Presented by MakeVisible
Wings Over Crystalline Landscapes
Taiji Terasaki
September 5 – October 1, 2025
Ryosokuin Zen Temple
591 Komatsucho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0811, Japan
Painting, sculpture, and augmented reality
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Wings Over Crystalline Landscapes explores the quiet, luminous intersections between butterfly migration, mineral formation, and human contemplation. Installed at Ryosokuin Temple in Kyoto—a site steeped in Zen practice—this body of work invites viewers into a layered meditation on time, impermanence, and interconnectedness through painting, sculpture, and augmented reality. Public programs, including tea ceremonies and guided experiences, were held throughout the exhibition period at Ryosokuin Temple.
MakeVisible is proud to present Wings Over Crystalline Landscapes as part of our mission to promote conservation, preservation, and restoration through the arts. This exhibition reflects our commitment to fostering awareness of environmental interdependence and cultivating spaces for reflection, education, and transformation.
Exhibition Themes
Rooted in the materialist art movement, this work foregrounds the agency of matter—specifically, crystal formation—as an aesthetic and conceptual force. Rather than representing nature, the artworks co-evolve with it, allowing minerals to grow directly on painted and sculptural surfaces over time.
Crystals are not passive embellishments but active collaborators—agents that shape and transform the work. This approach aligns with new materialist thought, where matter itself is understood as forming, responding, and transforming. The work invites viewers to witness time through the slow language of the earth.
The material aesthetics of crystal growth mirror the principles of Zen meditation, both unfolding through patience, stillness, and imperceptible change. Crystals form molecule by molecule, guided by internal structures. In zazen, clarity emerges not through effort but through release—allowing insight to crystallize from within.
Installed in a Rinzai Zen temple, the exhibition draws a parallel between geological formation and meditative practice: both reveal structure emerging without force, through attunement.
The Asagimadara butterfly, known for its translucent blue wings and long-distance migration, serves as both subject and metaphor. Each autumn, it traverses the Asian continent, crossing islands and mountain ranges—including the Kyoto basin—on its journey southward.
Along this path, it passes over crystalline terrains such as the Hidaka Range in Hokkaido, the schist of Shikoku, and quartz-bearing regions in Taiwan and southern China. These minerals are embedded within the works, allowing geography to directly shape material surface.
The Asagimadara’s migration is increasingly threatened by habitat loss, pollution, and climate change. At the same time, global mineral extraction places additional pressure on the earth’s crystalline systems.
This exhibition highlights both the beauty and fragility of these interconnected systems. Through installation and educational components, it creates space for awareness of ecological interdependence and material responsibility.
public programs at ryosokuin
Public programs extended the exhibition into ritual, dialogue, and participation within the temple setting. Presented in collaboration with Ryosokuin Temple, these tea gatherings extended the exhibition’s themes of contemplation, ritual, slowness, and presence through traditional Japanese tea practice.
Tea Service at Ryosokuin Temple
Tea service was offered on:
September 5, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25, 27, 29 and October 1
Session times:
13:00–13:45
14:00–14:45
¥4,400 per person
Special Hide Tea Ceremony
Sunday, September 20
Session times:
13:00
14:00
14:30
¥9,900 per person
