"Series Butterfly Effect - Illusion of Life" (Outdoor Version) (2020)

Text/Photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang. "Series Butterfly Effect" is this year's experimental exploration work. Through the butterfly effect, it elucidates the situation where existence is interconnected, where a seemingly insignificant act or attitude can trigger chain reactions and cumulative impacts. It embodies the dramatic effects of mutual transformation between illusion and reality, dream and awareness, change and immutability, and virtual and actual realms within existence, questioning the authenticity of existence?

"Series Butterfly Effect - Illusion of Life" (2020): Returns to the core of 'Mirror Image' creation. 'Mirror Image' began as early as the 2000 solo exhibition "Miles' Shared Memory: Intuition and Imagination" at Zhuwei Studio. Fifteen years later, it reappeared during an exhibition at Tainan Dongmen Gallery, continuing to expand upon the facade mirror spatial installation "Did You See?" (2015). This new work consists of five circular facade mirrors directly mounted on white walls. The mirror surfaces host several dreamlike, colorful butterflies (adding warmth and saturation to the cold mirrors), while the backs feature Buddha statues (symbolizing the immutable essence) and two decorative patterns.

This work is interactive, allowing viewers to explore its diverse visual effects by rotating their angles. As the viewing angle changes, space and light and shadow dance accordingly, reflecting multi-faceted scenes and situations. Within the illusory realm of virtual reality, it embodies the sentiment: "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, like dew and lightning; thus should one view them."

These five circular facade mirrors can also be directly placed in any scene space. Depending on the site, they arrange and combine with mirrors facing different directions and viewer angles, reflecting environmental scenery. Like a kaleidoscope, they endlessly transform the field's spatiotemporal landscape. When the mirrors disappear and the butterflies vanish, suddenly, viewers cannot extricate themselves from falling into the dreamlike abyss of time and space, metaphorically representing the confusion and falsity of life.