"RanRan" Young Artist Incubation Program is a three-year strategic cooperation established by XINTIANDI, the lifestyle brand of Shui On Xintiandi and UCCA. It aims to leverage the resources and advantages of both parties and to provide creative support and professional development opportunities for young artists. "RanRan" Young Artist Incubation Program is grounded in the Greater Xintiandi area in Shanghai, which has long been committing to build a welcoming platform for creative endeavors, and an open and liberating environment for young Chinese artists to present their work and to engage in interdisciplinary experimentation.

"RanRan" encourages creative practices and artistic communication, and in order to foster the growth and development of young Chinese artists, "RanRan" provides exhibition opportunities through four phases:

Young Artist Prize, Artists-in-Residence Program, Art Season, and Crossover Collaboration. "RanRan" adopts a collaborative model that works closely with young artists to explore possibilities of art, as well as kindles public's desire for and curiosity about the urban community and its attached significance, thereby forging a vibrant, collective, and unremitting sphere of art and culture. As inviting the active participation of cultural and artistic groups and reaching out to engage a wider audience, "RanRan" aims to facilitate the development of Chinese art in the future.

YOUNG ARTIST EXHIBITION

Florence Lanxuan Liu

Florence Lanxuan Liu (b. 1997, Shenzhen, China; currently works and lives in Shanghai) holds a BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Printmedia from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work ranges from artists’ books and prints to installations that are highly process- and material-based. By creating objects that play with images of flesh and skin, as well as materiality that attempts to reflect and investigate bodily processes, her work reveals the tenderness and vulnerability of human beings. The suggestion of shed skin and lost hair serves as evidence of aging and renewal, becoming a record of transformation. The raw and visceral flesh transfigures into an encounter of haunting beauty. Her solo exhibitions include “Eternal Cycle” (INCUBATOR, Chicago, 2021). Her works have been exhibited at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (Minneapolis, 2024), Stasis Space (Beijing, 2024), BY ART MATTERS (Hangzhou, 2023), He Art Museum (Shunde, 2022), Manifest Creative Research Gallery & Drawing Center (Cincinnati, 2021), Chicago Athletic Association (Chicago, 2021), and Woods-Gerry Gallery (Providence, 2019), etc.

Liu Shuai

Liu Shuai (b.1992, Shandong, China; currently works and lives in Hangzhou and Shenzhen) graduated from the China Academy of Art. He often adopts the perspectives of animals, plants, and natural elements such as sand and stone to reflect on and anticipate the connections between land, climate, humans, and non-human life. Liu Shuai has long focused on the relationships between “here” and “elsewhere,” shaped by phenomena such as war, invasive species, and the pet trade. Using mediums such as installation, sound, video, and folk crafts, he reveals the often overlooked irritations and subtle glimmers within the realms of nature and human existence. His solo exhibitions and projects include: “Insect Footprints, Human Traces” (Goethe-Institut China, Beijing, 2022) and “Tunnel: Clockwise Sound of Water” (Random Play, Hangzhou, 2020). Group exhibitions include: “Seeing Birds” (Hushiguang, Longyou, 2023); “Home Away from Home” (Larnaca, Cyprus, 2023); “See Animal See Me” (Pidan gallery, Shanghai, 2023); and “The 9th Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB)” (Shenzhen, 2022). Liu Shuai won the Bio Art & Design Award (2024), was selected for the One Way Street Foundation Sailor Project (2024), won the Prince Claus Seed Award (2023), and received sponsorship from the Goethe Institute “Local Knowledge and Diversified Ecological Perception” project (2022).

Huang Bing

Huang Bing (b. 1996, Guangdong, China; currently works and lives in Beijing) graduated from the Central Academy of Drama. In her artistic practice, Huang Bing frequently adopts an approach that intertwines non-fiction with fiction to explore her view on the relationship between individuals and systems. Her current creative passion is focused on establishing profound dialogues between personal life states and historical contexts. Her major works include the documentary theater piece The Coming of Age (Beijing Fringe Festival, Beijing, 2021; The 8th International Week of Chinese Oral History, Beijing, 2022), which explores intergenerational relationships between the elderly and the young; the performance piece The Mountain in the Room (opening performance for the group exhibition “Under the Sun: Contemporary White Porcelain Exhibition,” Tianqing Art Center, Beijing, 2021), which examines the relationship between the body, containers, and space; the automated writing and visual work Miracle: How to Kill a Strawberry that was featured in the group exhibition “From Andong to Dandong: Rafts, Broken Bridges, and Passers-by on the Yalu River” (Beijing Ten Sleep Art Center, Beijing, 2022), that retells female life experiences in the context of border narratives; and the cyber-theater piece I Am a Strange Loop, based on the autobiographical text of cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter, which was featured in the group exhibition “AI & NI: Artificial Intelligence and Natural Intelligence” (4C Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023).

