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上海当代艺术馆威尼斯双年展“镜中行旅”主题展览，继意大利威尼斯首站（展期：2024年4月17日至5月16日）后，于2024年11月7日在上海当代艺术馆以崭新姿态启幕中国之行。这一展览如同意大利探险家马可·波罗的足迹，跨越时空，抵达神秘的东方，与作家伊塔洛·卡尔维诺的《看不见的城市》展开深度对话。展览通过艺术的“介入”，揭示了“城市”所蕴含的无尽幻想、体验与秘境。
从水城威尼斯到上海——这座同样吸引众多旅居者的城市，“镜中行旅”展览将焦点聚于行旅者与城市的共生。在这里，观众不仅能够探索“无形之城”，也能深入探寻“无形之己”。上海当代艺术馆借助当代艺术这一媒介，旨在通过行旅的视角寻求“镜中自我”，续写东西方文明间跨越时空的对话。在“对镜”与“遥望”的思辩中，展览解密城市与个体交相辉映而又独立生长的存在结构，唤醒自我存在的意义，为观众打造通往自省与自洽的镜像通道。
一楼：
个体，于虚实时空
此部分意在通过艺术作品之间的“介入”关系，以及马可·波罗、伊塔洛·卡尔维诺与忽必烈之间的跨时空对话，探索当代社会发展的深刻主题。
施勇的《幸福 250-A》颠覆支配关系，如盘龙般划破展厅天际，与朱佩鸿和赵一霖的大型装置《Space O 奇异空间-虚实剧场》相呼应。此外，杨泳粱的《极夜花火》和史成栋的《夏日焰火》同样展现了虚实空间刹那间的美好，与邱岸雄的《金枝》《天咫修月》、林辉华的《代码》共同探讨万物有灵的世界，展开存在与科学之间的辩论，碰撞出思辩的火花。
二楼：现代性抵抗
观众在张赢的超现实作品《后现代演化论》中，体会到从遵循社会规训到逐渐异化的多样化面貌。转入音乐独立展间《语言》，金望的作品用音乐的方式去想象一种不存在的语言。接着进入张钊瀛如百科全书般的《生存日记》系列，38幅绘画、2件雕塑和1件影像作品共同构成一个“博物馆剧场”。艺术家们通过艺术映射外部环境对个体和集体的影响，并引发深刻反思。
在计文于和朱卫兵的《这里的鱼不缺食物》等软雕塑装置作品群中穿梭，可遇见日常生活中提炼出的戏剧化场景，这是向现代生活投去诙谐讽刺的一撇。抵达计文于和朱卫兵的《用棉绳把塌了的墙重新建起来》，这里正在探讨现代性进程对传统与地方性的冲击，反思其对人们生活空间与精神世界的侵蚀。
通往三层的必经通路，是人形师艺术家组合“屏中市”带来的一座“成立于1024年”的微缩版《屏中市第三精神卫生中心》。其中，病人、医务人员、医疗设备、生活设施一应俱全，令你同频旧时疯人院的精神现场。在此作品的语境下，观众将踏向三楼的“精神孤岛——疯人院”。
三楼：精神孤岛
——疯人院
以“镜中之旅”威尼斯站的举办地——威尼斯国际大学所在的圣塞尔沃洛岛为灵感，设定了本层展览主题“精神孤岛——疯人院”。自1725年起，该岛便被规划为精神病院，深化了对现代性在精神领域的探讨。
付彤结合灯光、嗅觉、听觉营造出沉浸式体验展区《镜中之海》，试图重绘其在意大利的圣塞沃洛岛的回忆。观众沿着由悬垂丝线和文字构成的“精神之路”，逐步走向三楼的“镜中孤岛——疯人院”。
在此，“疯人院”概念得以深化。由上海当代艺术馆委任的“DNA”系列作品《CrossReaction》中，郭飞将DNA基因序列在微观层面变化反应中的一系列相互作用关系，通过有声动态影像的形式，呈现出了随机序列图组（表型）在粒子扰动下持续的动态性演进与突变，深入探讨精神在不加干预的情况下自由流动、生成、组合、裂变的状态。乐毅的影像作品《酒，马蹄铁，老萨尔瓦多，和我的好伙计菲尔和比尔》探讨个人身份与移民所带来的孤独感，创造出既荒诞又引人共鸣的体验，邀请观众暂时逃离现实，享受超现实的瞬间。同时，张赢的剧场系列作品《异化星系运转系统》在精神孤岛上呈现了人类精神状态在后现代主义视角下的荒诞变形。
转角的小房间内，计文于和朱卫兵的装置艺术《救助站》赋予旧物以“皮肉”与温度，寄望于复苏与新生。另一角落，何塞·安赫利诺（Josè Angelino）将物理现象作为叙事工具，装置《玻璃杯》、单声道影像《LED版罗马》《一个水滴的短暂一生》展现出对物质生命力的质疑。
2024年于中国与意大利而言是一个特殊的年份，既是马可·波罗逝世700周年，也是中意全面战略伙伴关系建立20周年。上海当代艺术馆秉持“跨界+”的重要发展方向，本次展览由上海当代艺术馆执行馆长孙文倩倾情策展，邀请了中国与意大利当代艺术的新世代艺术家参展（以首字母为顺）：付彤、郭飞、何塞·安赫利诺（Josè Angelino）、计文于&朱卫兵、金望、乐毅、林辉华（H.H.Lim）、屏中市（螃蟹&张南兮&圣兽）、邱岸雄、施勇、史成栋、杨泳梁、张赢、张钊瀛、朱佩鸿&赵一霖。希望通过“镜中行旅”主题展览，在呼应第60届威尼斯国际艺术双年展“处处都是外人”主题精神的同时，更能使中意两国民众深入了解双方的艺术与文化，打开审美新视角，打造以多样性、融合性为特征的艺术新生态。
策展人介绍
孙文倩
上海当代艺术馆 执行馆长
艺术行动力主席
国际民营美术馆协会亚太区理事
孙文倩自2002年上海当代艺术馆创办至今，始终不遗余力地推动中国当代艺术与文化走向世界舞台，积极促进东西美学的交流，拓展当代艺术疆界，并持续支持打造艺术走进民众生活的全民美学。
过去十几年，她为上海当代艺术交织出一张联系全球的国际网络，四度参与威尼斯双年展平行展，2010年在上海举办国际现、当代艺术博物馆馆长大会（CIMAM Meeting），参与策划重大的艺术展览包括：中法文化年展览、古根汉姆美国300年特展、意大利文化年等特别项目。
上海当代艺术馆不遗余力地将中国艺术家带到世界舞台，在罗马、俄罗斯圣彼得堡、美国盖蒂博物馆、罕默美术馆等艺术馆策划展览项目。在国内，她带领上海当代艺术馆开创了当代艺术现象级大展的参观人潮，如草间弥生展览、迪奥精神展览等。分别在2019和2023年被澳门特区政府邀请主持澳门回归20周年艺文荟澳策展和国际评委，开创澳门城市人文发展新貌，邀请蔡国强到澳门首映天梯项目。
艺术家介绍
付彤
新媒体艺术家
新媒体艺术组合 “E3”“九块九”的创始人，艺术团体“天团”成员之一。付彤的艺术实践涉足新媒体艺术互动装置、影像艺术与观念艺术。2023年她与谭盾共同创作“女书”新媒体与音乐互动大展。作为新媒体创意团体XFF的创始人兼创意总监，她长期以舞台导演、舞美设计师、互动装置创作者、现场VJ的身份活跃于各大音乐节、演唱会、新媒体剧。
