| Project Title | Dao Follows Nature: The Manifestation of Phenomena |
| Location | Chongqing, China |
| Dates | 18 – 20 July 2025 |
Contextual Statement
This project explores how Daoist and I Ching cosmology can be translated into contemporary visual forms through rule-based textile and AI practices. It comprises 11 plant-dyed textile paintings and an interactive installation titled AI Oracle, exhibited in Dao Follows Nature: The Manifestation of Phenomena (Chongqing, July 2025).
The textile works are structured using trigram logic, binary sequences, and cellular automata. Rather than expressing personal emotion, they reveal underlying cosmological patterns. Colours are generated through spontaneous chemical reactions in botanical dyeing, aligning with Daoist principles of following nature. The resulting fabrics are not decorative but structural – visual manifestations of order arising from Earth-bound processes.
The installation extends this methodology into the technological realm. It uses I Ching numerology to produce AI-generated divinations, while its physical form embodies a cosmological model: the suspended box (Human), dyed cords (Heaven), and wooden blocks (Earth). Together, these elements enact the sequence: “Man follows Earth, Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows Dao, Dao follows Nature.”
Positioned within the lineage of geometric abstraction, this project proposes a shift from modernist formalism to cosmological structure – its formal language is informed by modernist abstraction, but its philosophical foundation lies in ancient Chinese cosmology, which it treats as a source of universal order.
Special Thanks
Thank you to Liying Yang, Director of UK CreativeLab Ltd who collaborated with the artist to explore innovative, organic and sustainable dyeing techniques, providing expert advice on dye materials and mordants, and assisting in stitching the dyed threads and fabrics onto the canvas as part of the final artwork.
Thank you also to Contemporary Art Asia, who sponsored and provided the venue for the exhibition; to Sixiang Printing Studio for the design, layout, and printing of the exhibition catalogue and standing banner; and to the Engineering Team, Property Management Department, Vanke Emerald Metropolis for technical assistance and installation.
Project Documentation
For further information
contemporaryartasia.co.uk/min-zhang-1
Consult the online AI Oracle for a divination here: chatgpt.com/g/g-681ca212d6848191b4e51532e373e8cb-ai-oracle
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