Installations by Ma Han. Medium: Hardwood.
This work was inspired by an ancient Chinese game known as “goblet in the winding stream.” In the third lunar month, after completing the ritual ablutions of the Fuxi ceremony, people would sit along both banks of a meandering stream. Upstream, a goblet would be placed in the water to float down with the current. Whoever it came to rest in front of would quaff wine from the cup.
In this installation, the “winding stream” has been transformed into a serpentine path cut into a low round platform. People who come to this space are not mere passersby; they linger and enjoy the surroundings, traverse the twisting path carved into the wooden platform, and quietly open their senses to ancient culture and Zen emptiness.