A New Transcendentalist Movement in the New Age: On Theater of Energies

Installation view with site-specific installation by Leah Ying Lin and paintings by Amy Hui Li. Theater of Energies, curated by gaoyuan, Arsenal Contemporary New York, 2024. Photo Credit: Arturo Sanchez.

By FENG-YI CHU August 4, 2024

What is energy? It seems that we do not truly know. In modern classical physics, energy is conceptualized as a measure of the change in the state of matter, defined as the cause of work from one physical system to another. Meanwhile, work is also defined as the transfer of energy from one physical system to another, creating a tautological relationship between the two concepts. Essentially, we use the concept to explain and reckon physical and chemical changes we observe, such as position, speed, temperature, and other measurable transformations of matter. Our imagination of energy is largely confined within the field of modern science. But can non-physical, non-chemical, or even non-observable internal changes—such as feelings, psychological states, spirituality, mentality, attitudes, or public opinions and orientations—be viewed as a cause of a certain type of energy? If so, what type of energy should it be?

This is the significance of the curatorial approach in the recent exhibition "Theater of Energies" curated by the Beijing-born curator Gao Yuan (gaoyuan) at Arsenal Contemporary New York. By referring to and incorporating knowledge and practices from various cultures and civilizations outside of Western society, such as Qi from Taoism and chakras in Hinduism, the exhibition proposes a different interpretation of energy.

The concept of theater in the exhibition’s title holds multiple significances in terms of the curatorial method. Jean-François Lyotard (1976), in his article "The Tooth, the Palm," states that the core of theatricality is to hide and to show (1). Theatricality is thus an exercise of religious-political power to determine what is to be concealed and what is to be presented. In "Theater of Energies," modern scientific positivism is purposefully hidden, while alternative mysticism is highlighted. By doing so, the exhibition demonstrates its potential to expand our understanding of energy, establish a new relationship with it, and imagine new applications for it.

Installation view with works by Bingyi (left) and Leah Ying Lin (right). Theater of Energies, curated by gaoyuan, Arsenal Contemporary New York, 2024. Photo Credit: Arturo Sanchez.

The theatricality of "Theater of Energies" not only echoes Lyotard's socio-political analysis but is also reflected in its exhibition design, which is structured as a three-act play, or a journey showcasing the three phases of newly conceptualized energy. The first exhibition room, Act I Streams, narrates the story of the birth of life energy, which begins with Bingyi’s large-scale ink painting Can the Eyes Sing? Bodies of the Sacred Mountains (2021). This work is said to have been created by the artist after meditating on the Taihang Mountains in China. The varying shades of ink, from dark to bright, seem to represent the two energies of yin and yang—colliding, adhering, and merging with each other, ultimately giving birth to all things like a nebula. Opposite to the work is Julian Zehnder's fountain-style sound installation Beyond Dissolving Limits (2023-24), which uses black liquid and irregular-shaped foam to demonstrate the crystallization and formation process under energy collision.

Patrick Coutu’s flat ceramic work Déluge 04.10 (2023) and the series created by Motohiro Takeda describe a dramatic transition from gas to liquid, and then from liquid to plant life. Cui Fei's work Vermicular Calligraphy I (2024), where the artist uses metal lead (a material traditionally associated with coffins) to record and preserve the insect erosion tracks on wood, symbolizes the energy transition from plants to animals. Leah Ying Lin’s sculpture Oumuamua Dream (2024) depicts the first celestial body that visited the solar system in 2017, bringing the theatrical scene back to the universe and completing the cycle from cosmic energy to life and back to the cosmic. The end of Act I.

Installation view with works by Motohiro Takeda (left), Julian Zehnder (center), and Patrick Coutu (upper center). Theater of Energies, curated by gaoyuan, Arsenal Contemporary New York, 2024. Photo Credit: Arturo Sanchez.

