Publication: Draft One
15 artists synthesised into one thing, disillusioned, a garden, a Post Garden. A collaboration of strangers unwilling or unable to reach a coherent ideology. But there is always an entropic ‘descent’ into failure. We soon realised in our search for cohesion, we could only find failure. We accept this, we desire to fail and use zen to fail. Post zen garden a post zen curation. Nature and escapism to tranquility. We are searching for Satori, “Seeing into ones true nature”, a sudden enlightenment. Using technology to find your zen. Finding zen quickly. Technology designed to enhance experience of finding your zen. But technology failing to connect us.
Musing on the term Plastic Information we expressed a desired to create a text of speculation, blurring lines between fact and fiction. A plastic publication; Manipulating information making use of languages malleable qualities. Materialising zen, garden objects, commodifying spirituality. Materials in essence, gentleness despite plastic materiality.
We need to consider culture and capital . Western culture’s appropriating Asian cultures has led to advertisement of an accelerated sudden enlightenment that is boasted by the zen life style. Zen has becomes a brand, a fad and a throw away relaxation buzz word, reducing it to the weight of the plastic emoji as a global symbol. It’s not a Zen Garden its an impoverished post zen garden. A Connecting network of capitalism. The work became a “Post capitalist/apocalyptic zen garden”.
Then the works itself. A hanging waterfall banner. The welcoming entrance to our work, it sets a premise. Images of zen like waterfalls blowing in the breeze of the street.
The goal posts, sacred VS common ground. Sacred but for a very small amount of time. Surreal posts. The functionality of the Goals is to score; A sudden rush of ecstasy. So we consider the aim, the goal to achieve the zen. But we’re aiming away from the target through the height and location of the hanging posts. It’s settling on the floor, theres a weightlessness to something that’s so integral to being grounded. Then the clay water fountain. Failing in its functionality. Ghost of a commodity. The romantic value of craft. A physical reproduction from the original virtual image. And painting exists on the ground laying in the sand. Using old eastern traditions, adapting to an empty space.
It is a forced resourcefulness. We appropriate work into a complex environment and think of its spirituality/lack of. The curation is the life of the garden and we consider it either having a future or representing one - a utopian idea of the future.
History becomes geography and time becomes spacial. Our Post Zen garden is a model of a modern day ecosystem.
Zen itself is a contradictory philosophy. It cannot be taught only found. And by actively trying to find your zen you will never encounter it.
This we can relate to the ultimate nature of our ideas. As we can never reach the idealist collaboration we were searching for. Were doomed to fail from the start, and so we choose to embrace that.