Jeremy J. Quinn
multidisciplinaryMember of Rise Industries
Member of Rise Industries
What Holds Us Together
video projection, color, sound.
“Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub;
it is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges.
Thus, while the tangible has its advantages,
it is the intangible that makes it useful.”
Lao Tzu (trans. John C.H. Wu)
In chapter 11 of the Tao Teh Ching, Lao Tzu shows how emptiness can have power.
Between two people, a similar space exists. The closer we get to another person, the more we fill in this emptiness between us with knowledge of their ways and thoughts. The space narrows. But a mind is not a book, and while we may get to know another in very intimate ways – the gap between us always remains.
It is precisely in this space that the real substance of our relationships resides, in our differences. We don’t know how another mind will react to our actions. Accepting this gap is the key to accepting someone for who they are, and acknowledging our inability to completely control a relationship or predict its future. We cannot ever know the mind of another – and this is precisely the span of love.
exhibited in Dis/Connect, South La Brea Gallery, Inglewood, CA 2005