郭飞
电子音乐人 、声音艺术家、视觉艺术家
郭飞的艺术实践跨越声音、实验影像、新媒体艺术等不同领域。OSCPLLEX是他的个人音乐项目，作品风格涵盖Dubtechno/Ambient/Minimal/Experimental Music/Field Recording等。受极简主义、随机主义等观念影响，他实验性地运用多层次声音织体，构建沉浸感极强的Dub techno/氛围环境/实验音乐。
何塞·安赫利诺
Josè Angelino
意大利当代艺术家
物理专业出身的Angelino将科学实验与艺术实践融为一体，通过观察大自然的行为与规律创作绘画与雕塑。他的作品被视为独立的宇宙、系统或有机体，通过触发的精确过程（如气体的流动、声波的振动、热源产生的运动等）运行，研究其与周围环境建立的关系以及产生的不可避免的干扰。
计文于&朱卫兵
软雕塑艺术家
计文于与朱卫兵于2003年开始合作创作软雕塑，现工作生活于上海。他们使用布、丝、棉等纺织材料进行创作，以柔软、温和、毫无攻击性的材料，营建出园林式的造景、舞台式的陈设，和典型的“中国式”布偶人。以举重若轻的调侃，呈现出繁花锦簇之下现代社会的理想与虚妄。
金 望
作曲家
金望的室内乐作品曾多次在上海之春国际音乐节、香港艺术节等音乐会上演出。他与各领域艺术家广泛合作：与艺术家杨福东合作多部艺术电影以及多媒体影像作品如《陌生天堂》《竹林七贤》等。此外还曾与现代舞艺术家金星、导演程裕苏、昆曲表演艺术家张军等合作。
乐 毅
数字艺术家 、导演
乐毅致力于未来主义、科幻主义风格视觉作品的创作，现生活工作于挪威奥斯陆。他以3D软件为主要创作工具，表现极具想象力的世界和场景，探讨自然与技术、社会与个人、现在与未来、出生与死亡间的关系等一系列主题。
林辉华
H.H. Lim
马来西亚当代艺术家
作为一名新概念艺术家，Lim 擅长创作巨型作品，他将日常生活中的元素融入作品中。这些作品有时会被回收、重新包装和装裱，并被赋予不同的意义和新的生命。他的概念作品包括绘画、装置、行为艺术以及录制的视频和声音。通过玩弄图像与语言之间游戏般的模糊性和不协调性，他试图揭示词语和句子的语言功能与现实之间不可避免的不确定性和矛盾。
屏中市
（螃蟹&张南兮&圣兽）
人形师艺术家
“屏中市”是由螃蟹（P）、张南兮（Z）、圣兽（S）三位艺术家艺名的首字母（PZS）组合而成的名字。其作品涉及玩偶、漫画、雕塑、动画及众多形式，用微缩的状态来表达他们想象中的“屏中市”。
谢文璇（螃蟹），综合材料艺术家，陶瓷人形作者，作品涉及多种领域。
张楠楠（张南兮），人形师，插画师，纤维艺术家，木与兮工作室主理人。
翁静璐（圣兽），标本师转行，现在是独立手艺人、人形师。
邱 岸 雄
跨媒介艺术家
邱岸雄1972年出生于四川，1994年毕业于四川美术学院，2003年毕业于德国卡塞尔艺术学院，现在工作生活于上海。他的作品涉及动画，装置，影像，绘画，等跨媒介形式。作为水墨动画代表艺术家，他的代表作包括水墨动画《新山海经》《民国风景》《山河梦影》以及影像装置《为了忘却的记忆》等。是近年当代艺术生态建设中的活跃力量。
施勇
装置与影像媒介艺术家
施勇作为中国较早从事装置与影像媒介的代表人物之一，早期创作致力于揭示现实内部的意识形态；九十年代开始关注改革开放神话下当代上海的转型概念，继而引向更宏观的全球化、消费文化等层面。2006年，施勇开始将质疑的目光落实于艺术界本身，思考如何通过“搁置”创作来予以抵抗。未来他意图在表面“抽象”之下展开对于“控制”的反思与实践。
史 成 栋
绘画艺术家
史成栋毕业于中央美术学院油画系，现任教于上海戏剧学院舞美系绘画专业。于2017年获第十一届中国艺术权力榜“年度艺术发现”、万营畅想——青年艺术发现“最佳人气奖”。他的作品既承接了学院派的底蕴，又呈现出轻盈、自由、绚丽的气氛。通过将强烈的个人风格注入绘画语言中，呈现出一种不断提纯的抽离、松弛与自我打开。
杨 泳 梁
多媒体艺术家
杨泳梁从2005年起从事当代艺术的实验与创作，作品涉及摄影、绘画、图像与装置等多种媒介。其作品连接传统和当下，以当代语汇结合前沿技术，重现东方传统的审美方式和文人情节。通过独特的叙事手段，他在接受了历史、寓言典故、社会文化的启示后，重塑了一片城市，也重塑了历史长河中那些不断变换的背景。
张 赢
绘画与雕塑艺术家
张赢毕业于湖北美术学院水彩专业，擅长水性材料创作，也从事电脑绘画及雕塑等。作品多是对于生活的情绪观察，也尝试挖掘轻松诙谐的视觉元素。常以带有悲观色彩的理想主义者视角，企图释放深处的负面元素，以求获得现实的伤痕性情绪免疫。城乡结合部的生活经验是他创作的主要根基，其作品里带有强烈的个人语境，着力于对中国市井文化的深刻探索。
张 钊 瀛
多媒体艺术家
张钊瀛毕业于四川美术学院油画系，于比利时布鲁塞尔艺术学院获得硕士学位，澳门科技大学博士在读，任教于天津美术学院。作为 85 后出生的重要艺术家代表之一，他的作品拥有显著的国际化视野，充分体现出跨媒介、跨语言以及跨时代的精神混合现场。长期研究、实践图像史，试图重构话语以探索颠覆性的“个人场域”。
朱佩鸿&赵一霖
跨学科艺术家
朱佩鸿艺术工作室，是朱佩鸿与赵一霖Lilyo组成的跨学科艺术工作室。朱佩鸿是一名抽象艺术家，赵一霖Lilyo是一名建筑师。他们的创作以光与空间为主题，思考宇宙星辰之无限的能量，运用抽象艺术的方式创作具有东方精神的艺术作品。
- 作品介绍 -
展馆一楼
个体, 于虚实时空
个体，于虚实时空
01 施勇:
《幸福 250-A》《三百个字》
《我的身体 归你管。不！我的身体 归你管》
《幸福 250-A》
装置作品《幸福 250-A》将一辆产自1990年代的幸福250摩托车以统一模数切割，并将符合条件的切割件以接龙的方式进行排列，以此实现一种角色的颠覆：摩托车碎件成为了候选之物，而扭曲的基座则成为了支配者。
《三百个字》
霓虹灯装置《三百个字》宛若威尼斯水系中星星点点的岛屿，艺术家从诗集里随意抽取与幻觉相关的诗句进行随机排列组合，并以倒置的方式呈现，带来语义的破碎以及阅读的失效。
