Weaving Project

When We Stare into the Sky

When we take a look at our imaginations about the future, they are diverse in different cultures and historical periods. The imaginations about the future may be very independent, have conflicts with each other or have a paradox relationship. Mogao Caves, a historic location used for meditation and worshipping of Buddha, filled with ancient paintings and sculptures. These materials show the imaginations of people from thousands of years ago and record the changes of these imaginations over time. Recently, people started to scan the caves, turning them into digital spheres and opening them to the public, step by step. I took a screenshot of the view, when looking up as the viewer standing in the virtual reconstructed cave. Looking through the screen, I get a glimpse of how the people in ancient times imagined the universe, the sky and reflected about the metaphysics. How do contemporary people think about that? The answer may be found in recent science fiction movies. The scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey represents the imagination of our society in the last few decades, focusing on technology, Artificial Intelligence and the essence of being. The images from the science fiction movie are weaved together with the digital images of the cave’s ceiling from thousand years ago. Donna Haraway considers weaving as a cosmological performance, meanwhile, Deleuze uses it as a metaphor to understand the relations between time, spirit, and ensemble. Could this be a method to open the way towards the speculative future? Could we speculate on the coexistence of different civilizations in the future?