Emergence - A Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition

Artists

Zhou Song

Beijing-based artist Zhou Song (b. 1982, Jiangxi) graduated from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. He first gained recognition in 2003 with his series of hyper-realistic large- scale oil paintings, which are based on his interdisciplinary research across art, science and philosophy. He currently works with various media including painting, installation, sculpture and video art. His artwork examines technology’s influence and the human condition in a post-humanist era. In 2018, he attended the robo-philosophy conference at University of Vienna with his art installation.

His solo exhibitions include “The Future: Zhou Song—Art and Technology Integration Exhibition”, Peking University Resource – New Millennium Gallery, Beijing (2017) and Today Art Museum, Beijing (2009). His work has been represented in annual exhibitions of the Chinese New Classical Art Association since 2013.

He is the recipient of the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts graduate thesis first place award. He won the "Lorenzo Award" for installation at the 11th Italian Florence International Art Biennale in 2017. In the same year, he was awarded as “The Artist Most Worth Collecting” prize in the 2nd Art Market Value Construction Award. In 2018, he received honorable mention in the Imaginative Realism Category of the XII ARC Salon Exhibition.

Humans have always had a sense of supreme superiority. We believe that an honorable “spirit” is above our body. Darwinian evolution, however, reduces us to the same status as other species, which is also proved by genetics. We hadn’t yet figured out this issue, when technology pushed us to face new issues. Our ponderings over the body and spirit will not be the only thing in the future, where robot and AI, reality and VR will also occupy a space. Human beings will face a brand-new world that they create where “life” will be redefined, and the conventional biological boundaries will be challenged by new inventions. AI poses an unprecedented challenge to our superiority and is changing our world.

My works reflect this possibility. However, the future is well beyond our imagination.