The Neo-Folk Matrix 新民间矩阵

Neo-folk art diagram 民间艺术图谱

Mixed media collage on canvas, 143cm x111cm, 2024

Neo-Folk Matrix

Continuing from the foundation of Neo-Folk Matrix, the series further delves into the intricate relationship between textiles and the concept of matriarchy. Textiles, especially handcrafted ones, are not merely artistic mediums but represent the threads of connection between generations, embodying the transmission of knowledge, culture, and personal memories. In many matrilineal societies, the act of weaving and textile creation is more than a craft—it is a form of storytelling, a way to encode the values, history, and spirit of a community.

In our collaboration, my mother and I engage in a dialogue that transcends the traditional boundaries of artistic creation. Our work together on this series is not just a fusion of ideas but a reimagining of how matriarchal societies function—through shared experience, mutual respect, and the continuous flow of wisdom from one generation to the next. This process is reflected in the very fabric of our tapestries, where each piece is a culmination of both planned and spontaneous actions, mirroring the fluidity and adaptability inherent in matrilineal structures.

The improvisational nature of our work challenges my usual methodical approach to art. It pushes me to embrace uncertainty and to allow the process to unfold naturally, much like the way knowledge and traditions are passed down in matrilineal societies—not through rigid instruction but through lived experience and the subtle guidance of maternal figures. This approach has brought a new depth to my understanding of creation, where the final work is not just a product of my hands but a collaborative effort that honors the contributions of my mother and the lineage of women before her.

As we navigate the interplay between tradition and modernity, the series also reflects on the broader implications of matriarchy in contemporary society. It challenges the viewer to reconsider the roles of women, not just as caretakers or passive recipients of culture, but as active participants in the shaping of history and the future. Through the use of textiles—a traditionally feminine medium—we reclaim and elevate these practices to a new level, demonstrating their relevance and power in today’s world.

The Neo-Folk Matrix series, in its essence, is a celebration of matriarchal values, where the emphasis is placed on nurturing, continuity, and the collective strength of women. It is a testament to the resilience of these values, even in the face of modern challenges. By weaving together personal narratives, cultural symbols, and the profound influence of my mother, this series offers a unique perspective on the enduring power of matrilineal heritage and its relevance in both art and life.

China Neo-folk art 中国民间艺术图谱

Mixed media collage on canvas

143cm x111cm, 2024

Bore Butterfly 褴褛:蝴蝶

Indigo – dyed fabric, hand and machine embroidery, digital print

157cm x230cm, 2025

Smart Governance 褴褛:织理

Indigo – dyed fabric, hand and machine embroidery, digital print

143cm*193cm, 2025

Installation view at Song art Center, 2026

Smart, Mastr 杀马特，玛仕特

Exhibitionist：The Smart Gallry/ Installation &live evnet/ C5cnm space，Beijing/ 2021

From ancient times to the present, hair carries secret and rich meaning. “Hairstyle” can be expressed as a form of resistance of individuals to mainstream values, a “movable temporary device”, and a gesture and action that is better than a speech. In subcultural studies, playing with hair (making art) can also be seen as a form of shame, a sign of self-exile, and a symbol of tension between the dominant group and the subordinate group.

The purpose of Exhibitionist Series is to break the boundaries of “daily display” and “art exhibition”, and to reduce the distance between the public and contemporary art. In our current hyper connected society, people’s desire to “display” is everywhere- selfies, Insagram, Wechat, and in its most extreme form-Live Stream. As a global online culture with a fundamental desire to expose and to peep, Live Streams occupy a space where visual expression and textual feedback are instantly accessible. This live space parasitizes online, and becomes the way of displaying and self- expressing for new generation.

Exhibitionist: JinFeng Roller Skating Club/ Installation &live evnet/ Tank Shanghai/ 2021

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One-day tour in Shanghai/ 2023. 2

Mastr, You Are Marvelous!

Master, You Are Marvelous! is a performative video work that investigates the paradoxical relationship between artistic labor, mechanical labor, and the cultural figure of the “master.” Developed as part of my long-term engagement with the Sha Ma Te (SMART) community of rural migrant youth in China, the work stages an encounter between marginalized subcultural subjects and the so-called “masters” of the art world.

In collaboration with artist Wang Qingsong and local artisans in Jingdezhen, the film depicts a fictional scenario in which a “Master” and a group of flamboyantly styled Sha Ma Te youths arrive in a town known for its art. They visit established artists and artisans—figures who embody institutional prestige and official recognition. In the process, admiration, parody, and absurd intimacy blur the lines between subcultural “outsiders” and cultural elites.

This work critically examines the body politics of migrant labor. The Smart subculture originated among young factory workers on the urban peripheries, whose self-styling practices transformed the anonymity of mechanical labor into a carnivalesque assertion of presence. By placing these figures into dialogue with art-world “masters,” Mastr, You Are Marvelous! questions the mechanisms through which artistic labor is valorized, celebrated, and fetishized, while the material conditions of working-class laborers remain invisible or dismissed.

