Project Infinity
15-16 May 2005
Civic Plaza, Ngee Ann City, Orchard Road, Singapore
Project Infinity is a collaborative project between the artist and the Singapore Buddhist Society, in conjunction with an annual Buddhist celebration event of Vesak Day (the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Buddha). The task for the artist is to innovate a wish making mechanism for this celebration.
The art installation was held at The Civic Plaza, a 3,000 sqm outdoor open semi-circular courtyard in front of Ngee Ann City (one of the largest shopping mall in the region). The work was presented together with other celebrations organised by Singapore Buddhist Society. It is also the first time that Buddhist celebration is held in the commercial district of Singapore - Ochard Road.
During the two-days cerebration, Project Infinity engaged over 8,000 residence of Singapore to participate.
Concept Brief
written by Sean Lacey
Project infinity is an endeavor to bring together peoples of all backgrounds, races, religions, and nationalities in a consolidated wish of kindness and compassion. Installation artist, Chiang Jing Ying, has skillfully fused the elements of Buddhist tradition and thought into a global context through her latest artistic expression “Project Infinity”, titled after this project of universal compassion.
This spectacular installation work displays a series of coloured wire mesh tubes containing the compassionate wishes of thousands of people from all walks of life. Through large fans at the base of each cylinder, this multitude of wishes is sent spiraling into continuous circular flowing movement, reminiscent of Tibetan prayer wheels, which too, are mechanical reproductions of the prayers of the faithful. The endless circles of flying wishes manifest the ideas of the cycle of life and the unity and harmony of the circle form, without beginning or end.
Chiang Jing Ying has thoughtfully embodied profound symbolism in the structural design of “Project Infinity”. The colours of the five wire wish columns are borrowed from the bars of the Buddhist flag, blue, yellow, red, white and orange to represent compassion, the middle way, blessings, purity and wisdom. Like the colour combination of the flag, the unified composition of this artwork expresses universality – the fundamental premise of this project. Chiang Jing Ying has taken this symbolism and made it interactive, as all people are welcomed to make wishes, roll them up, and through gaps in the mesh, join them with the good wishes of so many others. As the large tubes are constructed with wire, their colour is not quite salient, but when the columns are filled with circulating wishes on white paper, the colour of the columns comes alive. This is perhaps the most significant message of this piece. The colour of the wire structure is similar to Buddhist philosophy, merely an ideal which is made evident through our actions and our combined wishes for compassion. The more wishes are inserted into the columns, the more the colour comes alive; the more we act upon our desire to bring compassion into the world, the more the philosophy of Buddhism comes to life in real and evident terms.
People of all ages, races, creeds, and colours are warmly welcomed to come and experience this universal wish for compassion. Be part of this special work of art, as it is the people who participate in it that make it complete. Each person who enters a wish into one of the columns becomes an intrinsic and intimate part of the artwork itself, not under a label of religion or nationality, but as a human who wishes for a better world and universal compassion for all its inhabitants.