《我的身体 归你管。不！我的身体 归你管》
霓虹灯装置《我的身体 归你管。不！我的身体 归你管》则通过霓虹灯的亮暗转变，产生意义的变化和递进，用强制的手段重构语法，让人们对日常赖以生存的逻辑和语言进行怀疑和反思。
02 朱佩鸿 & 赵一霖 ：
《Space O 奇异空间 -虚实剧场》
朱佩鸿&赵一霖在《Space O 奇异空间-虚实剧场》运用虚拟现实技术辅助开展设计与创作，力图为观众带来全新的视觉体验和参与感。光与色彩融于气模之中，而多个独立的气模组合在一起，共同构建出一个似曾相识却又神秘陌生的场域，宛若一个精彩绝伦的戏剧现场。观众的行动和感知在这个“看不见的剧场中”对话“看不见的自己”。
03 杨泳梁 :
《极夜花火》
杨泳梁用作品连接传统和当下，以当代语汇结合前沿技术重现东方传统的审美方式和文人情节。影像作品《极夜花火》呈现的是广东-中国香港-澳门大湾区壮丽的烟火和夜空的光芒。艺术家将现代都市融入东方古典山水，用数字编辑软件对于照片解构、重组，重塑了在历史长河中当代都市的发展变迁，又与中国北宋山水画中描绘的、超现实的自然遥相呼应。作品旨在思考：当城市庆祝现代化成就的同时，光污染给人的幻觉引人深思。作品提出了城市化、商业化和消费主义所引起的生态问题。它恳请观众停下脚步，思考过去、憧憬未来。
04 史成栋 :
《夏日焰火》
在油画艺术家史成栋的布面油画作品《夏日焰火》中，喷泉如焰火一般在水面上恣意绽放，与水面之下的安静世界形成鲜明对照，水与火、静与动的对立被定格于瞬间。而“光”的注入让整个场景既似现实具象，又似精神幻象。从水中诞生的火焰焕发出流动的光彩，展现出一种从凝滞的日常生活中突围的力量。水面之镜不止是现实的反射，也是通往不同维度世界的入口。
05 邱岸雄：
绘画《金枝》、动画《天咫修月》
《金枝》系列画作
邱岸雄的金枝系列绘画作品源于英国人类学家詹姆斯·乔治·弗雷泽的人类学巨著《金枝》的启发，画面中描绘的动植物并非现代知识系统中被当作科学客观认知的对象，而是万物有灵的世界里具有神性或灵性的生命奇迹。邱岸雄试图通过这一作品恢复人与世界神性联结的通道。
《天咫修月》彩色水墨动画
该作品将志怪小说注入科幻色彩，形成了古今相逢的奇遇，但并非毫无根据的穿越，而是基于故事中本有的与科学相关的内容，形成自然的转换，作品将志怪神话并置于现代的技术神话叙事，形成一个开放的视角，敞开对世界认知的另一个角度。
展馆二楼
现代性抵抗
现代性抵抗
01 张赢 ：
《后现代演化论》
在现代社会的规范与训导之下，个体开始展现出多样化的特征。人们在社会分类中逐渐异化，主体性似乎与个人身份渐行渐远。在张赢的《后现代演化论》创作中，人被转化为景观、动物和植物，艺术家以独特的艺术语言表达个体对现代性的反抗和挑战。
02 金望 :
《语言》
金望的《语言》为六声道预制作品。
没有文字的语言……便只有了真诚的部分，没有谎言，如同初生儿的啼叫。
作品用音乐的方式去想象一种不存在的语言。在某些部分，六只音箱好像是一个个独立个体，互相在对话。
03 张钊瀛 :
《生存日记》
张钊瀛长期致力于图像史的研究与实践，对“现代性”议题亦有独到见解。本次展品《生存日记》共由38幅绘画作品、2件雕塑作品和1件影像作品组成，深入探讨了个人与集体在“标准系统”中的关系。每个单元的呈现都映射出外部环境对个体或集体的影响，以及由此引发的反思和回应，即“意识修炼”。这不仅是对集体意识的追溯，也是对事件或事物感知的探讨，最终形成具有独立个性的个体系统。张钊瀛认为，人们需要在这一过程中回归到“物以类聚”的形态，寻求共同的价值观或信仰，将共同经验经典化，转化为一种信仰意识。
04 林辉华（H.H. Lim）:
《代码》系列——
《代码 1627》《代码 7568》
在林辉华的两幅布面木炭作品中，观众得以体验动物与科学之间的辩论以及人类机械化与动物直觉生存方式的冲突，探讨二者如何和谐共存。同时，该作品也质疑时间的短暂——“当下”一触即逝，过去是记忆，未来是想象。人类究竟如何在瞬息间创造获取数码化与生物本能平衡的世界？通过这些问题，作品试图揭示人类存在的根本——我们是谁，又从何而来。
05 计文于＆朱卫兵 :
《用棉绳把塌了的墙重新建起来》
在城市景观的改造中，人们意识到现代文明在创造、建设和生产废墟。计文于＆朱卫兵《用棉绳把塌了的墙重新建起来》聚焦生活空间的重建。该作品原先为艺术家一个半月驻地九龙村的乡村艺术实践，如今，这一在地艺术在上海当代艺术馆得以再现。影像复现了当地一座土建的废弃的房屋，倒塌的墙被1cm粗的白色棉绳以想象的方式重新建造起来。一眼望去是一种恢复，一实一虚，一重一轻，强调重建的部分，又显示其虚无的部分，一种自然力量和人工作为的抗衡，同时也给人以对于废墟的思考和彰显其保护的重要性。
这对艺术伉俪的另一组软雕塑作品构拟了一个个富有戏剧性的场景。织物缝制的材料属性赋予作品一种古朴、圆钝的质感、却又不失灵动，于现实中提取妙趣，既荒诞不经又直指现实。作品中不断地消解和质疑现实中的日常生活方式，但揭去那些戏剧化的场景和幽默的调侃，仍表露出对未来和人如何存在的希望与美好幻想。
06 屏中市 :
《屏中市第三精神卫生中心》
人形师艺术家组合“屏中市”是由螃蟹（P）张南兮（Z）圣兽（S）PZS三个人的首字母组合成的名字，三位艺术家用双手“凭空捏造”了一座城市，是现实的影像，也是虚拟里真实的存在。作品《屏中市第三精神卫生中心》呈现了一座“成立于1024年”的微缩版精神卫生中心，其中病人、医务人员、医疗设备、生活设施一应俱全，营造出古老的精神病院诡异阴森的氛围。
展馆三楼
“圣塞尔沃洛”
疯人院
“圣塞尔沃洛”
疯人院
01 付彤 :
《镜中之海》
在二楼至三楼的楼梯处，新媒体艺术家付彤为此次展览创作了装置艺术《镜中之海》。该作品在不同的空间维度中展现出河流般的流动性与演变性，为观众提供了多元的解读空间。垂挂的彩色丝线贯穿一楼到三楼，联结起记忆与空间，沿着由线条、文字与灯光组成的通道，在悬浮升降装置和镜面投影装置《门中之海》的引领下，观众逐步走向三楼的镜中孤岛——圣塞尔沃洛，即威尼斯国际大学的前身、威尼斯圣塞尔沃洛精神病院所在地。
02 乐毅 :
《旅程》
《酒，马蹄铁，老萨尔瓦多，和我的好伙计
菲尔和比尔》
《旅程》