Chengan+Villo

Chengan+Villo, an art duo founded in 2022 by artists Chengan Xia and Villo Jiang, endeavors to explore how subjective human perceptions and objective social concepts are shaped and transformed by technological advancements. Through videos, performances and installations, the duo examines the intricate relationships between people and objects, and between individuals and society in both virtual and real-world contexts.

Chengan Xia (b. 1995) graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Visual Communication Design. Xia’s major exhibitions include: “Artificial Charisma” (Jimei New City Civic Square Exhibition Hall, Xiamen, 2022); “Not Only Align Left, But Also Align Right” (Pond Gallery, Chengdu, 2022); “Guerrillas in Flatland: Unite! Digital Voyagers” (Power Station of Art, Online, 2021). He was shortlisted for the Discovery Award of Jimei-Arles International Photography Festival (2022). 

Villo Jiang (b. 1994) graduated from Arizona State University with an MFA in Photography and is a member of MAGESPACE. Villo’s notable exhibitions include “Yimingrui” (Northlight Gallery, Tempe, 2020); “Saccharine Journey” (Harry Wood Gallery, Tempe, 2018); “Circle of Influence” (Northlight Gallery, Phoenix, 2022); “Idyll” (Lionel Rombach Gallery, Tucson, 2017); and “Where Are We in History?” (Guoyunlou, Suzhou, 2022).

Gwendoline Cho-ning Kam

Gwendoline Cho-ning Kam (b. Hong Kong; currently works and lives in Shanghai and Hong Kong) is an artist, curator, and ethnomusicologist. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Music (with Piano Performance Concentration) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and pursued further studies in ethnomusicology at the University of Hawaii at Manoā.  Kam’s work revolves around how multi-sensory interactions in auditory narratives affect people’s experiences, perceptions, and expressions of thingness in everyday life .In her contemporary art practices,  Kam uses “noise” as both a self-referential concept and a creative theme, continually seeking to bridge the gap between academic discourse and cultural societies.  By exploring dimensions of time, space, and material, Kam reveals the publicness of sound and scrutinizes how the medium is manipulated to imagine, shape, define, and perform cultural identities. She has participated in various exhibitions, such as: “Native Soundscape: The Sonic Geography of Suzhou” (Suzhou, 2021), “Acoustic Taiyuan: A Native Soundscape Project” (Taiyuan, 2021); and “2022 RanRan Songs of the Return Art Season” (Shanghai, 2022). As a curator, Kam was shortlisted for the OCAT Institute’s “Research-Based Curatorial Project” (2021) and JIMEI x ARLES Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving Image (2023). In 2022, she became one of the inaugural curatorial fellows of the De Ying Foundation and published her research paper The Missed Rendezvous: Returning to the Expanded Field of Sound. In 2023, she was selected for the XINTIANDI × UCCA “RanRan” Artists-in-Residence Program. Her writings and exhibition critiques have been published in The Thinker, Brooklyn Rail, and ARTnews (China), etc.

Cheng Xinhao

Cheng Xinhao (b.1985, Yunnan, China; currently lives and works in Kunming) received his PhD in Chemistry from Peking University in 2013. Cheng’s works are usually based on long-term field studies revolving around his hometown in Yunnan Province. Through a practice centered on bodily presence, Cheng Xinhao uses video, installation, photography, and text to explore the logic, discourse, and knowledge from various sources. His work delves into the natural, social, and historical phenomena behind these narratives, as well as the intricate, polyphonic connections between the agents embedded within them. In recent years, his long-term projects include “Strange Terrains” (2013 – ), examining the cross-border ethnic group “the Mang people;” “To the Ocean” (2018 – ), focusing on the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway; “Tales about the South of Clouds” (2021 – ), exploring mobility and oral literary traditions; and “Stratums and Erratics” (2022 – ), delving into road systems and the actors within them.

