YINCHEN LI
/ 李 盈蓁
Tea Room for yours (2018)
participatory installation
After Tea serves (fon-cha) project was held in three different places with diverse types of participants, I expected participants to come to see what I had done, not just because of my fame or me. What’s more, I didn't anticipate participants to feel uncomfortable about being watched. Therefore, I think I can perhaps provide the participants with a more comfortable, private, and realistic space for this kind of interaction.
On the other hand, I observed that people had a certain mindset of respect for tea and tea wares during the previous exhibitions. The phenomenon reminded me of the spirit of “chashitsu” (Japanese tearoom) and the relation between “chajinn”(the master of the tea ceremony) and the guest. Thus, I created a private area (tea room) in a public space like an exhibition space and arranged what I thought was beautiful, the vessels I made, and the tea I picked. This surrounding of the tea room allowed participants to essentially realize the potential of the interaction from the space to person or even from person to person.
① Visitors could flip a wooden sign into the red at the entrance to ensure that they won’t be disturbed in the tearoom.
② two vessels are hanging up in the center of the room. These vessels appear to function normally, but they are too shallow for plants to soak in water. It requires visitors to take the heavy watering vessel underneath and drop some water to keep plants alive. Once the plants are watered, the excessive drops make a clear sound from the urn below.
③ The ceiling is made of paper fixed on a wooden frame. Leaves are placed to give off a faint warmth of light and the outline of a leaf.
④ Inside the wall at the end of the walkway is a flower vase with a black mirror behind it. When the audience looked at the vase, visitors could stretch their sight deeply so that they would see themselves in the black mirror.
⑤ Location of Tea Ware
⑥ Drinking water and sink
⑦ A vessel that requires two people to face each other and "suck" simultaneously to drink water
⑧ This vessel, called “kendi,” originates from West Asia. It is a portable wine vessel used to pull out a water line and receive it by mouth.
