One of the core principles of Buddhism is the prohibition of violence.

So it may at first seem a paradox for Buddhist monks to perfect, over centuries, a martial art which is both graceful yet explosive.

It is just one practise to which these men have devoted their lives.

Take the contrast a step further and you wonder how these monks, from the Shaolin Temple, a monastery near the city of Dengfeng in China, can blend their martial art with the material art of British sculptor Antony Gormley.

Well known for having made the Angel Of The North near Newcastle, this show saw Gormley move away from crafting human forms to containing them.

The figures used their fighting techniques to dance with Gormley’s contribution: a collection of wooden boxes, each rectangular and a bit bigger than a coffin, with an open front. They jumped in, out, on top of and over them, hung from them, stacked them and built with them.

A young boy, who seemed almost as accomplished as his adult superiors, carried a loose narrative with another man who sought an affinity with the monks.

The result was animated athleticism intertwining with understated yet somehow monumental furniture, scored with delicate musical motifs decorating each scene.

Here was fusion that went beyond, and thought outside, cultural boxes.