Video Documentation

Following their talks, performances and a screening, presenters in this session discussed “how creative foresight can transcend rigid ideological dictums and hegemonic codes into malleable material for consciousness, nourishment, and longevity.”
 
The conversation was moderated by Craig Yee and Leeza Ahmady around artist and curator Sam Samiee’s preoccupation with psychoanalysis, Manichaeism, and the Persian code of conduct, Adab; Burçak Bingöl’s reflections on how the Chinese porcelain trade via the Silk Road influenced the evolution of the highly distinctive Turkish Ottoman Court style; Chongbin Zheng’s recent interventions within the spaces of several historic gardens exploring both the cultural and natural modes of being in the world; ST Luk’s introduction of the late artistic duo, Arakawa & Madeline Gins’s death-defying architectural projects, namely their visionary “Reversible Destiny Lofts” in Mitaka, Japan, which has challenged the bounds of space not simply as a source of enlightenment but also as a means for a longer life; and Arahmaiani Feisal’s performance: “Manifesto of the Sceptic” proclaiming artists as “alchemical vessels” for change as exemplified by her long-term collaboration with Tibetan monks (and local Chinese authorities), resulting in the planting of nearly one million trees across the country.