The project also plays on the multiple meanings of the word “Master.” In Chinese cultural discourse, it is both an honorific title for officially sanctioned artists and artisans, and a marker of elitism, authority, and intellectual hierarchy. In socialist rhetoric, “future masters” described the collective aspirations of children as the heirs of society. In global English, “master” also recalls the histories of domination, servitude, and property. By collapsing these meanings, the work destabilizes the boundaries between “high” and “low,” “elite” and “grassroots,” and asks who can claim mastery in the cultural field.

Through absurdist performance and visual parody, Mastr, You Are Marvelous! reveals the contradictions of how artistic labor is framed: at once exalted and abstracted, while other forms of labor—mechanical, affective, migrant—remain undervalued. It suggests that the celebration of the “Master” in art is itself a labor performance, one that masks systemic inequalities and exposes the precarious condition of cultural workers in both the factory and the gallery.

In the context of InVisible Culture’s issue on “(Un)Doing Labor,” this work proposes to see both Smart youth and young artisans as “Mastrs”—a deliberately misspelled identity that reclaims agency through irony. To be your own “Mastr” is to refuse the hierarchies of mastery and to reinvent the value of labor as collective creativity, absurd resistance, and critical play.

Dr. Corana Online 科大夫在线

http://drcorona.online/

Dr.Corona Online is an interactive online-\work. Dr.Corona refers to the popular column Dr.Co Mailbox in The Family Doctor, a highly subscribed magazine since the last century in China. Dr.Co is a column run by top experts and professors from various hospitals across China. Not long ago, The Family Doctor would receive thousands of letters from fans every month. Columnists’ collective professional medical knowledge then is characterized by a single virtual figure, Dr.Co, who responds and diagnoses readers physical and mental conditions described in their letters. Within the Q&A section of this column, an enormous amount of obscure problems came into light. Some are related to conditions socially shameful or embarrassing. So Dr.Co became the popular icon and a spiritual support for a fascinating pool of storytellers.

Dr.Corona alludes to the term ‘coronavirus’. However, Dr.Corona is not a virus, nor a real human being; it is an artificial-intelligence-doctor, answering and solving the problems that may have caused by the coronavirus. Its corpus comes from the headlines on the internet, the discussions and tweets on social media, as well as the widely spread motivational quotes, a.k.a. the ‘chicken soup quotes’. Would like to be diagnosed by Dr.Corona? ‘Patients’ will receive a sort of a Prozac, in the way of compassionate drug use, which is not necessarily accurate to the patients’ symptoms. By asking questions on the project page, users will get a prescription that generated by this AI doctor. Users may also want to share the prescription on their social media in order to get a second opinion, which is always crucial.

This work is co-commissioned by Chronus Art Center (Shanghai), Art Center Nabi (Seoul) and Rhizome of the New Museum (New York).

《柯大夫在线》是一件网络互动作品。“柯大夫”的名字来源于中国上世纪订阅量极高的健康杂志《家庭医生》，“柯大夫信箱”是其中备受欢迎的专栏。“柯大夫”团队由全国各大医院的顶尖专家、教授组成，杂志社每个月都会收到上万封热情读者的来信。虚拟人物“柯大夫”在栏目中用专业的医学知识解答读者身心方面的疑难杂症，其中大量隐秘且难以在现实中启齿的疑问构成了一部当代人精神生活的故事会。

柯大夫的英文发音（Dr.Corona）与新型冠状病毒（coronavirus）读音相近，但它既不是病毒，也非真人，而是一位人工智能医生，为当下新型冠状病毒所造成的疑问和困惑排忧解难。它的语料来源于互联网上的新闻，社交媒体上的讨论和广为流传的网络“心灵鸡汤”。事实上，它未必能给提问患者的症候带来准确的解决方案，更多是作为“同情用药”的一副百忧解。在网站页面提问便可以获得柯大夫开具的“处方”，在听取柯大夫意见的同时，也可以把疑问和答案分享给朋友，获取至关重要的第二医疗建议（second opinion）。

该作品由新时线媒体艺术中心（上海）、那比艺术中心（首尔）、新美术馆Rhizome（纽约）联合委约创作.

Programming: Vytas Jankauskas

Web design: Beio

Project Consultant: BI Xin

Programming Consultant: Claire Glanois

Beauty+ save the world

Installation view at Chinternet Ugly at CFCCA 2019. photo by Michael Pollard

I am the fairest one of all – just check my phone: MY Magic Mirror

“Everyone is an artist” – what was an empty encouragement has become the reality of contemporary experience. Art is boundless, timeless. And how does one define beauty?They code the simplest form.

Meitu XiuXiu or MeituPic, a photo editing software for the phone, makes you beautiful. Your best self, etched in code across a black screen. Meitu has unlocked the algorithm, programming beauty, commoditizing it – defining the aesthetics of our time. It has become the self-optimizing palette – blur, enhance, warp me. The Magic Mirror.

The idea of “self” is a construct – through countless encounters and filters of reality, we learn to understand the “self” in us. The self in the self-timer is transformed into self-satisfaction, instantly, and then almost a feeling of self-awareness – um – I am beautiful. Meitu’s launching punchline: MEET YOUR BETTER SELF. Instantly! Amazingly! We become our better selves.

But is the picture still you? YOU. The person in the image goes through and beyond, to the cloud. You exist in the mobile photo album and in the cloud that is a set of algorithms designed to keep you confined, defined – to keep you BEAUTIFUL.