"the bell, the breath, and all things listening" is a contemporary art exhibition and public research project exploring Buddhist practice, migration, spiritual ecology, and the Pacific cosmos. Organized by a poco art collective at its independent project space in Los Angeles, the project brings together artists whose work engages nature, land, water, sound, ritual, meditation, ancestral memory, and cosmic connection.
The exhibition begins with the historical movement of Buddhism from India across Asia and the Pacific, but it does not approach Buddhism only as religion, doctrine, or institutional belief. Instead, it considers Buddhism as a living methodology: a practice of breath, attention, compassion, interdependence, impermanence, joy, and peace. The goal is not to create a devotional exhibition for Buddhist practitioners alone, but to open a contemplative space where Buddhist wisdom, contemporary art, and diasporic experience can meet.
The project asks: How do spiritual practices travel across oceans, languages, and generations? How do rituals, images, chants, gestures, and forms of meditation carry memory? How can breath, stillness, sound, and attention become tools for survival, healing, and connection? How might contemporary artists help us understand wisdom systems as living practices rather than static inheritance?
The title reflects three central ideas. The bell suggests ritual, vibration, awakening, and the call to presence. The breath evokes meditation, embodied awareness, and the intimate relationship between self and world. “All things listening” points to a relational universe in which people, land, water, ancestors, plants, sound, and unseen forces are continually responding to one another.
The exhibition may include painting, sculpture, installation, sound, textile, performance, ceramics, works on paper, video, archival materials, and participatory elements. Sutras and Buddhist philosophical ideas may be gently woven throughout the space as poetic discoveries and points of reflection, representing the fruits of causes and conditions rather than doctrine alone.
Public programs may include artist talks, contemplative practices and rituals, conversations, readings. A small publication or digital companion may also accompany the project. We aim to offer a poetic and accessible exploration of Buddhist migration, Asian diasporic memory, ecological awareness, and the art of being present.
Learn More: https://www.instagram.com/a.poco.art