panGenerator, Infinity, 2020
The Pieces I Am
Curated by Douyin Art
September 30 2022 - January 8 2023
UCCA Edge
2F, No.88 Xizang Bei Lu,
Jing'an District, Shanghai
press release
SHANGHAI, China — From September 30, 2022, to January 8, 2023, UCCA and Douyin Art present the group exhibition “The Pieces I Am,” focused on humanity’s existence in the digital age. The exhibition features 27 artists and groups from China and abroad who use and/or explore technology in their works. The Chinese exhibition title takes its inspiration from the idiom 吉光片羽(jíguāngpiànyǔ), which metaphorically refers to fragments of treasured ancient relics, and changes the first character to the homophonous 集 (jí) to alter the meaning to suggest a collection of precious, beautiful, and enlightening “pieces” drifting down from the digital world. “The Pieces I Am” offers a possible starting point for understanding our digitized reality, interpreting and disenchanting the contemporary digital age through a wide range of art that traverses between digital and real, authentic and virtual, natural and technological, and logical and emotional. In doing so, it seeks to offer us new ways of recognizing the self, the world, and the relationship between the two in our fragmented contemporary context. “The Pieces I Am” is curated by UCCA Lab Curators Liya Han and Yoojin Tang together with special guest curator Iris Long, designed by Shen Ruofan, and organized by the UCCA Lab team.
Exhibition co-organizer Douyin Art has specially developed an online exhibition space as well as interactive viewing experiences for the offline exhibition. Douyin Art also hosted a special opening livestream including the premiere of an eponymous exhibition concept film starring art ambassadors selected by UCCA. Please find more information on the opening and film below.
Participating artists include Pascale Birchler (b. 1982, Einsiedeln), Ian Cheng (b. 1984, Los Angeles), Chun Shao (b. 1987, Hangzhou), Guo Cheng (b. 1988, Beijing), Ann Veronica Janssens (b. 1956, Folkestone), Lawrence Lek (b. 1982, Frankfurt am Main), Lin Ke (b. 1984, Zhejiang province), Liu Di (b. 1985, Shaanxi province), Jiayu Liu (b. 1990, Liaoning province), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (b. 1967, Mexico City), David OReilly (b. 1985, Kilkenny), panGenerator (formed 2010), Pete Jiadong Qiang (b. 1991, Shaanxi province), Shinseungback Kimyonghun (formed 2012), Shi Zheng (b. 1990, Jiangsu province), Yehwan Song (b. 1995, Seoul), Studio Above&Below (formed 2018), Sun Yitian (b. 1991, Wenzhou), Tang Chao (b. 1990, Hunan province), Coralie Vogelaar (b. 1981, Delft), Wu Ziyang (b. 1990, Xuzhou), Xin Yunpeng (b. 1983, Beijing), Ye Xuan (b. 1989, Hunan province), Yin Yi (b. 1978, Shanghai), Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (formed 1999), Wenxin Zhang (b. 1989, Hefei), Payne Zhu (b. 1990, Shanghai)
UCCA EDGE: Opened in May 2021, UCCA Edge occupies 5,500 square meters over three levels of the new EDGE tower in Shanghai’s Jing’an District. Designed by New Yorkbased architecture practice SO – IL, the museum includes 1,700 square meters of gallery space as well as a wraparound outdoor terrace and public spaces including a lobby and auditorium. Situated just north of People’s Square and Suzhou Creek, and directly above the Qufu Lu station of the Shanghai Metro in a bustling revitalized neighborhood, UCCA Edge will quickly become an essential destination and an integral part of Shanghai’s vibrant cultural fabric.
David OReilly, Everything, 2017
Wu Ziyang, Pasig River 2030 - 6 Plus, 2022
Ian Cheng, BoB (Bags of Belief), 2018-2019
LINK: The Pieces I Am (Thanks, Gemma!)
