惑星的共自在性 ＜Planetary Coexistence of Self-reliance＞

The term Wakusei/惑星, a Sino-Japanese term for Planet, was first coined in the process of translating the idea of the heliocentric system of Copernicus in the late eighteenth century. Deriving from the Greek word planḗtai, which means wanderer, this word consists of two characters, Wandering and Stars: 惑 and 星. In the ceaseless movement of individual bodies, their flickering movements deliver a faint yet unwavering ray of light, to somewhere beyond time and space. The gentle glow evokes the traces of all lives and movements, intersecting on an eternal horizon of moments. Perhaps, like these celestial bodies, we are planeting — drifting across spaces not making much sense at the first sight, even perplexing ourselves, but weaving a certain intricate orbit in co-influence and presence of everything else.

“Endemic ways of life” — interactions and correspondences over planetary scale of time

“They call them endemic or native species, but endemics are created through the overlap of many different things. You can trace it back to any region of the globe." said a farmer working to keep native seeds alive, to pass them on to future generations confronted with ever-changing climate change. In the face of climate change, plant diversity is also at danger as homogenised seeds with traits that are convenient for industrialised agriculture have come into use as the international standard. For example, this single plant, the hamanasu, which has been grown only in one coastal area of Japan, is a product of the migration and interaction of people, plants, and animals, over vast distances and time, from Indonesia to Thailand to the equator. Endemic species, which on the surface appear to be unique and local in origin, are the product of interactions and correspondences over long periods of time on a global scale, easily transcending the geographical and political boundaries of our own myopic time scale, and are connected to all places within their ecological context. 

Awakening discarded time and space in the ever-morphing terrain of a maze

The ever-morphing terrain of a maze realised by Wit Pimkanchanapong invites us onto a pathway to experience tactile connections and fragments that we overstep in our daily lives. Wit has been constructing a three-dimensional maze rooted in Buddhist teachings in Thailand, inviting visitors to immerse themselves and encounter experiences reflective of Buddha's journey to enlightenment. This iteration has evolved into a dynamic maze that continually shifts. Through his engagement with experiential research and dialogue within the ongoing actions of living room for seed, the maze became an attempt to generate a realm of coexisting self-reliance which awakens the space and time discarded in contemporary societies. Every step appears as a moment of reflection and encounter, for us to choose a forgotten horizon and intersection upon which we still stand. Ahead of us lies only off roads, where we wander and feel our own way to move. The temporal and spatial dimensions expanded with living room for seed invite all to find a realm of spontaneity that will call the concrete pavement of today’s life into question, opening an interstice that connects unexpected and unheard.