Yang Mushi, Eroding, 2016-2021, polystyrene foam, lacquer thinner, acrylic, 300 × 121 × 63 cm (× 6)

Six pieces of black foam rectangles surround the space. Unevenly sized holes are all over the objects. The artist first uses lacquer thinner to melt the polystyrene foam, and while the material’s primary shape remains unchanged, the artist then weaves randomized curve structures through the material. Ultimately, the mutated material will be covered with black acrylic. Eroding attempts to layer extreme work methods, radial shapes, and the cropped city landscapes. In high-intensity labor and destructive language, our living environment is being re-examined. Behind these ossified, giant maimed bodies, shine the reflection and practice of the ideal of sustainable development.

Liu Jiayu, Shape of Plastic, 2021, installation, plastic bottles, dynamic particle rendering, video projection, color, sound, 2'00", 650 × 680 × 380 cm

The ocean covers 360 million square kilometers of the earth’s surface, and the circulation of life in the universe enables human beings to enjoy the beautiful oceans and the bequest of their rich resources. As Anthropocene, a concept put forward by Paul Crutzen, gradually became known, the public began to realize that the impact of human activities on earth’s ecosystems can even mark the commencement of a new geological epoch. With the advent of the Anthropocene, the marine ecology is turning fragile and unbalanced, with garbage produced by men floating around, and marine creatures accidentally devouring plastic wastes... All these happenings motivate the artist to reconsider the human-centered development ever since ancient times.

The artist uses thousands of discarded plastic bottles, and after having them processed, creates a sculpture representing the wavy ocean. These plastic bottles were collected by ADIDAS runners all over the country while running. The artist renders particles, the smallest constituent of matter, and projects them onto the surface of the sculpture, generating a dynamic scene of the ocean.

When the viewer stands in front of the piece, they can see an amazing representation of the ocean, but as they walk through the sculpture, the perspective shifts and they will discover that garbage is hidden behind the beauty of the sea. From reality to the ideal, from abandoned objects to a thing of beauty, the artist presents the contrast and translation of materials not only visually, but also conceptually, providing the viewers with a new perspective to think. By re-examining the relationship between men and the ocean, and between men and nature, the artist makes a thoughtful response to the Anthropocene.

Ma Jianfeng, Dinawan, 2021, installation, acrylic on canvas, board, sand, plastic beads, wood, foam, plastic products, 700 × 600 × 270 cm

Dinawan is an installation piece specially designed for the ADIDAS “Rebuild the Blue” exhibition by artist Ma Jianfeng. In this exhibition, the artist continues to explore the combination of painting and installation, and by using the “ocean” in the middle of the exhibition hall as a base for his creation, builds an artificial island. This piece communicates the potential tension between images and facts and creates a theatrical space.

The artist worked as an artist-in-residence in Malaysia and noted there was plastic garbage floating around the native island where few people live. In his work Dinawan, he combines installation with expressionist sketch paintings to recreate the scene from the island. The complicated and highly saturated images stand tall in plastic sands, and the fragments from the island—the small ramps, sand, ponds, trees, traces and trails of human beings—the creations of men and nature, are scattered on the artificial island as they watch the audiences come and go.

The waves and gravels in the installation are all plastic products. The artist seeks to trigger people’s concerns about their living environment through means of aesthetic communication and asks them to reconsider and reflect on the industrial society. Most of the materials used in the creation are recycled, and some materials are collected by ADIDAS runners from various cities, which also brings positive reflections to this work.

Liu Di, The Weight of Self, 2017, single-channel video, color, sound, 3:4, 10'06", projection dimensions: 225 × 300 cm

The title The Weight of Self comes from a philosophical insight of Witold Gombrowicz, which means that the weight of our “selves” depends on the size of the population on earth. The weight of the "selves" of all mankind is a constant, and the weight of each individual's "self" equals the constant divided by the number of people living at that time.

Thus, as the population is increasing, the weight of each person's “self” becomes lighter and lighter. In Plato's time, the “self” of a human being would be heavier, and we are becoming more and more insignificant compared to the people in the past.

Liu Di, "Animal Regulation" series, 2010, inkjet print, dimensions variable

A ping-pong ball bounces back when it hits a wall; time goes forward and not backward; a person can not appear simultaneously in two places; creatures grow big but then stop growing at a certain stage.

