"Ravissement" is a philosophical dialogue with the body of consciousness. The exhibition extends beyond a revelation of aesthetic objects, but a research of phenomenology about the in-between states of presence and absence, between consciousness and reverie.
In its Heideggerian belief, "Ravissement" explores the moment when "Dasein" (being-in-the-moment) is disturbed, when one confronts the "Unheimlich" (the unfamiliar) within the familiar. This is the space where the boundary between subject and object dissolves, where the self and the external perspective intertwine in a cross-weaving of perception.
The modern life dilemma of the unwieldy mass of information that we ingest each day is multidimensional and herculean. The question remains in how we could reach a state of non-judgement to fully participate in an unbiased reality. Each work in this exhibition embodies this pursuit of rapture—the moment when conscious barriers fall away to reveal unfiltered experience.
The recurring symbol of "Metal hearts" throughout the exhibition serves as an icon that I have mentioned and revisited as a vehicle to tell a story of the connection between humans and the contemporary world. These metal hearts visualize the paradox of modern connection—simultaneously mechanical and intimate—creating tangible anchors for visitors to experience the dissolution of boundaries that "Ravissement" explores.
In Buddhism, "Ravissement" goes side by side with the "Bardo" concept - the intermediate process between death and rebirth. My works invite the viewer to enter the Taoist space of "wu-wei" (non-action), where actions are effortless and the act of letting go opens the door to a direct experience of reality.
Ontologically, "Ravissement" questions the boundary between Kant's "noumenon" and "phenomenon." In the state of rapture, we glimpse the infinite in the finite, the eternal in the moment.
"Ravissement" is not about giving up awareness but a deeper, transcendental consciousness towards a reality beyond categories and ordinary concepts, a state of accepting the world as it is, without the prism of ideas, symbols and visual language.
Through "Ravissement," I seek not a transcendence from the world, but a deeper immersion into this very reality - to discover, as Nietzsche suggested, that chaos is not an abyss to be feared, but the source of creation and becoming.
-Bùi Công Khánh
Artist