Eternity – Tianlongshan Grottoes Bodhisattva, Winged Victory of Samothrace
Exhibition detail
Towering over Te Ātea North Atrium, this dramatic sculpture from the Eternity series by artist XU ZHEN® stands at over 7 metres tall and brings together replicas of famous sculptures from Eastern and Western cultures. Both were removed from their places of origin, and their histories raise questions about ownership, cultural exchange and who gets to decide where important antiquities belong.
The base of the sculpture is a seated bodhisattva, an enlightened figure from Buddhism, from the Tianlong Mountain cave temples in Shanxi Province, China. Considered some of the finest examples of Buddhist statuary, many of these works were pillaged and sold on the international art market during the 1920s. The original figure is now held by the Tokyo National Museum.
Balanced above is the upturned figure of Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory. The original sculpture once stood in the Sanctuary of the Gods on the Greek island of Samothrace. It was removed in 1863 by French consul Charles Champoiseau and is now displayed at the Louvre in Paris. Greece continues to seek its return.
Using 3D models of the Nike and specially commissioned multi-angle photographs of the bodhisattva, the studio of XU ZHEN® collaborated with master carvers and experts in restoring Buddhist sculpture to reconstruct their forms.
By merging these displaced cultural icons, XU ZHEN® invites us to think about how artefacts move between countries, and about how power, loss and conflict impact that movement.
