Medium
Scanning and 3D Printing
Video
Sound Design
*A Traditional Eight Immortals Table Handcrafted from Elm Wood
Description
In Chinese culture, the Eight Immortals table symbolizes auspiciousness, etiquette, and togetherness. Though its practical use has faded over time, it remains a vessel for memory, especially in rituals involving food and ancestral communication.
The installation juxtaposes two Eight Immortals tables with 3D scanning, motion graphics, and interactive elements. Visuals are generated in TouchDesigner using traditional Chinese motifs such as the Hui-style 32-elephant-nose and dragon patterns, which reflect blessings for family unity. As the visuals fade and transform, they metaphorically depict the erosion of familial bonds in the fast-paced digital era.
Visitors are invited to engage physically with the tables. Traditional tea sets and portable coffee makers are placed onsite, allowing for cross-cultural, tactile interaction and shared reflection on domestic rituals past and present.
In traditional Chinese design, central symmetry is more than a visual principle — it is a quiet metaphor for order: the balance between heaven and earth, the harmony among people. But in a modern world that leans toward minimalism, these patterns are slowly stripped down and reduced, leaving only echoes of their form.
The meanings they once held, their warmth and weight, fade gradually, like the memory of the table itself, blurred deep within the folds of time.
This wooden Eight Immortals table was a wedding gift for my mother. Back then, my family wasn’t well-off. My grandfather cut down an old elm tree in front of the house and built the table with his own hands.At the time, such a table was an essential part of a new household. The more furniture a bride brought with her, the more blessings she was seen to carry into her new life. Today, those customs have faded. Life moves faster, people are more financially secure, but families are more dispersed. Shared meals have become rare — now mostly limited to holidays or ancestral rituals.
This table, once central to family life, was left unused, gathering dust in the garage. But when I began to take interest in it, my grandmother started sharing stories I had never heard — stories from a time long before my own.
Memories of Objects
Location: Xiang Art Museum
Building 30, Area A, Nanxiang Zhidi Cultural Industry Park, No. 1188 Huyi Highway, Shanghai, China
Date: Sep 9 – Oct 28, 2022
Lin Feng
Visual Artist with cross-disciplinary experience in interactive arts, graphic design, and exhibition curation.
CV
CV-LinFeng.pdf
Recent Exhibitions
Luminous Waves, BioBAT, New York
March 8 to May 3, 2025