Tree Chuangs

Tree Chuangs is a series of six site-spe­cif­ic tex­tile sculp­tures designed by artist Xinan Ran and built by youth and Beam Cen­ter staff at Beam Camp City on Gov­er­nors Island. This instal­la­tion cre­ates mul­ti­fac­eted sen­so­r­i­al expe­ri­ences through­out the grounds of Gov­er­nors Island, and is on view through Octo­ber 31. The project uses the form of a tra­di­tion­al Chi­nese chuang — a cylin­dri­cal tex­tile rit­u­al appa­ra­tus com­mon­ly used in Bud­dhism — as a launch­ing point to tell the sto­ry of Beam youth through their art­work on the col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly made tex­tile pieces. Able to be viewed by the audi­ence from both the out­side and the inside, each struc­ture serves as a metaphor for the dual­i­ty of inter­nal psy­chic space and exter­nal social space that we simul­ta­ne­ous­ly inhab­it as we nav­i­gate the world.