Series · Tokyo

Encapsulated Passions 108

One sphere for every passion a person carries — 108 in all. The cycle is not assembled in the studio: a sphere becomes part of it only when it finds its keeper.

To take a sphere is a deal between the passions of two people. To refuse is renunciation. Either way, you take part in the work.

Eduard Revidovich — Sphere 172, 2026, from Encapsulated Passions 108

Why 108

The juzu — the Japanese Buddhist rosary — holds 108 beads, one for every passion a person carries. The filled beads are the spheres present in the studio pool right now; the pool shifts as works enter and leave. A sphere takes the number of its passion — its place among the 108 — only when it finds its keeper. When the 108th passion changes hands, the cycle ends for good.

35 spheres in the pool today

Statement

For years I worked as a guide in Japan, and at the temples one idea came up more often than any other. In Buddhism the world is a world of suffering, and full harmony can be reached only one way — by letting go of the passions, of desire itself. It was never my sermon, just part of the place. But each time I retold it, I watched the same quiet resistance: even good people find in their passions the very interest of living.

Each sphere seals one passion; which one, I don't say. When a work changes hands, nobody is freed — the passion only moves from one person to another: a deal between the passions of two people. The only true renunciation here is to want nothing and do nothing. So even the one who walks away follows the narrative of the cycle. There is no outside to it.

Medium

Digital Photography / Photo-based Digital Art

Materials

Archival pigment print, museum acrylic glass

Dimensions

60 × 60 × 5 cm

Edition

Unique works

From the cycle