A Conversation with Alejandro Javaloyas
A Studio Visit During the La BIBI Residency
Hailing Liu
b. 1997, Chinese
- By Maxime Foucquet
Born in 1997 in China, Hailing Liu is a project-based multidisciplinary artist best known for their 2D and 3D animations, augmented reality, social media explorations, poignant writing, innovative printing, and immersive installations. A critical aspect of their work is the examination of how digital images, consumed daily, shape societal perceptions and the impact of media representations in the digital age.
Educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Liu earned an MFA in Film, Video, New Media, and Animation, blending traditional techniques with cutting-edge technology. Liu’s art involves an ongoing exploration of family history, the ever-evolving digital diaspora, and the pulsating grassroots culture. By delving into these themes, Liu offers a unique lens on the rapid social, cultural, and political transformations shaping contemporary China and its ties to the wider world.
In Ice Cream Discourse (2020-2021), the artist provides a response to the global pandemic and social unrest from 2020 to 2021, a multi-sensory installation blending video, scent, and augmented reality, exploring the disconnect between real life and media representations and feelings of insecurity and loss of control during these tumultuous times.
Originating from Liu’s earlier experimental video, The First United Ice Cream Assembly Closes Today (2020), the installation uses ice cream cones as symbols to craft a fictional, humorous narrative reflecting pandemic realities and counteracting misleading propaganda. The installation, showcased in venues like the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Woman Made Gallery, combines authentic and fabricated news, immersive sensory experiences, and an AR filter, encouraging viewers to contemplate the complex interplay between reality, representation, and emotional responses.
Liu’s latest project, titled Eight Days at Home, critically examines the concept of “home,” integrating physical spaces, familial relationships, and emotional connections within the framework of Chinese societal development. This digital archive and narrative, showcased in the virtual gallery New Art City, investigates memories, traditional family structures, and the effects of urbanization and Confucian patriarchy through a blend of reality and fiction. Set across two virtual spaces, the project employs parody and 3D environments to reflect the rapid urban transformation in China. Spanning a decade from 2007 to 2019, it narrates a family’s history against the backdrop of a village demolition, highlighting the conflict between personal and societal progress.
Besides an MFA at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Hailing Liu holds a BFA in Art History from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Liu participated in various exhibitions and screenings at notable venues such as the Espacio Lavadero in Granada, Spain; Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, the United States of America; the Evanston Art Center in Chicago, the United States of America; 4C Gallery in California, the United States of America; Espacio Gallery in London, the United Kingdom; the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art Museum in South Korea; the Guangdong Art Museum in Guangzhou, China; 4’33” Art Space in Guangzhou, China; and more. Last year, they participated in the LAV Artist Residency in Granada, Spain.
For more information, please visit the artist’s website here.
Last Updated on March 16, 2024
Maxime Foucquet
Maxim Foucquet is a curator, art critic, and contemporary artist residing and working in Belgium.
Author archive →