同样以“孤岛”为概念，数字艺术家乐毅以巴西南部里约格朗德州的一匹安达卢西亚马——卡拉梅洛的故事创作了影像作品《酒，马蹄铁，老萨尔瓦多，和我的好伙计菲尔和比尔》。该作品探讨了个人身份、移民以及在不同世界之间徘徊时的孤独感。影片对人类在面对生活困境时的情感进行了深刻的冥想，反映了每个人在孤岛上的无助与对超越现状的渴望。通过AI影像生成技术与3D动画的结合，影片创造了一个既荒诞又引人共鸣的体验，邀请观众暂时逃离现实，享受超现实的瞬间。
《酒，马蹄铁，老萨尔瓦多，和我的好伙计菲尔和比尔》
《旅程》是一部关于人类与自然关系的反思作品。该作品的灵感源于艺术家在挪威的旅行。作品以影像与图像的两种方式呈现。影片的背景设定在一颗遥远的星球上，讲述一系列旨在恢复该星球自然环境的实验。短片由三个部分组成：觉醒、沉睡和重生。该作品的目的是创造一种触动心灵和灵魂的视觉体验。
03 张赢 :
《异化星系运转系统》
绘画与雕塑艺术家张赢的作品《异化星系运转系统》呈现了人类精神在后现代主义视角下的荒诞变形。作品聚焦于人在社会关系中的演化，展现了人与人之间、人与自我内心之间的纠缠状态。在现实的压力下，本我被压抑，自我被裹挟，超我被颠覆，防御机制在重负中崩溃。人的精神形变逐渐外化成物品、动植物乃至抽象状态，揭示了人类防御机制崩溃后的混乱局面，也反映了一种社会性的“进化”。
04 郭飞 :
《CrossReaction No.2》
《CrossReaction No.5》
《endlessREDDAL》
《Random/Array》
《CrossReaction No.2》《CrossReaction No.5》
《endlessREDDAL》
本次呈现的CrossReaction No.2及CrossReaction No.5概念来源于DNA基因序列在微观层面变化反应中的一系列相互作用关系，作品呈现出了随机序列图组（表型）在粒子扰动下持续的动态性演进与突变，将原本静态凝固的质料转化为不同微观粒子，让其不加干预地自由流动、生成、组合、裂变，实时生成粒度转移变化。如同DNA基因序列背后的秘密，影像作品在不断流动不断生成中形成一幅幅新的“瞬时静态”画作；画面中央缓慢旋转的轴，隐喻性地延续了《endlessREDDAL》中的疑问，同样作为一种永远在场固定性力量将不断生成的画面拉回。作品的声音设计运用了粒子声音合成方式将声音打散重组，是艺术家对DNA基因微观变化下的感官体验的具象化。
《Random/Array》
变化就是在同一事物中存在的、彼此相互对立的那些决定的连接关系。
作品Random/Array由相互独立的两个声音/影像作品形成非连续性的模糊叙事，隐喻不断生成又消解。影像作品《Array》用算法模拟出了无限不重复序列图组（表型），画面在抽象记忆和具象图景间不断转换。作为象征个体基因的样本，不断闪回变化的视觉主体构建了一个短暂的永恒瞬逝空间。声音作品《Random》用变化长音波形延滞主题，通过拉伸时间的缓慢变化，消解模糊了音乐的调性中心和过渡，将不断变化状态下的不安情绪不断递归放大转移，并且始终不予解决。作品构建出的时空力场在稳定和不稳定中摇摆不定。
05 计文于 & 朱卫兵 :
《救助站》
计文于&朱卫兵的装置艺术《救助站》位于楼梯口处的小房间。各式曾存在于艺术家生活中的旧物包扎着医用绷带陈列在空间中，令人联想起一个坐满伤患的病房。假如仔细观察，绷带上的血渍其实是艺术家利用红色丝线制作的刺绣，针线细微的起伏仿佛正在呼吸的伤口，勾起伤痛的联想。“赋予其生命，从没落中归来”，艺术家赋予旧物以“皮肉”与温度，试图唤起物质过剩的社会中人与物品之间特殊的联系。
06 何塞·安赫利诺（Josè Angelino） :
装置《玻璃杯》
单声道影像《一个水滴的短暂一生》《LED版罗马》
《玻璃杯》
《一个水滴的短暂一生》
《LED版罗马》
流动性和共情的概念从光作品《玻璃杯》中浮现出来。内部由氩气和氖气制成，复制了北极光的物理和美学动态，外部以玻璃杯形态呈现雕塑状态。通过电力的使用，艺术家使看不见的东西变得可见，艺术家善于“玩耍”材料的属性，并常常引入干扰。结合单声道影像《一个水滴的短暂一生》《LED版罗马》的呈现方式，这组作品就像被施了魔咒一样，似乎捕捉到了物质的生命力瞬间、一处本质。
联合举办
正在展出
镜中行旅
TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES
>< SEITIC RORRIM SRELLEVART
展览时间
2024.11.7 - 2025.2.15
周二至周日 10:00 - 18:00
(周一闭馆）
展览地点
MoCA上海当代艺术馆
上海市黄浦区南京西路231号人民公园7号门内
购票方式
Following its debut at the Venice Biennale (April 17 to May 16, 2024), the ‘TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES’ themed exhibition will begin its China tour with a grand opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MoCA Shanghai) on November 7, 2024. Much like the travels of the Italian explorer Marco Polo, this exhibition traverses time and space, arriving in the mysterious East, engaging in a profound dialogue with Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. Through artistic ‘intervention’, the exhibition reveals the infinite fantasies, experiences, and hidden realms contained within the concept of the ‘city’.
