The popular “40 Years of Humanizing Technology — Art, Technology, Society” exhibition in Shekou, which was halted in January due to the COVID-19 outbreak, has now reopened and the exhibition period has also been extended to Oct. 11.
A regular ticket is 68 yuan. Visitors who bought the original exhibition tickets and visited it before it was halted can visit the new exhibition again free of charge by showing the old tickets. Medical workers can also enter the exhibition free of admission by showing proof of profession.
Presented by Design Society in Shenzhen, the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing and Ars Electronica from Linz in Austria, the exhibition invites visitors to travel on a spectacular journey to the future, and deeply delves into a disruptive revolution that has been affecting humans all around the world.
The 30 exhibited items, most of which are Prix Ars Electronica award winners, were created between 2011 and 2019. The exhibition is an Aladdin’s cave of objects that employ advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data visualization, 3-D printing, genetic modification, and dynamic-capture and open-source software.
Some special effects have been added to some works for the new exhibition. For example, mirrors have been installed in front of the multimedia work “Wind of Shenzhen,” creating an immersive experience for visitors. The U.S.-based Refik Anadol Studio collected a whole year’s worth of data on wind in Shenzhen and developed a set of customized software to analyze the data to create the site-specific work that turns the invisible patterns of wind into a huge digital image. The resulting artwork has emotive aesthetics, making the invisible wind visibly beautiful.
A visitor in front of Refik Anadol Studio’s “Wind of Shenzhen.”Photos courtesy of Design Society
"Modified Paradise: Dress," created by AnotherFarm from Japan, is a magnificent luminescent gown made with silk produced by genetically modified silkworms, which were developed by adding the genes of glowing jellyfish and corals to their DNA.
Martin Honzik, curator and senior director of Ars Electronica, co-curated the Shenzhen exhibition with Qiu Zhijie, dean and professor of the School of Experimental Art at the CAFA. China’s cutting-edge works of art, science and technology have also formed an enlightening dialogue with these international works.
Founded in 1979, Ars Electronica is the world’s oldest and largest platform for art, science and technology. The Shenzhen exhibition also presents the history of the festival and a systematic overview on the development of art, science and technology in China and the West.
Meanwhile, The “Values of Design: China in the Making” exhibition (a regular ticket is 68 yuan), showcasing 138 Chinese works and exploring the growing field of Chinese design, is also being held at the center until Dec. 20. And the People’s Architecture Office, which is renowned for taking a different approach to urban redevelopment, is exhibiting its past projects at the “Social Design: Learning at Play” exhibition inside the center. Entry is free.
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (Tue.-Fri.), 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (Sat.-Sun.)
Venue: Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Nanshan District (南山区海上世界文化艺术中心)
Metro: Line 2 to Sea World Station (海上世界站), Exit A