00 -16.00
sublime generous odyssey
PILOTENKUECHE
Franz-Flemming-Str 9
vernissage:
Sat 18 Sept
19.00 – 22.00
open:
19-22 Sept
14.00 -18.00