4C Exhibition 2025 Q1 Blurring Boundaries
Finding Resonance: Reframing Perception in Blurring Boundaries
Words by Liuxuan Lyu
This exhibition presents the profound explorations of seven artists into boundaries, communication, and perception through an open-ended perspective. In an ever-blurring world, these works are no longer singular expressions but serve as bridges between reality and dreams, individuals and collectives, past and future. Through diverse mediums—including painting, video, and installation—the exhibition challenges conventional ways of seeing, inviting viewers to redefine their relationship with space and self within shifting perceptions.
The exhibition is both visually striking and conceptually thought-provoking. From Zihan Mo’s dissection of the essence of painting to Melanie Tsang’s reflections on identity, from Susie Luo’s emotive expressions to Yachan Yuan’s linguistic experiments, each piece delves into experiences that are difficult to articulate. Xiyao Wang’s Fusili further blurs the boundaries between architecture and the body, transforming space into a dynamic narrative.
Here, boundaries are broken, reshaped, and even dissolved. Rather than providing definitive answers, the exhibition guides viewers in finding resonance within fluid limits, turning the act of looking into an active exploration. More than a visual feast, Blurring Boundaries is a profound dialogue on perception and communication.
Bei Hu, Our Sky Project, 2020, Installation
Our Sky is an installation artwork that intertwines a global perspective with personal emotions. Through participatory art, artist Hu Bei blurs the boundaries between the individual and the collective, reality and poetry. This work is not only an innovative practice in technology and media but also a profound exploration of the essence of human existence.
At the core of the work is the sky—a universal yet deeply personal image. Within this virtual "sky," the artist stitches together photographs and voice recordings from around the world to compose a multilingual poem. Each image and sound carries a unique perspective and cultural memory, making the work not just a visual compilation but a comprehensive sensory experience. This cross-linguistic and cross-regional expression breaks down traditional cultural and geographical barriers, constructing a bridge that connects humanity with nature and individuals with one another.
Hu Bei employs new media technologies to imbue the work with a dynamic vitality. Suspended screens and floor projections create a multi-layered sensory field, where the audience becomes part of the artwork in the moment of looking up and listening. This interactivity reinforces the exhibition’s theme of "blurring boundaries": the work is not merely a personal expression by the artist but a dialogue completed collectively by all participants.
The Air Between Us is a thought-provoking piece that explores how personal sensations transform into shared experiences and how such transformations reveal the complexities of human communication. Through the use of dynamic materials, sound, and spatial elements, the artist immerses the audience in a constantly shifting environment, prompting them to reevaluate their own perceptions and emotions.
At the core of the work is the rhythm of falling banlangen (Isatis root) powder, a medicinal substance that serves as both a cultural symbol and a metaphor for healing and recovery. The artist translates the bodily experience of anxiety into the dynamic cadence of falling and colliding powder, creating a powerful yet unpredictable sensory impact. The abrupt sounds of collision contrast sharply with the slow descent of the powder, inviting the audience to perceive the tension between inner and outer states. This sensory experience not only challenges the audience’s psychological boundaries but also prompts profound contemplation on the relationship between body and emotion at the intersection of sight and sound.
Space plays a crucial role in the artwork. The accumulation and gradual disappearance of blue traces on the walls and floor serve as metaphors for the passage of time and the way personal experiences are absorbed and transformed by the environment. The unpredictable dynamics and blurred sounds turn the space itself into a narrative medium, shaping the audience's psychological and emotional engagement. The artist’s background in architecture makes the spatial language particularly precise and layered. The work’s dynamic changes reflect not only how the physical environment influences consciousness but also how cultural backgrounds and social experiences shape our perceptions.
The Air Between Us evokes empathy and understanding by confronting the audience with discomfort on a sensory and emotional level. The artist challenges the boundaries of communication, revealing the intricate relationships among the body, space, and memory. This direct sensory stimulation makes the audience realize that even the most personal experiences can be transformed into universal emotional resonance within the artistic context.
As part of Blurring Boundaries, the piece dissolves the distinctions between individual and collective, private and public, inviting the audience into an open dialogue on understanding and empathy. It reminds us that art is not only about viewing but also about perceiving, experiencing, and communicating—it serves as a bridge where complex emotions find resonance amid uncertainty.
Xingyu Huang, The Air Between Us, 2024, Installation
Zihan Mo, GREENY, RHIZOME, CLARITY, 2024, Distemper on wood
These three works represent an exploration of the essence of painting, stripping away narrative and figuration to transform the canvas into a space of perception. The artist employs pure lines, geometric shapes, and layered structures to create a visual experience that is both silent and tension-filled. In these pieces, painting is not merely a medium of expression but an open language—one that does not rely on predetermined symbols but instead invites viewers to construct meaning through the fluidity and uncertainty of form.
