The image of a displaced object reproduced by an optical installation and suggesting the notion that everything happens the way it is supposed to happen, is the central feature of local artist Alice Kok’s solo exhibition, entitled “Nothing Happens”, currently on display in the gallery of Art For All (AFA) Macau.
It has been almost six years since her last solo exhibition in 2008, and the artist now speaks of the significant changes that have happened in her life.
“The year of 2012 was very challenging. I didn’t know where my life was heading. Everything was a mess. Now we are in 2013 and it’s time to move on,” she says.
Also, the fact that Kok is the director of AFA but had never exhibited her work in the gallery of the association seemed a bit “weird”, so now that has changed.
The exhibition is inspired by the inexplicable story of the reincarnation of her teacher of Buddhism, the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
The Karmapa is from the 12th century, and is the spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of Kagyupa, one of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is considered the third most important leader in a Buddhist hierarchy headed by the Dalai Lama.
Alice says that the inspiration for this exhibition came from a documentary in the 1980s, in which the disciples of the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje Rigpe, who died in 1981, speak of the last time they were with him. The 16th Karmapa left China in 1959, with the Dalai Lama.
When the 16th Karmapa was little more than 50 years, he was diagnosed with liver cancer in a terminal phase. The doctor who took care of him, and is also featured in the documentary, said that the calmness and serenity of the patient, who undertook a healing process that is often very painful, surprised him.
It was the 16th Karmapa who, according to the artist, once looked deep into the eyes of one of his disciples on his dying bed and said, “nothing happens”. The story is told in the documentary and eventually led to the exhibition.
“I like the title ‘Nothing Happens’ – it does not actually mean that nothing happens, but when something does happen you have to face it calmly, and not cry over spilt milk,” she says.
For Kok, this sentence reflects the essence of Buddhism – emptiness , but not nihilism.
“This ‘emptiness’, in the Buddhist sense of the term, is the interrelatedness of all things in the universe. This means that everything is intertwined with the others, that nothing can have its own existence. All things are the result of many coincident causes,” explains the artist.
The proximity of death, Kok argues, makes us “realise the impermanence of life”.
“Many things happen in life, but we know that they do not necessarily represent something dramatic, even death. We should not get stuck at a certain point in our lives, we need to let go of it,” she says.
Kok observes that there are many things in the world that define who she is and that’s why it is unlikely that she would try to define herself with a single thing. Constant changes in life, such as the fact that our cells are growing even while we talk, interest her.
“Nothing can be preserved forever. Life is a process that consists of all the things that come in seemingly random order,” she continues.
The exhibition is the exploration of this notion through an artistic approach to life.
“My life is not necessarily very organised, but I think what has to happen will happen. ‘Live each moment I breathe’ is my life motto.”
To Kok, Buddhism is not a religion but a philosophy for life.
“I need to apply what I learned on my Buddhist path in every second of my life. That’s what the 17th Karmapa taught me. Buddhism is not a doctrine you follow only when you are in the right disposition,” she argues.
To structure the exhibition “Nothing Happens”, the artist thought of the mandala, a symbol of Buddhism that represents the existence of the universe. It is also a tool to teach peace and unity. Perfect shapes, squares and circles give visitors the notion of centre and periphery.
“All things must be completely symmetrical, which represents a cosmic cycle, spinning around itself. It's infinity,” she explains.
Humans still have a limited knowledge of the universe, and Alice suggests that “perhaps for this reason we create boundaries and create cities with borders. The universe is infinite, it has no boundaries, no beginning, no end.
The centre of the exhibition consists of four walls, like a box, with each wall showing a video. One wall has a door for viewers to discover what is inside. According to Alice, the four walls represent the four fundamental elements according to Buddhist tradition: earth, water, fire and air.
“All of our present life will return to these four elements after we die,” she continues.
Inside the box is a device that creates a mirage as we approach. Consisting of two concave mirrors, it was imported from the USA and illustrates the theory of reproducing the effect of mirage.
“This device illustrates very well what I want to explore. Things happen due to many causes. We are deceived by visual imagery and mental projections,” says Kok.
The exhibition also shows a series of photographs depicting the lives of elderly migrants from rural areas of Yushu in Qinghai Province, who have been living in extreme hardship since the 2010 earthquake. The profits from any sales of the exhibition will accrue to the charity projects directed at these people who lost their homes three years ago.
Open to public daily from 12pm to 7pm
until November 24
AFA Macau Gallery
Level 3, Edificio da Fabrica de Baterias N.E. National
52 Estrada da Areia Preta, Macau
Closed on Sundays and public holidays
