Show at Chronus Art Center in Shanghai

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Show at Chronus Art Center in Shanghai


Happy to share that I am exhibiting at Chronus Art Center in Shanghai. More details below.

http://www.chronusartcenter.org/en/cac-exhibition-entangled-biomedia/

Entangled: bio/media
2022.07.30 - 2023.02.06
Chronus Art Center (CAC)
BLDG.18, No.50 Moganshan RD., Shanghai

ARTISTS

CAO Shuyi, Mads Bering Christiansen & Jonas Jørgensen, Yunchul Kim, KU Kuang-Yi, YU Chun-LO, and TIEN Zong-Yuan, Ani Liu, Iris Xiaoyu Qu, Anastasiia Raina & HUANG Danlei & Meredith Binnette &Georgina Nolan & HU Yimei, Casey Tang, WANG Yueyue, XU Haomin, XI Lei, and Yakushimaru Etsuko

CURATED BY BI Xin, CAO Jiamin and ZHANG Ga

EXHIBITION OPENING 2022.07.30

Chronus Art Center is pleased to announce the presentation of Entangled: bio/media, a new exhibition featuring ten groups of artists, including CAO Shuyi, Mads Bering Christiansen & Jonas Jørgensen, Yunchul Kim, KU Kuang-Yi, YU Chun-LO, and TIEN Zong-Yuan, Ani Liu, Iris Xiaoyu Qu, Anastasiia Raina & HUANG Danlei & Meredith Binnette & Georgina Nolan & HU Yimei, Casey Tang, WANG Yueyue, XU Haomin, XI Lei, and Yakushimaru Etsuko. Conceived by ZHANG Ga and co-curated by BI Xin, CAO Jiamin and ZHANG Ga.

In the development of biotechnology and bioinformatics, the biological process is able to be read, measured, and researched in the formats of information, programs, and codes. Media theorist Eugene Thacker in his book Biomedia (2004) explicated this ongoing recontextualization of a life form that transitions from carbon-based to silicon-based material, as well as the converging of computer science, molecular biology, genetic codes, and computer codes. When a living entity can be interpreted as a medium, the biological process of corporealizing itself is “a process of mediation,” which resonates with Thacker’s principal concept in his media theory that regards mediation as a necessary process for the formation of mediums. From this point of view, a biological system does not function in a reductive manner that would resort to the mechanical Newtonian paradigm. Instead, it evolves in nebulas, myriad particles and related situations that require living organisms to “exist in time, be modulated according to different contexts and situations.”

Entangled: bio/media further explores this condition by rethinking the notion of biomedia. Whereas all entities are in the constant process of grasping and adapting to an unpredictable entropic cosmos, the fluctuating, evolving, and compilable materiality of nature is also reflected in the organization and execution of information, programs, and codes. A unique perspective for the exploration of the biophilic properties of artificial intelligence, electronics, algorithms, and informatics is of great importance. The exhibition Entangled: bio/media is conceived as a contemplation and enactment of this perspective.

The exhibition not only elevates and liberates bioart from an art discipline that works primarily with bacteria, genetic, or transgenic material via technological means, but also responds to urgent contemporary inquiries including transformative substrates and the definition of life, the shifting paradigms of the evolving natural process, the emerging agency mediated by both the biological and technological milieus, and the yearning for a symbiotic relationship between physical beings (so-called nature), technical beings (the artificial namesake), and psychic beings (living things), in order to rethink a Simondonian concept in a post-human world order.

The participating artworks will be unveiled progressively throughout the exhibition’s four chapters. The first chapter, Transcoding, explores the intelligence and rhythm of life embodied in inorganic matters (CAO Shuyi), the feedback loop between the plasticity of consciousness and technological iterations (Ani Liu), and the mobility, collaboration, and flow of energy across various species (Anastasiia Raina & HUANG Danlei & Meredith Binnette & Georgina Nolan & HU Yimei). This chapter not only explores whether emotion, perception, and subjectivity can be produced and shaped through codes, devices, and labs, but it also pictures the future bonds between human and non-human entities from the perspective of biocentric design, calling for an open intelligent machine ecology that incorporates reciprocal aesthetics and planetary thinking into Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.


Review in Art in America!

