Like Dew and Like Lightning | Aka Chang Berlin Exhibition

Exhibition Description

Aka Chang (Taiwan, 1979), a world-touring light artist, will present his first international solo exhibition in Berlin.

‘Like dew and like lightning’, a new installation and the centrepiece of the exhibition, is inspired by the Buddhist thought of the ‘Diamond Sutra’. It renders a state of emptiness and non-attachment that evokes a sense of physis and physics, revealing the essence of beauty.

The exhibition features three large-scale, site-specific laser light installations that integrate photosensitive materials, a water screen, and kinetic motors, translating artist’s unique narrative and Eastern philosophical perspective into the context of the modern technological era, and inviting the audience to rethink the ‘Being’, the essence of immersive experience in our time.

Exhibition information

1. Location: Monopol Berlin, Provinzstraße 40-44, 13409 Berlin (Map)
2. Open Dates & Time

• April 18, 12:30-16:00
• April 21–26, 12:30 – 19:30

Installation Description 

‘Being Somewhere, Sometime’ (Site-specific)

Evolved from the LTF series (2022), ‘Being Somewhere, Sometime’ marks the artist’s first exploration of ground-based vertical projection, inviting the audience to step into a large-scale landscape of light and time. The piece proposes a new way to rethink the human sensation of time through the act of traversing; as one moves from one end of the space to the other, distance and movement figurative the space into a parallel, sensible moving timeline. Here, the traces of light and shadow act as the remnants of fractured time.

‘RING: Kosmologia’ (Site-specific)

"Kosmologia," derived from the Greek study of the cosmos, translates to"宇宙學"

in Chinese. In this context, 宇(Yu) represents the surrounding space, while 宙(Zhou) signifies the continuous river of time. This title does not merely evoke the position of human beings within time and space; it serves as a reminder, inviting the audience into an immersive moment to return to their own consciousness and experience an epiphany of the 'now.'

‘Like Dew and Like Lightning’

Originating from a theatrical stage and transformed into an immersive installation, the work utilises a water screen to create a spectacle with laser light. It is deeply inspired by the famous Buddhist 'Diamond Sutra':

'All conditioned phenomena

Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows;

Like dew and lightning.

One should contemplate them in this way.'

This teaching left a profound mark on the artist’s mind. Water fog manifests as dew, and laser light as lightning. No matter how captivating the beauty may seem to our senses, it is merely fleeting; only the consciousness dwelling within this time and space reaches the eternal.

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Artist Bio

aka_chang, born in 1979, Taipei. He is a Taiwanese media artist who specializes in using light to create spectacular scenes. Early in his career, he entered the field of visual arts as a VJ. As he grew older, it became apparent to him that even the most complex and dazzling images could be reduced to a single light source. This realization led to experimentation with various luminous materials and smoke, logically replicating and combining light arrays in symmetrical or asymmetrical patterns. Observations were made on their textures, their relationships with the medium, and their potential impact on human perception, establishing three-dimensional light and sound structures connected to time, space, sound, and people.

Currently, his art represents an ongoing process of reduction.

His work “Rainforest of Oslo” was selected for the Taipei Digital Art Awards (2008). The audiovisual piece “June Orbs” was chosen for the Kaohsiung Awards in 2020. In recent years, several interactive audiovisual works have been created, combining multiple optical media, including “Void Jungle” and “Struct by Kindling” (2018), and the “Multimmersion” series (2017-2021). The latest audiovisual concert, “December Nite,” premiered at the National Taichung Theater in April 2024.

The exhibition and performance events are supported by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Monopol Berlin, LaserAnimation Sollinger.

WARNING: LASER IN USE

• Please avoid direct eye contact with laser beams.
• To prevent sensor damage, do not point camera lenses directly at the lasers.
• Adult supervision required for children under 18.

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Host or Publisher Aka Chang Studio