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Show RCA 2019

Xiaoran Wu

Show RCA work

Major project:

Untitled (The Story from The Far East)

This work uses still photos to create moving images through two different methods and displays them on a pedestal constructed by outdated analogue devices.

A Greek god and a goddess (Hermes and Aphrodite) are used as images, and Greek mythology and Chinese folklore are combined in the artist's own narrative.

The work attempts to cross different timelines, different spatial positions, different characters, between reality and legend, between desire and information, describing a relationship that is always present, inseparable but forcedly opposed.

Info

  • Wu Xiaoran, who resigned from his seven-year career in commercial photography, is now engaged in contemporary art research and creation.

    I am mainly interested in the relationship between unofficial narratives and moving images.

    Unofficial narratives contain folklore stories, ballads, myths, legends, etc. and I use this as a starting point to explore different histories, attempting to relate them to contemporary contexts and finding plural meanings from stories that are iteratively being retold.

    From years of still photography to the moving image practice of today, I am more concerned about the impact of time on the image, trying to let the viewers experience fragmentation and cycles of time through works, not just the mechanised fixed timeline. In this way, the old stories are retold with new narratives.

  • Previous degrees

  • BS Industrial Design, Zhejiang University of Technology, 2008
  • Experiences

  • Chief photographer, Sync Design Inc., Hangzhou, 2012–15; Photographer, Beijing FuAnMen Photography Studio, Beijing, 2010–11; Photography assistant, ManxiangYatian Advertisement Company Beijing, 2009; Photography assistant, Badian Advertisement Company, Hangzhou, 2009; Product designer, Herui Science & Technology Ltd., Hangzhou, 2008
  • Exhibitions

  • 'Ten Metaphor', Safehouse, London, 2019; 'Terminal O', The Horse Hospital, London, 2019; 'CAPbaret' Performance Marathon, RCA Gorvy Theatre, London, 2019; 'Queuing on Stairs', The Crypt Gallery, London, 2019; 'CAPbaret' Performance Marathon, RCA Gorvy Theatre, London, 2018; 'Work-in-progress Show', Royal College of Art, London, 2018; '一人一格,36', 画英雄ART, Hangzhou, 2016; 'Start from China', Hillside Terrace Gallery, Toyko, 2016
Royal College of Art