WangShui: poiesis

<p>Known for their technically complex yet ethereal works, WangShui blends poetics and cybernetics in multilayered paintings, installations, and video. Titled after the Greek word poíēsis, meaning “to bring something into being,” this exhibition expands upon WangShui’s artistic research into alternative modes of collaboration and unexpected ways of “integrating different agents.” <em>poiesis</em> highlights the most recent development of WangShui’s singular art practice, questioning the idea of human consciousness as the sole wellspring of creative activity while interrogating the logic of perception and the politics of (in)visibility.</p> <p>It revolves around a new commission on the fourth floor of the museum that consists of eight aluminum floor paintings which change position throughout the duration of the show. The choreography is driven by an invisible algorithm that processes real-time ultrasonic frequencies collected in the museum.</p> <p>On the fifth floor, WangShui presents a new series of “machine paintings” that depict otherworldly figures and encounters. Their process usually involves collaboratively generating images with artificial intelligence (AI), which is further abstracted in this exhibition. Here, the artist presents a mix of paintings made with AI and others made without, engaging equally with various other elements such as atmospheric conditions and historical research.</p> <p>In collaboration with the design studio The Roll, WangShui has created an immersive architectural intervention that spans the fourth and fifth floors. This dream-like chamber is constructed with multi-layered, semi-translucent fabric that refracts both interior and exterior light, evoking a sense of liminality. WangShui’s work exalts the “unseen,” the “unknown,” and the “unsensible,” emphasizing the shifting, formless, and inexplicable. By inviting viewers to contemplate the intermediate space that separates form and non form, <em>poiesis</em> presents limits of perception and turns liminality into a site of resistance.</p>