a centerpiece altar surrounded by divination ports, each of which pay homage to a different fortune-telling ritual used throughout Chinese history. the central structure is comprised entirely of paper-mache as a form of zhizha, a traditional Chinese craft that uses paper to create funeral offerings meant to be burned and sent to the afterlife. the medium amplifies the blur between material and spiritual—paper is inherently fragile, yet that allows it to be both malleable and fortifiable. the scene as a whole is created to be destroyed in service of communing with the intangible.

the act of divination projects a possible future. by naming the possibility, the diviner casts a line that hooks onto a future previously unnamed. however, knowing this possibility can influence our decision-making, resisting one pathway through the active creation of others. materiality and spirituality exist not in opposition to one another, but dialectically, as phenomena that each inform, change, and strengthen the other. what do we believe in so much that it affects our actions in the present? what spirits are we trying to invoke or honor?

the altar and its elements make reference to both historical Chinese altarmaking and material revolutionary symbols, actions, and experiments. while historically limited to the elite, a circular installation communalizes the practice of divination. the interplay of spiritual and revolutionary imagery invites the viewer to imagine the offerings they might wield in contribution to a better shared future, and collectively take action to make that future inevitable.