Guan Xiao: objects, images and systems in collision
Across sculpture, video and installation, Guan Xiao connects industrial products, cultural artefacts and online images, unsettling familiar divisions.
Juxtaposition is not random
Guan places industrial products, cultural objects and screen-sourced images together. Connections emerge through shape, surface and use, allowing familiar classifications to become unstable.
Materials carry different times
Brass, tatami, lacquer, motorcycle parts, dried flowers and fibreglass carry different histories of craft, manufacture, consumption and decay.
Play and alertness
The file describes her arrangements as playful yet alert to the technological present. Biennials and institutional exhibitions provide changing contexts without resolving their contradictions.
In information overload, how objects connect can matter more than assigning each a fixed definition.