申し訳ありません。このコンテンツはただ今、英語のみとなります。 For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Collective exhibition that took place at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum in Shenzhen

Creatives nowadays look into timeless existential and ethical questions in a new manner enabled by high-tech tools and impressive scientific discoveries that are incrementally accessible to everyone. This circumstance increases interest in science-fictional, techno-driven, and lab-looking contemporary art and design creations. But what does an artwork look like when it is produced by a prolific and well-recognized artist who is also a doctor?

Among the many artists featured in Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场 in Chinese), a collective exhibition that took place at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum in Shenzhen in March 2024, the profile of Zhou Zhiyuan is undoubtedly the one that captivates the most. His exhibited pieces address bio-design philosophies and more-than-human perspectives, and his background is fascinating and adds depth to his work. Born in Hunan in 1976, Zhou Zhiyuan worked as an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) doctor at Shenzhen People’s Hospital for eighteen years. His professional experience in the field, enriched with honorable mentions as a frontline specialist in emergencies, deeply influenced, if not generated, his passion for bio-infused art. Such cross-disciplinary work is undeniably unique in the Chinese and Global art scene. His art has won several prizes and featured in many venues, such as the Asian Art Biennale in Fukuoka, Japan.

The narrow corridor spaces of the gallery, resembling hospital-like hallways, support the artist’s story. The visitors find themselves catapulted into the doctor's lab, ready to examine the analysis of the patients after a long workday. The walls showcase continuous scans and photographs of microorganisms encased in various mediums, from epoxy resin and office folders to agar-agar gelatins. Walking along the biological visual material sounds like an invitation of the artist-doctor for the visitors to give a sense, interpret, and possibly make their personalized diagnosis of such organisms.

Zhou Zhiyuan, Spore Lightbox (details), 2021-2022, 21 pieces 450x450x100mm each, Giclée print, LED light panel, Resin, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

Spore Lightbox is a series of 21 macro photographs on the progress of growth, or perhaps degeneration, of fungi cultivated in vivo. Each picture works as a section of a virtual CT or MRI scan. Thus, the artwork’s fruition becomes a process of analysis layer by layer of the object-scan. The definition of the photos and their striking materiality capture the attention. The backlit images, plus a resin-like coating, infuse the subject with three-dimensionality and livingness.

Zhou Zhiyuan, Spore Lightbox (detail), 2021-2022, 21 pieces 450x450x100mm each, Giclée print, LED light panel, Resin, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

Zhou Zhiyuan, Spore Lightbox (detail), 2021-2022, 21 pieces 450x450x100mm each, Giclée print, LED light panel, Resin, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

The recurring theme of the exhibition is the concept of life. The focus, though, is not only on the living but also on what, or rather, which phenomenon or organism put an end to it. An end that is never total or absolute but in constant movement and possibility, thanks to micro-organisms which decompose and transform matter from macro-organic substances into small molecular elements, enabling and maintaining the cyclicality of lives and ecosystems.

Lightness of Life 1+2+3 and Life File 1+2+3 reveal the microscopic nature of organisms, particularly fungi. Rather than dramatically magnifying and enhancing their details, the artist presents them scientifically within the pods where these organisms grew and developed. However, subtle attention is given to the environment in which they are curated. Acrylic file binders, office clipboards, and glass beakers serve as both life supports and mediums for the archival of these organic substances. This concept aligns with the artist's parallel idea of microorganisms serving as repositories of life information. Today, this concept is widely acknowledged, primarily due to the Nobel Prize-winning research of Dr. Sutherland, which highlights the role of Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate (CAMP) as an information transmission substance within microorganisms, even after their demise. Consequently, the information stored by these agents undergoes transformation and transmission as life records to the ecosystem.

Zhou Zhiyuan, Life File 3 (detail), 2024, Dimensions variable, Living fungus cultured in agar, Office supplies, Resin, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

Zhou Zhiyuan, Life File 1 (details), 2024, Dimensions Variable, Living fungus cultured in agar, Office supplies, Resin, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

Zhou Zhiyuan, Lightness of Life 1, 2 (detail), 2024, Dimensions variable, Living fungus cultured in agar, Office supplies, Resin, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

Throughout the exhibition, the visitor acknowledges the symbiotic relationship between microorganisms and their host, such as humans. This relationship is often taken for granted; sometimes, we ignore that benign bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms inhabit our bodies. Similarly, with the intake of drugs or medicines, we absorb some of them to overcome the effects of others and fight illnesses and diseases.

Penicillin, as the title suggests, focuses on this specific antibiotic, which was historically developed by fermenting Penicillium fungi into a culture medium.

The artwork comprises numerous resin pods, each encapsulating fungus, and active penicillin capsules that interact with each other through an agar culture medium. These compounds, antibiotics, and microorganisms, opposed yet related, react with each other either by growing, surviving, or overcoming the other’s colonies. Some of them manifest phenomena such as Drug Resistance, therefore developing tolerance or even becoming immune to the effects of the microorganism attacking them.

Zhou Zhiyuan, Penicillin (details), 2024, 4 pieces 1000x1000x50mm each, Penicillin powder, Capsules, Living fungus cultured in agar, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

Starting from the cellular life of fungi, the growth and development of bacteria, to the confrontation between medications and pathogens, this exhibition culminates with a focus on the human dimension. In particular, MRI and Sporozoites delve into the interplay between individuals, societal perceptions, and the psychological responses of the environment through the reactions occurring within one's mind and throughout microorganisms’ activity. The artist uses MRI scans capturing the brain activity and micro-recordings of cellular life. Here, the spotlight inevitably shifts from organisms to machines and devices that enable the visualization of life processes while increasingly influencing and shaping the life of the contemporary world.

Zhou Zhiyuan, Sporozoites (detail), 2021-2022, 4 pieces 1400x1400x100mm each, Multi-layer Giclée print, LED light panel, Resin, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

Zhou Zhiyuan, MR.I, 2023, 878x506x25 mm, Artist’s MRI brain scansion, Fungal culture negative film, LED light panel, Exhibited at Inquiry Theatre (追问剧场), Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, Photo Credits: Amedeo Martines

Zhou Zhiyuan’s work depicts the intricacy of life through the lucid gaze of a scientist and the speculative approach of an artist. The result is an overview of our contemporary society, where the complexity is visualized and narrated through designed microscopic connections and effects.