Shi Zheng, Hovering at the Convergence of Entrances and Exits, 2021, video installation, dimensions variable, film still
由24件系列影像作品《停悬于汇集处》组成的庞大网格矩阵占据了画廊的中央空间，该系列以纪念碑（monument）的姿态示人，同时也如巨幅监控器一般接受观众的审视。艺术家模拟的建筑场景（大部分为立交桥和高速公路）在单个影像中再现，展示了单一类型的工业基建的不同实例。交通工具作为画面中唯一的运动变量，通过艺术家预设的路径，形成有序组织的一连串移动视界。在剥离影像的叙事性后，施政以一组自我指涉的序列结构将观众抛入“潜在时间”中的失神状态。 区别于上世纪60年代由贝恩德和希拉·贝歇夫妇（Bernd & Hilla Becher）领导的摄影类型学（typologies），施政希望以机器之眼达到一种超越“无表情拍摄”的新的客观性。机器如何代替人眼对目标进行捕捉、跟踪和测量；如何在不同媒介中对图像进行转译并插入多重“观看”的视角，都是艺术家在创作过程中不断体察的主题。在这一渐进的逻辑顺序中——建筑物，实景地图，游戏，模拟，屏幕，再到观众——施政揭示建筑物的“远程在场”的同时，也完成了对被观看之物的逐层抽象。 AIKE is delighted to announce Shi Zheng's first solo exhibition at the gallery, "Sandbox", featuring a series of video works authenticated by NFT that the artist created in the past two years. This exhibition is the first art collection launched by AIKE after joining the NFT platform blank and will be presented simultaneously online at blank.art and offline in the gallery space from June 26th to July 24th, 2021. The exhibition title, "Sandbox", refers to the programming language as computer security that provides a tightly controlled set of resources for guest programs to run in, thus often used to test unverified programs. The more commonly known Sandbox Games are associated with the concept of open-world, where, as its name would suggest, children can build whatever they want out of sand—players are given the freedom to act and create in the game world at will, realising their imagined prospects using the existing elements in the game software. This exhibition embraces a similar attitude of modifiability, virtuality, non-linearity and decentralisation as sandboxes, further demonstrating the artist's ongoing interest in simulation and "machine vision". In a departure from his previous work, Shi directly uses the coded game as a carrier to nestle metaphors of the virtual world and creative space in the idea of the sandbox. Specifically, he appropriated the satellite imagery of particular locations that he chose on Google Earth and reconstructed the corresponding virtual scenes in Cities: Skylines. A large grid matrix comprises 24 video works from the series "Hovering at the Convergence of Entrances and Exits" that takes up the gallery's central space. Each grid focuses on an architectural scene simulated by the artist, primarily overpasses and highways, indicating variant examples of a single type of industrial infrastructure. The video installation is shown as a monument and a giant surveillance station for the viewer's scrutiny. Vehicles serve as the only motion variable, forming an orderly organised sequence of moving horizons through the path predetermined by the artist. Removing the narrativity from work, the self-referential serial structure of "Sandbox" indulges the audience in voyaging in "latent time". 施政，《停悬于汇集处》，2021，影像装置，尺寸可变，影片截图Shi Zheng, Hovering at the Convergence of Entrances and Exits, 2021, video installation, dimensions variable, film still Unlike the photographic typologies led by Bernd & Hilla Becher in the 1960s, Shi aspires to new objectivity that goes beyond the Bechers' "Deadpan" with the help of the machine's eye. How the machine replaces the human eye to capture, track and measure the target; and how to translate the image in different media and achieve layers of "viewing" perspectives are all subjects that the artist constantly examines in the creative process. In this progressive logical sequence—objects, maps, games, simulations, screens, and then viewers—Shi reveals the "remote presence" of the architecture while at the same time completing the gradual abstraction of the viewed object.
关于艺术家
ABOUT THE ARTIST
施政，1990年出生于江苏，2014年毕业于中国美术学院跨媒体艺术学院，2019年获得芝加哥艺术学院硕士学位。现生活工作于上海和纽约。作为媒体艺术家，施政的创作形式涉及视听装置、电子音乐以及现场演出，开展一系列以模拟和“机器视觉”为出发点的艺术实践，通过扩充观众视听通感体验，体现其对技术哲学、数字漫游和“潜在时间”的持续思考。 施政在集中创作个人作品的同时，也和其领域内的优秀艺术家进行合作。2013年他与能火、王志鹏、翁巍共同成立媒体艺术小组RMBit（人民比特），结合当下的社交媒体现象进行创作。他和能火也是视听演出团体OSC（Open Super Control）的成员。
其个人与合作作品也曾多次出现在国内外重要的美术馆、艺术机构、媒体艺术节中，包括上海油罐艺术中心、银川当代美术馆、Sound Art China（中国声音艺术大展）、FILE Electronic Language International Festival、Ars Electronica（奥地利电子艺术节）、伦敦当代艺术中心、都灵Castello di Rivara美术馆、伦敦The Lumen Prize、上海二十一世纪民生美术馆、 OCT当代艺术中心深圳馆。
Shi Zheng was born in 1990 in Jiangsu, China and now lives and works in Shanghai and New York. He graduated from China Academy of Art in 2014 and acquired MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019. As a media artist, Shi's artistic creations range from audio-visual installations, digital music and live performance, demonstrating the artist's ongoing interest in simulation and "machine vision". Shi further embodies his reflection on the philosophy of technology, digital voyage and "latent time" by extending the audience's visual and audio experience. Apart from individual creation, Shi Zheng also collaborates with other outstanding artists in various fields. In 2013, artistic ground RMBit was founded by Shi Zheng in conjunction with Nenghuo, Wang Zhipeng and Weng Wei with the focus on current context of social media. Both Shi and Nenghuo are the members of an Audio-Visual performance group OSC (Open Super Control).
Shi Zheng’s individual and cooperated works have been presented in a wide range of museums, art institutions and media art festivals home and abroad, including TANK Shanghai, MOCA Yinchuan, Sound Art China, FILE Electronic Language International Festival, Ars Electronica, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, Castello di Rivara, The Lumen Prize, Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum and OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shenzhen.
blank.art works together with the best creators, curators and institutions to produce extraordinary digital art projects. The platform helps collectors and art lovers to discover, collect and enjoy the next generation of Art, powered by smart contracts and NFTs.