Souls which are one shall meet
By Peng Yun and José Drummond
There’s an ancient Chinese saying that goes like this: 有缘千里来相会 “Though born a thousand li apart, souls which are one shall meet” meaning that there is some kind of predestined force that brings people together, even if they are from faraway places. The setting of this reunion brings a disruptive, albeit creative, existential level where the predestined meeting point is reached through a nomadic perspective. It presupposes that one or both ‘souls’ had to travel to a certain point.
Nevertheless, when this level of connection exists, it does not seem important to map identities or places. This predestined force of connection is, many times, taken to the extent of becoming one other recognizable object. It is upon the narratives of this new object, created by the two identities combined together, and in the celebration of each one’s differences that a form of mutual expression is created.
This new object, only existing as a consequence of a meeting, is created by the idea of each identity being both a mirror and an alter ego of the other. Somehow it is the paradigm of life as perceived from within this composite object, as it is lived by both identities instead of being seen isolated by one. Identity is then made redundant on the object of a meeting. The univocal substance of this meeting is two identities that are supposed to continually expresses itself in separate and growing in the creation of this meeting.
But what happens when this object is composed by two differentiated cultures as the Chinese and the Western? The implication is that we can think of it as an act of labor between two beings and its own cultural background. The problem is the balance between the two original identities and where and when they get in dispute. The place in the object of the couple means change. Are these cultural backgrounds compatible with that change?
As humans we are not only permeated by the rules of reality and we need to be mix it with fiction. How can this ‘predestined meeting’ create singular observations, singular thoughts, realities and fictions? How can the original identity find comfort on the object of the couple? Is there a space in between where identities blend? Is there a new place where the edge between what is identified and what is unidentified is experienced?
“Souls which are one shall meet” is a concurring concept with the concept of soulmate and with its origin in Plato’s "Symposium". The idea of four arms, four legs and a single head made of two faces takes an interesting value when applied to the concept of two artists working together to the same object, the same goal.
This proposal reflects on a specific case of artists that “though born a thousand li apart” meet in a new place as “souls which are one” working together, where each individual identity is erased in order to create an object that exists in between places.
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By Peng Yun and José Drummond
There’s an ancient Chinese saying that goes like this: 有缘千里来相会 “Though born a thousand li apart, souls which are one shall meet” meaning that there is some kind of predestined force that brings people together, even if they are from faraway places. The setting of this reunion brings a disruptive, albeit creative, existential level where the predestined meeting point is reached through a nomadic perspective. It presupposes that one or both ‘souls’ had to travel to a certain point.
Nevertheless, when this level of connection exists, it does not seem important to map identities or places. This predestined force of connection is, many times, taken to the extent of becoming one other recognizable object. It is upon the narratives of this new object, created by the two identities combined together, and in the celebration of each one’s differences that a form of mutual expression is created.
This new object, only existing as a consequence of a meeting, is created by the idea of each identity being both a mirror and an alter ego of the other. Somehow it is the paradigm of life as perceived from within this composite object, as it is lived by both identities instead of being seen isolated by one. Identity is then made redundant on the object of a meeting. The univocal substance of this meeting is two identities that are supposed to continually expresses itself in separate and growing in the creation of this meeting.
But what happens when this object is composed by two differentiated cultures as the Chinese and the Western? The implication is that we can think of it as an act of labor between two beings and its own cultural background. The problem is the balance between the two original identities and where and when they get in dispute. The place in the object of the couple means change. Are these cultural backgrounds compatible with that change?
As humans we are not only permeated by the rules of reality and we need to be mix it with fiction. How can this ‘predestined meeting’ create singular observations, singular thoughts, realities and fictions? How can the original identity find comfort on the object of the couple? Is there a space in between where identities blend? Is there a new place where the edge between what is identified and what is unidentified is experienced?
“Souls which are one shall meet” is a concurring concept with the concept of soulmate and with its origin in Plato’s "Symposium". The idea of four arms, four legs and a single head made of two faces takes an interesting value when applied to the concept of two artists working together to the same object, the same goal.
This proposal reflects on a specific case of artists that “though born a thousand li apart” meet in a new place as “souls which are one” working together, where each individual identity is erased in order to create an object that exists in between places.
back