Wang Yi Participates in "SIMULATION" at HUZHOU ART MUSEUM
SIMULATION
Wang Yi
2023.10.12-11.22
HUZHOU ART MUSEUM
SIMULATION: Images of the Natural World, Images of the Virtual World.
In 1946, the computer was born; in 1947, the first video game emerged; and in 1969, the internet came into being. Following more than half a century of development in computer technology and increasingly immersive gaming experiences, people have long moved beyond simply “surfing” the internet to inhabiting virtual worlds constructed through computer networks, video games, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and human–computer interfaces.
The virtual world is a mirror of the real world, an extension of real-world time, and an act of rebellion against it. Within virtual worlds, time can be perpetually reset, existing in a state of permanence and boundlessness. With the emergence of the metaverse concept and advances in new media, digital technology, and artificial intelligence, the proliferation of information has accelerated the passage of time. The torrents of data have caused visual information to expand at an unprecedented pace. Artists have begun to explore new creative directions through emerging media and the visual languages of digital art, expanding the ways in which virtual reality can be addressed. Although the works in this exhibition employ traditional artistic media such as painting, sculpture, and moving image, their visual forms reconstruct and reimagine images of the natural world through digital virtualization. For viewers already familiar with the concept of virtual networked worlds, these works present a visual landscape that feels strikingly familiar, yet newly encountered.
At the end of the twentieth century, The Matrix, directed by the Wachowskis and distributed by Warner Bros., was released, constructing a new vision of reality. Films such as Ready Player One, TRON: Legacy, Ex Machina, The Thirteenth Floor, Free Guy, Lucy, Her, and Prometheus have likewise explored the tensions between the human world and virtual networked realities.
Today, as artists confront virtual worlds and the new visual landscapes they produce, whether to turn a blind eye or to engage courageously with new subjects, content, and forms remains a question worthy of reflection. Thirteen artists present fifty works, opening up the boundaries between the natural and virtual worlds to viewers and revealing images of infinite thresholds.
SIMULATION Installation View
The lady from SAN Andreas
2022
Acrylic on canvas
145 × 160 cm
Translation-The secret changes
2022
Acrylic on canvas
120 × 110 cm
Hephaestus the supremacist
2022
Oil on canvas
150 × 135 cm