In terms of composition, the artist abandons traditional image-building logic in favor of techniques such as layering, revealing, and repetition, allowing the visual elements to constantly shift between emergence and disappearance. This blurred treatment renders the works in a state between the visible and the invisible, akin to a window shrouded in mist—both obscuring clarity and inviting perception of hidden layers. For instance, the horizontally intersecting lines only cover certain portions of the canvas, creating a visual suggestion of “incompleteness.” This deliberate omission not only preserves the openness of the composition but also enables the viewer’s gaze to move freely, filling in the unfinished spaces and transforming observation into an active process.
Additionally, the use of geometric forms—particularly squares and circles—reinforces the universality of the works. These fundamental shapes function as a kind of “visual common language,” transcending cultural, gender, and geographic boundaries, making the composition a direct perceptual medium unrestricted by background or experience. Meanwhile, the Blurring and layered lines create a sense of depth within the flat surface, positioning the work in a liminal space between two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality—static yet imbued with a temporal dynamism.
This series reflects the artist’s contemplation of painting as a “window”—not a one-way presentation but a space for dialogue, a site for viewer engagement. By employing a dematerialized approach, the works become an accessible dimension rather than mere objects hanging on a wall. The pursuit of "deliberate incompleteness" is not a flaw but a strategy—one that integrates the act of viewing into the work itself, encouraging viewers to complete, imagine, and feel.
In this series, painting is no longer a singular mode of expression but a fluid and ever-changing perceptual state. It reminds us that the meaning of art does not arise from fixed forms but from the process of viewing and the connections we establish with the work. In this regard, the "ambiguity" that the artist constructs is not just a formal language but also a challenge to conventional ways of seeing—urging us to seek meaning in uncertainty and find completeness in the unfinished.
Homeland’ | Class of Admission is a profound and multi-layered work that, through minimal yet symbolic materials and forms, explores complex themes of identity, time, memory, and the immigrant experience. The artist submerges text from personal immigration documents in water, creating a narrative space that is both intimate and universal, prompting viewers to not only perceive the artist’s personal journey but also reflect on their own sense of identity and belonging.
Water serves as the central medium, carrying multiple symbolic meanings. Its fluidity, transparency, and elusiveness mirror the uncertainty of migration and the passage of time. The appearance and disappearance of text within the water symbolize shifts and reconstructions of identity, while the floating and obscuring bubbles further emphasize this dynamism, reminding viewers that memory and belonging are not static but constantly redefined. The reflections on the water’s surface add another visual layer, alluding to the ambiguity and multiplicity of memory.
The choice of materials is also deeply intentional. The stainless steel tray, with its cold, surgical quality, metaphorically evokes the scrutiny and dissection of personal identity during the immigration process, while the concrete bricks symbolize both the foundation and the weight of the immigrant experience. This contrast in materials enhances the visual tension of the piece, reinforcing the push and pull between identity construction and deconstruction.
Positioned on the ground, the artwork compels viewers to bend down or kneel to observe it. This curatorial decision disrupts conventional viewing habits, placing the audience in a posture of “humility” or “submission,” metaphorically reflecting the realities of adaptation and cultural negotiation that many immigrants face. As viewers lower their gaze toward the water, they are not merely reading the text but engaging in an intimate dialogue with the artist’s memories and emotions, making the experience immersive.
By deconstructing and reinterpreting immigration documents, the work extends from personal experience to broader themes of identity, cultural belonging, and the passage of time. The artist transforms private memory into a shared emotional experience, enabling viewers to find personal connections within the narrative. This shift from the individual to the collective is precisely where the work derives its strength.
Through its integration of water, text, and installation, Homeland’ | Class of Admission blurs the boundaries between reality and dream, individual and collective experience, demonstrating the fluidity of identity and belonging across time and space. The water’s reflections and the transient nature of bubbles symbolize the ambiguity of memory and the reshaping of identity, aligning with the exhibition’s broader exploration of the subtle intersections between individuals and collectives, past and future. As viewers bend down to observe, they become not only spectators but also participants in this journey of contemplation and perception, co-navigating the interplay between inner self and external space.
