I’m proud and happy to announce the launch of Studio Visit, my new curatorial project commissioned by the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève for its online platform, the 5th Floor.
Studio Visit invites artists to allow us an access to their desktop studio and their working process. “Why?” – you may wonder – “we haven’t seen but desktops along the last year; desktops with speaking faces in online classes, streaming conferences, TV programs; give us something real!” In Studio Visit, the desktop studio is shown off as the real space where an artist’s practice manifests. The focus is both on its furniture – files, tabs, programs – and on the artist at work – their favorite tools, their rhythm, their automatism, the way they find a balance between focus and distraction, between managing and creating, between online life and work. Half documentary, half performative, Studio Visit is a huge dive into an artist’s mind, and an effort to capture how artists are performing their daily routine in the here and now.
The project is introduced by a curatorial statement released in the same way – a screengrab video in which I write an invitation letter on Google Docs. Six videos have been commissioned to James Bridle, Petra Cortright, Aria Dean, Oliver Laric, Eva & Franco Mattes and Lu Yang. A new studio visit will be availble each Thursday, from February 25 to April 1, 2021, starting with Lu Yang on February 25.
Lu Yang (born 1984 in Shanghai) is a multi-media artist based in Shanghai. Mortality, androgyny, hysteria, existentialism and spiritual neurology feed Lu’s jarring and at times morbid fantasies. Also taking inspiration and resources from Anime, gaming and Sci-fi subcultures, Lu explores his fantasies through mediums including 3D animation, immersive video game installation, holographic, live performances, virtual reality, and computer programming. Lu has collaborated with scientists, psychologists, performers, designers, experimental composers, Pop Music producers, robotics labs, and celebrities throughout his practice.
Along this studio visit, we share Lu Yang’s desktop while he’s adjusting a 3D urban environment inhabited by a giant female figure.