A physical installation showing linguistic tones in Mandarin in a movement of 4 tree branches. Combining nature and language, I hope we could communicate with nature directly in an abstract way. So the tone of diverse words such as “land土地” “appreciation感谢” “oxygen氧气” ”hedonism享乐” “realization领悟” “Lu Lyu吕璐” can get the same effect.

The development of language is a way of detaching itself from nature. At first, People were directly observing the shape of trees, waters from nature and drawing them into words.Then, words became highly subdivided. No matter how specific language is, our heart is always a lonely hunter. Our desire for understanding can never be satisfied by languages.

Do languages have to be so specific?

I want to use tone as a media to make language ambiguous. Mandarin language has four tones. Flat is a quietness. Up is a firmness. Turn is solitary and down is decisive. I make language into abstract tones. Then I visualize tones into mechanical movements of tree branches. In this way we could communicate with nature and let language return back to its original state.