The land is barren and plagued by epidemics. The power of shamanic art, music, language, and trust are all weakening and withering. Just before our eyes and under our feet, the world is rapidly disintegrating and reorganizing into uncertainty. In the face of the unknown and unknowable future, science and reason are not only useless, but also the root of our problems.  So we will turn to our ancient spirituality to seek guidance.

Driven by primal instincts, we will form a shamanic assembly and seek “oracles” from heaven and earth. We invite volunteers to search for powerful and inspiring answers which may have nothing to do with logic, just as our ancestors scattered around the world did thousands of years ago with primitive wisdom that is close to instinct and even animality.

Shaman Li-Chun Lin (Marina) and artist Yin-Ju Chen will spend an afternoon training participants to become “shamans” with the ability to journey through consciousness. The assembly will piece together an “oracle” of the future for humankind from the messages each shaman brings back from the future, using the concept of “big data.” This is a re-enactment of ancient “shamanic assemblies” and “magic circles,” a contemporary shamanic practice.

The creation/documentation from the participants in these workshops may be included in future iterations of the artwork Sonic Driving (2018–ongoing).


This event will take place over two days online.  The first day is a pre-workshop lecture introduction to shamanism (one hour), open to all and compulsory for workshop participants.  The second day is the workshop (two and a half hours).  

In English only.

Registration is required. 


In conjunction with Close Your Eyes and You Will Know, an exhibition by Yin-Ju Chen and Li-Chun Lin (Marina).

The exhibition Close Your Eyes and You Will Know and related events are presented as the second season of the ICA’s second biennial artist research program, Another Knowledge Is Possible (2021-23), exploring neglected and repressed ways of knowing and the complex politics of knowledge decolonization.