From The Water City of Venice to Shanghai, another city favored by travelers, ‘TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES’ focuses on the symbiosis between travelers and the city. Here, visitors can explore not only the ‘invisible city’, but also delve into the ‘invisible self’. Through the medium of contemporary art, MoCA Shanghai seeks to explore the ‘self in the mirror’ through the lens of travel, continuing the cross-temporal dialogue between Eastern and Western civilizations. In the dialectic of ‘facing the mirror’ and ‘gazing from afar’, the exhibition decodes the complex structure where the city and the individual reflect each other while growing independently, awakening a sense of self-existence. It creates a mirrored pathway for visitors to introspection and self-harmony.
1F : The Individual
in Virtual and Real Spaces
This section explores profound themes of contemporary social development through the ‘intervention’ relationship between the artworks, as well as the cross-temporal dialogue between Marco Polo, Italo Calvino, and Kublai Khan.
Shi Yong's Happiness 250-A subverts the relationship of domination, slicing through the exhibition space like a coiling dragon, echoing Zhu Peihong and Zhao Yilin’s large-scale installation Space O: Strange Space – Virtual and Real Theater. Additionally, both Yang Yongliang’s Glows in the Night and Shi Chengdong’s Summer Fireworks capture the fleeting beauty of virtual and real spaces. Alongside Qiu Anxiong’s The Golden Bough and Tian Zhi Xiu Yue and H.H. Lim’s Code, they collectively explore the concept of animism, igniting a philosophical debate between existence and science, sparking a collision of reflective thought.
2F :
Resistance to Modernity
In Zhang Ying's surreal work Postmodern Evolutionism, the audience experiences the transformation from social conformity to gradual alienation. Moving on to the independent music exhibition Language, Jin Wang’s work imagines a nonexistent language through music. Zhang Zhaoying’s encyclopedic Survival Diary series, which includes 38 paintings, 2 sculptures, and 1 video, together form a ‘museum theater’. The artists collectively reflect on the impact of the external environment on both individuals and collectives, provoking profound contemplation.
Wandering through Ji Wenyu and Zhu Weibing’s soft sculpture installations, such as The Fish Here Don’t Lack Food, one encounters theatrical scenes extracted from everyday life, offering a humorous and satirical glimpse into modern living. Upon arriving at their work Rebuilding Fallen Walls with Cotton Rope, the discussion shifts to the impact of modernity on tradition and locality, reflecting on how it erodes both personal living spaces and the spiritual world.
The pathway to the third floor brings you to Ping Zhong Shi Third Mental Health Center, a miniature asylum ‘founded in 1024’ created by the doll artist collective ‘Ping Zhong Shi’. Complete with patients, medical staff, equipment, and living facilities, this work synchronizes you with the mental state of an old asylum. In this context, the audience steps towards the third floor’s ‘Mental Island—The Asylum’.
3F: Mental Island
——The Asylum
Inspired by the Venice Biennale's venue on San Servolo Island, where Venice International University is located, this floor’s theme is ‘Mental Island—The Asylum’. Since 1725, the island has been used as a mental asylum, deepening the discussion on modernity in the realm of mental health.
Fu Tong’s immersive installation Sea in the Mirror combines lighting, scent, and sound to recreate memories of Italy’s San Servolo Island. Visitors follow the ‘spiritual path’ made of hanging threads and texts, leading them to the ‘Mental Island—The asylum’ on the third floor.
In this context, the concept of the ‘asylum’ is further deepened. Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, the DNA series work CrossReaction No.2 by artist Guo Fei explores the interactions within DNA sequences at the micro level through an audiovisual dynamic installation. The piece presents the continuous evolution and mutation of sub-random sequence patterns (phenotypes) under particle disturbances. It delves deeply into the mental state of free flow, generation, combination, and fission in the absence of external intervention. Le Yi’s video work Wine, Horseshoe, Old Salvador, and My Good Pals Phil and Bill explores themes of identity and the loneliness brought by immigration, creating an absurd yet relatable experience that momentarily invites the audience to escape reality and enjoy surreal moments. Zhang Ying’s theater series Alienated Galaxy Operating System further examines the absurd transformation of the human psyche from a postmodern perspective.
In the small room at the corner, Ji Wenyu and Zhu Weibing’s installation art piece Rescue Station imbues old objects with ‘flesh’ and warmth, symbolizing hopes for revival and rebirth. In another corner, José Angelino uses physical phenomena as narrative tools. His installations, such as Glass Cup, the monophonic video LED Version of Rome, and The Brief Life of a Water Drop, question the vitality of matter.
The year 2024 is significant for both China and Italy, marking the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death and the 20th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. MoCA Shanghai, under the curatorship of Executive Director Sun Wenqian, has invited a new generation of contemporary artists from China and Italy to participate (listed alphabetically): Fu Tong, Guo Fei, José Angelino, Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing, Jin Wang, Le Yi, H.H. Lim, Ping Zhong Shi (Pang Xie, Zhang Nanxi, and Sheng Shou), Qiu Anxiong, Shi Yong, Shi Chengdong, Yang Yongliang, Zhang Ying, Zhang Zhaoying, and Zhu Peihong & Zhao Yilin. Through the ‘TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES’ exhibition, MoCA Shanghai aims not only to echo the theme of the 60th Venice Biennale, Foreigners Everywhere, but also to deepen the mutual understanding between Chinese and Italian audiences, opening new aesthetic perspectives and fostering a new artistic ecosystem characterized by diversity and inclusivity.
Curator Introduction
Miriam Sun
Executive Director of MoCA Shanghai
President of Arts Momentum
Director of Global Private Museum Network (China)
Since the founding of the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MoCA Shanghai) in 2002, Sun Wenqian has tirelessly promoted Chinese contemporary art and culture on the global stage. She has actively facilitated the exchange of Eastern and Western aesthetics, expanded the boundaries of contemporary art, and continuously supported the integration of art into public life.
Over the past 22 years, she has woven an international network for MoCA Shanghai, participating in the Venice Biennale’s parallel exhibitions four times and hosting the CIMAM Meeting in Shanghai in 2010. She has curated major exhibitions such as the China-France Cultural Year, the Guggenheim’s 300 Years of American Art, and the Italian Cultural Year.
