News | Guo Cheng at Sifang Art Museum

Guo Cheng：The Park

Date | 2022.07.22-10.16

Venue | Sifang Art Museum

Sifang Art Museum presents their new project Levitation on July 22nd, 2022. The inaugural exhibition of this series comprises three paralleled projects. In the gallery on the first floor, Guo Cheng presents The Park, which records the entanglement between human beings and nature. 

Abstract Oracle Generator is a device based on physical random number generator to produce different English acronym combinations, which like prophecies to response to questions raised by participates. In fact, when the device is triggered by participants striking the bronze bowl bell to activate the Geiger-Mueller tube system, the ionizing radiating particle in the environment is monitored and transferred on the LED screen with the randomly English acronyms. Maybe a way to put it, the ‘oracle’ produced by the ionizing radiation in the spatial environment, which monitored by Geiger-Mueller tube system, is purely and objectively than the human divination or the results generated by computer with the pseudo-random algorithm. Meanwhile, the abstraction of abbreviations expands the participants’ imagination.

A Felicitous Neo-Past is a project that generates an intervention in the layer of the latest geological epoch. It contains two main parts: a small piece of "human traces free" land (52°25'08.7"N 4°47'54.1"E), and relics of Anthropocene which are shown through a group of installations. To create the small piece of "human traces free" land, the artist chose a one square meter area at the artificial land of ADM (Amsterdam), which was reclaimed during the decade after WWII (the 1950s-1960s). The artist took advantage of the thickness of the reclaimed layer as the thickness of the Anthropocene and excavating throughout it, since the humanity was becoming a geological force in the current age. Then remediated the soil through sorting, washing and rinsing process to erase human traces, which mainly include synthetic polymers such as micro-plastic and other chemicals (redundancies of technological nutrients) and rubble for the surface hardening (ruin from WWII, historical/cultural relics). Then the hole was backfilled and recovered with treated earth, and became a permanent man-made geological marker on the engineered land in which contains "no human message". On the other hand, the "human traces free" land indicates a paradox through its own existence.

About the Artist

Guo Cheng (b.1988) is an artist currently lives and works in Shanghai. He was graduated from MA Design Products at Royal College of Art (London, UK) and obtained his BE in Industrial Design at Tongji University (Shanghai, China). His practice mainly focuses on exploring the interrelation between mainstream/emerging technologies and individuals under the context of culture and social life.  In recent years, his practice has dealt with themes such as the Anthropocene and Second Nature, digitalized interobjectivity, and infrastructures and ideologies behind. Guo Cheng's works often use humorous yet calm plastic language, linking grand issues with seemingly arbitrary objects, and providing critical perspectives for discussion and imagination.

His recent solo exhibitions include: Almost Unmeant, Magician Space, Beijing, China (2020); Down to Earth, Canton Gallery, Guangzhou, China (2019). Major group exhibitions include: Order Copied: Changing the Reference Frame, Magician Space, Beijing, China(2022); BOOMERANG–OCAT Biennale 2021, OCAT Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China (2021); Spinning East Asia Series I: A Compass in Hand, Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile, Hong Kong, China(2021); Machine Learning Human Dreams, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, Germany (2021); Disenchantment, Exploded View, Glider vs. Airplane, G Museum, Nanjing (2021); We=Link: Sideways, A Chronus Art Center (CAC), Shanghai (2020); How Do We Begin?, X Museum, Beijing, China (2020); The Eternal Network (exhibition of Transmediale 2020), HKW, Berlin, Germany (2020); The Process of Art: TOOLS AT WORK, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China (2019); Notes from Pallet Town, UCCA Dune, Qinhuangdao, China (2019); Deja vu, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2019); Open Codes. Connected Bots, Chronus Art Center, Shanghai, China (2019); Free Panorama, Pingshan Culture Center, Shenzhen, China (2019); Tracing the Mushroom at the End of the World, Taikang Space, Beijing, China (2019); Shanghai Beat, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Japan (2018); Machines Are Not Alone: A Mechanic Trilogy, Chronus Art Center, Shanghai (2018); Life Time, Mu Art Space, Eindhoven (2017); The Ecstasy of Time, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen (2017) etc..

He obtained New Century Art Foundation “Art Production and Exhibition Support Program” (Beijing, 2022); 2020-2021 Porsche “Young Chinese Artist of the Year” (Shanghai, 2021); Ars Electronica Honorary Mentions (Linz, 2020); CAC://DKU Research & Creation Fellowship (Shanghai, 2020); STARTS Prize Nomination (Linz, 2020); the Digital Earth fellowship (2018-2019); the Special Jury Prize of Huayu Youth Award (Sanya, 2018); the Bio-Art & Design Award, The Hague (2017).

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