Divine Immersion: The Experiential Art of Nick Dong
July 8, 2021 – October 3, 2021

We as a human population just experienced an overwhelming amount of disorder and confusion. It’s inside us. It’s in our past. It weighs heavy in our present. It’s in the unknowable future. To help us lay our burden down, artist Nick Dong extends an invitation to visitors ripe for this moment: Bring all of your chaos to this exhibition. His artwork will meet you in the middle with ordering principles. What you will create together will be both beautiful and hopeful.

Taiwanese-American and Oakland CA-based artist Nick Dong (b. 1973) identifies as a 21st-century continuation of Wen-ren, the Chinese cultural lineage of intellect-scholars. Each work is a quest of self-evolution, a vehicle for sharing philosophy. By carefully integrating scientific and handcrafted components, supernatural movements, light, sound, and interactive strategies, Dong’s artworks produce a fully immersive event, only complete when the viewer activates it with their energy. Dong formulates his work to be incomplete without the viewer for good reason: To ignite an encounter that opens up new perspectives about each other and the world, illuminates the beauty in our broken places thus creating space for hope and healing.

Converging his training as an artist and engineer with thousands of years of Buddhist tradition, 21st century technology and all the chaos we can muster; Dong’s work nourishes the transformative potential of this moment — toward human wholeness, imperfections encouraged and included.

Welcome to Divine Immersion: The Experiential Art of Nick Dong.

View the exhibition catalogue below.

Exhibition made possible by: