Year: 2024
Dimensions: variable
Materials: glass jar, chopsticks, playing cards
This interactive piece is inspired by the fortune telling method (求签) which exists in variations found across much of East and Southeast Asia (ESEA). The idea is that you shake a contained until a single numbered stick falls out. This number corresponds to a text, which can only be made sense of through the fortune teller’s ability.
Here, I have chosen to pass control directly into the player’s hands. The rules are no longer fixed and so the numbers/texts can be selected through any method of their choice, whether it is more elaborate and ritualistic, or simple and careless. The words are open to interpretation, and whether any importance is placed on this act of ‘choosing’ is solely up to their own discretion. Beyond the premise of 求签 itself, it is an exploration into the often contradictory way in which we view our ability to understand and change ourselves, whether that is represented in our assessment of the past, explanation of the present, or hopes for the future.
Shown in:
Take-Away (2024)
Lisha Zhong 