_{Photography: Moritz Bernoully}


In his anthology Liaozhai Zhiyi, the Chinese writer Pu Songling (1640- 1715) collected more than 500 mythical tales. Mainly dealing with the unknown, the stories juxtapose two worlds that could not be further apart: the actual and the fantastic reality. Their coexistence, however, comes with blurred boundaries that allow the characters to navigate between them. In this way, the lovers in the story Liancheng can find themselves in a place detached from space and time, allowing them to express and experience their mutual feelings. Yet in reality, their love collides with social expectations and societal structures. The traditions, social values and morals of the feudal system prohibit them from entering into a marriage that would link their worlds.

After all, the principles of individualism and private property take precedence in capitalism and competition: Thus, the love between
a modest man and a woman from a wealthy family is doomed to fail from the very beginning. At the time of feudalism in particular, when Liancheng is set, women were regarded more as commodities that could become “private property“ through marriage. The fact that this type of relationship was more likely than the emotional, romanticised ideal at that time was already observed by Alexandra Kollontai (1872- 1952), women‘s rights activist and pioneer of new forms of love and life. She also noticed that bourgeois society (to this day) can hardly see women detached from their families and outside the isolated cir- cle of domestic duties. But to what extent do the conditions and va- lues of over a hundred years ago actually differ from those of today? Can‘t certain conditions also be found in the modern world? More importantly, will this dilemma ever change if there is no prospect of turning away from capitalism and all its disruptive structures?

In her exhibition Ethereal Dissonance, Aspiration Unbound, Ming Yuan addresses the outlined questions and thoughts. In doing so, her works are both musical and visual extensions of the classic Liaozhai Zhiyi stories. Based on a multi-layered research, the exhibi- tion not only brings the feudal-era narrative into the present day, but also evokes an examination of the challenges that love still faces in today‘s class-oriented world. To love freely without having to justify oneself, as a liberation from the ruling system and as self-empower- ment, seems to remain an aspiration that needs to be fulfilled.

Text: Vivien Kämpf

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