Chronicles
Hu, Di: A foreigner who builds bridges and roads.
As someone who has spent most of her life within the structures of urban modernization, Hu Di has witnessed the myriad pulls and tugs of modern life on individuals. She makes exploratory installations in space, encouraging viewers to seek lightness, build relationships, and reclaim flexibility through their exploration.
Hu Di's work delves the absurdities woven into the fabric of our daily existence, the whimsical nature of our yearnings for love and intimacy, and the surreal aspects embedded within the structural intricacies of our societal systems with playful participatory experiences. Her creations use humor or absurdity to craft inclusive spaces that invite audiences to form connections and relationships through exploration. Each person can find their own answers, or perhaps find that answers are unnecessary. She rejects manipulating the audience, avoiding dogma and declarative viewpoints, and does not aim to express purely personal insights and emotions.
In her most recent work, Echo Chamber Realms, Hu Di has created such an exploratory space. As viewers enter, they encounter a series of layered experiences designed to foster an atmosphere of free exploration.
Entering this space, they might feel confused by the small cityscape formed from seemingly randomly placed everyday objects at their feet. However, as they hear three giant puppets conversing in the depths of the gallery, guided by the pathways formed within the miniature city, viewers are compelled to delve deeper and listen to the dialogue, hoping to find answers. Upon reaching the puppets' area, some viewers become curious about the content displayed on monitors, while those who continue to explore discover they can participate in the conversation. Ultimately, viewers standing in front of the monitor will notice (if they need to) that they are facing the entrance, where a small desk lamp illuminates a booklet, serving as a fictional narrative about this world.
Throughout this process, viewers gradually let go of their confusion and feel integrated into the space. They begin to call friends to share this experience; the everyday objects in the gallery spark a desire to explore and share, not only exploring the gallery space but also reflecting on the artist's personal life and retrieving their own memories.
Echo Chamber Realms
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
April 2024
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The surreal space resembles a dreamscape. Everything contribute to the exhibition's sense of strangeness, making it clear that this is no ordinary fantasy world -- from the curtain of iridescent fabric at the entrance to the stage-like setup and lighting; from the contrast between large animals and small cities to the assembled feel of ready-made objects; from the repetitive movements of the puppets to their playful tones masked by mechanical undertones in which they are always discussing "how to be a good person" (although the artist used the more technical term "socialization" when creating them).
However, with the welcoming arrangement, the mix of unfamiliarity and friendliness in the characters, and the everyday objects, the artist strives to convey to the audience amidst this oddity: Come and play, there is no pretentiousness here, no aloofness. Here, you are free and safe.
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
April 2024
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Ready-made objects, compared to undefined materials, are themselves very explicit symbols that extend beyond the artist's control, giving the audience more power. The traditional method of guiding the audience step-by-step through an artwork has become "somewhat overly simplistic"; or to put it more radically, the artist's control over the space and the audience's attention is a pre-modern habit.
This might be a new viewing experience. The artist must create a world where the audience can immerse themselves as if diving into a long scroll—letting them explore on their own.
Echo Chamber Realms
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
April 2024
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In Echo Chamber Realms, the puppets' real-time dialogues use a large language model, which allows the audience to join in real-time. Every conversation is unique, and each audience member's experience is different.
As a former technologist, it's easy to see Hu Di's familiarity with technology in her work. She is, in fact, indifferent to using any medium: whether ready-made or recycled, materials or technology (including built-in programming and other techniques familiar to her), or easily available, new or old, or items around the gallery. Perhaps her background as an engineer influenced this approach—any tool will do as long as it works. More importantly, flexibility is a strength. Flexibility requires a relaxed state to achieve and imbues the space with a sense of ease.
This exploration of set-up by improvising based on the space of the gallery builds upon her work earlier, On the Back of Silver Dragon, which also uses recycled material and readymade. This more sculptural installation, however, creates a sense of immersion through the use of 'wind,' a dynamic and delicate medium.
Focusing on contemporary life's economic power structures and artificial illusions, On the Back of Silver Dragon employs sharper allusions.
