COUPLET PAIR REBUS:The Principle of Cause and Effect in Art

COUPLET PAIR REBUS explores the principle of cause and effect in art, offering various approaches to this philosophical relationship. Based on the UMAG exhibition curated by Harald Kraemer, the COUPLET section is comprised of more than twenty calligraphic pairs of poetic lines, known in Chinese as duilian (對聯). Through the multi-layered texts, one discovers the multitude of voices that can be used to describe nature and the world and how content can be visualised through various forms of calligraphy.

PAIR features artworks that form a balanced equilibrium through diverse visual languages along with objects that exemplify how mankind’s pursuits create objects in symmetrical harmony across genres. While works presented in the REBUS section form a network of diverse references that connect the objects. Individuals are then tasked with decoding these connections like a 3D puzzle.

This publication features an essay by curator Harald Kraemer unpacking the issues of harmony, symmetry and contrasting artistic elements in art. Further, Chinese language scholar Professor Yeuk Hung To Angus contributes a text analysing Chinese couplets and their history and development throughout time, and UMAG Director Florian Knothe provides an analysis of pairs in Western and Eastern art history.