The 1st diagram of the supreme ultimate (Taegeuk-do, 太極圖) VR

Principles of the universe

More details

Taegukdo (diagram of the supreme ultimate)' presents the process by which humans and all things are created through Yin-Yang and Five-Elements from the supreme ultimate. The universe and world are good as it is. You start from 'The Indeterminate and also the Supreme Ultimate.' And you finally reach the last circle, where myriad creatures are created through the five stages. In the last circle, 'Celestial Planisphere Map Carved on a Stone Slab' from the Joseon dynasty shows up, and when you connect with the stars in the sky, you realize that I am a star, the supreme ultimate.

It presents the process by which humans and all things are created through Yin-Yang and Five-Elements from the supreme ultimate.

The first of five volumes from the first chapter, “Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate,” is inspired by an installation artwork created by James Turrell. We implemented a scene of a gradual change from all black which symbolizes ‘the indeterminate’, to a transition of all white which symbolizes ‘the supreme ultimate.’ Yin-Yang and Five Elements embodied in the second and third volumes express their dynamic world of Li(principle) and Ki(material force) with images of Mobius with 360-degree videos. The fourth volume started with the sonorous sound of the unborn baby's heartbeat. In the fifth volume, to dramatically visualize the transformation and production of myriad creatures, the original image of the ‘‘Celestial planisphere map carved on a stone slab’ was implemented in our VR space.

"The birth of men and women, and all things do not cease, but Li underlies the basis of all those productions as the root does to a tree. The Supreme Ultimate is like the endless cycle of a tree which grows upward splitting into branches and stems, and sprouting leaves. When it bears fruit, it generates and regenerates, and Li continues inexhaustibly, so the Supreme Ultimate never stops."

• All things in the universe have no beginning nor end, and its root has nothing that can be described in words, so it is called the Supreme Ultimate. Taeguk doesn't have a beginning or end, so it is eternal and complete.

• When The Supreme Ultimate activates, Yang is created. When the action reaches its limit, it becomes quiet, and Yin is created. When the quiescent reaches its limit, it returns to move. An action and a quiescent provide the basis for each other, and two modes of Yin and Yang are established.

• When Yang changes, and Yin responds to this, five energies of water, fire, wood, iron, and earth are generated. Thus, the five natural energies are harmoniously arranged in the universe, and the four seasons come full circle.

• Heaven constitutes male, and earth constitutes female. These two forces, by their interaction, transform and produce myriad creatures. The births of myriad creatures go on endlessly. By transforming material force, heaven becomes the male, and the earth becomes the female. Males and females have their natures, and both exist as one Supreme Ultimate.

• The Ultimate Supreme is wondrously good and virtuous. All humans have their own Supreme Ultimate, and all things have their own Supreme Ultimate. The Supreme Ultimate is a name for the finest part of heaven and earth, man and all things.