Description

This is a project aiming to show traditional Chinese culture and custom through food. The outcome is a video installation, with four round-shape loop videos projected on a big dining table, looks like four dishes offering to audiences. The four dishes are foods in five colors from Five Elements Philosophy, which are red, yellow, blue-green, black and white. According to the food stories and symbolism, they represent love, regeneration, peace and balance, as ingredients contribute to A Recipe of Harmony. On the other hand, together with the installation is a thesis book talking about Chinese food culture, dieting habits, philosophy, etc. It severs as theoretical basement and documentation of the whole project.


Video Installation
at TENT, Rotterdam

I applied the Five Elements Philosophy to create the recipe of harmony. Five Elements is a combination with five materials that you cannot live without. They are metal, wood, water, fire and earth. It also represents five colors, five directions, five organs, and five tastes, etc. The Five promote and control each other for a dynamic balance, just like Yin and Yang. I picked up five colors: black and white, red, yellow, blue-green, and selected food in these colors. Then, according to the symbolism of each food, I made four harmony ingredients, which are Balance, Love, Regeneration, and Peace.


Screenshots