CHU-LIQUID STATES

Audiovisual Land Art Light Installation

CHU — Liquid States is an audiovisual land art light installation created for Sā Ladakh, Asia’s highest land art exhibition.
The work was presented as an eight-minute projection on natural rock formations near the city of Leh and later reactivated in the remote Suru Valley, surrounded by the high-altitude landscape of the Himalayas.

Projected onto metamorphic rock, granite and lichen-covered surfaces, light unfolds as fluid structures, waves and subtle movements. The visuals respond directly to the raw materiality of the rocks, revealing an interplay between solidity and motion, age and transience. Light moves across the ancient surface like a shifting layer, momentarily transforming the mountain into a living field of energy.

Developed at an altitude of over 3,500 meters, CHU — Liquid States reflects on the elemental presence of water within an extreme environment shaped by geological time. Without illustrating or narrating, the work evokes a quiet awareness of fragility, dependency and transformation — allowing the landscape itself to remain the central presence.

Following the exhibition in Ladakh, the project continued in the Suru Valley, where Philipp Frank further developed his ongoing Stone Portals series, deepening his long-term exploration of light, stone and landscape within the Himalayan region.

Project Information

Type: Audiovisual land art light installation
Exhibition: Sā Ladakh - Asia’s highest land art exhibition
Locations: Leh region & Suru Valley, Ladakh (India)
Duration: 8-minute loop
Year: 2023

Project Partners & Development

CHU — Liquid States was realized in collaboration with Sā Ladakh and supported by the German Embassy in New Delhi.

A related project titled Transformations was presented at the India Art Fair 2024 (New Delhi), developed together with Ladakhi artist Skarma Sonam Tashi. In this iteration, the original visuals were reinterpreted and projected onto a sculptural mountainscape created with sustainable materials by Skarma Sonam Tashi, expanding the work into a new spatial and cultural context.