XIAO

XIAO is the founder of the tāntā group, as well as a creator, choreographer and physical performer. As a professional dancer, he uses the body as an entry point, exploring its various dimensions and unlocking greater freedom through diverse media. He confronts the controllable and uncontrollable aspects of the body in the contemporary context, emphasizing presence, authenticity, participation, and the “theater” of cruelty, while seeking all potential relational possibilities. His works often take hybrid forms, combining theater performances, video, and installations, capturing the latent messages projected by the body in response to the era. He strives to break away from traditional choreography, instead focusing on “spatial composition,” aiming to immerse all participants into the “theater” of space in this unique choreography. His performances include: Body Space 1.0 (The Third Contemporary Theatre Biennale, Shenzhen, 2020); Body Space 2.0 (Shanghai Fuxing Art Center, Shanghai, 2021); Habits of Ancient Deities (Heller au European Art Center, Dresden, 2022); zǎojǐng (UCCA “Dreaming of Heaven and Earth” Public Art Season, Shanghai, 2022); Bacon (NOWNESS Dance Video Lab Award-winning production, 2023); and Alternative Space (Shanghai Ultra Immersive Art Festival, Ignite Ran Artist Residency Program 2023/2024).

Hu Rui

Hu Rui works with video, installation, games, and simulation technologies. He approaches time-related issues from a multitude of perspectives, such as causation, prediction, choice, and language. His recent work has focused on climate narratives, the use of computer graphics cards as predictive tools, and the emotions and biases behind decision-making. He received his MFA in Design Media Arts from UCLA in 2017 and his BFA in Film with a minor in Computer Science from New York University in 2014.

Cao Shu

Cao Shu primarily works with narrative 3D digital moving image, video game, and site-specific installations. His works are based on research and sensory experiences of specific locations, intricately weaving the complex production mechanisms and mythical metaphors behind computer graphics technology with historical archives and social issues. His recent series of works revolves hauntology narratives related to collectivism in personal family histories. Cao Shu has won such awards as 2022 OCAT x KADIST Emerging Media Artist Award，2021 Exposure Award of PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai,and 2017 BISFF Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement.His recent works have been exhibited at Kunsthaus Baselland, Macao Museum of Art, White Rabbit Gallery Sydney, Matadero Madrid Contemporary Art Center, M+ Museum Hongkong, UCCA Dune, Power Station of Art Shanghai (PSA), Asia Society Hong Kong Center, BY ART MATTERS, OCAT Shanghai, and Sleep Center New York. In recent years, he has participated in residencies at Atelier Mondial (Basel, Switzerland, 2017), Koganecho Bazaar (Yokohama, Japan, 2019), and Muffatwerk (Munich, Germany, 2023). In addition, his works have also been shortlisted for the main competition units of film festivals around the world, including the Leipzig Documentary and Animation Film Festival, Annecy International Animation Festival, Milano Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, and Film Festival Hannover. His works have been collected by institutions such as KADIST, White Rabbit Gallery Sydney,BY ART MATTERS, Blue Mountain Contemporary Art, and Zhejiang Art Museum.

SALOMON PUBLIC SOUND ART PROGRAM

Feng Chen

Feng Chen (b. 1986, Wuhan, China; currently lives and works in Hangzhou) graduated from the Department of New Media Art at China Academy of Art in 2009. From 2014 to 2016, he participated in a two-year artist residency program at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Feng Chen creates videos, sculptures, and installations that synchronize visual and auditory elements, attempting to insert clues between different signals that prompt us to reassess our trust in the senses. In his works, perception and reality interact in labyrinthine ways, reaffirming that experience is the most essential and authentic aspect of existence, and the ultimate nature of reality.

He has held several solo exhibitions at Capsule Shanghai, including “Feng Chen Solo Show” (2017), “Moment by Moment” (2019), and “Pretend It’s a Game” (2023). In 2018, he presented his solo project “The Darker Side of Light – Color” at Art Basel Hong Kong Discoveries. Later that year, a new iteration of the project, “The Darker Side of Light – Shadow,” was exhibited at the Annex Project Space of the Fosun Art Foundation (Shanghai, China, 2018). His recent group exhibitions include “Laozi’s Furnace” (White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2024); “Motion Is Action”(By Art Matters, Hangzhou, 2023); “White Holes” ( 798 CUBE, Beijing, China, 2023); “A Call to Attention” (UCCA Dune, Aranya, Beidaihe, China, 2020-2021); “The 6th Guangzhou Triennial – As We May Think: Feedforward” (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China, 2018-2019) and “City Unbounded – Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project (JISP)” (Jing’an Sculpture Park, Shanghai, China, 2018). His works were also shown at “Rijksakademie OPEN 2015” (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and “Video Art | June Edition” (Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, India, 2015).