In the miniature city, the figures of various sizes exhibit significant differences in scale, which Hu Di arranges throughout the installation as a metaphor for social hierarchy. As AI-generated images of the farm are magnified, they gradually reveal that the animals in the farm are actually blobs of distorted colors, resembling some kind of alien creatures or monsters. The combination of the city, farm, everyday objects, characters, and farm animals humorously highlights the interplay between life and tools, cognition and illusion, effort and futility.
On the back of Silver Dragon,
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia,
April 2024
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In November 2023, Hu Di exhibited a project called Too on the Nose as a playful little rebellion against authority. From February to May of the following year, Hu Di undertook a durational performance art piece titled Find Hu Di, where she continuously shared her location with the public for 100 days, waiting for someone to find her.
These two explorations of artist-audience interaction sparked Hu Di's reevaluation of the "personal perspective." Simultaneously, they served as a process to explore the role of "identity" in her art.
In the contemporary art context where identity takes precedence, Hu Di's exploration of personal identity ultimately points to the action of "opening up," allowing her to create an inclusive space using "self" as a medium. The unfolding and opening of the "self" conveys a desire for "communication." Indeed, opening up one's personal (whether physical or psychological) space requires the individual to take risks, but for other participants, it represents a sense of "harmlessness." Safety is a crucial prerequisite for fostering exploration and establishing equal connections.
Too on the nose,
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia,
Nov 2023
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Find Hu Di,
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
Feb - May 2024
In the earlier part of the same year, in "The Wheels Never Go Backwards," Hu Di first began using small figures and tiny figures, animal miniatures, everyday objects, studio tools, and recycled materials to create the typical kind of exploratory space in the form of a miniature city.
Similar to "On the Back of Silver Dragon," which also uses special media to enhance engagement and immersion, this piece employs light as the immersive medium. The lights on the toy train, combined with various objects made of transparent, mirrored, and ordinary materials, project moving shadows on the gallery walls, bringing the work to life.
It is evident that Hu Di takes into account the audience's interests to some extent; she is keenly aware that these works are created for the "viewer." Although Hu Di's creative process prioritizes conceptual depth over sensory stimulation, she gently suggests pathways for viewers to enter the work. However, at no point are the viewers manipulated—they remain aware and in control. They are clearly aware of what they are participating in and are always at the helm, choosing whether to follow or not, and selecting the areas they wish to explore.
The wheels never go backward,
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia,
Oct 2023
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In earlier work The Wheels Never Go Backward, we can already see the sparkle of various absurd and humorous satires.
Miniature figures descend from the sky in frying pans, while even smaller figures bustle about on the ground, following arbitrary rules. A heap of animals is continuously pushed by the cow catchers of the toy train; buildings with fur and tails, everyday objects, and tools appear everywhere—this is a world of jokes. It is child-like but not childish.
The wheels never go backward,
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia,
Oct 2023
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Hu Di's interest in puppetry can be traced back to the summer 2023 project Beloved Charlie, where she examined the interface between human relationships and the boundaries between traditional gallery spaces and everyday spaces through the medium of puppetry.
Beloved Charlie is a dog that delves deeply into human society, using satire and playing the role of a good dog from an outsider's perspective to navigate the challenges of daily human interactions. Through the intimate practice of two beings in one body and interactions without human language under a mask, Charlie explores relationships and societal norms. Charlie's works include performances, videos, and installations. Charlie performs in various settings such as public spaces and private parties, aiming to challenge and discuss social norms.
Beloved Charlie
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
April 2023
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In earlier works, Hu Di had already begun exploring non-traditional viewing and interaction modes through participatory installations. The 2022 project "Three Rooms" delved into institutional thinking in both form and content, discussing the systems of the art industry: the labor and routine of art, art criticism and production, and commodification.
Three rooms - I heard about ART WORLD but I don’t know where is it
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
Jan 2023
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In her 2021 project, set against the backdrop of the pandemic, Hu Di used painting and sculpture to discuss the institutionalization of the pandemic and the medical system: the scientific methodology of modern medicine, the commercialization of healthcare, and the objectification of the body within the medical system.
Landscapes
Beijing
June 2022
Beijing
June 2022