Like Water, Like Clouds

"Like Water, Like Clouds" is an improvised audiovisual ritual that invites audiences to experience softness as a radical act through the cultivation and expression of Qigong (气功).

This project was born out of an earlier iteration, CHROMESTHESIA , created for my performance in David Rios’s “Designing Interface for Live Performances” class in 2023. The initial version — a custom-built paintbrush-instrument using color detection to generate sound — explored musical expression through the lens of transhumanism. This project was inspired by the work of Niel Harbisson, a colorblind-cyborg who hears and composes using colours. Since then, I have been exploring meditative, somatic, and collectivist practices cultivated during a year of reflection and travel, and my research has shifted toward understanding how ephemeral, embodied practices can transform space and perception toward softness, intuition, and spiritual presence. I have become increasingly curious about how art can offer space for people to reconnect with their own tenderness, and how slowness and listening can act as quiet resistances to the capitalist rhythms of speed, productivity, and individualism.

The conceptual foundation of this work is inspired by Figures in Air by Micah Silver, who asks how sound mediates social space—not simply as vibration, but as a kind of environmental intimacy. Silver writes about “frequency oscillations in the air” as carriers of intersubjective experience, proposing that sound might allow for temporary states of self-other merging. This idea of an ephemeral social architecture resonates with my desire to co-create atmospheres that invite collective vulnerability and presence.

I began exploring methods for cultivating softness, both in my own life as well as my artistic practice, which led me to dive deeper into Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations. This constellation of collective practices positions listening and sound-making as tools for healing, integration, and recognition. Oliveros proposes that transformation occurs when one's inner experience is made manifest and accepted by others, when memory and presence converge, and when individuals find resonance with their surroundings. Her work deeply informs the improvisational dialogue of this project, which blurs boundaries between performer and audience through participatory soundmaking.

Additionally, throughout this year at IMA, I have been increasingly interested in reconnecting with my Chinese roots and learning about Chinese history, culture, and aesthetics. I chose to use Chinese calligraphy as the language of this performance because it is often considered a soft martial art, reflecting Taoist principles of qi (气 life force) and wu wei (无为 effortless action). The xing/shi duality—xing (形 form) and shi (勢 momentum or spirit)—informs how I approach gesture: not simply as movement, but as the energetic force of becoming.

For this performance, I am writing the characters "流水行云", inspired by the style of the famous Buddhist monk and calligrapher from the Tang Dynasty, Huaisu (怀素). The ephemeral act of writing these characters is meant to be an invitation to freely flow and become one with the nature of the universe. As Annika Hansteen Izora writes, “Tenderness offers the possibility of a salve that connects us to the liberatory potential of deep compassion, play, and expanse.” This project is a space for that tenderness to unfold while connecting all participants through collective sound-making.