MoCA Shanghai has worked relentlessly to bring Chinese artists to the world stage, organizing exhibitions in Rome, St. Petersburg, the Getty Museum, and the Hammer Museum. Domestically, she has led MoCA Shanghai in creating blockbuster exhibitions that draw massive crowds, such as the Yayoi Kusama exhibition and the Dior Spirit exhibition. In 2019 and 2023, she was invited by the Macau SAR government to curate and serve as an international judge for the the ‘Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale’, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to China. This initiative has introduced new cultural developments to the city, including inviting Cai Guoqiang to premiere his Sky Ladder project in Macau.
Artists Introduction
Fu Tong
New Media Artist
Fu Tong is the founder of the new media art groups ‘E3’ and ‘Nine Yuan Nine’, a member of the art collective ‘Tiantuan’. She is involved in the fields of new media art interactive installations, video art and conceptual art. In 2023, she co-created with Tan Dun the new media and music Interactive exhibition ‘Female Script’. As the founder and creative director of the new media creative group XFF, she has been actively involved as a stage director, set designer, interactive installation creator, and live VJ at various music festivals, concerts, and new media performances.
Guo Fei
Electronic Musician
Sound Artist
Visual Artist
Guo Fei’s artistic practice spans various fields, including sound, experimental video, new media art, etc. His personal music project, OSCPLLEX, features styles such as Dubtechno, Ambient, Minimal, Experimental Music, and Field Recording. Influenced by minimalism and randomism, he experimentally uses multi-layered sound textures to create highly immersive Dub techno, ambient environments, and experimental music.
Josè Angelino
Contemporary Artist
Angelino, with a background in physics, integrates scientific experiments with artistic practice, creating paintings and sculptures by observing the behaviors and patterns of nature. His works are seen as independent universes, systems, or organisms, operating through precise processes such as the flow of gases, the vibration of sound waves, and the movement generated by heat sources. These processes explore the relationships established with their surroundings and the inevitable interferences that arise.
Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing
Soft Sculpture Artists
Ji Wenyu and Zhu Weibing began collaborating on soft sculptures in 2003 and currently live and work in Shanghai. They use textile materials such as cloth, silk, and cotton to create their works. With soft, gentle, and non-aggressive materials, they construct garden-style landscapes, theatrical installations, and typical ‘Chinese-style’ puppets. With ironically effortless banter, they present the ideals and illusions of modern society beneath the flourishing facade.
Jin Wang
Composer
Jin Wang’s chamber music compositions have been performed multiple times at the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and other concerts. He collaborates extensively with artists from various fields: he has worked with artist Yang Fudong on several art films and multimedia video works such as An Estranged Paradise and Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest. Additionally, he has collaborated with modern dance artist Jin Xing, director Cheng Yusu, and Kunqu opera performer Zhang Jun.
Le Yi
Digital Artist
Director
Le Yi is dedicated to creating visual works in the styles of futurism and science fiction. He currently lives and works in Oslo, Norway. Using 3D software as his primary tool, he creates imaginative worlds and scenes that explore various themes, including the relationship between nature and technology, society and the individual, the present and the future, and life and death.
H.H. Lim
Malaysian Contemporary Artist
As a conceptual artist, Lim excels in creating large-scale works, incorporating elements from everyday life into his works, which at times are recycled, repackaged and framed, being given different meanings and new life. Lim's conceptual works have consisted of paintings, installations, performance art as well as recorded video and sound. By playing with the game-like ambiguity and non-accordance between images and languages, he attempts to reveal the inevitable uncertainty and contradiction in the linguistic function of words and sentences and reality.
Ping Zhong Shi
(Pang Xie, Zhang Nanxi, Sheng Shou)
Puppet Artists
‘Ping Zhong Shi’ is a name formed from the initials of the three artists' pseudonyms: Pang Xie (P), Zhang Nanxi (Z), and Sheng Shou (S). Their works span various forms, including dolls, comics, sculptures, and animation, often using miniature formats to express their imagined ‘Ping Zhong Shi’.
Xie Wenxuan (Pang Xie): A mixed-media artist and ceramic doll creator, whose work spans multiple fields.
Zhang Nannan (Zhang Nanxi): A doll artist, illustrator, and fiber artist, who runs the MUYUXI studio.
Weng Jinglu (Sheng Shou): A former taxidermist, is now an independent artisan and doll artist.
Qiu Anxiong
Intermedia Artist
Qiu Anxiong, born in 1972 in Sichuan, graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 1994 and from the Kassel Academy of Art in Germany in 2003. He currently lives and works in Shanghai. His works span various media, including animation, installations, video, painting, etc. As a representative artist of ink animation, his notable works include the ink animations New Classic of Mountains and Seas, Republican Landscape, The Temptation of the Land, and the video installation Memories for Forgetting. He is an active force in the contemporary art scene in recent years.
Shi Yong
Installation and Video Media Artist
Shi Yong is one of China's pioneering figures in installation and media art. His early works focused on revealing the ideologies within social realities. In the 1990s, he began to explore the concept of transformation in contemporary Shanghai under the myth of Reform and Opening-up, which then led to broader themes such as globalization and consumer culture. In 2006, Shi Yong began questioning the art world itself, contemplating how to resist through ‘suspension’ in his works. In the future, he intends to delve into reflections and practices on ‘control’ beneath the surface of ‘abstraction’.
Shi Chengdong
Painting Artist
Shi Chengdong graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and currently teaches in the Painting Program of the Stage Design Department at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. In 2017, he received the ‘Annual Art Discovery’ award at the 11th China Art Power List and the ‘Most Popular Award’ at the Wan Ying Imagination - Youth Art Discovery. His works inherit the depth of academic art while presenting a light, free, and vibrant atmosphere. By infusing his strong personal style into his painting language, his works embody a sense of detachment, relaxation, and self-liberation through a process of continuous refinement.
Yang Yongliang
Multimedia Artist
Since 2005, Yang Yongliang has been engaged in the experimentation and creation of contemporary art, with works spanning various media such as photography, painting, images and installations. His works bridge tradition and the present, using contemporary language combined with cutting-edge technology to recreate the aesthetic style and literati sentiment of traditional Eastern culture. He developed a unique narrative description method, and after accepting history, fables, allusions, and social and cultural inspiration, he reshaped a city and the ever-changing backgrounds in the long history.
Zhang Ying
Painting and Sculpture Artist
Zhang Ying graduated from the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts with a focus on watercolor. He is skilled in using water-based media and also works in digital painting and sculpture. His works often reflect emotional observations of life, while also exploring lighthearted and humorous visual elements. From a perspective of pessimistic idealism, he seeks to release deep-rooted negative emotions to achieve emotional immunity from the scars of reality. His experiences in the urban-rural fringe provide the main foundation for his creations, which strongly embody personal context and deeply explore Chinese grassroots culture.
