Supported by Swissnex in China, the installation – Wax drawing machine, from Rena Giesecke – young researcher from ETH Zurich will be presented at the exhibition – “The Kind Stranger” at UNArt Center, a new art space renovated from the first cinema in Pudong District – Dongchang Cinema.
Titled as “The Kind Stranger”, the exhibition aims to reflect and to some degree respond to the new conditions and scenarios of contemporary human society driven by the accelerating technological revolution. Over 30 international artists are exhibited in the show, and the majority are from or based in Shanghai, and all the works are made in the decade from 2008 to 2018.
The entire exhibition is based on a science fictional scenario: “The Kind Stranger”, as the protagonist of the story, is a character who lives in the “new era”. The exhibition is reminiscent of an investigative scene in which the “private collections” of this “kind stranger”, whether in physical or digital forms, are uncovered. The site remains ambiguous in its temporal or spatial anchor, whilst inviting the audiences to locate, even orient the items, the text, the sound and vibe, even him/herself, as part of the story full of legacy inherited from ancestors who lived on the planet called “The Earth”.
The exhibition taps on the situation that we’re all immersed in: a time of significant transitions, something we all have to go through. It touches the discussion of “new cognitive capabilities”, as a positive response to this transitional time. Along with the exhibition, public talks and workshops on relevant topics will also be arranged. Please stay tuned for further updates.
Artist introduction
Rena’s work evolves around using material properties for the invention of new processes and material expressions ranging from object to architectural scale. Her interest is in combining materiality, new technologies and intuition as tools for creativity – to produce unexpected results.
Rena studied architecture in Germany, Japan and Austria where she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2016. Currently she is a PhD Researcher and ITA Fellow at the Chair for Digital Building Technologies (dbt), Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) at the Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich.
2016 / Wax, water, aluminum, wood, steel, acrylic plastic