Platform China｜Wu Shangcong's solo exhibition "BOX" will open on May 20

Platform China Contemporary Art Institute will present BOX, a solo exhibition by Wu Shangcong, opening on May 20 in Space B. The exhibition is academically hosted by Dongmen Yang.

Born in Chengdu, Sichuan in 1989, Wu Shangcong received his MFA from the Sculpture Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2021, and currently lives and works in Beijing. All works in this exhibition take the form of boxes. Wu deliberately reduces sculpture in scale, enclosing his paintings together with everyday relics, discarded toys, and archaeological imagery within handmade box structures. Vast accumulations of work are reorganized, fragmented, categorized, and redistributed. Each work exists as an independent box containing a box structure, exterior collage, interior painting, sculpture, and corresponding found objects. All elements remain interconnected, forming a complete system of mutual references.

Unlike conventional sculpture, which often establishes its presence through scale, weight, and spatial occupation, the forms inside these boxes possess an almost “skin-like” intimacy. Viewing no longer takes place from a distance. Instead, it requires pausing, approaching, examining, and touching, allowing the body to re-enter the act of looking. The opening and closing of the box also introduces an inherent temporality into the viewing process: interior and exterior, concealment and entry continuously shift back and forth, transforming the originally closed structure into a continuously activated micro-space.

The miniature sculptures inside the boxes form fragmentary narratives intertwined with Wu’s paintings. BOX functions simultaneously as a miniature archive and a temporal container in constant displacement. Fragments that have been discarded, abandoned, or rendered obsolete regain weight, texture, and presence here. Wu Shangcong places them back into the field of viewing, and back into a micro-territory where relationships between people and objects may continue to emerge.

Pressure Difference, pencil drawing on paper, magazine color prints, acrylic, paint, clay, found objects, 2025- 2026, 37×26×11cm

Surge Bolt, pencil drawing, magazine prints, acrylic, paint, found objects, clay, 2025- 2026, 9.5x7x1.5cm

Twin Time, hand-drawn illustration, magazine prints, acrylic, found objects, clay, 2025- 2026, 27 x 34 x 4 cm

Night Shift, pencil drawing, magazine prints, perfume bottle, pottery shards, shell, acrylic, found objects, clay, 2025- 2026, 27 x 34 x 4 cm

Wu Shangcong was born in 1989 in Chengdu, Sichuan. He received his BFA in Housing Design from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2015 and an MFA from the Third Studio of the Sculpture Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2021. Currently lives and works in Beijing and Hebei.

Solo Exhibitions: BOX, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Beijing (2026); Splish-Splash, XZ Space, Beijing (2025); Paradise, Tea Here, Beijing (2023).

Group Exhibitions: Pulse of Life·CHENGDU BIENNALE, Chengdu Art Museum, Sichuan （2026）; Powcast × Meme to Jam 2.0: Friendship in South，J7 Art, Shanghai （2025）; Sentence Making: Reality Inspired and Image Talked, Chen Space, Shenyang （2025）; Destination unknown, Banri Museum, Shantou （2025）; The Birth of the Monkey King: Special Exhibition on the Chinese Classic Animation Havoc in Heaven, M Woods Museum, Wuxi （2025）; Drifting Encounters, Beiqiu Museum of Contemporary Art, Nanjing （2025）; A Short History of Sculpture: Time Deposits, Wind H Art Center, Beijing （2025）; Awakening, XZ Space, Beijing （2025）; Provisional Matters, Shangh ART, Beijing（2024）.

Dongmen Yang, graduated from Paris VII University, Associate Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Co-founder of DawanArt. His works include "Spices", "The Old Prince", " Three stories of painting", " Sci-fi Doomsday｜Wonderland Lost" and the translation is "L’?ge d’Homme", " ?a c’est l’art".