survey_36 — textile and soft sculpture
1. Shi Hui — 施慧 (Shanghai, 1955)
A fibre artist and professor at the China Academy of Art: she works with cotton, hemp, bamboo, xuan rice paper and paper pulp, turning weaving into the construction of visual space.
- Path — born in 1955 in Shanghai; in 1982 she graduated with a bachelor's degree from the dyeing and weaving department (染织) of the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now the China Academy of Art, CAA); in 1986–1989 she studied contemporary fibre art at the “Varbanov Tapestry Institute” (万曼壁挂研究所) under Marin Varbanov; she taught in the fields of weaving, environmental art and sculpture; lives and works in Hangzhou.
- Recognition — in 1987 the work “寿” (together with Zhu Wei) was included in the 13th International Tapestry Biennial in Lausanne (Switzerland) — the first participation by Chinese artists; among her exhibitions are the 60th Venice Biennale (China's national pavilion, 2024), the 3rd and 14th Shanghai Biennales, “生活在此时 / Living in Time” (Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, 2001) and the 1st Guangzhou Triennial (2002).
- Material and method — since the 1990s she has worked mainly with cotton, hemp, plant fibres, xuan rice paper and paper pulp (纸浆); she expands traditional weaving into a visual-spatial construction, and the act of weaving itself becomes an “experience”; since 2003 she has run the “fibre and space” direction within the sculpture faculty at CAA.
- Curating and teaching — professor and doctoral supervisor at CAA, head of the Institute of Contemporary Fibre Art; initiator and art director of the Hangzhou Triennial of Fibre Art (since 2013), and author of monographs on contemporary Chinese fibre art, including a book on Marin Varbanov.
2. Lin Yan — 林延 (Beijing, 1961)
An artist: she makes xuan rice paper her primary material, creating three-dimensional painterly-sculptural forms and site-specific installations with architectural qualities.
- Path — born in 1961 in Beijing into a family of artists; she graduated from the oil painting faculty of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA); in 1985 she continued her studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris; in 1989 she received a master's degree from the studio art department of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; since 1993 she has lived and worked in New York (Brooklyn) and Beijing.
- Material — since 2005 she has made xuan rice paper (宣纸) her main material: paper ceases to be a support for flat painting and acquires volume, weight and layering; black and white, hardness and softness are set against each other like yin and yang.
- Works and series — early pieces made only of xuan (2005–2006), the series “Monument 纪念碑” (2007–2009), “灰城 Gray City” (2008–2011), the series “北斗七星 Big Dipper” (including “天玑 Phekda”), “吸&呼 Inhale & Exhale” and “斷層 Fault Line” (2015), “空曲 Kongqu” (Eslite, Taipei, 2016), “反映 Inverted Shadow” (Leo Gallery, Shanghai, 2018).
- Exhibitions and collections — a paired exhibition with her mother, the artist Pang Tao, “时间谱 / A Material Lineage” (Pearl Lam Galleries, Shanghai, 2019); the solo “林延：纸韵延绵 / Everlasting Layers” (Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong, 2025). Works in the collections of Deutsche Bank (New York), the Long Museum (Shanghai), the National Art Museum of China (Beijing) and the White Rabbit Gallery (Sydney).
3. Cai Yaling — 蔡雅玲 (Jinzhong, Shanxi, 1984)
A sculptor and artist: she works with textiles, hair, beads, printed matter and text, exploring the mother–daughter relationship and the position of women in contemporary society.
- Path — born in 1984 in the Jinzhong municipality (Shanxi province); in 2007 she graduated with a bachelor's degree from the first studio of the sculpture faculty of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and in 2011 completed a master's there under Sui Jianguo; lives and works in Beijing.
- Material — she uses textiles, hair, crystal beads, printed matter and text; she is known for embroidery in hair: in the work “2012年8月21日” (2012/2014) she embroidered her own hair onto white cloth after the birth of her daughter, and in “1987年的妈妈” and “1987年的我” she and her mother embroidered her black hair and her mother's white hair.
- Works — “NO” (2018, crystal beads and steel cables), “OИ” (900×400 cm, crystal beads, steel wire), “妈妈，我再也不喜欢你了”, “秘密”, “宝贝儿”, “妈妈”, the series “Polka Dot” (2014), “Goddess 女神” (2022), “红海” (2021).
4. Guo Gong — 郭工 (Shanxi, 1966)
An installation artist: he works with a wide range of materials (old wood, steel, stone, concrete, glass), treating “sculpture” as a reworking of the language of natural objects.
- Path — born in 1966 in Shanxi province; lives and works in Beijing and Datong (Shanxi); since 2008 he has devoted himself to installation art.
- Method — for the artist, “物” is not simply material or an object but a carrier of concepts and thoughts; he reveals the inner property of things, following their own nature and minimising the author's intervention (for example, he unwinds an old beam along its spiral grain in “木板—听风”).
- Works — the series “切问 Qie-Wen” (不锈钢, 玉原石), “钢筋肖像 No.4”, “石头肖像”, “一棵松 No.5”, “木板—听风 No.1–10” (old wooden beam, 2015–2019), “白光” (2010).
- Exhibitions and collections — the solo shows “切问 Qie-Wen” (Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2018) and “偏见 Prejudice” (OCT Boxes Art Museum, Shunde, 2020); the paired show “自言自语 Self-talk” with Liang Shuo (ShanghART, Beijing, 2026) and participation in the 2nd Pingyao International Sculpture Festival (2019) and the exhibition “不物于物” (香地艺术中心, Shanghai, 2023). Works in the collections of M+ (Hong Kong), the Guangdong Museum, Shanhai Art Museum and others.
5. He Xiangyu — 何翔宇 (Kuandian, Liaoning, 1986)
A conceptual artist and filmmaker: across different media (sculpture, installation, painting, video) he tests materials and the transformations of matter, including large-scale works in leather and silicone.
- Path — born in 1986 in Kuandian county (丹东, Liaoning province); in 2008 he graduated from the oil painting faculty of Shenyang Normal University; lives and works in Beijing and Berlin; he represented China at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019).
- 坦克计划 / Tank Project — in 2011–2013, together with a team of 35 workers, he made a life-size exact copy of a T-34 tank from Italian vegetable-tanned leather (植鞣革): around 250–400 whole hides, 50,000 m of waxed thread and a weight of more than 2 tonnes; first shown in the exhibition “ON | OFF” at UCCA (2013).
- Other projects — “可乐计划 Coca-Cola Project” (2009–2012, 127 tonnes of cola evaporated down to a residue), “口腔计划 Palate Project” (since 2012, a series of drawings), “柠檬计划 Lemon Project” (2014–2019); soft sculptures and objects in silicone: “Death of Mara / 马拉之死” (2011, simulated silicone) and “我的梦想” (2012, simulated silicone, fibreglass, clothing); the film “The Swim” (2017, premiered at the Guggenheim).
- Recognition — a finalist for the Future Generation Art Prize (2014); winner of the CCAA “年度最佳年轻艺术家” (2016) and the Artnet New Artist Award (2016); works in the collections of the Long Museum (Shanghai), the François Pinault collection, the Boros Collection (Berlin) and the Kunstmuseum Bern.
