Decomposed Ritual Symbols is a collection of three artworks by Zhang Zhan which follow on from Decomposed Ritual Symbols I, which was launched in December 2020 as part of the FABRICA Frame group show.
The collection includes a series of videos that are constantly decomposing and recomposing two iconic Chinese ritual ornament designs, 囍 (shuāngxǐ, double happiness, ligature) and 奠 (diàn, libation), that are prominently seen in Chinese wedding and death ceremonies. By applying kinetic typography generated by custom software running in real-time, the artist explores dynamic meanings of the ritual symbols while disclosing the tension underlying such social conventions.
