"Narrated: The Self as the Other"

The Second Shanghai Museum/Gallery Staff Biennale

curatorial team:

Qiansheng Tang, Mengxia Shi

curator:

Molide Tuolihong

artists:

Xi Chen, Zekai Chen, Yingqiong Liu, Zhuosiqi Meng, Hongming Teng, Ying Xue, Juntao Yang, Yu Zhao

The works in this exhibition aim to guide the audience on a journey from "selfhood" to "commonality." While "selfhood" may seem opposed to "commonality," the core of individuality often reveals identifiable, repeatable traits inherently tied to the concept of "commonality."

However, the interpretation of individuality inevitably revolves around the question of "who"—individuality arises from the individual, and this premise inherently implies the existence of a "who."

displayed artworks

"Mirror No. 1"

60×50 cm, Oil on Canvas, 2023

artist: Yingqiong Liu(b. 1990) Graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor's degree in Illustration Arts from the Printmaking Department of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts. She currently lives and works in Shenzhen. Her artistic practice spans oil painting, printmaking, and mixed media. In recent years, her work has focused on objects and spaces marked by traces of time, attempting to explore and present landscapes, relationships, and the self through everyday fragments.

"There Are No Words Between Us"

Performance Video, 11', 2023

artist: Zhuosiqi Meng(b. 1998) In recent years, Meng’s work has primarily explored traumatic personal experiences and public issues. Some of her pieces attempt to present heavy subjects with humor, while others take a confessional approach.

She organizes ambiguous games within the invisibility of everyday life—*the velvet prison* serves as a guide to action, and intense pain becomes a source of conviction.

"Self-hurting game"

Single-channel Video, 4'41", 2019

artist: Ying Xue

Xue Ying's work spans social practice, installation, textiles, and text. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Leeds (Leeds, UK) and later earned a Master’s degree in the Public Sphere from the Royal College of Art (London, UK) in 2019.

Her practice reflects a longstanding interest in the position of female subjectivity within patriarchy. Through critical social practice, she explores feminist philosophy, radical activism, and power dynamics within Asian families, expanding the imagination surrounding diverse communities.

"Employee"

Oil on Wood Panel, 50×40 cm, 2024

artist: Zekai Chen

Born in 2002 in Zhejiang, Chen Zekai graduated in 2024 with a Bachelor's degree in Painting from East China Normal University.

His work explores media imagery shaped by entertainment-driven visual habits and the transformation of visual connections. Drawing from familiar yet ambiguous elements in everyday life, he reconstructs images through forms and similarities, navigating the unknown within them. His visual compositions function as imagined connections and constructed experiences that ultimately return to themselves.

"Trivial Matters of Importance"

Paper materials: Glossy paper, Tracing paper, PET; Book / Burlap / Metal Buckle / Tin Foil, 2024

artist: Hongming Teng

Born in Shanghai and having lived in Guilin for five years, Teng Hongming is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Photography at Nanjing University of the Arts. He runs the WeChat public account “Rebirth Fire”.

Over the past two years, his work has stemmed from embodied experiences during meditation, walking, cycling, and train journeys. His practice explores the relationship between family and urban-rural dynamics, documenting and reenacting the pain experienced by his family members while also examining the natural forms of the land. Utilizing materials such as fabric, thread, metal objects, and dust, he bridges the transition from books to installations and from fragments of life to moving images—giving shape to the unspeakable and questioning the intentions behind the interplay of individual, collective, and societal forces.

"Herbal: Breathing Together"

Still Frame, 2024

artist: Juntao Yang

Writer, curator, and artist. Yang Juntao’s critical writing and artistic practice focus on the traces of micro-power operations within specific visual material cultures, the visible and invisible conflicts and violence in everyday existence, and the organization and transformation of power proxies.

He is committed to countering the silent forces of ideology and the pervasive political apathy through discourse—at times hysterical. His current research interests include planetary cinema and geological thinking, digital infrastructure, and the ideology of theater architecture.

Yang Juntao is also a member of the Youth Working Committee of the Hubei Film Association. He holds degrees from Wuhan University and Columbia University and is currently based in New York and Nanjing.

"What's on the Other Side of the House"

Acrylic on Wood Panel, 60×60 cm, 2023

artist: Xi Chen

(b. 1994) An independent artist and internet product manager currently living and working in Shanghai.

Chen Xi's painting style is rooted in personal memories and delicate emotions. She combines feelings with her experiences of the external world, using chaotic and conflicting colors to evoke a sense of unrest within tranquility and suppressed vitality.

curator:

Molide Tuolihong

Molide Tuolihong is an independent curator and film producer currently based in Shanghai. She holds a Master’s degree in Arts Management from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy. She has served as the co-curator of I Also Love You and the curator of *You Are a River*. Her research focuses on power dynamics within culture, aiming to highlight marginalized groups and address structural injustices. She also explores issues of identity and engages in derivative studies on Orientalism within cultural contexts.

"Narrated: The Self as the Other"

The Second Shanghai Museum/Gallery Staff Biennale

curatorial team:

Qiansheng Tang, Mengxia Shi

curator:

Molide Tuolihong

artists:

Xi Chen, Zekai Chen, Yingqiong Liu, Zhuosiqi Meng, Hongming Teng, Ying Xue, Juntao Yang, Yu Zhao

displayed artworks

"Mirror No. 1"

"There Are No Words Between Us"

"Self-hurting game"

"Employee"

"Trivial Matters of Importance"

"Herbal: Breathing Together"

"What's on the Other Side of the House"

curator:

Molide Tuolihong

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