Uncarved Block, Unbleached Silk, is a multi-disciplinary group exhibition that examines ways with which the traditional Japanese aesthetic concept of Yūgen continues to engage with both Eastern and Western artists and makers today. Yūgen is a Japanese concept adapted from the traditional Chinese term Yōu Xuán 幽玄 – in which Yōu (yu) means slightly hidden, and Xuán (gen) a profound, distant darkness. Across Daoist and Buddhist thoughts it comes to refer to a deep and obscure space within something that appears plain, but which is full of mystery and emotional complexity. Over time, Yugen has evolved to be a central idea in Japanese aesthetics, relating to beauty that is partially perceived, fully felt, but barely glimpsed. Together with Sabi and Awaré, Yugen is one of the three aesthetic categories proposed by Japanese philosopher Onishi Yoshinori’s intercultural system – as counterparts to the European forms of Beautiful, Sublime and Cosmic.