Playing the Mountain

Some lines are visible, some are not.

Playing the Mountain is a constellation that considers balance in different forms — not as a state of equilibrium to be achieved, but as an ongoing interplay of contrasting forces. In this solo exhibition, Serena Lee explores balance through various aesthetic forms — in the graphic composition and embodied practice of Chinese writing; in the soft resistance between kite, gravity, air; and between still mountain and running water, a model of balance for the dynamics of force in 太極拳 taijiquan internal martial arts and 山水 shanshui landscape painting.

Some lines are stretched thin, some are curved and enveloping.

Inspired by the movement and pace of 天坑 tiankeng (celestial pit) — sinkhole forests in southern China formed as karst mountains are slowly hollowed by underground rivers and gradually sink into themselves — Serena draws on shared histories that cross temporal and geographical zones, piecing together a continuity of aesthetic practices by gathering fragments into a harmonic polyphony.

Some lines follow, some lines lead.

Adapting and negotiating between opposing forces, Serena explores balance as a political and ideological process, rather than a position. Playing the Mountain traces a practical understanding of ‘aesthetics’ by following 心 xin (heart mind) and side-stepping the Cartesian mind-body separation: ‘aesthetics’ as making sense of the world, and our place in it, through embodied knowledge. Through this gathering of embodied practices and moving parts learned in broken translation, Playing the Mountain teases out connections between art and utility, play and work, dynamic and still, control and letting go.