Where Clouds Once Formed

Mori investigates the confluence of ecologies with place-based affectivities in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. The title of the three chapters,“守(to protect)”、“森(forest)”、“杜(spirit)” are different in shapes and meaning, yet all pronounced as “Mori in Japanese.” Karst cave, groundwater, the soils, villager, burning mountain ritual, scientist, Buyō dancer, majestic oak and forest, the work questions the ways of contemplating nature through rituals and folklores, and how landscapes have been historically constructed. Conceptualizing Dan Graham’s installation “Two-way Mirror Triangular Pavilion with Shoji Screen” as diffractive model of the work, Mori sees landscape as process and inner mechanism, which is defined by our detached vision and interpreted by our bodymind. It is a panorama which continuously changes as we move along any route.

Maps are controlled by nation-states: who creates them, what they will look like, how they will be read, and how they will be shared. water sleep II Akaike river under Xizang Road (2019) is an essay film which the artist guide us to find the lost river in historical maps. Taipei/Taihoku City Planning Map with Bird’s-eye View (1935) and Taihoku Aerial Map, American Army 14th Air Force (1944) represent the colonial history of Taiwan. The process provides another reading through decolonizing gaze of maps and turns the focus toward evidence of objective portraits of the landscape.