Vision
Research
Vision
Vision & Aims
In a world marked by ecological crisis, persistent political conflicts, rapid technological changes, rising anxieties about collective wellness, art—and cinema in particular—does more than mirror or critique these conditions; it becomes a crucial medium for reimagining ways of being, sensing, and relating in post-Anthropocentric and decolonial world building.
The AHRC funded interdisciplinary project “Daoism, Cinema, and Wellbeing” shifts contemporary debates on ecological crisis and collective wellbeing while contributing to the decolonisation of knowledge production. It responds to critiques of anthropocentrism and Western-centric posthumanism, and offers a corrective by arguing for the conceptual power of non-western philosophies. Such perspectives remain rare in the studies of cinema and visual art.
Daoism, a foundational strand of traditional Chinese thought, articulates a correlative, meontological, and transformative cosmology. This worldview has had a lasting influence on the understandings of cosmology, ecological sensibility, wellbeing, and traditional artistic practices in the Sinosphere and East Asian cultures. It has also influenced aesthetic formations globally in a transcultural context.
By systematically bringing an ancient yet still vital non-Western tradition—Daoism—into dialogue with cinema, the project situates Daoism in transcultural philosophical and aesthetic exchanges, to reshape how we understand cinema and its impact on ecology and wellbeing of all.
Aims
Developing Daoist theoretical frameworks to explore cinema and visual art, and excavating a hidden trajectory of cinema through the lineage of East Asian art history, putting cinema in the wider context of transcultural and transhistorical influences.
Proposing a new model to engage with cinema, through qi (breath, vital energy), challenging Euro-American film theorisations that follow ‘the model of the eye’, ‘the model of the brain’ or ‘the model of the body’.
Proposing ‘meditative cinema’ as a new category, and examines how these films evoke a somatic experience of breathing and induce meditation.
Fostering greater integration between Philosophy and Film Studies. It enhances Film Studies by introducing traditional Chinese thought as conceptual frameworks, and expands Philosophy by positioning Daoism as a living philosophy with analytical capacity for understanding contemporary art and media.
Establishing a Research Hub for Cinema, Asian Philosophies and Visual Ecologies to facilitate cross-disciplinary dialogues and discussions.
Enhancing the connection between theory and practice through practice-based research, engaging broader audiences, the art world, and the wellbeing industry.
Activities & Events
Research Hub
Cinema, Asian Philosophies and Visual Ecologies (CAVe)
CAVe is an interdisciplinary research hub that advances cinema and visual art through Asian philosophies, to cultivate new ways of seeing, sensing, and relating to the world, fostering relational, ecological, and embodied approaches to visual culture.