Zhang Zhaoying
Painting Artist
Zhang Zhaoying graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and holds a master's degree from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Macau University of Science and Technology and teaches at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. As an important representative of artists born after 1985, his works possess a significant international perspective, fully embodying the spirit of cross-media, cross-language, and cross-era fusion. He has long studied and practiced the history of imagery, attempting to reconstruct discourse to explore subversive ‘personal fields’.
Zhu Peihong & Zhao Yilin
Interdisciplinary Artists
Zhu Peihong Studio is an interdisciplinary art studio formed by Zhu Peihong and Zhao Yilin (Lilyo). Zhu Peihong is an abstract artist, while Zhao Yilin is an architect. Their creations focus on light and space, exploring the infinite energy of the cosmos and stars, using abstract art to produce works imbued with the Eastern spirit.
- Works Introduction -
First Floor
The Individual, in Virtual and Real Spaces
The Individual,
in Virtual and Real Spaces
01 Shi Yong :
Happiness 250-A
My Body Belongs to You. No! My Body Belongs to You Three Hundred Words
Happiness 250-A
This installation features a Happiness 250 motorcycle from the 1990s, precisely segmented into uniform modules. The cut pieces are arranged like a chain, subverting the motorcycle's role — its fragmented parts become candidates, while the twisted base becomes the dominator.
Three Hundred Words
This neon installation resembles the scattered islands in Venice's water system. The artist randomly selects verses related to illusions from a poetry collection and arranges them in a random order, presenting them in an inverted manner, resulting in fragmented semantics and the failure of reading.
My Body Belongs to You. No! My Body Belongs to You:
This neon installation uses the interplay of light and shadow to shift meanings and create progression. Through forced grammatical reconstruction, the work invites viewers to question and reflect on the logic and language they rely on everyday.
02 Zhu Peihong & Zhao Yilin :
Strange Space – Virtual and Real Theater
Zhu Peihong and Zhao Yilin use virtual reality technology to design and create this immersive piece, aiming to provide the audience with a novel visual and participatory experience. Light and color blend into inflatable structures, and multiple independent inflatables combine to create a familiar yet mysterious space, like a spectacular stage. In this ‘invisible theater’, the audience's actions and perceptions interact with the ‘invisible self’.
03 Yang Yongliang :
Glows in the Night
Yang Yongliang connects tradition and the present through his works, using contemporary language and cutting-edge technology to recreate the aesthetic style and literati sentiments of traditional Eastern culture. Glows in the Night showcases the magnificent fireworks and nightscape of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The artist integrates modern urban landscapes with traditional Eastern aesthetics, deconstructing and reassembling photographs using digital editing software. This process reshapes the evolution of contemporary cities over time, while simultaneously echoing the surreal nature depicted in Northern Song Dynasty landscape paintings.
The artwork aims to provoke reflection on the illusions created by light pollution as cities celebrate modern achievements. It raises ecological concerns brought about by urbanization, commercialization, and consumerism. The piece invites the audience to pause, reflect on the past, and imagine the future.
04 Shi Chengdong :
Summer Fireworks
In oil painting artist Shi Chengdong's oil on canvas Summer Fireworks, a fountain bursts forth like fireworks across the water's surface, creating a stark contrast with the quiet world beneath. The opposition between water and fire, stillness and movement, is frozen in a single moment. The infusion of light makes the scene both a tangible reality and a spiritual illusion. The flame born from the water radiates flowing brilliance, symbolizing the power to break free from the stagnation of daily life. The water’s surface becomes not only a reflection of reality but an entrance to other dimensions.
05 Qiu Anxiong：
The Golden Bough (Painting)
Tian Zhi Xiu Yue (Animation)
The Golden Bough (Painting)
The series of paintings The Golden Bough is inspired by British anthropologist James George Frazer's influential anthropological work The Golden Bough. The plants and animals depicted are not objects of scientific inquiry but rather divine or spiritual miracles in a world where all things possess spirits. Qiu Anxiong seeks to restore the divine connection between humans and the world through this work.
Tian Zhi Xiu Yue (Animation)
This section explores profound themes of contemporary social development through the ‘intervention’ relationship between the artworks, as well as the cross-temporal dialogue between Marco Polo, Italo Calvino, and Kublai Khan.
Shi Yong's Happiness 250-A subverts the relationship of domination, slicing through the exhibition space like a coiling dragon, echoing Zhu Peihong and Zhao Yilin’s large-scale installation Space O: Strange Space – Virtual and Real Theater. Additionally, both Yang Yongliang’s Glows in the Night and Shi Chengdong’s Summer Fireworks capture the fleeting beauty of virtual and real spaces. Alongside Qiu Anxiong’s The Golden Bough and Tian Zhi Xiu Yue and H.H. Lim’s Code, they collectively explore the concept of animism, igniting a philosophical debate between existence and science, sparking a collision of reflective thought.
Second Floor
Resistance to Modernity
Resistance to Modernity
01 Zhang Ying ：
Postmodern Evolutionism
Under the norms and guidance of modern society, individuals begin to exhibit diverse characteristics. As people become increasingly alienated within social classifications, their subjectivity seems to drift further from their personal identities. In Postmodern Evolutionism, Zhang Ying transforms humans into landscapes, animals, and plants. The artist expresses an individual’s resistance and challenge to modernity through unique artistic language.
02 Jin Wang :
Language
Jin Wang's Language is a six-channel pre-recorded sound piece.
Without words, language becomes purely sincere—with no lies, like the cry of a newborn.
The work imagines a non-existent language through music. At times, the six speakers seem like independent individuals, conversing with one another.
03 Zhang Zhaoying :
Survival Diary
Zhang Zhaoying has been long dedicated to the study and practice of image history, offering unique insights into the theme of modernity. This exhibition features Survival Diary, consisting of 38 paintings, 2 sculptures, and 1 video, deeply exploring the relationship between individuals and collectives within standardized systems. Each unit’s presentation reflects the impact of the external environment on individuals or collectives, provoking reflection and response—what Zhang calls ‘consciousness cultivation’. This is not only a retrospective of collective consciousness but also an exploration of the perception of events or things, ultimately forming an individual system with independent personality. Zhang believes that individuals must return to a ‘birds of a feather flock together’ state, seeking common values or beliefs and transforming shared experiences into a form of faith consciousness.
04 H.H. Lim :
‘Code’ Series –
Code 1627, Code 7568
In H.H. Lim’s two charcoal on canvas works, viewers can experience the debate between animals and science, the conflict between human mechanization and animal instinctual survival, and how the two can coexist harmoniously. The works also questions the fleeting nature of time—’the present’ is fleeting, the past is memory, and the future is imagination. The work contemplates how humanity can create a balanced world between digitalization and biological instinct. Through these questions, Lim seeks to reveal the essence of human existence—who we are and where we come from.
