Lampo Leong: Breathing Dao

What is Dao? This elusive question that intrigues Western audiences can be partially answered by Dancing Marks, a multimedia installation and performance. The work, only possible in the digital age, combines animated ink painting, energetic brushstrokes of wide cursive Chinese calligraphy with dramatic electro-acoustic music and the rhythmic gestures of modern dance, celebrating the miraculous vitality, the cosmic energies, and the enigmatic process of creation in the universe. These various artistic forms interact to evoke a cohesive balance, inviting the audience to experience the Daoof ink painting and calligraphy. A group of internationally known artists collaborated for this remarkable achievement: director and animator Lampo Leong, composer Xiaofu Zhang, and choreographer Dan Wang. The exhibition was curated and installed by Xinyao Wang, Ruihong Li, and Xiaohui Peng.

As a contemporary art production, Dancing Marksis closely interwoven with several important cultural practices such as the rejuvenation of classical Chinese painting, calligraphy, and aesthetics, as well as a synthesis of science and art. For decades, Chinese intellectuals have aspired to reconstruct a Chinese aesthetics that bears distinct indigenous features and repositions China from its marginal position to the centrality of Western culture. For example, Chinese animation, in a quest for the distinctive ethnic style, attempts to draw from the comprehensive heritage of Chinese art. Even though ink painting animation has nearly become extinct in China, the contemporary era is witnessing a revival of such a tradition.

A number of Chinese artists have combined dance with ink painting and calligraphy, testing visual possibilities for artistic creation offered by media convergence and digital technology; this was evidenced by the opening segment, entitled Scroll, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony, choreographed by Yimou Zhang and Wei Shen, and Cursive, a calligraphy trilogy choreographed by Hwai-Min Lin in Taiwan. Positioning himself in a similar exploration, Leong distils the fundamental elements in various artistic forms including ink painting, calligraphy, animation, installation, music, dance, and performance art, engendering a series of idiosyncratic artworks.

The intention of Dancing Marksis expressed through its overall synthesis. The projected animation of ink washes and brushstrokes of wide cursive calligraphy moves across the backdrop, creating a dynamic and dreamy atmosphere; the use of multiple reflective planes in the installation generates a complex and mysterious space, presenting multiple points of view concurrently. Most importantly, it facilitates the presentation of a more elaborate array of ink splashes that march in numerous directional movements in a single visual space. The divergently opposite movements that direct inward, outward, onward, or downward appear simultaneously, a pulsating scene that resembles breathing, the intensifying vitality of this multi-dimensional work.

The rhythm and fluency of wide cursive calligraphy and abstract ink painting images are further enhanced by body movement. Dancers clad in black on a white stage stand against the projected animation and look as if calligraphic characters are being formed on rice paper. At times, they seem to respond to or mimic the shape and quality of the brushstrokes, while at others, they remain still, deeply rooted in the background as if deeply contemplating the moment. Their shuttling between images and taking center stage bridges the gap between the illusionistic space and the physical space, enriching the spatial depth and complexity while conveying and projecting the overwhelming energy from the wall to the audience. Physical bodies help to dissolve the work's virtual state, ushering it into three- and four-dimensional worlds. The flowing music, with both an ancient Chinese flavor and modern touches, interacts with the animated ink splashes and the gestures of the dancers, creating a vast, meditative space. The whole work leads the audience to a state of contemplation, bringing perfect joy and, ultimately, peace.

Dancing Marksregisters the evolution of Leong's artistic career and his quest for the essential spirit of ink painting and wide cursive Chinese calligraphy. Leong uses such culturally coded icons to gesture toward the existence of an imaginary primordial space, whereas the animation...