Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts before the performance, Wroclaw, PL, 2022
Poster for the event designed by Qianlin Wang, the English title Ceremony For Tao Hua Yuan The Deity is written in a Chinese caliography style.
Ceremony For Taohuayuan The Deity, durational and participatory performance at Nicponiej Gallery, 2hrs, Wroclaw, Poland, 3rd June 2022.
Photo documentation:Katarzyna Kornek, Wiktoria Łebek.
Storying telling and cooking with participants
Sharing the food and explaining the divination
Ceremony For Taohuayuan The Deity is the first event artist Qianlin Wang and Noks Collective have created together as a part of Mythopoeia project. It included an aritst talk about our ideas and researches, and a ritual performance designed for the specific location and time. Read the curatorai text written by Wera Morawiec in Polish here.
Mythopoeia project intends to create a different mythological system, in which all the deities are androgynous.During such fast-changing time, females and non-binaries find it difficult to follow any models in the mythologies to guide their individual journeys. It is important for us to reimagine a new mythology that responds to the modern time and our psychological needs.In March, we launched an open call to accept stories of deities from different cultures. Our plan now is to create more stories and according rituals.
The preparation for the performance Ceremony For Taohuayuan The Deity started from a divination I did using I Ching to know the status of yin (feminine) and yang(masculine) energies of the day.The result of the divination is the 22nd hexagram Grace.Then I chose Taohuayuan as the matching deity to help the audience achiveing the balance of yin and yang.
On the day, I firstly told the story of the deity in front of everyone,and cooked the dish with all the participants’ help. Thaai Mann made of mud, raw camphur and other herbs is served for people to put on their body to bring stability.
The recipe for Taohuayuan includes vegetables, potato purée, and earth (bread).This dish is inspired by the famous Copenhagen restaurant Noma reinvented in a Chinese touch. All the vegetables are from the local market;the potato mash’s taste mimics Chinese street food, in flavour of coriander, soy sauce, galirc leaves, and chili podwer;the earth is made of dehydrated rye bread mixing with special Sichuan chili oil. In the end, the boiled vegetables are served on top of the potato purée with earth sprinkled on top. For detailed recipes, we intend to publish a zine next year with all the recipes we designed for different deities.