“Emotion is a factor behind every event in the world. To rise above the world… and transcend suffering.” – Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
Human beings have profoundly complex inner worlds, living amid emotional states that are ambiguous, volatile, turbulent and never truly still. Everyone wears a mask, not to deceive others, but to survive the emotions within.
The masks in this exhibition do not conceal the face. Instead, they reveal the state of the mind from its deepest depths: what has long been suppressed, constructed, ignored and denied. Emotion itself is not wrong, but refusing to acknowledge it may begin a cycle of chaos, madness and distortion buried deep within the mind.
MAD MASK presents 16 sculptural masks that embody the traces of defilements, sensations and mental formations emerging on the human face, inner states we cannot escape even as we try to hide from them. The diverse materials stand for fragments of lived experience, things never truly let go. Their surfaces come from distilling the mind’s deepest states into a violent outpouring of emotion, with repetitive, twisted and deformed forms that turn inner turmoil into physical form.
The exhibition offers no path to liberation and no definitive answers. It invites viewers to walk through their own emotions, from unknowing and being trapped in cycles of turmoil, to the pain buried in the subconscious, and towards awareness and letting go, even if only for a moment. Because sometimes, accepting that we have not yet found liberation may itself be a form of peace.
Workshop: PAINT YOUR MASK – What does your emotion look like?
Free activity, 14–15 November 2026 only. Create your own mask and let your emotions shape it. No art background is needed, and there is no right or wrong. Finished masks will be displayed as part of the exhibition, so you become part of the artwork.
information provided by event organizer
