French poet Charles-Pierre Baudelaire coined the term “modernity” to designate the “fleeting, ephemeral experience of life” in an urban metropolis subject to change and impermanence. Therefore, contemporary men live restlessly in urban ups and downs, where values are nihilized, and the order of society and people deviate from the norms. Nevertheless, Tiantai Buddhism teaches us that “the meaning and abundance of life lies in the present”. It asks us to contemplate in calmness and to gain a sense of permanence in an instant - “the twinkling, the present”.

As the second part of my solo exhibition “You Si Miao, An Infinitely Fine Line”, “Star Calendar” opened up a macro view of the world. Additionally, echoing the micro images of “8” in the first part, the work assisted the audience out of the plight and and to reconsider the position of humans in the face of nature and universe.

Stepping into the grand exhibition hall, the audience would see illusive clouds covering the walls and ground. Fourteen projectors displayed the clouds, sunrise, sunset and eclipse that I took at different times. Silkworm cocoons mark the calendar numbers one to thirty-one, twinkling lively like stars in the flows of clouds. The walls of clouds are as light and airy as silk in the radiant silver light, hazy and mysterious. One might think of the cosmic history as a silkworm history. The grandeur of the work, the natural charm of Chan Buddhism, the modern electronic images, and the poetic imagination about silkworm blend together and form a dialogue between limited life and infinite time, prompting the viewers to stop and meditate before “Star Calendar”.