Asemantic Iteration is inspired by the use of calligraphic rubbings to preserve and disseminate knowledge over the course of many centuries in China’s history. I find the gradual mutation of style and standard through imperfect copying, either from lack of skill or failure of materials to withstand repeated use, captivating and beautiful. In this multimedia work, I have designed a process that quickly compounds human and material error, drastically changing the image from its original form in only a few iterations.

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The original work on paper uses asemic writing, a writing system that blends the aesthetics of written language and drawing. Asemantic Iteration adopts a style that heavily draws on the forms and brushwork present in Chinese calligraphy, however, the abstract characters you see hold no meaning. This is in line with the connoisseurship of Chinese calligraphy, as the content of a master calligrapher’s writing was typically irrelevant and revered for the aesthetic qualities present in the brushwork above all else.

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The Chinese art historical canon is founded on iteration. Many of the highly revered calligraphic samples we have from pre-modern China exist only as copies or rubbings, the originals lost to time. Copies of master calligraphers’ scripts were highly sought after for cultural and social capital among the elite. Calligraphy was also taught through studying the fore-mentioned scripts and then copying those copies. Asemantic Iteration questions w hat gets lost in translation through these many iterations; what deviations from the original are preserved and revered by future generations, to be passed down and altered once more?