Heidegger said that “the poet’s vocation is to return home, returning home transforms the native land into the origin of intimacy.” Today I am honoured to participate in the preparation for the special exhibition on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of the establishment of the new building of the Liangzhu Museum, an opportunity that has allowed me to come in close contact with Liangzhu – the scared place of ancient civilization in Southern China.

When it comes to the methodology and trajectory of studying history, archaeologists, philosophers, and artists all enter through different perspectives. For me as an artist, it is through my own practice and existential experiences that I pursue a questioning of the universe and nature, time and life, existence and the existent, eternity and the contemporary…

I summarised the works in my “Nature Series” as four words “silk, thought, history, poetry”. Amongst which “silk” refers to the creative medium, one that involves the interaction between me and the living vector of silk – silkworms; “poetry” refers to the Distant and Poems, it is the ideological shore towards which scientists, philosophers, artists all venture in pursuit through creativity, it is an ultimate spiritual aspiration. But “light” is a form of poetry. Light is not only the vibration and extension of particles, but it also possesses characteristics of divinity, religion, and human perception.

In this exhibition, I emphasised the relationship between silk and light, the “perceptive ability” of light, and attempts to let light be the guide of the exhibition, and the guide to enter the remnants of Ancient Liangzhu Civilization for observation and meditation. In truth, silkworms are chasers of light, silkworm eggs need to be exposed to light for the worms to bite through and crawl out. In the anatomy of the silkworm, the structure composed of the anterior silk gland, posterior silk sac and spinning hole is reminiscent of a cathedral. Approximately 80% of silk consists of fibroin, and since this amino acid is the “element” of life, silkworms not only eject silk but also an implication of salvation. This is why I believe: silkworms are messengers of light. As it is said in Dao De Jing:  “Elusive, yet holding an image; vague, yet containing substance”, this is the thin, quiet, void, and elusive “field” constructed collaboratively by silk and light. When I discovered that cocoons produced double images under diffuse light, seemingly moving and coming to life, I had the idea of using live silkworms to create soft sculptures. In the history of art, it is light that opened the vision and spirituality of Impressionist artists, creating a new, vibrant image of the world. But for me, it is through the conversation between silkworms and light that I attempt to discover the origin of “existence” and the latent shadows in the void of life. Interestingly, the behavioural science of silkworm reveals that during their silk-spinning movement, their bodies and the interface generate different angles of 30° to 50°, thus forming the silk traces in the shape of an "8". This figure “8” is neither the Oriental Tai Chi symbol nor the mathematical symbol of infinity “∞”, it represents life’s continuous cycle of nirvana and rebirth.

At the entrance to the exhibition, I designed an installation for the work 8, so that when the audience enter, watch the silkworms spinning silk in the trajectory of the figure “8” and imitate the drawing of figure “8” using sandpaper on the mirror, it will be an unforgettable experience of life… Meantime, across the dark space of the exhibition hall, there are many light spots pulsating in the shape of “8”.

On the walls of the exhibition hall there are two video works Stele and Can Chanchan (Silkworm Spinning). Stele depicts the movements of silkworms, gathering and dispersing as they spin silk. The shadows they cast are like inscribing a historical monument with “Silkworm Writing”; for Can Chanchan I leaned in close to capture images of a silkworm’s journey from spinning to pupation and finally transforming into moths. Depicting the macro through the micro, it also creates the illusion of the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter within the images. Like silk, history meanders continuously; like silkworms, history is constantly transforming and re-emerging from its cocoons… The history of silkworms is the history of the universe, a microcosm of the history of human development.

Echoing the silkworm inscription in Stele are several sculptures based on symbols resembling writings from the Liangzhu civilization. This sacred land of Southern Chinese civilization has not only unearthed many exquisite jade cong, jade disc and textile tools, but also a large amount of seeds. The exhibition displays numerous seeds composed of white marble and ceramic, covered with a layer of silk. Silk and jade are not only common materials used by the Liangzhu civilization, the two also symbolise attributes of “warmness” and “purity”, or as it is put by the ancient saying “怀玉” (huaiyu), meaning to be generous and virtuous. This is why I titled this series of work as Seed: China’s roots and the spiritual treasure of Liangzhu.

Planar Tunnel, with an extreme translucency akin to that of jade, are simultaneously slices of history and time whilst reflecting the naturalization of chips manufactured by modern civilization. It was once exhibited next to a Mawangdui silk gown, later at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland in the United States… Tunnel of silk, tunnel of light, tunnel of information, extending infinitely, this is called “渡” (dù), which means crossing. It possesses connotations of transcendence and is homophonic to “度” (meaning degree) in “度测” (meaning measurement), thus silk becomes an instrument of measurement.

At my studio in Tiantai, Zhejiang, I often gaze from afar at Liangzhu, this emblem of permanence. Yet how far apart am I from her? If I raise 3 to 5 sheets of silkworm eggs per year (each sheet has approximately 25000 eggs), and each silkworm spins 800 to 1500 meters of silk, then at this rate, the total length of silk spun by all the silkworms I’ve raised since the late 1980s until now would be able to circle the Earth forty times – the Earth will become a cocoon. I thought about Einstein’s concept of light years. To calculate roughly, travelling from this Tiantai to Liangzhu only takes 0.0006 second. Hence, it’s obvious that the distance between eternity and the present is not vast and immeasurable, but only a fraction of a second, like a white horse passing through a crevice. Therefore, eternity is in the present. The glow of Liangzhu shines beside me.

Beside the Water Courtyard at the museum is an organic installation, corresponding to the white marble and silk Seed. The early rice sprouts and joyously sings, the seed of Liangzhu’s spirit passes down millenniums hence.

Walking out of the exhibition hall, one faces the ruins of the Liangzhu Ancient City. I placed a telescope on the site of the Mojiaoshan Palace Ruins, to gaze into the future. As such, we step into the exhibition, under the guidance of silk and light, experience 8, Searching Through Silk Traces in Space, observe Seed and the divine The Light of Cong which is emblematic of the universe through its square and round spaces, the circular traces on the transparent surfaces of the installation produce refractions under the mechanisms of light, following the movements of the audience, rotating and expanding like stars, forming halos, as light moves through the dark space, entangling whilst peering into the future through the holes on ancient woods. Now, the ancient, the present and the future, all throughout the globe, are connected into a singular timeline by silk and light. We follow silk and light to survey five thousand years of Liangzhu civilization and miracles, marvel at its spectacular creativity. It is revealed in plain sight, that the vitality of ancient Liangzhu is a time-transcending and everlasting movement of light!


Liang Shaoji
July 3, 2025