“The Grand Voyage-The 7th Prophecy”
ShanghART Westbund
For this exhibition, Guo Xi takes audience on a Grand Voyage with “Seventh Prophecy”. It all began with an advertisement released in February of 2015:
“Is eyesight a kind of light?”
“Eyesight isn’t light, but it can be projected.”
“We should release the prophecy as a classified ad in the newspaper, so it could be secretly spread to the public.”
“The ad is small enough to be hidden. Nobody would see it.”
“Hello, is this the Oriental Life? I want to publish an ad.”
“Hi, what kind of ad is it? Please show us your draft. We can do the lay out for you.”
The Seventh Prophecy: Gazer From Afar
During the sea voyage of 86 days, every passenger would be surveyed with a strong gaze, like a searchlight sweeping on top of a haunted lighthouse. This ever-present invisible companion makes the passengers act more cautiously, hold themselves with more elegance, and speak with the sparkling wisdom of rhetoricians. The night passes through the Panama Canal, a stand up comedian tells the crowd about how he gazed into a pair of elliptical eyes during an afternoon nap, and saw through the entire story of his life. But he induces no laughter at all.
“The Grand Voyage”
“The Grand Voyage” was a long term creative project founded by GUO Xi and ZHANG Jianling, and supported by Imagination Lab in Hangzhou. In 2014, the artist duo released 12 prophecies from sea, and set off on their 86 days global voyage in 2015 to witness the prophecies. They brought back evidences and stories they collected from their journey, and produced a narrative maze with a star cluster of texts, images, and objects.
