A post-pandemic map of the human heart
Artist Zhang Peili uses an array of visual techniques in his latest exhibition ‘Mortals Index 2020’
Zhang Peili is known as a master of video art.
But his latest exhibition Mortals Index 2020 blends “body” and “identity” in the post-pandemic period of Covid-19 through a series of different artistic techniques.
Painting, sculpture and installation are merged with film in a cocktail of visual conundrums.
By using 3D printing, Zhang has sculptured his own body parts in marble, white onyx and crystal.
“I have never thought about what things will be like in five or 10 years. I don’t think about the future too much, maybe there will not be one,” he told the Chinese media in explaining the concept of his show.
Yet at the heart of Zhang’s work has been his quest for “what constitutes art.”
“Repetition of simple, banal actions is a recurring theme in his videos,” Sherry Paik mused in the Ocula Magazine back in 2019.
Zhang Peili’s Mortals Index 2020 exhibition runs until June at the Rén Space in Shanghai.
Total Blood Volume | 2019
Material: Artificial crystal, edition of 6
Dimensions: 13 cm x 13 cm x 13 cm
Image: Courtesy Rén Space
Password | 2020
Material: Unknown
Dimensions: Installation
Image: Courtesy Rén Space
Image Report | 2019
Material: Dual-channel video, edition of 6
Dimensions: 91 cm x 457 cm and 91 cm x 457
Image: Courtesy Rén Space
Collision Model No.2 | 2021
Material: Gas tanks, silver skull
Dimensions: Kinetic installation
Image: Courtesy Rén Space
Zhang Peili’s Mortals Index 2020 exhibition runs until June at the Rén Space in Shanghai.