Vimana

This work is based on the historical transfer of technologies between India and the Chinese region. It uses Taiwanese traditional flying lantern technology to recreate an Indian mythological phenomenon.

The Vaimanika Shastra on the topic of Vimanas or ‘science of aeronautics’, is an early 20th-century Indian text on aerospace technology which, however unfeasible, inspired me to recreate what was in the writer’s imagination. It makes the controversial but fascinating claim that the Vimanas mentioned in ancient Sanskrit epics were advanced aerodynamic flying vehicles, described as a double-decker, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer. It flew with the ‘speed of the wind and gave forth a melodious sound’.

These literary descriptions -and mostly the drawing plates- were used for reference in the construction of a scale model manufactured by a Taiwanese paper lantern craftsman.

In the video piece, the camera accompanies the Vimana scale model in a contemplative way, flying through different landscapes, creating a narrative of a fable or an ancient legend.

Craftsmans: Ye-han Wen & Shu-Jing Huang

Calligrapher: Zhen-Jin Zhang

Cameras and Edition: Dan Yeh & Tania Candiani

Assistants: Yu-Ling Chou & Hua Lee

Commissioned by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) for the exhibition No Such Thing as Gravity; co-curated by Prof. Mike Stubbs and Dr. Rob La Frenais.