Feng Chen’s work has been collected by institutions such as the White Rabbit Gallery (Australia), the China Art Museum (Shanghai, China), and the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (Netherlands). His work has received media coverage by Artforum, Randian, Art China, and Flash Art, among others.

Gao Wenqian

Gao Wenqian (b. Shandong; currently works and lives in Beijing) graduated from the Department of Printmaking, China Academy of Art (2013) and the Beaux-Arts de Paris (2019). His work spans a diverse array of media, including interactive installations, games, experimental video, the internet, and sound. He focuses on the “meta-narrative” of these mediums, exploring the worlds they create. By examining the boundaries between truth and falsehood and the concept of time as shaped by media, he opens up new entry points for exploration. Through experimentation with the layering and fragmentation of both old and new technologies, he challenges audiences to rethink the multiple realities that unfold before them.

His works have been exhibited at the Athens Digital Arts Festival (2021, 2022), SIGGRAPH Asia (2020, 2021), Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture (2020), Leipzig Animation Documentary Film Festival (2019), Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennale (2016, 2018), Interfilm Berlin International Short Film Festival (2016, 2017), China Independent Film Festival (2016), Beijing Design Week (2021), China Independent Animation Forum (2016, 2018), Wuhan Biennale (2022), Jinan Biennale (2023), Xinjiang Biennale (2023), and European Media Art Festival (2023), etc.  He also participated in the residency programs at A4 Art Museum and Palais Tokyo.

HELI-AURAL Studio

HELI-AURAL Studio is led by artist Yin Yi, architect Zhuang Shen, and director Tang Yu.

It is the first studio in China dedicated to the integrated research of sound and space.

Yin Yi

Yin Yi, musician, artist, curator. Lives and works in Shanghai.

As an artist who centers his thinking around sound, his work is rich with philosophical depth and poetic expression. His creations encompass music, performance, sound art, installations, theater, and video. He has been invited to participate in the Shanghai Biennale (2016), the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (2018), and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture (2023).

ARTISTIC COMMUNITY PROGRAM

MaybeTrinh

Zheng Yexu (b. 1997, Shanxi, China; currently works and lives in Hangzhou) graduated from the Photography program at Nanguang College, Communication University of China (2018). Zheng’s creative journey stemmed from making gifts for her friends, which grew into her specialization in transforming everyday objects into works of art. She has curated and participated in the group exhibition “Repetitive Practice” (JURRUON, Huzhou, 2024), and took part in the “Xun Xun You Xin Eco Art Installation Exhibition” (Hongqiao Tiandi, Shanghai, 2024). Her solo exhibition includes “Today is a Holiday” (Baixin Plaza, Guangzhou, 2024).

Dorothy Xu

Dorothy Xu (b. 1998; currently works and lives in Zhejiang) graduated from University College London (UCL) with an MFA in Creative Documentary by Practice. She focuses on creating through various media, including sound, photography, and video, to explore the deep connections between humans and their environment. Her work seeks to reveal the interactions between individuals, society, and the world, while continuously questioning, “What is true life and human nature?” She has worked as an independent documentary director, and was the executive director for the 2024 LPL Spring Split promo video. She also moderated a panel discussion at the IAFFF Animal Future Ecology Film Festival.

nice group

“Nice group” is a young and cross-disciplinary design agency focused on innovative product development and design. It was co-founded by three visionaries from diverse backgrounds: creative Huang Zhengjun, architect Cai Zhenkun, and product designer Zhang Yawei.

Huang Zhengjun (@壮壮): Founder and Brand Manager of nice group. Huang is a graphic designer and creative by profession. He founded the BASE creative studio in 2022, and set up nice group in 2024. He also manages @BASECOFFEE at the same time. He has extensive experience at 4A and local advertising companies such as BBDO, JWT, and Verawom, specializing in B2B communication and marketing strategies targeted at young audiences. Ali Cloud, RED, Tencent Video, and ByteDance are some of the notable clients he has served. His most widespread campaigns include “RED sending you a cup of Spring Festival slow music,” “RED sending you a cup of long time no see,” “Ali Cloud warm world engineering poetry,” and “Airbnb air drop 100 long adventure nights.” He has won major awards such as the one-show, China 4A Gold Seal Award, Effie Award, and the Golden Investment Award.

