Juju Wang, House of Clouds, 2015
House of Cards
2015
Papers, wires and steel
1000 x 1000 x 500 cm
A 100 square meters interactive installation using hundreds of pieces of Dai paper suspended on rotating brackets, together with the scent of forest and subtle background music, have uplifted all five senses of the viewer. The root of the installation goes to Manzhao Village, “the cursed village”, because of its geographical middle position: not on mountain, nor so the area is not suited for farming or growing tea. In ancient times, Dai paper was mainly used to copy Dai scriptures. But with modernization and globalization, this tradition of copying scripture had all but disappeared, and papermaking has also been replaced by machines. With drastic reduction of demand for Dai paper, the village’s financial resources were cut short; the villagers thought that the curse had once again returned. The interactive installation not only managed to raise the tourism level in that area, but also succeeded in giving a new perspective to the contemporary usage of the Dai paper which is slowly fighting back a tradition that is going extinct and the Manzhao Village curse. People from all over the world gathered together to interact with the space lining up just to get a glimpse of romance, tranquillity, dreamy, homesick and uplifting experience. The messages left on our exhibit wall literally have overwhelmed with love and optimism that change is possible.
