Presented at UCCA Dune, the dual solo exhibition by David Douard and Liu Shiyan features recent pieces by both artists including some specifically commissioned by UCCA and being shown for the first time to the public. Through more than 30 multimedia works spanning from drawing, photography, video, sculptures and installations the exhibition explores the connection and shared inspirations that link the two artists' respective creative frameworks. 

Despite coming from different backgrounds, Douard and Liu use multimedia formats for their artworks to express their personal perception and insights on the contemporary world, fostering reflection on how individuals perceive themselves and how they can get free from the constraints of "self-optimization" and "psychopolitics". 

As part of the exhibition, Kvadrat has sponsored Arda and Divina Melange both featured in a site-specific collaboration between Liu and Kristian Mondrup Nielsen: From Whatever to Happiness (2023). The artwork activates the museum space giving the visitors the impression to be walking through an imaginary forest.

Ucca Dune
Aranya Gold Coast, Beidaihe

26 March 2022 – 25 June 2023
Monday closed
Tuesday – Sunday 9:30 – 17

About Liu Shiyuan

Liu Shiyuan (b. 1985, Beijing) received her BFA from the Digital Media Art Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. In 2012 she graduated with a Master’s degree from the Photography Department of the School of Visual Arts, New York. Liu currently lives and works in Beijing and Copenhagen. Her artistic practice spans many mediums, including photography, video, text, spatial installation, and stage plays. By eliminating preconceptions and subjective value judgments, Liu maintains a sensible and rational detachment toward the subjects in her works. Whether in self-produced film and photography or appropriated images and cultural resources, Liu fully mobilizes and recontextualizes the suspended semantics of her objects. Through this, the artist asks questions about many aspects of the world recorded and engulfed in images, such as how images shape stereotypes, how they disseminate propaganda, and the impact of pop culture on human perceptions and value standards. In a sense, be they pictures, texts, or physical objects, they are like actors to be directed and rehearsed by the artist to reactivate their original meaning and emotional potential, and to construct new pictorial mazes, narrative puzzles, and intellectual theaters in their interaction with each other.

About UCCA Dune

UCCA Dune is an art museum buried under a sand dune by the Bohai Sea in Beidaihe, 300 kilometers east of Beijing. Designed by OPEN Architecture, its galleries unfold over a series of cell-like spaces that evoke caves. Some are naturally lit from above, while others open out onto the beach. As a branch of UCCA, China’s leading independent institution of contemporary art, it presents rotating exhibitions in dialogue with its particular site and space. UCCA Dune is built and supported by UCCA strategic partner Aranya, and located within the Aranya Gold Coast Community.

www.ucca.org.cn/en