Déjà Vu series

“Déjà vu is simply remembrance of the future.” — Wayne Gerard Trotman

At some point in our lives, we have almost all experienced an unexpected feeling of familiarity with people, places, and things that, in reality, we have never before come across. This phenomenon entered mainstream discourse in 1876 when French parapsychologist Émile Boirac coined the term “déjà vu,” or “already seen.” Since then, considerable advances have been made in both neuroscience and cognitive psychology, and this oft-unsettling experience is now commonly attributed to delayed neurological processing or the misidentification of fragmented memories.

As a sculptor, Hung uses crocheting techniques to carefully weave stiff metal fibers into silky, organic forms. Her net-like creations, which radiate warmth from every knotted strand of bright, translucent copper, exude a unique sense of space, as if encapsulating an entire self-sufficient microcosm. At the outset of the creative process, she simply follows her instincts, without a desired form in mind, weaving over and over in seemingly random fashion until each piece comes to life. It is only at the end of this process that the artist appears to have been guided by an unconscious, latent design, each creative decision predetermined by an unseen blueprint. Beginning, middle, and end—ordinarily considered an immutably linear sequence—are thus blurred, inspiring Hung to transcend the three-dimensional. Throughout the series runs a fundamental question: does the creative process have the power to tap into déjà vu? If it indeed mingles the familiar with the unfamiliar, why can it not ‘reconstruct’ future recollections?

All pieces in her 2022 Déjà Vu series are named after the season and order in which they were produced, just like entries in a diary, but with time crystallized in intricate copper-wire configurations. These glittering microcosms, shaped in equal parts by the creative process and the vicissitudes of day-to-day existence, offer new insights into the essence of art and the meaning of life.