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Sifang Art Museum is pleased to present the opening exhibition of a new project, Levitation, on July 22nd, 2022. The inaugural exhibition of this series comprises three paralleled projects by artists Guo Cheng, Lin Ke and Shi Zheng, and is on view through October 16th, 2022.

Over a long period of time, Sifang Art Museum has been dedicated to becoming a catalyst for the creative practices by Chinese contemporary artists. In response to the inadequate support for Chinese young artists during their career building process after debut, the museum has launched Levitation project to nurture emerging and mid-career Chinese artists who have been exploring the frontiers of art for more than five years. This project aims to offer support, in the form of museum programs, to help them deliver a holistic presentation or a challenging experiment about recent practices, and thus to pave the way for the next phase of their artistic creation.

In the summer of 2022, the first part of Levitation will focus on the increasingly entangled symbiosis between emerging technology and natural environment, as well as between human beings and the society. For the first time, the three floors of the museum space will be utilized by three representative Chinese artists who are original in the exploration of new media and contemporary technological thinking: Guo Cheng, Lin Ke and Shi Zheng, with each of them occupying an entire floor and presenting a total of three art projects simultaneously.

Guo Cheng’s (b.1988) works often use humorous yet calm language to link grand issues with seemingly arbitrary objects and to provide critical perspectives for discussion. He obtained New Century Art Foundation “Art Production and Exhibition SupportProgram” (Beijing, 2022), Ars Electronica Honorary Mentions (Linz, 2020), the Digital Earth fellowship (The Hague, 2018-2019), the Special Jury Prize of Huayu Youth Award (Sanya, 2018).

As one of the representative artists from “Net Generation” in China, Lin Ke (b. 1984) employs his laptop as studio and liberates the unique poetry of digital interface through experimental Internet exploration and software manipulation. He won OCAT - Pierre Huber Art Prize in 2014 and the Chinese Youth Artist Award of the 9th AAC Art in 2015.

Shi Zheng (b. 1990) practices comprehensively over the range of audio-visual installations, digital music and live performance. Starting from simulation and “machine vision”, he further embodies his reflection on the philosophy of technology, digital voyage and “latent time” by extending the audience’s visual and audio experience. He is also a member of artistic ground RMBit and performance group OSC (Open Super Control).

Surrounded by a natural/artificial environment constructed by remote mountains/forest farms, the Foshou Lake/reservoir and avant-garde architecture, these three projects, which are respectively modeled after the park, the art museum and the filming site, seem to reflect the three layers of the space where the museum is situated: the mountains, the sky and the lake. Meanwhile, this curatorial plan also resembles a multilayered dissection of a machine, cutting through the three levels of its hardware, interface and software.

Special thanks to the artists, Nanjing Pukou Culture & Tourism Development Group, Sifang Cultural Group, and all participating parties who have generously supported this exhibition.