Five, Four, Three, Two
Film installation, 2023
Albert Camus pointed out that Sisyphus may be pleased with his punishment as he pushes a giant rock up to a hill repeatedly. Because when he accepts his fate and lives on indepen- dent consciousness, the punishment of the gods on him no longer makes sense, and the meaningless punishment is no longer in vain. The film cites the philosophy-mythology generalizing the myth across the unrelated daily lives of three people eventually connected in their peaceful cycle, without beginning or ending, joy or sorrow. They share the same memory of counting down numbers repeatedly and collectively engaging in the karma of passing a boulder. The work speaks how people might eventually realize, and peacefully accept someday, the fact that life is but a journey of futility. It serves as a response to the originally positive question of existence. Through the camera movement, streams of conscious- ness from the past life and the afterlife become interconnected, and form an endless loop under the effect of the mise-en-scène, visualizing the metaphysics of permanence and emptiness.
EXHIBITION
2023.11.04 – 2024.02.18 Group Exhibition | Taipei Art Awards