Melanie Tsang, Homeland’ | Class of Admission, Installation
Shiqi Luo, Breathless, 2024, Oil on canvas
Shiqi Luo's Rebirth revolves around the theme of ritual and cyclical self-healing, deeply exploring the relationship between the body and emotions through highly textured sculptural installations. Her work primarily uses fabric as a medium, symbolizing a person's "second skin" and emotional experiences. The artist stretches, cuts, knots, and burns the fabric, then secures it with nails to form "beautiful scars." The sense of tearing in the piece expresses an internal tension and beauty, and it is through this ritual of self-destruction and reconstruction that the artist creates a new method of self-healing. Through these fabrics, she reconstructs an abstract world filled with scars, rich in rhythm and melody, and brimming with emotion. Different viewers will have varying interpretations, as each individual's experience is unique, and these scars carry the emotional cycles of both personal and collective experiences. The work functions as a visual ritual, using the repeated manipulation of materials and transformation of forms. The artist starts from personal emotions but extends the work to broader traumatic themes, such as war and history, revealing a delicate balance between universal fragility and resilience, pain and healing. It is a form of self-healing through artistic expression, representing the cyclical rebirth and reconstruction of the human body and identity.
Lost in Translation is a visual experiment on language, memory, and perception, exploring how words encapsulate unique cultural experiences and how they evoke emotional resonance in different contexts. The work focuses on three untranslatable words—Mångata, Gluggaveður, and Saudade—not to define them but to enable the audience to feel them beyond the confines of language.
The film constructs its narrative through light, flowing water, icy surfaces, window views, and the melancholic gaze of its subjects. The artist translates linguistic meaning into visual metaphors, allowing the audience to bypass textual definitions and enter the work through intuition. Mångata’s moonlit reflections create a tranquil poeticism, Gluggaveður employs optical illusions to convey the gap between perception and reality, and Saudade evokes deep nostalgia through atmospheric composition. This visual language dissolves the constraints of translation, presenting emotional currents that traverse cultures.
As part of Blurring Borders, the work not only questions linguistic boundaries but also challenges cultural limitations. By visualizing untranslatable words, Lost in Translation breathes new life into them, proving that true understanding does not always require direct translation but can emerge from immersive experiences and shared emotional responses. In an era of rapid information exchange and cultural convergence, the work prompts us to reconsider how language shapes our world while showcasing the possibilities of understanding beyond words.
Yachan Yuan, Lost in Translation, 2024, Video
Xiyao Wang, Fusili, 2024, 3D Printing
Fusili redefines spatial continuity through fluid surfaces, challenging the conventional vertical segmentation of architectural levels. Rather than a static structure, the work transforms architecture into a dynamic experience. Inspired by the Möbius strip and the Ouroboros—a symbol of infinite cyclicality—the artist dissolves fixed spatial concepts, presenting an endless, self-sustaining loop that prompts viewers to contemplate the interplay between movement and space. The motion of plastic spheres within the structure not only symbolizes the potential paths individuals may take within architecture but also vividly illustrates the interactions between gravity, choice, and form, reinforcing the fluidity and indeterminacy of spatial perception.
The interactive nature of Fusili shifts the viewer from a passive observer to an active participant, liberating architectural experience from traditional linear circulations such as staircases and elevators. Instead, it introduces a more elastic and dynamic possibility. Here, space is not merely a container but a narrative—an exploration of movement, decision-making, and perception. The work stems from the artist’s longstanding fascination with staircases and ramps and is further inspired by subconscious experiences of traversing architectural spaces in dreams. It expresses a yearning for spatial freedom and a challenge to established orders.
Fusili resonates with the core theme of Blurring Boundaries by blurring the distinctions between individual and environment, transforming space from a static entity into an interactive and perceivable presence. In this work, architecture ceases to be merely a functional construct; instead, it becomes a medium for engagement between individuals and their surroundings, exploring how one defines their place within the intersection of physical and psychological space. By inviting viewers into a spatial experience beyond conventional frameworks, Fusili encourages a reconsideration of how architecture shapes human perception and behavior, ultimately redefining the relationship between people and space.
This exhibition presents the profound explorations of seven artists into boundaries, communication, and perception through an open-ended perspective. In an ever-blurring world, these works are no longer singular expressions but serve as bridges between reality and dreams, individuals and collectives, past and future. Through diverse mediums—including painting, video, and installation—the exhibition challenges conventional ways of seeing, inviting viewers to redefine their relationship with space and self within shifting perceptions.
The exhibition is both visually striking and conceptually thought-provoking. From Zihan Mo’s dissection of the essence of painting to Melanie Tsang’s reflections on identity, from Susie Luo’s emotive expressions to Yachan Yuan’s linguistic experiments, each piece delves into experiences that are difficult to articulate. Xiyao Wang’s Fusili further blurs the boundaries between architecture and the body, transforming space into a dynamic narrative.
Here, boundaries are broken, reshaped, and even dissolved. Rather than providing definitive answers, the exhibition guides viewers in finding resonance within fluid limits, turning the act of looking into an active exploration. More than a visual feast, Blurring Boundaries is a profound dialogue on perception and communication.
Our Art Panel
