Shanghai-born, non-binary artist LuYang is one of the most important contemporary Asian artists and this year’s Deutsche Bank “Artist of the Year”. From 10 September 2022, the Palais Populaire will dedicate the DOKU Experience Center exhibition to LuYang around a virtual reincarnation called Dokusho Dokushi, or DOKU for short.
Image above: LuYang, DOKU Animal, 2022, from the series Bardo #1, UV inkjet print on aluminium Dibond, LED light system, diameter 120 x 4 cm, Courtesy the artist and Société, Berlin © LuYang
LuYang belongs to a young art scene in China inspired by science fiction, manga, gaming and techno culture that works with hypermodern technologies and explores the ideas of posthumanism or transhumanism. These schools of thought explore how the limits of human possibilities can be expanded through the use of high-tech. What is special about LuYang’s work is that posthumanism is placed in the context of Buddhist and Hindu cosmologies.
The DOKU Experience Center exhibition focuses entirely on a virtual reincarnation called Dokusho Dokushi, or DOKU for short. The gender-neutral avatar is a hyper-realistic figure whose countenance is modelled on the face of LuYang. All facial expressions and movements are performed by dancers and then recorded using motion capture technology, a process that creates 3D models on this basis for video games, for example.
As if in a futuristic research laboratory, all six digital versions of DOKU can be experienced in the exhibition. In addition to the first narrative video DOKU the Self, LuYang’s music video DOKU the Matrix, conceived especially for the exhibition, and the new series Bardo #1, which shows the avatar with its respective attributes in round mandala compositions, are also presented.
LuYang studied at the China Academy of Arts in Hangzhou and lives and works in Shanghai. Since 2015, LuYang has participated in numerous group exhibitions worldwide, currently at The Milk of Dreams, 59th Venice Biennale. The artist has had solo exhibitions in Beijing, Moscow and most recently in Aarhus and Erlangen, as well as at the Zabludowicz Collection from the end of September. In 2019, she was a laureate of the BMW Art Journey.
The exhibition is curated by Britta Färber, Global Head of Art, Deutsche Bank
WHEN?
Saturday, 10 September 2022 until Monday, 13 February 2023
Opening hours:
Wednesdays to Mondays, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Thursdays 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Tuesday closed
WHERE?
Palais Populaire, Unter den Linden 5, 10117 Berlin-Mitte
COSTS?
Admission free
Publis Transport
U-Bahn:
U5 Museumsinsel
U2 Hausvogteiplatz
U6 Unter den Linden
S-Bahn:
S1, S2, S3, S5, S7, S9 Friedrichstraße
Bus:
100, 300 Staatsoper