The second act of "Theater of Energies," Obsessions, goes into the human realm and explores how energy continues to affect us in the form of moods, emotions, feelings and desires. The first exhibited work in this room, Triade (2018) by Nicolas Lachance, uses mixed media to create a grayscale graphic piece combining both abstract and figurative elements, inviting the audience into a jungle of a complex ecosystem filled with intense emotions. Lachance's IMG series (2023-24), which also employs mixed media, features images that resemble portraits of human body parts, suggesting the operation of sexual energy. Michelle Bui's series of photographs themed around food vividly pays tribute to our basic, primal needs for survival, stability, and support, which can be associated with the Muladhara chakra, meaning the root of existence.

Patrick Coutu's graphic work and sculpture, Attractions 10202003 (2020) and Attracteur (2020), address the gravity-like attraction energy between two bodies. These works also correspond to Amy Hui Li's artistic creations on the other side of the room. Li uses translucent gauze and other mixed media to create multi-dimensional scenes from flat frames, where desires become more intense, scarlet, and sticky, seemingly depicting both the fervent affection and resentment between lovers, putting themselves at risk of life and death. Leah Ying Lin's large-scale site-specific installation series represents the downward and submerged energy following intense emotions and desires, condensing into maternal compassion. As the final sublimation in Act II, the two qualities of maternal energy, mercy and severity, are also depicted in Lin's moon-themed work Moonquake (2024) and a series of three works referencing the weapons of futuristic goddesses. 

Installation view with works by Nicolas Lachance (left) and Amy Hui Li (center and right). Theater of Energies, curated by gaoyuan, Arsenal Contemporary New York, 2024. Photo Credit: Arturo Sanchez.

Act III Continuums explores how energy, through downward cultivation and calmness, gradually develops another creative quality. Like a monk who has practiced meditation for a long time, whose primitive energy no longer fluctuates with worldly affairs, this energy transforms into a richer creative and technical power, enabling changes in surroundings and the creation of ideal futures. Leah Ying Lin's sculpture Whispers of the Wild (2024), depicting a hand breaking out of the ground in the wilderness and extending upward, best portrays this creative energy transformation. Nicolas Baier's two futuristic prints, Sous les pavés (2022) and Saut (2022), along with the 42-min captivating video work Vases Communicants (2023) in the final cave-like room, are also ideal depictions of this energy, manifested as mystical imagination for a technological utopia.

From the cosmic life in the first act, to the desires in the second act, to the creation in the third act, "Theater of Energies" employs a unique curatorial method of a three-act play to narrate how energy begins, evolves, and transforms. This theatricality is not only manifested in the structure of the exhibition but also in how the curator arranges the artworks in each exhibition room, positioning them as the protagonists of each act to tell the story. Attentive audience members will also notice the change in the keynote colors of the artworks in the different themed exhibition rooms—from the gray and black tones in I Streams, to the explosion of intense colors in II Obsessions, and to the blue and cool tones in III Continuums.

Lyotard believes that another key point of theater is "displacement," which he also regards as a form of energy transformation, or libido in Freud’s notion, moving from part A to part B of the body (2). A famous example Lyotard offers is the connection between a painful tooth (part A) and a palm (part B), where the fist is clenched and the nails are dug in because of the ache. The displacement in "Theater of Energies" is the transition from humanity’s exploration of the unknown (part A) to the curatorial project and the exhibited works (part B). The new, alternative interpretation and imagination of energy proposed by the exhibition serves as a metaphor for the unknown domain. In other words, this exhibition suggests that artistic creation and curation can be vital ways to explore and experience the unknown. It critically encourages and emphasizes direct communication between individuals and unknown or mysterious experiences. "Theater of Energies" thus shares a common spirit and values with the transcendentalist movement centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830s (3). Considering that this exhibition does not advocate the doctrines of the three Abrahamic religions or other mainstream religions, but rather combines and merges multiple schools of philosophical and mystical knowledge, it may be categorized within the new transcendentalist art movement of the New Age. WM

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