The exhibition proudly featured young artists Yilin He (Piry), Yihe Huang, Taojun Yang, Keyi Liu, and Ruiyan Sun, showcasing their works in Upper East Manhattan from October 18 to October 25. Drawing inspiration from nature, these artists explored the tension and harmony between the artificial and the natural, aiming to create a delicate balance through their artistic narratives. Employing synthetic materials, light and shadow media, and digital technology, their creations overlay imaginative constructs onto the real world. The resulting pieces exude an uncanny yet familiar quality, awakening hidden memories and emotions. This shared characteristic—emotive and vibrant—defines the essence of the exhibition.
Today, artificially manufactured environments are constantly encroaching on the few remaining natural wildernesses, and this impact is irreversible and indelible. The advancement of digital technology, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, bionics, genetic engineering, and other new technologies has repeatedly surpassed human cognitive boundaries, blurring the distinction between nature and the non-natural. This exhibition intends to lead visitors to a synthetic wilderness where nature and the non-natural intermingle, urging them to confront the materialized world with a critical and questioning attitude in order to attain harmony with nature and sustainable development.
Untitled Natural Stills by Yilin He(Piry)
In the imaginative world of artist Yilin He(Piry), there is a fusion of virtual landscapes and real nature. She seals imaginative elements from ancient myths and real natural symbols together in digital media, creating digital life forms that seem to have always existed. Her works are pseudo-documentary image symbols, yet they are able to evoke genuine emotional resonance.
Nature Archive by Yihe Huang
The works of artist Yihe Huang showcase post-humanist doubts in a palpable and concrete manner. Human bodies will ultimately perish, yet consciousness will be sustained in artificial entities to attain immortality. Currently, words, images, sounds, and videos are all means of documenting human consciousness, but they are also information that is readily manipulable and modifiable. Human civilization, similar to nature, confronts the threat of being hijacked by technology.
Light and Cold Conversations: Atlantic, Algorithms and Visibility by Juntao Yang
Drexciyans, an underwater race possessing the ability to inhabit the vast oceanic depths, as they are the descendants of thousands of pregnant African slaves who were tossed into the sea from a ship bound for America on account of illness.
Artist Juntao Yang’s film transports the nautical Afrofuturist myth originating from the Detroit music production collective Drexciya to a future world where artificial intelligence is widely used. It utilizes absurd metaphors to convey contemporary truths. AI algorithms are creating another wilderness, a truly unfamiliar and desolate no-man’s-land. And at the root of it all, it still stems from human selfishness, bias, and greed.
The Last Dream by Keyi Liu
In the series of illustrations crafted by artist Keyi Liu, the entire order of the mundane world is shattered and supplanted by a capricious and unrestrained new realm. The dragons transmuted from colored glass, a lonesome mermaid yearning for a rain of blossoms, and a blue-haired damsel ensnared in a peculiar ritual – all elements shatter the shackles of the rules and flaunt the freedom inherent in their nature.
Whispers of the Departed: A Memorial Reflection Experience by Ruiyan Sun
The installation artwork by artist Ruiyan Sun is about the unique memories of an anonymous man throughout his life. It reflects on the relationship between the living and the dead, especially intimate relationships. The memories shared in the installation are short-lived, but they can enrich the stories of the dead. Leveraging the fleeting nature of memory, the artist aims to remind the audience t