05 Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing :
Rebuilding Fallen Walls with Cotton Rope
In the transformation of urban landscapes, people recognize that modern civilization creates, builds, and produces ruins. Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing's Rebuilding Fallen Walls with Cotton Rope focuses on the reconstruction of living spaces. Originally part of the artists' rural art practice during a one-and-a-half-month residency in Jiulong Village, this site-specific artwork is recreated at MoCA Shanghai. The video re-enacts the process of rebuilding an abandoned earthen house using 1cm-thick white cotton ropes. From a distance, it appears like a restoration, yet the contrast between the real and the imagined, the heavy and the light, emphasizes both the tangible and the illusory aspects of rebuilding. The work highlights the balance between natural forces and human intervention while prompting reflection on ruins and the importance of preservation.
The artist couple's other soft sculptures construct dramatic scenes. The textile materials bring a rustic, round-edged texture to the works, yet they remain dynamic and lively. Extracting the humor from reality, while pointing to the absurdity of reality, the work constantly dissolves and questions everyday lifestyles in the reality. Beneath the theatrical scenes and humorous satire, they reveal hope and optimistic visions for the future and human existence.
06 Ping Zhong Shi :
Ping Zhong Shi Third Mental Health Center
The doll artist group ‘Ping Zhong Shi’ (PZS), formed by Pang Xie (P), Zhang Nanxi (Z), and Sheng Shou (S), crafts an imaginary city with their hands—a reflection of reality yet also a virtual existence. The work Ping Zhong Shi Third Mental Health Center presents a miniature mental health center ‘founded in the year 1024’, complete with patients, medical staff, equipment, and living facilities. The eerie and sinister atmosphere of an old psychiatric hospital is vividly recreated in this miniature world.
Third Floor
‘San Servolo’Asylum
‘San Servolo’Asylum
01 Fu Tong :
Sea in the Mirror
At the corner of the stairs between the second and third floors, new media artist Fu Tong presents the installation Sea in the Mirror. The artwork showcases the fluidity and evolution of rivers across different spatial dimensions, offering the audience multiple interpretive possibilities. Colorful hanging threads span from the first to the third floor, connecting memory and space. Along a passage composed of lines, text, and light, guided by the suspended lift installation and the mirror projection installation ‘Sea in the Door’, viewers gradually move towards the island on the third floor—San Servolo, once the site of the Venice International University and the former San Servolo Asylum.
02 Le Yi :
Journey
Wine, Horseshoe, Old Salvador, and
My Good Pals Phil and Bill
Wine, Horseshoe, Old Salvador, and My Good Pals Phil and Bill
Also exploring the concept of ‘Island’, digital artist Le Yi created this video work based on the story of Caramelo, an Andalusian horse from Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. The piece delves into themes of personal identity, immigration, and the loneliness of wandering between different worlds.The film presents a profound meditation on human emotions when faced with life's challenges, reflecting the helplessness of individuals on their metaphorical islands and their deep longing to transcend their current circumstances. Through AI-generated imagery and 3D animation, the film creates an experience that is both absurd and resonant, encouraging viewers to temporarily escape reality and embrace surreal moments.
Journey
Journey is a reflective piece on the relationship between humans and nature. The work is inspired by the artist’s travels in Norway. It is presented in two forms: video and imagery. The film is set on a distant planet and tells the story of a series of experiments aimed at restoring the planet’s natural environment. The short film is composed of three parts: Awakening, Slumber, and Rebirth. The purpose of the work is to create a visual experience that touches the heart and soul.
03 Zhang Ying :
Alienated Galaxy Operating System
Painting and sculpture artist Zhang Ying's work Alienated Galaxy Operating System presents the absurd transformation of the human psyche from a postmodern perspective. The piece focuses on the evolution of human relationships, depicting the entangled state between people and their inner selves. Under societal pressures, the id is repressed, the ego is enmeshed, and the superego is subverted, leading to the collapse of defense mechanisms. Human mental distortions gradually externalize into objects, living creatures, and even abstract forms, revealing the chaotic state of humanity after the breakdown of its defense systems and reflecting a kind of social ‘evolution’.
04 Guo Fei :
CrossReaction No.2, CrossReaction No.5
endlessREDDAL, Random/Array
《CrossReaction No.2》《CrossReaction No.5》
《endlessREDDAL》
The concepts of CrossReaction No.2 and CrossReaction No.5 presented this time are derived from a series of interactions within DNA sequences at the micro level.
The artwork presents the continuous dynamic evolution and mutation of sub-random sequence images (phenotypes) under particle disturbances, transforming originally static and solid materials into different microscopic particles. These particles are allowed to flow, generate, combine, and fission freely without intervention, generating real-time granular transitions and changes. Like the secrets behind DNA sequences, the video artwork continuously flows and generates new ‘instantaneous static’ paintings. The slowly rotating axis in the center of the screen metaphorically continues the questions posed in endlessREDDAL, symbolizing a fixed force that pulls the constantly generating images back. The sound design uses granular sound synthesis to break down and reorganize the sound, embodying the artist's sensory experience of the micro-changes in DNA sequences.
《Random/Array》
Change is the determined connection of mutually opposing elements within the same entity.
Random/Array forms a non-continuous, ambiguous narrative with two independent sound/video works, implying constant generation and dissolution. The video Array simulates infinite, non-repetitive sequence patterns (phenotypes) through algorithms, continuously shifting between abstract memories and concrete images. As a symbol of individual genetic samples, the ever-changing visual subjects construct a fleeting eternal moment. The sound piece Random uses long, slow-changing waveforms to stretch time, dissolving and blurring the tonal center of the music, amplifying and transferring the unease amidst constant change without resolution. The temporal and spatial force field constructed by the artwork oscillates between stability and instability.
05 Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing :
Rescue Station
Located in a small room by the staircase, Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing’s installation Rescue Station features old objects from the artists' lives, wrapped in medical bandages and arranged in the space, evoking the image of a hospital ward filled with injured patients. Upon closer inspection, the bloodstains on the bandages are actually red silk thread embroidery. The subtle rise and fall of the stitches resemble breathing wounds, evoking the memory of pain. ‘Endowing it with life, returning from decline’, the artist imbues old objects with ‘flesh’ and warmth, attempting to evoke a special connection between people and items in a society of material excess.
06 Josè Angelino :
Glass, Short Life of a Drop, ROMA BY LED
Glass
Short Life of a Drop
ROMA BY LED
The concepts of fluidity and empathy emerge from the light artwork Glass. Internally made of argon and neon, it replicates the physical and aesthetic dynamics of the Northern Lights, while externally it presents a sculptural form in the shape of a glass cup. Through the use of electricity, the artist makes the invisible visible, skillfully ‘playing’ with the properties of materials and often introducing interference. Combined with the monophonic video Short Life of a Drop and Roma by LED, this set of works seems to be enchanted, capturing moments of the vitality of matter, touching upon its essence.
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Author：Runxin, Leyan, Qinyun, Meili
Designer: Leyan
MoCA