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Thrilled to share a wonderful review by Diana Seo Hyung Lee. It will also be published in the September 2022 issue of the Art in America Magazine. You can read the full review here: https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/ani-liu-cuchifritos-gallery-1234634558/

“Liu is interested in the metaphorical implications of this development: women, who are often politically reduced to vessels for carrying children, and who are then expected to raise those kids through overlooked labor, can produce milk that contains unacknowledged carriers of sustenance for their babies. This is not an affirmation of women as vessels nor an assertion that breast milk is the only right option. It is an exhortation to look more closely not only at the unborn, but also at the women who bear them, without turning away.”

https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/ani-liu-cuchifritos-gallery-1234634558/

Review for Designing Motherhood show at MAAM

Boston Art Review has a great review of the Designing Motherhood show at MassArtMuseum (MAAM) which includes my work. You can read the full article here: https://bostonartreview.com/reviews/designing-motherhood-mass-art-art-museum-houton/

Continually to be grateful to the entire Designing Motherhood team, including Michelle Millar Fisher, Juliana Barton, Amber Winick, Zoe Greggs, Gabriella Nelson, Joy Feasley, Chloe Zaug, and the Boston Neighborhood Birth Center.

Review in Brooklyn Rail

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Very grateful for this wonderful review in the Brooklyn Rail by Helena Haimes. You can read it here:

https://brooklynrail.org/2022/07/artseen/Ani-Liu-Ecologies-of-Care or here as a PDF.

“The exhibition as a whole is uncompromisingly sharp, almost clinically so. There are no images of cute babies or depictions of tender moments, and it all hangs together memorably as a result. Liu presents a stark, uncompromising take on the experience of caring for a young baby.

It’s actually a remarkably brave move—reluctant as I am to describe it that way. I think most artist-parents would be inclined to agree that art-making and parenthood are horribly difficult to reconcile. In 2022, it’s depressing that this labor remains so invisible to so many that Liu’s work has such an impact by ‘exposing’ it. This eloquent show feels as if it’s part of a broader effort to force the realities of caregiving into public consciousness.

I hope it heralds a shift in attitudes, an attempt to carve out some space for these experiences and treat them as worthy of artistic reflection. Motherhood isn’t going anywhere, and the more decent artists treat it as ripe territory for contemplation, the sooner the situation for artist-parents might start to shift for the better.”

—Helena Haimes for The Brooklyn Rail

Upcoming BioDesign Event

Speaking and Judging at this year's BioDesign Challenge!

https://www.biodesignchallenge.org/summit-2022

Biodesign Challenge encourages high school and university students to explore innovative applications of biotechnology. This year’s 54 finalist teams will present their ideas that bridge art, design, and biotech to reimagine a more sustainable and equitable future. BDC Summit 2022 will take place June 20-24 online.


Register to watch their presentations, listen to speakers, mingle with the global biodesign community, and see who wins the coveted Glass Microbe prize. tinyurl.com/42epb9vs

Showing new work at UNDER OVER THROUGH with NEW INC and NewLab

Join NEW INC and Newlab for a showcase exhibition of works from the artists in NEW INC's Creative Science Track!

Under, Over, Through

Ani Liu, Gal Nissim & Leslie Ruckman, Jiabao Li, Jonah King & Sue Huang, Lydia White, Nocturnal Medicine, Trash Club

Exhibition Hours: 2pm-8pm

Tours of the exhibition @3pm, 5pm, and 6pm

Tours of Newlab to be announced soon!

Closing rite by Nocturnal Medicine @ 7pm

Under, Over, Through is a group exhibition of artworks created by the artists in NEW INC’s Creative Science Track. The title refers to an expanded sense of landscape, both fictional and documentary, that illustrates the shifting nature of the world around us. J.G. Ballard describes landscapes as formalizations of time and space, noting that external planes directly reflect interior states of mind. Notably, landscapes are not fixed neither in space, nor time: they are impermanent, they are hidden, they exist outside of and inside of the body. The works in this exhibition weave through imagined mycelial worlds, sites of environmental disaster, and variations on the future. The theme extends to the body itself as a topographical, textured plane for storytelling and contemplation. Ani Liu’s The Surrogacy presents an uncanny vision into body politics, pregnancy, and interspecies collage making. Conversely, Nocturnal Medicine’s installation and closing rite shift the perspective from inside the body to inside the earth and time before sentient life. Three virtual reality works by Jonah King & Sue Huang, Trash Club, and Jiabao Li find a shared throughline of crystallized worldbuilding, whether that is in a glacier, in a mycelial network, or in our backyard in the Meadowlands. Lydia White’s sculptural installation considers circular systems of waste and regeneration through biochar and sequestered carbon. Some landscapes are also invisible: Gal Nissim & Leslie Ruckmnan’s Swan Song asks viewers to consider the fragility of life in the built environment. Impermanence and uncertainty are the contours for this decade’s historic turn. Under, Over, Through suggests these contours as a throughline for history, before and after intelligent life.

ABOUT NEW INC

NEW INC was cofounded by Lisa Phillips and Karen Wong in 2013 and is the first museum-led cultural incubator dedicated to supporting innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship across art, design, and technology. NEW INC’s Director is Salome Asega. For more information, visit newinc.org.

