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M+, Hong Kong. M+ Council for New Art Fund, 2020, © Zhang Xu Zhan
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Mediatheque
Zhang Xu Zhan 張徐展
Hsin Hsin Joss Paper Store Series—Room 004, Si So Mi 紙人展與新興糊紙店系列──靈靈肆, Si So Mi
2017–2018
Zhang Xu Zhan combines papercraft, animation, and installation to create fictional worlds. The subject of death and the cycle of life are recurring themes in his work. In this haunting tale, a nest of mice performs a funerary ritual in a dark forest made of miniature trees. Holding colourful ribbons that are in fact the entrails of their own bodies, the mice dance to the song ‘Ach wie ist’s mӧglich dann’ (How can I leave thee)—a German folk song by composer Friedrich Wilhelm Kücken that was introduced to Taiwan and whose first three notes ‘Si-So-Mi’ are synonymous with funeral music. The paper mice are decorated with festive details that allude to the living tradition of paper replicas in Chinese funerary rituals. The artist is the fourth generation to own the Hsin Hsin Joss Paper store in Taiwan, a business committed to the craft of paper offerings that are burned during traditional ancestral worship ceremonies. Touching on the significance of his family’s business, Zhan visualises the enigmatic realm between the living and the dead often explored in folk tales and rituals.
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