Feiyi

Feiyi (Beyond the Robe) takes as its visual point of departure the cosmology and the imagined ascent of the soul depicted in the T-shaped silk painting from the Mawangdui Han tombs. Sound is conceived as the movement of qi, flowing beyond the boundaries of linear time and connecting visible and invisible realms, while evoking the cycles, purification, and transformation of life within the cosmos.

The moving image unfolds in three movements. The first, Tianlai (Heavenly Sounds), corresponds to the underworld depicted in the silk painting, evoking a primordial state in which the cosmos has yet to take form and life is only beginning to emerge—as though sound itself has not yet taken shape, yet the darkness is already resonating with sounds descending from the heavens. The second movement, Seven-stringed Qin, corresponds to the human realm. Through imagery evoking scenes of ritual and offering, it traces the gradual formation of lived experience, memory, and spirit through time, as emotions and experiences are continually set into motion and reconfigured like the strings of the qin. The third movement, Bells and Drums in Resonance, corresponds to the celestial realm, evoking the ascent and transcendence of the soul and the unfolding of cosmic order, as sound expands into a state of openness and resonance.

Through the interweaving of sound and moving image, the work seeks to reimagine the sonic world of antiquity through a contemporary language. The musical composition draws primarily on traditional Chinese instruments. As many instruments from the Mawangdui period can no longer be fully reconstructed or have been lost over time, the artists work with surviving traditional instruments and archaeological sources to imaginatively reconstruct and reinterpret ancient sounds within a contemporary context. Representative instruments include the guqin, guzheng, pipa, dizi, xiao, and sheng, as well as percussion instruments such as bianzhong (sets of bronze bells), bianqing (sets of stone chimes), and drums.

By bringing these sounds into dialogue with the moving image, Feiyi transforms ancient imaginings of life, death, and the cosmos into a continuously evolving contemporary expression, allowing them to unfold anew in the present and opening up further possibilities for transformation and extension.