ABOUT NEW MUSEUM

The New Museum is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to contemporary art. Founded in 1977, the New Museum is a center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists from around the world. From its beginnings as a one-room office on Hudson Street to the inauguration of its first freestanding building on the Bowery designed by SANAA in 2007, the New Museum continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.

Event Partner: Newlab

Newlab mobilizes people and capital to advance technologies that support the health of our planet. Newlab acts as facilitator, connector, and translator for its community of experts and innovators, helping to build, test, and scale world-changing ideas through investment, venture building, and structured collaboration with industry and government partners.

ABOUT SCIENCE SANDBOX

Science Sandbox is an initiative dedicated to inspiring a deeper interest in science, especially among those who don't think of themselves as science enthusiasts. We support and collaborate with programs that unlock scientific thinking.

Ecologies of Care listed as Must See in Artforum

https://www.artforum.com/artguide/place/new-york?category=must+see

My solo show Ecologies of Care is listed as a Must See in Artforum!

The gallery is open Wednesday–Saturday; 12–6pm or by appointment. The show is open until July 30!

Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space (located inside the Essex Market) 88 Essex Street, No. 21 New York, NY 10002

Upcoming solo show

Ecologies of Care

I am excited to share the press release for my upcoming solo show at Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space.


Opening reception Friday, May 27 from 6-8p

is pleased to present Ecologies of Care, a solo show of recent works by Ani Liu, a former LES Studio Program resident, on view at 88 Essex Street from May 27 through July 30, 2022.

Interrogating the artist’s postpartum period, Ecologies of Care showcases a series of new works that use the material culture, and its aesthetics, of childcare –breastmilk, formula, diapers, toys, screen time–to reflect on the labor and life cycle of parenthood. 

Echoing throughout the exhibition is the sound of a pump that circulates milk within the gallery space. Created as a material reference to the artist’s intimate experience with breastfeeding and pumping, the volume of milk present in Untitled (Pumping; Feeding Through Space and Time) ranges from the amount produced in a single session of feeding to a month’s supply of lactation.

Labor of Love provides a data portrait of the enormous amount of invisible labor that pervades caring for a newborn. Reflecting on the historic devaluation of “women’s” work, this sculpture questions and problematizes the types of work we value, and the care that we often take for granted.

Finally, a series of A.I. generated toys fuse the relationship between the construction of identity and instruments of play while exploring the cultural and psychological influences that inform caring for children. Created using a machine learning algorithm trained on real products marketed as “boys” and “girls” toys, these invented toys expose one source of the gendered social values that we place on children and critically ask how we might rewrite and redesign play.

Ani Liu is an internationally exhibiting research-based artist working at the intersection of art & science. Her work examines the reciprocal relationships between science, technology and their influence on human subjectivity, culture, and identity.  Reoccurring themes in the work include gender politics, biopolitics, labor, reproduction, simulation and sexuality.

Ani’s work has been exhibited internationally, at the Venice Biennale, Ars Electronica, the Queens Museum Biennial, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Asian Art Museum, MIT Museum, MIT Media Lab, Mana Contemporary, Harvard University, and Shenzhen Design Society. Ani’s work has been featured on National Geographic, VICE, Mashable, Gizmodo, TED, Core77, PBS, PCMag, FOX and WIRED.  Ani is the winner of the Princeton Arts Fellowship (2019-2021), the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship (2020), the Virginia Groot Foundation Fellowship (2020), the S&R Washington Prize (2018), the YouFab Global Creative Awards (2018), the Biological Art & Design Award (2017).  

Ani has a B.A. from Dartmouth College, a Masters of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a Master of Science from MIT Media Lab. Ani is passionate about integrating multidisciplinary approaches to art making, and is currently an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. She has previously taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design,  Princeton University, Columbia University, and is on critique panels at Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT, University of Pennsylvania, NYU, UNC Charlotte, Pratt, Parsons.

Ani continually seeks to discover the unexpected, through playful experimentation, intuition, and speculative storytelling.  Ani’s studio is based in New York City. 

S+T+ARTS Prize nomation

Pleased to share that Shapes and Ladders: Battles of Bias and Bureaucracy has a nomination for the S+T+ARTS Prize. STARTS (Science, Technology & the Arts) is an initiative of the European Commission, launched under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Its purpose is to support collaborations between artists, scientists, engineers and researchers to develop more creative, inclusive, and sustainable technologies. A yearly competition is held to single out for recognition innovative projects at the nexus of science, technology and the arts that have what it takes to make a significant impact on economic and social innovation. Congratulations to all the winners!

Featured in Vogue India

I am in Vogue India’s latest issue featuring forces of creativity! Featured alongside amazing women Neri Oxman, Lucy Mcrae, Naomi Watanabe, Yasmin Elayat, Taylor Shaw, Mitu Khandaker,

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