Imagine one day, we will all upload our consciousness to the cloud and abandon physical bodies.....
We live as virtual beings, and we all die physically. What object/thing shall we bring together with us? What is considered monumental in the material world? What are our sacred offerings to the virtual world and future life?
The Release無量 is an art project inspired by human traditions regarding death. Whether the human spirit is attached to the material world is the main concept of this project. In many cultures, people bury or burn their favorite objects such as treasure, photos, books, clothes with their bodies after they pass away. Where the souls go or whether they rely on material matters in their next journey is unknown, we still consider funerary objects and offerings to the dead indispensable. Spiritually, sacred offerings serve as tickets to a new paradise or remind those deceased to remember their roots and legacy. For those souls who wander in our place rather than enter the spiritual realm, we sometimes burn papercrafts like paper money, paper-made iPhones, which might relieve those lost souls.
A ceremony held for redeeming souls from regrets and reliving those alive's sorrows will also be hosted by priests/priestesses, who will unite people and guide them to pray for good together. After the ceremony, souls are considered to be released finally from pain and suffers, physically and mentally.
In this exhibition, I invited people to reflect on their lives and bring sacred offerings to the virtual world. They also make a wish, pray for their future virtual version selves. Their offerings to the virtual world are being transformed into 3D files and remixed into a brainwave generative art.
人類的精神是否依附於物質生活，是本作品探討的目標。至今我仍然會感到疑惑，如果我們將要意識上傳，作為純粹虛擬如同程式碼的存在，為什麼有人還會想要攜帶物質一起前往虛擬世界呢? 我理想中的虛擬世界，是無邊無量的，連同感官和氣味都能被模擬出來的，是一個開闊的場域，等待我盡情遨遊探索，然而對於許多人而言，意識上傳就如同死亡一樣，是既新奇卻又讓人感到恐懼的。死後的自己會剩下什麼，還能保有多少的自我? 那些愛恨情仇會消失嗎? 因此，有人選擇攜帶家人的照片、有人選擇攜帶自己的寵物，有人選擇攜帶能代表緣分和回憶的物件。如同死後需要陪葬品一般，在最後的旅途時，能夠帶給我們慰藉的，到底是甚麼? 能夠安心讓人前往新的世界的，到底是什麼?
