More Than A City｜
Digital Arts Project Of Nanchang Planning Exhibition Center

"Since ancient times, cities have been a symbol of the maturity of human civilisation, both East and West, and 'city' and 'town' have come to mean the division of territory and the economic development of society. The terms 'city' and 'urban' mean the demarcation of territorial states and the economic development of societies, and the two, regardless of what comes first, grow inseparably with each other."

Initiated by Nanchang Urban Planning Exhibition Centre, this digital art project “More Than A City” invites six new media artists to think about the keyword “city” with full of possibilities. With the development of science and technology, urban planning is no longer only focused on the governance of physical space such as residence, but also on comprehensive research and practice in social, economic, environmental and cultural dimensions. With this macro goal in mind, the artists will bring forth an infinite imagination for future development.

Through the means of science and technology and advanced thinking, jump out of the concrete city, into a more pioneering future city. Here, human society may have a more sustainable and diversified self-management, the flow and analysis of information will evolve into a more ecological visualization, and the application of virtual and real will penetrate various scenarios of urban planning. The exhibition “More Than A City” will be on top of the serious and rational content, with the unexpected perspective and experience to show the public that the city is not just a city.

Participating Artists:

Liam Young, Fan Yiwen, Huang Tian, Zhang Haichao, Zhang Jinghua, Giuseppe Losziavo

展览作品

  • ROBOTICA，CGI

    Giuseppe Lo Schiavo

    ROBOTICA is a 58-second digital artwork that combines elements of ancient Greek culture, robotics and NFT art in a very realistic visual aesthetic. On a technical level, this short 58-second video animation uses the external computing power of over two hundred cloud-based computers and features music performed by the first and oldest electronic computer in existence. In terms of content, the work is full of machine elements, but the theme of the video is really about projecting humanity through technology.

    Giuseppe Loschiavo
    Born in Italy, the artist lives and works in London and Milan. He studied architecture at the University of Rome (La Sapienza), majoring in visual design. His creations and research aim to create a bridge between art and technology. His works often present a post-human narrative and a focus on technology and science such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, infrared systems or microorganisms in the laboratory, in order to explore the coexistence between man, nature and technology.

  • Word Beast Land, interactive video

    Huang Tian

    Word Beast Paradise is a meta-universe of hieroglyphs born out of the demands of today’s digital social systems. The work responds to the question of how human beings can break away from their own limitations to create new types of objects in the virtual world. The solution to this problem may be found in artificial intelligence.

    Huang Tian

    Huang Tian is a digital media artist. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts as an undergraduate, and studied digital media art at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts as a postgraduate.

  • Planet City, digital image

    Liam Young

    In the work “Planet City”, 7 billion human beings live in a new geological era. This era is a product of globalisation, and in the future, with the rapid development of technology and networks, human life is not only limited to the ground and daily transport. The intake and recycling of resources has also become a permanent issue. This work speculates on the city beyond reality, presenting the future urban landscape and lifestyle in the language of new media, taking us into the giant building complexes and planetary scale material information networks.

    Liam Young
    Liam Young is an Australian-born film director and architect. His work is a nexus of space, image and narrative. He draws on the narrative scripts of novels, films and interactive games, as well as a mastery of visualisation to imagine urban futures governed by different technologies.

  • 5-hydroxytryptamine,digital image

    Reva

    Light tryptamine was first discovered in serum, also known as serotonin, and is widely found in mammalian tissues, with particularly high levels in the cortical mass of the brain and within synapses, and is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter. It is widely recognised as a contributor to human feelings of happiness and pleasure, as the artist describes the work: “Sweet bitterness, happy sadness, warm loneliness. Tranquil chaos, beautiful confusion, meaningful blankness. An organic chemical substance will help you savour them. In the silent experience of the dome, organic matter and inorganic images are in dialogue, and the viewer will feel the spectacle of this “city in the brain”.

    Fan Yiwen
    Reva is an algorithm artist, creative programmer and computer graphics engineer. After graduating from the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he worked as an R&D engineer at the China Film Group and as a partner at a VR and AR startup. After years of working in CG/graphics technology, the artist’s interest shifted to exploring the relationship between technology and art. Currently living and working in Beijing, he explores topics such as algorithmic art, crypto art, creative programming, real-time interactive installations and GPU shader programming.

  • Mimetic Field - Prototype Pool, Interactive Image

    Zhang Haichao

    This is an algorithmic bio-nurturing experiment based on the communication media concept of “mimetic environment”. The graphic rendering algorithm is generated in the digital media space, and the digital biomimetic algorithm is generated in the life-like behavioural pattern of the grid body, which together constitute the biomimetic cultivation prototype pool.

    Zhang Haichao

    New media artist, born in 1987 in Chongqing, graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2010, and graduated from Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 2016. He is now the deputy director of the Department of Intermedia Art and the director of the Science and Technology Art Studio of the Experimental Art Institute of Sichuan Fine Arts.

  • City Nanchang, digital image

    Zhang Jinghua

    The city, it once also spent the township, town, county mould from one fence conversion to multiple fences, from multiple fences conversion to higher fences. High buildings were erected, and the city became a city in all directions. Through the lens of everyday images, the artist captures the inner connection of things from weak to strong, from strong to still, from still to moving. At the same time, the six “Gothic” screens act as containers, re-holding everything from natural objects to urban structures.

    Zhang Jinghua

    Zhang Jinghua graduated from the Experimental Image Studio of China Academy of Art’s Intermedia College in 2013, under the tutelage of Yang Fudong. Currently living in Shenzhen, he is a documentary director, photographer, and author of children’s picture books with Chinese characters, and has been engaged in documentaries on poverty alleviation and education since 2014, outputting one documentary every year.

Thanks

Organiser: Nanchang Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, Nanchang Industry and Information Technology Bureau, Nanchang Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Nanchang Municipal Public Utilities Group Co.

Undertaker: Nanchang Planning and Land Development Research Centre, Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology Co.

Co-organiser: Raiden INST

Media Support: Nanchang Radio and TV station, Nanchang Daily, MANA New Media Art Platform, Phoenix Group Art Platform, Art Contemporary Magazine