This is such a wonderful experience that has left me with a myriad of feelings, that I must write about it.
Thankfully I remember its opening hours correctly. 10am to 1pm. There is a good reason for such a short duration, as I find out after I visit the installation.
According to the accompanying write-up, Woan Wen was primarily inspired by the light that bounced off a plastic cup that she had been carrying on a day with bright sunshine. When she walked past a window, the light bounced off the water and cast interesting projections on the nearby wall. How many of us have experienced such phenomenon, yet how many of us have actually paused to reflect (pun unintended) over this?
The excitement that this installation brings doesn’t occur from the moment you arrive. If you’re lucky enough, you’d probably see electrifying stripes / blazing sparks hopping around on the wall. Or the wrapping paper might create a bluish / golden hue (depending on the color of the paper that the light fell on) that resembles the flame on an LPG gas stove.
Halfway (I guess it was about 1pm? Since I get there slightly after noon.) I see what looks like a raw stalk of Chinese cabbage. Leaves and stalk seen rather clearly on the wall. This is probably caused by the little green stars left to float in a glass tank of water. I’m not sure if you’d see it when you go there – anyway different people see different things, depending on the time that you get there!
It is quite addictive really. I didn’t want to leave because I wanted to see what would come next. I have become so transfixed by the images that after a while, the traffic doesn’t bother me. When I first arrive, a jack-hammer is drilling away on the road outside. I had read that others had experienced peace during their visit. ‘Shit, came on the wrong day.’ The jackhammer – and the traffic – isn’t going to make the experience as swell as I would expect.
But gradually I realize how the inner peace comes from within, and it is not conditioned for you. You have to condition it yourself. I discover this quite by accident when the projection started its magical display and I was glued to the images. And unknowingly all the external noise just diminished. I only remember its existence when I become distracted by movement in the hall, or my mind has wandered off to other things and I had to bring it back. This phenomenon does not dawn on me until much later, as I reflect my experience in that location.
Gradually I realize how the projection ‘moves’ across the screen; areas that were lit before were no longer lit, and the objects, once brilliantly bathed in sunlight, were now left standing cold and aloof. So somewhere that beam will die and that’s the end of the display for the day. Curious, I stay until the very last beam of light has disappeared. In doing so, I learn what it really means to live in the moment. People have talked about this before: live in the moment, live in the present – but I have never quite experienced it until I become an observer to this beam of sunlight making its journey through the chapel. Light will always be around, but in the chapel, it’s there for only slightly over three hours. After that the light is reduced to a think flicker that dies off… is momentarily revived… dies off again… finally it stops coming back. So it ended with a bit of wistfulness. You enjoy it while it lasts, and then it’s gone.
There are two parts to the exhibition, so if you do intend to go, do keep at least three hours free. The first half of the installation which comes to life from 10am till about noon consists of more reflective items and is set in a larger space, so it will be interesting to see the types of visuals that are produced. By the time I arrive, I am told that the installation has moved to the ‘rear’ - and so I only get to watch the second half of the installation during my visit.
And oh, please don’t use your mobile devices and log into your social networks – you are primarily distracting yourself and you won’t make your visit worthwhile. Plus, you will annoy others.
Light Matters
The Chapel, Sculpture Square
At the junction of Waterloo Street and Middle Road, across the road from Fortune Centre
16 June 2012 – 1 July 2012
Woan Wen is there almost every other day so you can talk to her about her work.
