Internationally renowned, cross-disciplinary artist Jennifer Wen Ma employs an all-encompassing worldview to conceptualize a multimedia installation taking over MGM COTAISpectacle. Springing forth from Ma’s mind and hands, this garden landscape brings together natural, sculptural, and virtual textures, synchronizing the entire Spectacle in one visionary stroke.
The artist’s signature honeycomb-construction paper-sculpture garden will be the physical artwork in the Spectacle. This stunning series of paper gardens combines state-of-the-art laser cutting technology with traditional Chinese art of accordion paper folding technique. Gardens spill down to the floor and occupy a pop-up exhibition space in the Spectacle.
The installation is designed as a three-dimensional landscape painting. Viewers looking down from the first level will discover a world activated by visitors exploring the gardenscape on the ground floor, and vice versa. The multiplicity of perspectives allow each visitor to have a unique, immersive experience with the work.
The colour scheme of the garden will be based in white and black, as in the classical literati painter’s schemes, while being highlighted in bright rainbow prism colour accents. At night, lighting system will create another dramatic look to offer to the audience to experience.
Fantastical creatures take flight from the gardens and soar into the air, suspended from the ceiling grid. These large-scale creatures look like abstracted butterflies, and take on calligraphic ink forms. They are also constructed from laser-cut paper in multilayered and intricate forms inspired by the Chinese characters無“nothingness”, 窮“exhaustive”, and 盡“limit”. These words have multiple layers of meaning and can be interpreted in multiple ways. They are meditations on ancient Eastern philosophies. 無 is not “emptiness”, 窮 is not “poor”, 盡 also means “ to exert”. Strung together, these words give us a never-ending source of creativity and inspiration to be drawn from, both symbolically and formally. At the same time, the butterflies symbolic representation for transformation is a core concept in the work.