Qi-Framing
This project developed from my desire to create a series of objects that show an alternative world where technology is applied culturally, especially with Orient philosophy. In this fictional narrative, the protagonists comprehend and utilize Western technologies from a perspective of Chinese philosophy, speculating electricity is a form of “qi.”
The concept of “qi-farming” is similar to electroacupuncture, in which continuous electric pulses are used to assist acupuncture. However, in qi-farming, electrical pulses are replaced by the electricity generated from fruit batteries for a better practice of the Chinese philosophy of “the unity of human and nature.”
Mixed-Media Installation
2020
Qi-collectors are a series of objects for qi-farming. They are designed under the rules of science and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Grapes, lemons, and potatoes are chosen to be harvested for their “neutral characters,” which means they are generally consumable to people in any physical condition, according to TCM. They also contain a significant amount of acid substances, which makes them suitable materials for fruit batteries. Each type of fruit has its unique qi collector. On the other hand, the tools of acupuncture and moxibustion are redesigned to emphasize using electricity as qi. Both the needles and the moxas are composed of lightbulbs to transmit electrical current and generate heat.
“ The qi-farmers combined electricity with yin and yang, developing a new theory called ‘Electric Yin Yang Theory.’ They applied it to medicine, harvesting the energy of plants and minerals to make their exhaustive bodies retrieve balance”.