In my video installation The Palace, inspired by a workshop I developed called the “empty touch workshop,” I explore “how to touch something without touching anything.” In this mindfulness-based exercise, participants mimic gestures of touching things to evoke a sense of actually feeling the item. Drawing on Buddhism classic Śūraṅgama Sūtra and a reimagined Emperor’s New Clothes, the video tells a story of an emperor who discovers that true value lies not in lavish garments, but in the memory of touch from those he cherishes. The Palace is a combination of tactile experience and visual storytelling. The holographic and immersive experience render the piece both as a tutorial and a narrative, and its narrative perspective is both first person and third person. In the Emperor’s New Clothes, the emperor is deceived into wearing invisible clothing, but in my story, the emperor voluntarily chooses to do so because he believes that memories from the cherished one are more important than luxurious garments made of jewels. As long as one believes, even in ruins, the treasures in one’s heart will not disappear.
Director statement
This attention to ephemeral material draws me towards the idea of absence, which to me also has a tactile quality connected to memory and emotion. Absence evokes touch in a more imaginative way. This piece helped me realize that everything holds both presence and absence. When we have something, remembering it won’t last forever helps us value it more. Even when it’s gone, we don’t need to feel anxious—having and not having are connected. We can hold onto the memory and the feeling of its touch, which no one can take away.
Bio
Leilei Xia was born in Guangzhou, China. She is a multimedia artist who works in tactile art, experimental animations, video art, and participatory collective art. As one of the editors of independent science zine Icosa Magazine and the founder of tactile art collective Tactileye, Leilei explores how tactility and bodily feelings is related to use both in a personal and social level through digital media works and participatory works, and is interested in combining the process and the result of art together to make art not as a noun but as a verb. She holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and is an Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina in Greensboro.
Pebbles Underground is focused on showcasing and promoting experimental, avant-garde, underground, and no-to-low budget projects by artist-humans from all over the world. Absurd, uncanny, witty, humorous, slow-video – all are welcomed, and loved.
Pebbles Underground is an independent project not funded by any government or corporation, and we intend to keep it that way. Main source of funding is personal donations from humans organizing the project, who are artists themselves, and the main drive of the project is formed by the energy and involvement of the organizers, and the public.
