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Bach is Heart Sutra

Zuni Icosahedron

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Set Design
8.07
8.29
8.21
5.93
7.63
Omar Abdelghafour
Omar Abdelghafour Founder Principal at Light Space Design
8
8
8
5
7.25
Leni Popovici
Leni Popovici Founding Director and Partner at KAP Studios
An incredibly immersive space is ac...
8
10
9
6
8.25
Mengjie Liu
Mengjie Liu Cofounder at Sò Studio
8
7
7
6
7
Yifan Wu
Yifan Wu Cofounder at Sò Studio
8
7
7
6
7
Gudy Herder
Gudy Herder Trend Consultant at Eclectic Trends
A great example of how playfulness...
9
9
9
7
8.5
Veronica Givone
Veronica Givone Managing Director Hospitality at IA Interior Architects
7
8
7
5
6.75
Stefan Weil
Stefan Weil CCO at Atelier Markgraph
Immersive contemplative, a spa for...
10
8
10
8
9
Ruud Belmans
Ruud Belmans Creative Director at WeWantMore
7
9
7
7
7.5
Tina Norden
Tina Norden Partner at Conran and Partners
Immersive interactive spaces that a...
9
8
8
6
7.75
Anne-Rachel Schiffmann
Anne-Rachel Schiffmann Director of Interior Architecture at Snøhetta
7
9
9
6
7.75
Sonia Tomic
Sonia Tomic Senior Associate, Head of Furniture & Materials at Universal Design Studio
8
8
8
5
7.25
Justine Fox
Justine Fox Cofounder | Colour Specialist at Calzada Fox
Fantastic use of different colour l...
8
9
8
6
7.75
Christiaan Fokkema
Christiaan Fokkema Partner at Hollandse Nieuwe
8
8
9
5
7.5
Liam Doyle
Liam Doyle Principal at Jump Studios
8
8
9
5
7.5
Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
GRAND JURY VOTES
Shortlisted - Set Design of the Year
8.19
8.39
8.32
6.97
7.97
Avşar Gurpinar
Avşar Gurpinar Assistant Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University
This is an awe-inspiring project, f...
8.07
8.29
8.21
5.93
7.63
Bill Bouchey
Bill Bouchey Principal - Director of Design Interiors at HOK
8.07
8.29
8.21
8.02
8.15
Howard Duffy
Howard Duffy Founder at HTDSTUDIO Arkitekter AB
Nice use of a 'flat-floor back-of-h...
8.07
8.29
8.21
5.93
7.63
Akanksha Deo Sharma
Akanksha Deo Sharma Designer at Ikea
Harmonious balance and flow of phys...
8.56
8.7
8.63
8
8.47
Client
Zuni Icosahedron
Floor area
283 ㎡
Completion
2020
Chief Curator / Artistic Director/ Spatial Design
Mathias Woo

Bach is Heart Sutra innovated classics with theatre technology, creating a mesmerising space with gigantic glassless mirrors where audiences enter for an immersive experience of the hymn of The Heart Sutra and the music of Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello. A unique spatial dimension was constructed in Bach is Heart Sutra with music, projection, and space, creating a gentle sensory fiesta, and giving rise to a spiritual universe where the healing power of the theatre was transmitted. The Buddhist sutra (scripture) The Prajna-paramita Heart Sutra and J. Bach’s Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello are both milestone classics in human history. The Prajna-paramita Heart Sutra, abbreviated as The Heart Sutra, contains only 260 words which encapsulate the most profound Buddhist teaching of the perfection of wisdom (sanskrit: prajñā) in a deep realization of the multifold phenomena of life and universe as “emptiness”. The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello uses the sounds of a cello to construct a spiritual universe with time, space and colours. The immersive experience was divided into two parts. First, audiences engaged in copying out a sutra for stilling the mind and body and bringing them to a restful state. Beyond just training one's ability to concentrate, the handwriting activity produces the same effect as a Buddhist sitting meditation. By copying out the sutra, audiences could experience the peace of mindfulness through the wisdom from The Heart Sutra while immersing deeply in the audio-visual design of Bach is Heart Sutra. After copying out the sutra, audiences walked into the installation set for the second part of Bach is Heart Sutra. This 16-minute theatre-tech-journey was limited to four audiences per session when they immerse in an "emptied" mirrored phantom created by gigantic glassless mirrors. The countless mirror reflections of multifold happenings in the installation set: the projection, the movement of audiences, opened up gateways for audiences' inner reflection. The metaphor of a mirror is frequently used in Buddhism to describe practice, wisdom and enlightenment. Each audience was given a tracker so that the music, lighting and projection will follow the audiences moving around freely at their own pace, constructing a unique experience for each of them as they hear and see in the impermanence of sound, light and projection. With Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello merging with the technology of Soundscape and The Heart Sutra - the profound Prajna-Paramita wisdom and Bach's pure music - there is a glimpse of the wisdom illuminating to the emptiness in all matters. Art and religion used to be inseparable from each other for art elevates spiritual experience; and spirituality motivates artistic creation. Chow Fan-fu, an Arts Critics said, " Bach is Heart Sutra is an experience of merging the Buddhist philosophy with Christian music. It's a journey traversing through and integrating the religions of the East and the West." Integrating the Buddhist doctrines with multimedia Art Tech, Bach is Heart Sutra creates an animating arena for experimentation on the interaction between art and religion.