[DOKU] THE SELF
DOKU the Self, which premiered at the 2022 Venice Biennale, is a visual and philosophical journey through the cycles of life, death and reincarnation according to Buddhism. It is based on a real experience on board an airplane during a storm, and it explores the changes of karma via the wheel of destiny –an everyday game of chance we participate in every day, whether we like it or not– using 3D animation technologies, motion capture and virtual reality, with an aesthetic style that evokes simulated worlds through video games and science fiction.
Characters from anime films as well as gods and demons from traditional Chinese culture inspire the six avatars –one for each reincarnation– which Lu Yang follows through various states of consciousness, inside and outside the action at the same time. “I am a character in the game and I am also the one who plays the game,” says one of them when facing the wheel of karma with a joystick, in one of the most significant sequences of the film. “What’s the difference between the game and reality?”.
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Lu Yang was born in Shanghai in 1988 and she lives and works between Shanghai and Tokyo. Graduated with a BA and MA from New Media Art department of China Academy of Arts (Hangzhou), some of her notable projects include Kim Kawa Cancer Baby (2014), Uterus Man (2013) and Wrathful King Kong Core (2011), often in collaboration with performers, designers, experimental composers, and controversial figures such as Mao Sugiyama. Lu Yang has participated in major solo exhibitions in international institutions such as Kunsthalle Basel, Basel; Palais Populaire, Berlin; ARoS Museum, Aarhus; M Woods, Beijing; MOCA Cleveland; Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; Zabludowicz Collection, London; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo or Kunstpalais Erlangen. Furthermore, she has also taken part in group exhibitions such as Worldbuilding curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist at the Julia Stoschek Collection in Düsseldorf and also at the Centre Pompidou–Metz; The Milk of Dreams at La Biennale di Venezia; Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai; CCA Tel Aviv; ICA, London; Muzeum Sztuki, Poland; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin or Fridericianum, Kassel, among others. In 2022 she was selected Artist of the Year by Deutsche Bank and in April 2024 she opens a solo exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.
