A cross cultural study of Chinese yi jing aesthetic theory and Ch'an philosophy applied to contemporary art : bright moon tender wind

Abstract

This thesis examines a spects of the relationship between Eastern and Western art, and philosophy, specifically through the analysis and application of traditional Chinese yijing aesthetic theory and Chan philosophy,with particular reference to contemporary environmental installation practice. I am particular interested in the relationships between the artist, the audience the artwork and the engagement o f all of these with the space.I wished to see whether yijing theory and Chan philosophy might be provide a framework for the development and direction of my own installation practice and to discover whether my resulting artwork could in turn produce a direct interpretation of yijing and Chan. All of this research has been written up in Chapter 1- 4 with an examination of essential background information on the aspects of Chinese art and aesthetic theory known as yi fing. Further such research was undertaken in the area of Chan Buddhism and its relationship to art and the artistic process. This was followed by an investigation of the characteristics of Chinese and Japanese garden design and how they can be seen to exemplify aspects of yijing and Chan. I then considered the history and development of East-West cultural interaction, aspects of environmental and installation practice and certain works by Turrell, Long and Teshigahara in order to provide an historical and theoretical context for my practical work. I Chapter 5 provides a detailed account of 10 practical projects, featuring the process of initiation, development, realisation, appraisal and documentation. Each project has been created and organised according to specific aims and objectives with appraisal and reflection of each project contributing to the particular focus of the practical work that followed. The conclusion of the thesis culminates in the final project, "Bright Moon Tender Wind', which sought to provide a conclusive statement in relation to the research themes. There is extensived ocumentation including images on a CD ROM for all my projects relating to the thesis.