Primordial Encounters
Multimedia installation at St. Louis University Museum of Art

Lampo Leong

     Primordial Encounters is a site-specific multimedia installation, part of a two-person exhibition entitled Suspended Marks at St. Louis University Museum of Art. Installed in an enclosed, dark space, Primordial Encounters features digital video projecting through or next to the translucent silk scrolls suspending from the ceiling. Cursive Chinese calligraphy written on the aged silk quotes Laozi’s Tao of Power, a sixth century B.C.E. Chinese classic. In addition, spotlights shining down to the 8’x4’x4’ silk cluster illuminate the intricate silk layers from within and thus reveal the forceful marks suspended on the metallic surface and create mysterious images in the viewer’s visual frame.

     Visitors are encouraged to actively engage in this artistic process as they move freely through the space and between the silk scrolls. While their eyes shift from the surface of the scrolls to the depth of space or explore the silky surface and space simultaneously, the viewers become enveloped in a rich visual environment. The complex effects provided by multimedia technologies facilitate an unusual experience, suggesting the timelessness of the primordial majesty as well as the gathering of nebulae in the outer space.

     This installation synthesizes the visual arts, music, and advanced computer technologies into an artistic expression that is only possible this century. It attempts to create a sublime spiritual experience and a visual language that incorporates the rhythm of Chinese calligraphy and the dynamic quality of abstract paintings. The powerful and meditative effects, brought together by the special lighting, provide glimpses into the crucible of genesis and celebrate the dynamic energies that give birth to the universe.

     The digital film features the computer-manipulated images from my painting series Contemplation • Forces, and the soundtrack in the film comes from the original computer music by Professor Thomas McKenney at UM-Columbia.