Cai Zhenkun (@蔡工): Co-founder and Chief Designer of nice group. Cai is a passionate architect who loves to put his ideas into practice. After graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts majoring in architecture, he has accumulated many years of practical experience in architecture, space and furniture design. He has worked at TEMP Architecture Design Office and Kengo Kuma & Associates. His work spans various fields, including public buildings, museums, commercial spaces, furniture, and installations.

Yawei Zhang (@Yawei张设计): Co-founder and Business Director of nice group. Zhang studied and worked in the United States for seven years, having held positions at renowned companies such as Studio Gorm, Nike, and Adidas. After returning to China, Zhang Yawei served as the Director of the Office of International Affairs at the University of Oregon and as a lecturer at the DeTao Master Academy Esslinger Studio at Fudan University’s Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts. In 2021, Zhang established WY&P Holistic Design Consultancy. He is a holder of multiple design patents and has received several international design awards. In 2022, he was selected as a member of Forbes Global Alliance, and in 2023, he was invited to become an expert lecturer for UDA World Design Alliance.

About XINTIANDI

XINTIANDI brand was created by Shui On Xintiandi, an investor, operator, and manager of outstanding sustainable urban communities in China. Since the birth of Shanghai Xintiandi in 2001, it has been working on the practice of urban renewal, cultural inheritance, and the creation of sustainable communities. Witnessing and leading the transformation of China's commercial development and the shaping of urban cultural memory, XINTIANDI has promoted the sustainable development of Shanghai, Wuhan, Foshan, Chongqing and Nanjing through the creation of multiple benchmark urban communities.

As a lifestyle pioneer brand, XINTIANDI is committed to empowering diverse social experiences through extraordinary creative and cultural content, and to building a "Cultural & Social Destination" with emotional resonance.

Over the years, XINTIANDI has joined forces with global strategic partners to continuously carry out a number of trailblazing endeavors: promoting and supporting local creative forces with quality Chinese content, practicing the concept of "China's Creative Arts Created in China," and jointly creating a people-oriented quality life.

About UCCA

UCCA Center for Contemporary Art is China's leading contemporary art institute. Committed to the belief that art can deepen lives and transcend boundaries, UCCA presents a wide range of exhibitions, public programs, and research initiatives to a public of over one million visitors each year across four locations. UCCA Beijing sits at the heart of the 798 Art District, occupying 10,000 square meters of factory chambers built in 1957 and regenerated in 2019 by OMA. UCCA Dune, designed by Open Architecture, lies beneath the sand in the seaside enclave of Aranya at Beidaihe. UCCA Edge, designed by New York-based architecture firm SO - IL, opened in Shanghai in May 2021. UCCA Clay, designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates and located in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, which is known as China's historic "City of Ceramics," opened in October 2024.

UCCA was founded in 2007 by Guy and Myriam Ullens as the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. In 2017, it evolved into the UCCA Group, under the ownership and stewardship of a new group of patrons and shareholders. Formally accredited as a museum by the Beijing Cultural Bureau in 2018, UCCA has established non-profit foundations, licensed by the Beijing Bureau of Civil Affairs and the Hong Kong government. Meanwhile, UCCA also operates the children's education initiative UCCA Kids, the retail platform UCCA Store, and collaborations and projects under the rubric UCCA Lab. UCCA works to bring China into global dialogue through contemporary art.

SALOMON

SALOMON was established in 1947. The headquarter is located in downtown Annecy, France. SALOMON is a well-known outdoor sports brand and is keen to facilitate the development of skiing and trail running.

SALOMON enables people to play, progress and connect with nature. SALOMON create the next generation of gear and experiences that make people live the joy of progression of their sports throughout our unique mindset.

Xiaohongshu

As a lifestyle platform, Xiaohongshu is committed to practicing mass aesthetic education, integrating art into life and encouraging public engagement with art and aesthetics. By collaborating with industry

partners such as artists, art institutions, universities, and media, Xiaohongshu promotes content co-creation, project promotion, and aesthetic education.

Moreover, Xiaohongshu continuously accompanies the development of the art industry and creates an art social position.

ARTnews

Founded in 1902, ARTnews is the world's oldest and most widely circulated art magazine, recognized as the leading source of trusted information for the global art world and market. With readers in 124 countries, we reach over 180,000 influential figures, including renowned artists, curators, scholars, gallerists, and auction house experts. Since 1990, ARTnews has published its annual "TOP 200 COLLECTORS* list, spotlighting the most active and prestigious art collectors worldwide. In 2023, ARTnows officially expanded into China, playing a key role in witnessing and shaping the ever-evolving art landscape.

So Creative Studio