In depth research and an interest in experimental film and theatrical performance imbue Hu Weiyi’s multimedia experiments, which he uses to open new avenues for social ethnography, both as artist and curator. Working in photography, video and installation he is a resourceful montage artist. A series called Flirt introduced cold light to various objects to manipulate a viewer’s perception of them, an effect he achieved without resorting to digital software manipulation. In his Window Blind series of installations, screens display videos of apartment blocks in Chinese residential buildings. These screens are surrounded by second hand window frames of which the upper part contains a rail holding semi transparent curtains. The curtains are moved by a concealed motor and partially cover the screens. The windows of the apartment blocks in the videos close up as the curtains move over them, and open again when the curtains move away in a random sequence. The series is a reflection on censorship in China. Many individual voices of dissent and unsavory events are concealed from the public eye through the control of the media. Nevertheless, the rise of social networks and the density of cities has allowed information to disseminate to some extent. In the same way, the curtain partially conceal what happens in individual apartments but it cannot cover all of them completely.

 

Hu Weiyi was born in 1990 in Shanghai China. He graduated from the China Academy of Art with a BA in Public Art in 2013, concluding his studies with an MA in Media. He lives and works in Shanghai. His work has been the subject of major museum solo shows including the Asian Art Center Taipei and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art Beijing. Further exhibitions have included the Yuz Museum, Power Station of Art, Long Museum, MoCA Shanghai, MoMA PS1, K11 Art Foundation, CAFA Art Museum, Hong Kong Arts Centre. His work has been exhibited at international institutions including Helmhaus Zürich, White Rabbit Gallery Chippendale, and V2 Rotterdam. In 2014 Hu Weiyi won the 2nd Art Sanya Huayu Youth Award.