Performance as guest of MAI (Marina Abramović Institute)
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Performance Art at Theater Neumarkt MAI
Field of Microcosms, 2025
clay tsa tsa's
single tsa tsa Ø 8cm
Performance Art at MAI
at Theater Neumarkt and Kunsthaus Zurich
In 1959, I fled from Tibet to northern India with my parents and younger sister. Since we traveled on foot for weeks, we could only bring a few personal belongings. One of these items was a mold used to make small clay figures called tsa tsa.
These figures often contain one or more blessed grains of rice or other grains. Sometimes, after a person’s death, the ashes are mixed with clay and pressed into tsa tsa using a mold. These are then placed in pure, sacred locations. Such figures are thought to bring positive merit both to the deceased and to those who set them out in nature.
Tsa tsa's can take various forms, such as deities or stupas, like the one we took with us when we fled. A stupa is a symbolic representation of Buddhahood, as well as the universe. According to Buddhist beliefs, there is not just one cosmos but an innumerable number of them, far beyond counting. Likewise, there is a correlation between the universe and humans, who are seen as a microcosm. In Buddhist teaching, strong connections exist between humans and the cosmos.
I have long carried the idea of creating an installation with many tsa tsa figures. Initially, I imagined it at a high-altitude location in the Himalayas. The opportunity to collaborate with MAI inspired me to create a “field of microcosms” in a city like Zurich— outdoors, in a museum.
I asked potential interested parties to bring the seed of a plant or flower that is very important to them to the venue of the event, the Theater Neumarkt. There, with the help of a model and clay, each visitor formed a tsa tsa, into the base of which they inserted the seed they had brought with them.
On the last day the tsa tsa's were carried in a procession from the Theater Neumarkt to the Kunsthaus Zürich by those who had previously formed a tsa tsa and 'filled' it with a seed. The tsa tsas were carried through the Marina Abramović exhibition and were finally set up in the courtyard of the museum - in front of the Miro wall.