Kora, 2014

Arthur Liou
Kora, 2011
Video installation
27 minutes 54 seconds
Installation view
Courtesy Chi-Wen Gallery, Taipei and the artis

Overview

Jawshing Arthur Liou creates video installations that employ digital technology to transform representation and reality. Kora (2011–12) highlights Liou’s 2,300-kilometre expedition from Lhasa through the Tibetan Plateau, ending at Mount Everest and Mount Kailash. The cathartic journey, which followed the passing of his daughter Vivian, included a four-day kora – a walking circumambulation – around Mount Kailash at an elevation between five and six thousand metres. The work retraces the steps of his search while presenting vast mountain landscapes, invoking a reverence for nature and space for spiritual reflection and sanctuary.
Liou captured the experience of his pilgrimage on an ultra-high-definition 4K camera, and structured it with a minimalistic acoustic soundtrack. Focusing on the path ahead from a first-person perspective, the work simulates the otherworldliness of his journey, with startling, ever-changing vistas witnessed through the hallucinatory scrim of limited oxygen. Liou’s slow, mesmerizing excursion around the sacred mountain wends through a pass strewn with colourful prayer flags – evidence of the spiritual quests of thousands of pilgrims before him.

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 12

Relatede

Kora

Arthur Liou, Jawshing

Jawshing Arthur Liou creates video installations that employ digital technology to transform representation and reality.