Yu Pan: Combining Tradition and Modernity Through Multidisciplinary Art

Entering Yu Pan’s intricate world is like entering a realm where visual communication transcends traditional boundaries. A true multidisciplinary artist, Pan seamlessly combines media—from graphic design and sound to performance—to create experiences that are both visually striking and deeply thought-provoking. His works often explore profound philosophical and cultural issues, inviting viewers not only to observe but also to engage in a reflective journey that challenges perceptions and encourages deep introspection.

Pan’s work often explores the intersection of spirituality and contemporary existence, influenced by his upbringing in a Buddhist culture that he feels permeates everything. Across a variety of subjects and mediums, each element is carefully selected to convey complex narratives and ideas. Drawing from a rich tapestry of cultural symbols and traditions, he reinterprets them through a contemporary lens, creating artwork that resonates on multiple levels. His designs are often site-specific, using the historical and cultural significance of a location to enrich the content of the work.

One of Pan’s most well-known projects is Conditioning and Not Being Mended, Mong Varanasi (2023), which examines psychological conditioning through a modernized expression of Buddhist culture and the spiritual lens of contemporary youth. In his previous project Infinite Reciprocating Without Fulfilment (2023), he explored the temporal nature of emotions, examining the intersection of people and objects in everyday life. Pan expands on this in Conditioning and Not Being Mended, Mong Varanasi, where he argues that viewing sadness and anxiety through the prism of the ego traps us in the present. Taking a higher perspective, Pan suggests that we experience the present as merely a fleeting moment between the past and the future, as humans constantly transform both. So how can we find peace amidst the chaos of the present and enter our own “Mon-Varanasi”?

Pan’s exploration of these ideas is characterized by his use of liminal spaces—the thresholds between reality and imagination. He reflects, “Since we came into this world, our socialization process has begun automatically. As we grew up, we accelerated this process with modern tools, but this has led to a lack of awareness of our own minds. When we quiet our minds and dialogue with our hearts, many emotions become blocked, allowing us to focus solely on ourselves.” He reflects on his childhood experience of listening to the Medicine Buddha’s mantras, recalling the twelve vows that represent the Buddha’s love for saving all beings. Pan integrates these teachings with modern socialization tools, constructing video-based artworks that focus on solving contemporary problems while remaining rooted in spiritual traditions.

In this work, Pan uses mixed media, including photography, digital art, and motion graphics, to reflect the cyclical nature of regulation. His juxtaposition of modernized Buddhist religious symbols with contemporary visual elements creates a tension between old and new, tradition and modernity. Pan, who once felt trapped in fear and tension, now seeks to help others overcome similar negativity and find peace within themselves, encouraging viewers to consider the nature of the self and its potential for change.

The Original Vows of Binddha Sutra (2020–2022), meanwhile, delves into the culture of idolatry through the seemingly mundane act of sorting trash. This project combines traditional Buddhist iconography with contemporary artistic practices to create a unique visual language that critiques passive conformity and subjective will, fusing modernity with tradition. Pan mischievously replaces traditional Buddhist sculptures with golden images of recyclable waste containers—an act that could be seen as inappropriate in Buddhist teachings. However, Pan emphasizes that symbols once revered by the masses can transcend their physical forms. The focus shifts to the underlying “dogma,” which in this case is a call to raise awareness about waste segregation.

In this project, Pan uses installation and performance art to create an immersive experience that is both contemplative and provocative. In the moving image, Pan invites a Buddhist monk to chant the Primal Vows of the Binddha Sutra at a garbage collection point. The monk sits on a “lotus flower” made of discarded wood, chanting with his eyes closed as curious onlookers gather. Pan removes all ambient sounds, replacing them with the sounds of birds—noises often ignored or blocked out in everyday life. This creates a sense of detachment, as viewers may be viewing the video from the perspective of someone unfamiliar with “garbage classification,” as if the events on screen were irrelevant to them. The project opens up a dialogue between the ignorant and the unknown, the visible and the invisible, the cult and the conscious, inviting viewers to consider how traditional religious culture can be applied to contemporary life.