"Thirst" by Izumi Ueda Yuu

Date : 23 November 2010 - 15 January 2011.

Venue : Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah USM.

Organizer : Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah USM.

Officiated by : En. Tetsuro Kai Konsul-Besar Jepun, Konsulat-Besar Jepun, Pulau Pinang.

 

Encountering Izumi’s Objects of Meditation

1. Knowing Izumi

I came to know Izumi through her husband, Paul Kohl. I met Paul in Singapore upon a suggestion by his colleagues, with the intention of bringing his photographic works to Penang. Both Paul and Izumi are currently based in Singapore. Last year in 2009, I helped to organise Paul’s solo exhibition of digital photographic prints on Japanese hand-made paper at the Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah (MGTF), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). The exhibition, entitled “Two Fish, Out of Water” brought Paul and Izumi to Penang to install the exhibition as well as to conduct a mini lecture and workshop with

USM’s students.

Initially, I didn’t know that Izumi was also trained as a visual artist. Only after a polite request from Izumi to show me her portfolio that I came to know her as an actively practicing visual artist who

has exhibited in the USA and Japan as well as other countries. I went through Izumi’s portfolio and was impressed, if not humbled. Her works are lessons in meditation upon simple things in life, without the excessive needs for stifling grandeur or mighty scheme that are customarily used to ‘position’ contemporary artworks today. Perhaps, they reflect Izumi herself – humble, simple, polite, petite and subtle, but not without a pinch. I could also sense a strong and firm character marked by contemplative eyes for details and miniscule elements that most of us would normally miss in our daily life.

Together with one of my graduate students T.C. Liew, we embarked upon a field trip around Penang. Throughout the trip, I had the pleasure of witnessing how Izumi absorbed objects that we normally take for granted in life.

Through her, objects are not merely three dimensional entity defined by our common notion of physical space. Through her, objects are emotional, mental and spiritual phenomenon entangled in multiple and fluid dimensions. They are meant to be contemplated and meditated upon. They are meant to be unveiled. Penang, with it’s unpretentious (if not chaotic) mix of ironies, contradictions and paradoxes, seemed to encapsulate Izumi’s internal vibes – a holistic mix of female intuition and clear thinking. Izumi’s demeanour and works reminded me of the mantra of ‘sustainability’ that is consistently championed by USM. The result of Izumi’s encounter with USM and Penang is partly presented in “Thirst”, her first solo in Malaysia. Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, USM is certainly honoured to host her.

2. Meditating Beyond Objects

In unveiling objects, the notion of ‘perception’ itself has to be freed from a deterministic process based on linear logic of

cause and effect. It has to be shifted into quantum description based on ‘probabilities’. This refers to indeterminism of quantum condition in which all possibilities are entangled until they are perceived. Such shift places the ‘observer’ or ‘perceiver’ at the center of the phenomenal world. Such shift may also imply a strong impact to the concept of macro-micro relationship in the western tradition, initially based on a highly mechanical and compartmentalised view

of the world we live in. Reality based on modern sciences is basically mechanistic, looking at life in parts with no connection or shared link between them. It has the tendency to reduce life to things, spiritual to material, humans to machine and a reservoir into a sewage tank. Such culture operates within a frozen hierarchical system structured

around the dichotomy between a controller and the controlled. Such artificial system widens chasm between individual and the society, private and public, an observer and the observed. In fact, it may shatter humans into unconnected and

unsynchronised pieces of mind, body and soul. On the other hand, quantum reality in the micro world is entangled with the macro world. In other words, a small unit (micro) does not have any meaning except in its relation to a bigger unit

(macro). It is also interesting to meditate upon how we employ the term ‘me’ or ‘I’ despite the fact that our body contains 100 trillion cells, each containing protein molecules in trillions as well. Each body has 200 bones, 500 muscles, billions of fibers for muscles, kilometers of nerve fibers to allow us to coordinate the ‘I’. Our brain has a million cells, each

is more powerful than a personal computer (Mae- Wan Ho, 2003).

A sustainable ecosystem, including human beings, is not consisted of parts that compete with each other, or with Nature. It contains organism from various species and steered as a whole by symbiotic relationship that is also plural and

complimentary, cutting across all layers, running across all types of universes, from local to global, from slowest to fastest (speed of light), from things seen to things unseen. The whole network in an ecosystem will change or make adjustment based on ever-changing needs or circumstances, with the role of control shifting between different parts or

units. Everything relies on electromagnetic vibration that is presence in everything. A synchronised state is like a musical rhythm or a beautiful jazz in which each musician is free to improvise on her own, ever-changing and individually unique,

but is simultaneously synchronised with the tempo and rhythm of the whole (Mae-Wan Ho, 2003). This is referred to as being immersed in a quantum coherence or an overwhelming feeling of oneness. Such concept is closer to eastern

metaphysical traditions based on the unity of parts and harmonious symphony of the universe. The universe is read as a unity of the whole, a result of inter-communication between all the parts across all range of space and time. It is continuous, everchanging, synchronised, free and interdependence at the same time.

In perceiving beyond objects, we are not merely what we see through our naked eyes. We are a part of an interconnected quantum entity, sustained by everything in a unified and synchronised (or not, depending on our free will) whole. As one synchronises her frequencies with the symphony of the whole, driven by true and

divine love, one is encapsulated by a blissful symbiosis, free of selfishness, hatred, envy and never-ending vicious rivalry.

In engaging with Izumi’s artworks, I hope that we will be able to meditate beyond her carefully chosen objects. I also hope that we may be able to unveil the cloaks of our mind and emotion. Who knows, we may perhaps be encapsulated by our own form of quantum synchrony and blissful symbiosis.

 

Hasnul J Saidon

Director

Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah (MGTF)

Universiti Sains Malaysia