Our rational cognition helps us to survive and evolve. However, on the other hand, these rules are not explained: we don't know who made them, but they are what they are.

This is doubtful, yet interesting.

Therefore, the artist wishes to create some irrational “cracks” in our rational existence, so that we can again appreciate the interesting aspects of rationality, and the beauty of irrationality. In this series, “the emergence of animals” is what the artist calls a “crack.” Only, “the big animal” is a crack in men’s social life, while “the big man” is a “crack” in existence itself. And the latter crack is more prominent. “Human is an experiment, and we are all tools of nature,” the artist notes. “Perhaps we need to reflect on ourselves, respect nature, and make sure this experiment does not fail.”

Yang Mushi

In 2014, Yang Mushi (b. 1989, Jiangxi province, lives and works in Shanghai) graduated from the Sculpture Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. His sculptures, installations, paintings, and videos specifically deal with the relationship between material, form, time, and reality. In his dissection and layering of social landscapes, the individual and the collective, consumption and production, freedom and restriction, and the conflict between the crises of globalization and diverse cultures are all reevaluated. Since 2013, Yang's creations have been spawned from the idea of “useless production” and continue to be so. Yang was nominated for Asian Contemporary Art as the “Best Emerging Artist Using Sculpture” (2016).

Liu Jiayu

Known for her immersive and evocative media installations, Liu Jiayu (b. 1990, Liaoning province, lives and works in Beijing and London) is a media artist. She holds an MA from the Royal College of Art.

Liu’s work often recreates and augments the natural world and focuses on relationships between humans, nature, and the lived environment, exploring human behavior and response. Using live and static streams of data as well as digital technologies, her installations enable new communication nodes with audiences. Through spatial collage and displacement, the audience's behavioral response and emotional resonance are aroused, which makes her creation itself repeatedly "re-created" by audiences.

Her work has been featured on ITN N2K, Wired, Inhabitat, The Creators Project, Vice, Design Boom, Fubiz, Tatler, and more. She has been shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize and Lumen Prize for Art and Technology. She has exhibited internationally in museums and galleries, including the VIctor and Albert Museum (London), K11 Art Space (Hong Kong), He Xiangning Museum (Shenzhen), Guan Shanyue Museum (Shenzhen), CAFA Museum (Beijing), Beijing Times Museum, Today Art Museum (Beijing), Riverside Museum (Beijing), Power Long Museum (Shanghai), OCAT (Shanghai), London Design Festival, Kinetica Art Fair London, London Fashion Week, Watermans Art Centre London, and the Guangzhou Triennial.

She has also collaborated with many brands (Audemars Piguet, Robb Report, Mo&co., Oppo, Lexus, Marie Claire) and art commission projects for public spaces, such as Hanzhong Road station and Glowworm Garden in Ruihong World in Shanghai, and Iceland in Sanya.

Ma Jianfeng

Ma Jianfeng (b. 1983, Zhejiang Province, lives and works in Beijing) graduated from the Mural Department at the China Academy of Art in 2007, and as a master from the Universität der Künste in Berlin in 2012. Ma Jianfeng often uses paper, cardboard, foam board, plastic cloth, wood, acrylic, oil painting pigment, and other materials to break the boundaries of traditional easel painting. His major solo exhibitions include “Treasure Island” (GAO Gallery, London, 2019); “The U-Cloister” (Institute for Provocation, Beijing, 2018); “MA” (Ying Space, Beijing, 2016); “Wall” (Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2013). Selected group exhibitions include “Let Painting Talk” (Taikang Space, Beijing, 2021); “Being of Evils” (Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2020); Guangzhou Airport Biennale (Guangzhou, 2019); and “The New Normal: China, Art, and 2017” (UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2017).

Liu Di
Liu Di (b. 1985, Shanxi Province, lives and works in Beijing) is a new media and digital artist, and the co-founder of IC-United, a digital art studio. He graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. His works transcend the forms of photography, video, and digital art. Liu won the Lacoste Elysee Prize for his series “Animal Regulations” in 2010. His works are collected by Musée de l'Élysée (Lausanne, Switzerland), The White Rabbit Gallery (Sydney), and others.