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Reincarnation

8 min Performance 

Acrylic, Plastics, Clear resin, Motor, LEDs, Slip ring, Ball bearing

2024 

This work offers a queer interpretation of religion by redefining the concepts of "perfection" and "emptiness" in Buddhism. It shows the artist's envisioning to break free from constraints of identity politics and the reincarnation cycle.

The spinning motion in both the installation and the dancers' movements symbolises the continuity of reincarnation and the endless cycle of life. All beings suffer through the cycle of birth, aging, illness, death and the ever-changing four seasons such as the vast sky and the boundless earth, soaring eagles, and mole crickets. Through this process, they can free themselves from the cycle and accumulate merit toward perfection, which refers to the realisation of the ultimate nature of all things: emptiness. The artist perceives the ongoing cycle of suffering experienced by the queer community, both intergenerationally and individually, as a form of reincarnation and merit accumulation.

This work uses computation and automation to create a world where the wheel of reincarnation constantly rotates. Within this world, the technologically manipulated installation represents the existing laws of reincarnation, which is binary gender norms imposed by societal structures. Meanwhile, the dancers represent individuals striving to defy these rules, trapped in the cycle of reincarnation as they repeatedly try and fail to break free. Ultimately, the world was made flesh. Individuals find ways to break out of the cycle and craft their personal narratives.

Choreographer & Dancer: Shine Chang

© Viola Liang 2025

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