Comix Pulse – Between Calculations: The Comic Worlds of The Year Animals and The Land of Ming Yi by Mimi TSOI

EVENT DESCRIPTION

We are pleased to share Mimi Tsoi to be the second featured artist for Comix Pulse!

Between Calculations is a comics and illustration exhibition rooted in the Chinese systems of divination, Yin-Yang, and the Five Elements. Through two sets of works with distinct visual languages and deepening layers of interpretation, the exhibition guides viewers step by step into a continuously evolving worldview.

The exhibition begins with The Year Animals, which transforms the Twelve Earthly Branches into twelve animal characters, each with its own personality and elemental attributes. Integrating the principles of the sexagenary cycle, the Five Elements, and the solar terms, the work evolves as the form of a calendar that can be viewed, read, and even used in everyday life.

Visitors are then led into the more complicated narrative world of The Land of Ming Yi, a story-driven comic in which Yin-Yang and the Five Elements function as the underlying rules of the world. The work depicts a world where order has vanished and system has collapsed, exploring how humans make choices and act in darkness and uncertainty.

Through the artworks and the interactive app, audiences are invited to experience the mysterious process of ‘calculation and inference’, placing themselves within the worldview rather than merely observing it. Blending comics with traditional Chinese philosophy, the exhibition draws inspiration from the I-Ching (易經), Yin-Yang (陰陽), and the Five Elements (五行) to build a richly imaginative narrative world.

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, visitors can also test their fortune for the Year of the Horse through playful interactive activities, adding a festive touch to this creative fusion of comics and divination.

Venue: Comix Home Base, 2/F Hong Kong Arts Centre

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

The Land of Ming Yi is themed with various traditional Chinese philosophies, namely I-Ching (易經The Book of Changes), Yin (陰Darkness), Yang (陽Light), Five Elements (五行 An element-systems used to explain the relationships between nature and body) and Ming-Yi (明夷 A concept in I-Ching, referring to the time when darkness befalls and the world becomes chaotic). Long ago in ancient times, the world was in the hands of two God — the God of Wood and the God of Gold. However, the conflict between the Gods, Yin, Yang, Wood and Gold, has led to the fall of nine suns and the vanish of Gods, leaving the world only humans and sorcerers (巫覡) who inherited the God’s wisdom. A thousand years later in a worship of Gods, a sorcerer destroys the last Sun, the adventure of a group of teenagers with different personalities thus begins.