Wonder and Art – In Conversation with Tim Yip
Written by Alan Macfarlane and Sophie Harbour
In 2001, Yip became the first ever person from the Chinese world to win the US Academy Award for Best Art Direction, received for the elegant Oriental imagery he brought to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Film, however, is just one medium of Yip’s creativity. He moves without difficulty through the genres of live theatre, costume design, visual arts, and contemporary art and as an artist, he continues to experiment with different mediums - working to bring together enchantment and reality.
Across these mediums, Yip provides us with the possibility of responding to contemporary social challenges. Alan Macfarlane notes that we seem to be in ‘a very hostile, aggressive, phase of the world’ and suggests, as has been reiterated on many occasions by the King’s College Provost Gillian Tett, that it is essential that we start ‘to try to understand each other rather than killing each other’.
This is not easily done; we are not dealing with ‘trivial differences’. But in the spirit of coming together, there is no better person to help us on the journey than Tim Yip. He has one foot very strongly in China, Hong Kong, and the East, and one foot in the West. He lives in London, but he was brought up in China, and he understands both exceptionally well. His work represents Asian knowledges and expressions in a new variety of non-traditional forms and his art tackles questions of meaning, identity and communication.
For his installation Cloud, showcased in 2018 at London’s Southbank Centre, Yip interviewed more than 100 young people about social issues that concerned or defined them, such as environmental crises, gender, and the digital age. In Yip’s words, what came out of the installation and his interviews with teenagers was the idea that ‘we are missing ways of looking at the “multi-layers” of the world’ – at all the different ‘truths’ that we have.
Yip wants to use art to reveal these ‘multi-layers’ because, for him, art has the potential to inspire imagination and wonder; to make people ‘feel’. “Feeling” is a cross language experience and Yip’s work is about capturing, conveying, and inspiring this ‘feeling’. You must base this on knowledge, of course, but it is not just about knowledge. Yip draws on a Chinese phrase which means something special in terms of going ‘beyond physical’ and ‘beyond imagination’; a kind of reason for why we are here and for why everything goes the way that it does; an effort to understand this energy and use its force to communicate across divides is what Yip taps into in his creative process.
Navigating multi-layers and coinciding truths is also something we can learn from Chinese culture. Macfarlane remarks on the differences between living in terms of “binaries”, which stems from a Christian tradition, versus living with an understanding based in Taoism/Buddhism, in which truth and untruth are possible at the same time. If we are effectively to tackle contemporary challenges that can exacerbate divides and binaries, then incorporating these insights into our thinking may provide a valuable approach.
So, what can entrepreneurs learn from Tim Yip’s reflections?
There is nothing more fundamental to an entrepreneurial mindset and process than creativity and imagination. These abilities fuel innovation but they also nurture communication across otherwise impenetrable boundaries. There is a strong sense of collaboration that runs through Yip’s experience. Not just in bringing ancient knowledge into the modern to enrich what we know, but in bringing together people who learn from one another through their difference. Yip says that ‘when you are similar you don’t learn anything’, it is only when you are different that you learn. This gives one energy.
Another lesson to take from Yip is the uninhibited method of letting yourself ‘not plan’ – something that may seem counterintuitive for a world in which ‘planning for success’ can be a mantra. Yip does not suggest that it is solely about accepting the unexpected and accidental but also about repeatedly trying and learning, working to understand and use this indescribable energy and force, especially when you don’t know what will come from it.
Finally, innovation, creativity and collaboration can be difficult and challenging. Without dismissing this, Yip makes a point of seeking out a feeling of ‘easiness’, especially in working with others. Across difference, art can help us feel together, bridging gaps in understanding and facilitating this ease of collaboration. This is something exemplified by Yip’s career so far and is no doubt something that will continue to inspire those who engage with his work (entrepreneurs included!).
This event was associated with the recent publication of: Wonder and Art; Cambridge Conversations with Tim Yip, Alan Macfarlane and Tim Yip (Cam Rivers Publishing, 2023).
The full film of the event can be seen here.
Alan Macfarlane
Alan Donald James Macfarlane is an anthropologist and historian, and a Professor Emeritus of King's College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 40 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan and China. He has focused on comparative study of the origins and nature of the modern world. Alan is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society.
Sophie Harbour
Sophie is a PhD student at POLIS, University of Cambridge and a member of Murray Edwards College. She researches care and governance and completed her Masters in Political Theory at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Sophie is the Editor of the E-Lab Blog Series, Mindsets, and works with the Centre for Social Innovation in the Cambridge Peacebuilding, Climate and Conflict Lab (CPCCL).