Xi Li （李曦）
The Idol Reveal: From Infatuation to the Mysterious
“In the current society we live in, cultures are becoming mythical. When the frenzy of self-creation has created an ardent and addictive fantasy about a phenomenon, can we understand our own value system and form a new narrative in it? Can I break through the predicament of expressing limited experience at a superficial level by recognising my relationship with idol worship, and developing a different spiritual experience and practical discussion around the study of the main narrative?”
The VR video work The Idol Reveal: From Infatuation to the Mysterious attempts to construct a picture that reflects the spiritual realm of the self in idol worship, and develops an approach to idol worship between fantasy and belief – It is not the abandonment and repression of asceticity, nor the struggle with self-reason, nor is it emotional madness or spiritual purification; it is a practical methodology centred on the narrative of the subject: to clarify the relationship between oneself and fantasy with great whimsy, and build a spiritual practice that is rich in beauty.
As the embodiment of my inner consciousness and inner strength, The Idol Reveal consists of three independent structural scenes, which respectively depict the three blurred and delicate experiences and complex inner images that the subject will experience in idol worship: "Absolute infatuation"; " Relative infatuation"; and "Mysterious order". These scenes are filled with revelatory mythological imagery, intricate totems, poetic idols, sculptures and plants that symbolise energy.
What they compose is not only a surreal dream utopia, but also a transcendent universe in which an illusory image is produced from the real phenomenal world: it contains both my exploration of the subject and my awe of the symbolic order; It shows how I am integrated with the "world" I am in, and how the feedback loop between the subject and the object is carried out in this invisible and boundless symbolic space.
