aaajiao/Xu Wenkai : a’a’a’jiao: an ID

We are pleased to announce that HOW Art Museum (Shanghai) will host a solo exhibition of aaajiao/Xu Wenkai, a’a’a’jiao: an ID  from April 27, 2019 until July 14, 2019. This show is part of HOW NOW exhibition series featuring young Chinese artists.

In 1989, the world wide web was created at the hands of the English scientist Tim Berners-Lee. aaajiao (Xu Wenkai) is part of the generation who grow up within this interconnected network and experienced the process of technological digitalization firsthand. Yet, 30 years later people are still incapable of summing up in one sentence all the changes that the internet has brought.

aaajiao holds the perspective that, with the plethora of possibilities and immense satisfaction technology has brought with it a host of new dilemmas and crises: individual existence is increasingly defined on-line and in the form of numbers, the tightening of the inter-net makes the extensiveness of connectedness more and more immediate, causing the notions of “freedom” and “independence” to become abstract concepts outside the range of perception.

The attainment and ascendance of an unfathomable amount of data paired with the unprecedented penetration of preeminence via technology make governance evermore convenient. People are increasingly faced with the danger of individual alienation by becoming what Edward O. Wilson described as “Eusocial Organisms.” If art represents the state of people’s minds, then its form is in the process of being profoundly altered by technology.

Faced with the given predicament, if artists hope to play any sort of role in all of this, then they must first posit their practices at the core of the technological mechanism. Due to aaajiao’s background, he welcomes and fully embraces new technology and thought brought about by this revolution; exploring the potential emergency exit for the psychological disposition of human beings through reflecting on technology while proposing a new way of thinking and aesthetics in the form of artworks.

About the artist
Active online as a media artist, blogger, activist and programmer, aaajiao is the virtual persona of Xu Wenkai, a Shanghai/Berlin-based artist. Born in 1984—the title of George Orwell’s classic allegorical novel—in one of China’s oldest cities, Xi’an, aaajiao’s art and works are marked by a strong dystopian awareness and reflection on the geist of the literati. Many of his works are devoted to exploring cultural phenomena and political strategies under the influence of new technologies and media, spanning from writing on social media and data processing, to new aesthetic spectacles under the network and mobile orientated media. aaajiao’s recent projects extend his practice to various disciplines (among them, architecture, topography, and design) to capture the pulse of the young generation consuming cyber technology and living in social media.

About HOW Art Museum
HOW Art Museum was founded by the Chinese collector Mr. Zheng Hao, and Mr. Yun Cheagab has served as director since 2012. It consists of two museums, HOW Art Museum (Shanghai) and HOW Art Museum (Wenzhou). The latter opened in 2013, and has held nearly 20 contemporary art exhibitions.

HOW Art Museum (Shanghai), located in Pudong New District, opened to the public in September 2017. It pioneers to create a new model of operating a “Night Art Museum” for the convenience of the public, opening from 1 to 10pm regularly, and 10am to 10pm on the weekends and holidays. Meanwhile, HOW Art Museum also carries out international exchange programs such as HOW International Curatorial Residency Program, so as to establish a new art complex and cultural landmark in Shanghai.