I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon the son of Ariston by Plato. In The Republic, Book VII, Plato depicts a cave where people have been imprisoned from birth. These prisoners are chained so that their legs and necks are fixed, forcing them to gaze at the wall in front of them. The prisoners cannot see any of what is happening behind them, they are only able to see the shadows cast upon the cave wall in front of them. Socrates suggests that the shadows are reality for the prisoners because they have never seen anything else. The work consists of a long tunnel, visitors are invited to surrender their sight and hearing by wearing an artist customised VR headset, experience the process of walking out of the Plato’s Cave. During the separation of visual and the body, the surrounding visual information is changing in the process, visitors will experience a gradual acceptance of the technical existence.
cooperation with Cai Haoran
Exhibition Duration：2017.7.15-9.16
Exhibition Venue: Today Art Museum, Beijing
