Rewriting the Heart Sutra
Buddhism and the (Geo)Politics of Symbols in Qiu Zhijie's Art
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12424508 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chang Tan (0000-0003-4300-2738), Chang Wei Tan (0000-0001-8377-3241, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 623-653 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | positions asia critique (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1067-9847 • E-ISSN: 1527-8271 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/10679847-11164525 |
| OpenAlex | W4401360176 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 31 |
This article studies the Chinese artist Qiu Zhijie's (b. 1969) three experimental “rewrites” of the canonical text Heart Sutra and their geopolitical connotations within and beyond China. Examining Qiu's copious writings as well as curatorial and artistic practices over a decade, the article shows how the artist's evolving views of Buddhism have triggered, justified, and added nuances to his shifting positions in art and politics, including assertions of “native” identity and aesthetics, pursuits of non-elitist art and “folk” wisdom, and ambivalent takes on cultural colonialism. To contextualize Qiu's Buddhist-affiliated art, the article also traces how the modernized versions of Buddhism entangled with avant-garde art and politics in the postwar era, and how concepts like authenticity and cultural influence claimed not only aesthetic and thus market value, but also territorial ambitions. The citation of Buddhist doctrines and practices, the article argues, enabled Qiu to present his aesthetic maneuvers as ostensibly apolitical and hence more powerful as embodied ideologies. The artworks create “fragile” yet potent symbols of geopolitical connections that serve the discourse of a Sinocentric world, where China shares roots with “peripheries” such as Taiwan and Tibet and draws its soft power from a collectively created yet mystical and singular identity
Aesthetics · Ambivalence · Art · Art history · Buddhism · China · Geopolitics · Identity (music · Ideology · Literature · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Psychoanalysis · Sculpture · Sociology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law
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The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
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Anarchy in the Pure Land
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The Intellectual in Modern Chinese History
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The Landscape of Words
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |