The Full Essay
Origin
Two weeks earlier, on an afternoon, the artist had a chance meeting with two fellow artists, Ju Hongshen and Xu Yun, at Changchong Mountain in Kunming. While the three drove down the mountain together, Lao Mu was deeply moved by the partner-relationship between them — a couple who, after all those years, still walked hand in hand into the deep mountain forest. Facing the indifference of the era, the loneliness of the individual, and the helplessness of existence, Lao Mu sighed in the car and decided then and there to embark on a journey to seek a “soul mate”.
This was not premeditated; it was instant action after being moved — just as Beuys said, “everyone is an artist”, and every moment of being moved is raw material for social sculpture.
Executor: Mu Yuming (Lao Mu)
Witnesses: Ju Hongshen, Xu Yun, Hu Jun, Mao Xuhui, JP
Launch time: July 20, 2021, 4:44 PM
Launch location: Changchong Mountain, Xishan District, Kunming
First-Day Record
“All people and events arose as conditions arose; nothing had been arranged beforehand.”
On the way down the mountain, Lao Mu asked Xu Yun to act as matchmaker and find him a soul mate. Ju Hongshen and Xu Yun felt put on the spot; Lao Mu “stuck shamelessly to it, refusing to let go”. Ju Hongshen then phoned Hu Jun, hoping to find Lao Mu a kindred soul at Chuangku — Kunming's frontline of contemporary art.
From Changchong Mountain to Chuangku, this was not only a geographic route but a soul-migration path leading from natural mountain forest to the cultural site.
Soul Mate Manifesto
What is unknown is what is real.
Soul mate: no age limit. Gender. Country of Citizenship. Nationality. Identity. Mass. Quantity. Species. animal. plant. time. space. Dimensions...
灵魂伴侣：不限年龄、性别、国籍、民族、身份、体量、数量、物种、动物、植物、时间、空间、维度……
Philosophical Dimensions
【I. The Ontology Beyond Boundaries】
In the traditional sense, “soul mate” has been confined within the framework of male-female heterosexuality, romantic relationships, and the human species. By way of an infinite enumeration of negations (no age limit, no gender limit, no species limit, no dimension limit…), this project liberates “soul mate” from anthropocentrism.
This is not a dissolution of love, but an inquiry into the essence of connection: if the soul can transcend the body, can it also transcend species? Transcend time and space? Transcend dimensions?
Here, “soul mate” becomes an Open Conceptual Device, inviting all forms of existence to enter the dialogue.
【II. Disaster as Catalyst for Soul Awakening】
In 2021, activity at the earth's core intensified: rainstorms carrying viruses washed over humanity's original sin, the German countryside was destroyed by floods, and Henan — the cradle of the Chinese civilization — suffered the catastrophic “7·20” rainstorm flood…
Facing these unstoppable forces, the artist asks:
“Behind the unstoppable force, is it a dialogue between the cosmic soul and humanity? Or is it an opportunity for humanity to recognize and discover the soul?”
Disaster strips away the veil of civilization, exposing the fragile essence of existence. It is precisely in such extreme conditions that humanity's longing for “connection” is roused to maximum intensity — seeking a soul mate is not an escape from loneliness, but a discovery, at the deepest part of loneliness, of the possibility of co-existence.
【III. The Giver: Ethics of Soul Relations】
The translation interface of Anoken's 《The Giver》 appears in the project, suggesting the ethical dimension of soul-mate relations:
The essence of a soul mate is not “possession” but “giving” (Giving). As Martin Buber says in 《I and Thou》: in the “I-You” relationship, the “You” is not an object to be used, but a being that presents itself in its entirety to the “I”. The giver seeks no return, because giving itself is the unfolding of existence.
Naxi 《Chong Ban Tu》 creation epic: Chongren Lien'en, with the help of the heavenly gods, seeks a mate and propagates humanity; this project is a contemporary artist's “Chongren Lien'en-style” inquiry in a secular age.
Beuys' “Social Sculpture”: making human relations themselves the artwork; the process of seeking a soul mate is the process of sculpting society.