Kaixiang Zhang
Skimming
resin, stainless steel, and sterling silver
400 ×
6 ×
50 cm
Imagine a stone spinning at high speed. Watch it revolve clockwise. At first, you discern its rough texture, but as velocity takes over, the boundaries bleed, becoming nothing but a blurry, grey orbit.
Past, present, and future are all dissolved. Time ceases to be a forward ray; it becomes a vortex into which we are inevitably pulled.
Caught in this motion, we fluctuate. One moment, we are thrown backward to salvage fragments of memory; the next, flung forward to simulate possibilities yet to unfold. The spinning stone reunites with its origin and its end, over and over. What appears to be mere repetition is, in truth, an ongoing transformation.
Look closely at the skipping stone one last time. Imagine being that stone, feeling the rush of wind and the rhythmic, biting slap of water against the surface. Within this blur of rotation lies a strange tension: the past left trailing behind, the future rushing violently ahead.
Yet, as the skips ripple onward, something shifts. There is no heavy plunge, no violent splash. Each contact becomes thinner, lighter, more ephemeral.
This is no longer a solid rock. It is a stone of ice, carved out of time itself.
With every impact, it ceases to merely bounce; it merges. It mimics flight, but it is, in reality, a silent dissolving.