Ying Gao’s “Flowing Water, Standing Time” was inspired by neurologist Oliver Sacks’ novel, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” in which he tells the story of Jimmie G, a 49-year-old former sailor who believes he is 19 and has been convinced of this since leaving the Navy.
Ying Gao described the book in these words: Jimmie is shocked by his reflection when Sacks hands him a mirror; as soon as his gaze leaves the reflective surface, he reverts to his 19-year-old self. Jimmie lives as a prisoner to this single, perpetual moment, oscillating between the presence of the world and the presence of self, having lost any sense of temporal continuity.
The garments, like Jimmie G, evolve between two states and undergo constant metamorphosis as they react to the chromatic spectrum. This transition from one state to another – from immobility to movement – does not operate as a dichotomy. The field of time, which injects energy into the very core of inertia, varies the intensity animating each garment differently. These two states are merely stepping stones among an infinite number of possibilities.
The garments of the “Flowing Water, Standing Time” collection can also move in color to reflect this varying mobility. They can recognize colors in their immediate surroundings and are liquid and chameleon-like in their ability to adapt to the slow rhythm of their ever-changing environment. The garments react to what they see, creating a mirror effect. Like Oliver Sacks’ patients, they alternate between what they are and what they might become while embodying the inherent complexity of all things.
Materials: silicone, glass, PVDF, electronic devices
Photos : Malina Corpadean
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