Curated by Jaia (Tzu-Chieh) Kuo
Dates: 7–8 August 2026

Exhibiting Artists:
– Ruby Yujia Zhai, Subin Gang, Tilly Johnson

Performance Collaborators:
– Clare Archibald, Georgie Mac

Dual Venues:
– Indoor Exhibition: Grace and Clark Fyfe Gallery, GSA
– Outdoor Open Lab: Glasgow Green

Curatorial Research Focus:
– Cross-cultural translation of Tathatā (Suchness), reverse engagement with Buddhist philosophy, multi-sensory experience, and dual-site public practice.

Curatorial Statement

When was the last time you allowed yourself to be fully immersed in the present—attuned to your body, your senses, and this very moment?

AS IT IS | 如是 | 여여 is a curatorial project inspired by the Diamond Sūtra, a foundational Mahayana Buddhist text renowned for its philosophical insights into Suchness (Tathatā), Emptiness (Śūnyatā), Impermanence (Anitya), Non-attachment, and Presence. Bypassing religious dogma, the project extracts core philosophical inquiries into Isness, Thisness, and Suchness.

Weaving together the native languages of the participating creators, the title reflects a cross-cultural exploration among five international artists who each respond to the theme through their practice, enabling audiences to perceive, reflect upon, and discover their own personal understandings.

Subin Gang creates installations with fragile organic materials, treating continuous physical deformation as an active environmental dialogue and embracing ongoing flux as a positive response. Ruby Yujia Zhai breathes new life into fallen nutshells by constructing resonant acoustic objects and open frameworks of drifting botanicals, inviting viewers to interact, notice often-overlooked presences, listen to nature’s unadorned rhythms, and remain open to constant transformation. Tilly Johnson translates somatic sensations and ambient soundscapes into quiet inward exploration, while collaborating with performers Clare Archibald and Georgie Mac in an unscripted live movement and acoustic performance that explores the coexistence of stillness and motion within a space of heightened awareness. Extending into the landscape of Glasgow Green, the artworks encounter the living environment to reveal new outdoor dimensions, alongside a participatory body-awareness workshop led by Tilly that transforms presence into an immediate, shared sensory experience.

Through the intersection of sensory environments and embodied experience, this spatial translation creates an accessible ground for collective reflection. The exhibition invites audiences to practise ‘being’ and non-attachment, supporting them in navigating the continuous fluctuations of everyday emotions, bodily states, relationships, and identities with lightness and ease.

Audience feedback affirmed the exhibition’s somatic and affective resonance, prompting visitors to reflect deeply on their personal life states. Looking forward, this curatorial practice establishes a sustainable foundation to develop the live performances, workshops, and interactive works into modular, iterative projects—flexibly adapting across diverse audiences, media, and spatial contexts to deepen cross-cultural dialogues on presence and wellbeing.

Conceptual Grounding & Translation

Contemporary society is increasingly defined by hyper-acceleration and systemic pressures, where pervasive struggles with uncertainty erode internal stability and exacerbate existential anxiety. To address the ontological roots of this condition, the curator engaged in sustained consultations with senior practitioners and philosophical mentors. This reflexive validation ensured a nuanced grasp of core philosophical insights, transforming ancient wisdom into active cognitive tools for contemporary life. On this basis, the project takes the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (the Diamond Sūtra) as its conceptual starting point.

Unlike religious texts focused on dogmatic veneration, the Diamond Sūtra is fundamentally a philosophical inquiry into human cognition and the nature of existence. This curatorial research takes the central concept of suchness or thusness (Ru shi, 如是)—translated in the exhibition title as AS IT IS—as its core departure point. Within canonical Buddhist literature, Ru shi (如是) functions as both textual origin and ultimate destination: spanning from the universal opening formula “Thus have I heard” (Ru shi wo wen, 如是我聞), signifying receptive listening and somatic perception, to the closing verse imperative “Thus should one contemplate” (Ying zuo ru shi guan, 應作如是觀), demanding non-dual mindful awareness.

Together, these concepts establish the curatorial methodology: “Thus have I heard” (Ru shi wo wen, 如是我聞) is translated into an embodied curatorial listening that embraces acoustic textures and interpersonal encounters, while “Thus should one contemplate” (Ying zuo ru shi guan, 應作如是觀) manifests as a decentralised mode of observation, inviting audiences to observe impermanence without imposing subjective aesthetic hierarchies. Bridging sensory reception (listening / Wen, 聞) with contemplative clarity (seeing / Guan, 觀), this translates into three interwoven ontological layers: illuminating phenomena in their unconditioned state prior to cognitive judgment (Isness), anchoring perception in the immediacy of the present (Thisness), and acknowledging the dynamic, interdependent reality in continuous transformation (Suchness / Tathatā).

Religion, art, and everyday life are inherently and deeply interconnected. Historically, however, exhibitions engaging religious and cultural thought have frequently relied on traditional iconography, doctrinal scriptures, or sacred relics. This conventional approach inadvertently erects cultural barriers, risking alienation among diverse audiences and reinforcing stereotypical, exoticised perceptions. Recognising that this philosophical wisdom fundamentally transcends ecclesiastical boundaries, this project adopts a curatorial strategy of ‘reverse engagement’: stripping away overt religious signifiers, the exhibition orchestrates an active dialogue among bodily movement, responsive materiality, and multi-sensory resonance. This allows audiences to first cultivate personal peace and resonance through embodied, somatic experience, before guiding them to recognise that these insights originate from the millennia-old wisdom of the Diamond Sūtra. Through this gentle translation strategy, the project aspires to offer every visitor—whether an art enthusiast, philosophy researcher, or an individual simply seeking a moment of respite—an accessible ground for personal inspiration.

Multilingual Title & The Sūtra’s Core Verse

The exhibition title, AS IT IS | 如是 | 여여, originates from the concluding line of the Diamond Sūtra’s celebrated verse:

All conditioned phenomena,
Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow,
Like dew or a flash of lightning;
Thus we shall perceive them—just as they are.

一切有為法，如夢幻泡影；如露亦如電，應作如是觀。

일체의 유위법은,
꿈과 같고, 환상과 같고, 물거품과 같고, 그림자 같으며,
이슬과 같고, 번개와 같으니,
마땅히 이와 같이 관할지니라.

Weaving together three linguistic and cultural frameworks, the title establishes an open dialogue among the participating international artists:

• Chinese (如是, ru shi):
  Conveying “just as it is,” written identically in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese contexts.
• Korean (여여, yeo-yeo):
  Moving beyond literal translations (이와 같이) to adopt a Mahayana metaphysical term rooted in Tathatā (ultimate “thusness”), describing the fluid, unattached nature of all phenomena.
• English (AS IT IS):
  Offering a direct, grounded invitation to observe reality unfolding in real time.