“Systems,” artist Lin Tianmiao’s first solo exhibition in Shanghai, explores four key concepts — individual consciousness, collective consciousness, public consciousness and ultimate consciousness.

The exhibition at the Rockbound Art Museum features six large-scale interactive installations of sculpture, photography, video and other media practices.

Each concept is presented on one floor — from the second up to the sixth — as visitors embark on a sensorial journey of “consciousness.”

“Day Dreamer” (1999) and “High !!!” (1999-2018) are two of Lin’s early representative works. Both use fine cotton threads as the only path of transformation between an image and a conscious mind that is extremely delicate and personal once the viewer is absorbed by the strain on site.

In 2017, Lin began a collaboration with Shanghai Museum of Glass. In order to take on challenges she’d never attempted before, Lin started from the initial stages of grasping the peculiarities of glass, investigating artisan techniques, and then dealing with scientific issues such as the “liquid circulation system” as a way to experiment within her installations.

Taking up the entire fourth floor, “My Garden” (2018) was specially commissioned for this exhibition.

Borrowing from the concept of public consciousness — “making the real through artificiality and making the artificial through the real” — the viewer is invited to take part in a “Greenhouse Garden” made of glass vessels.

Here, the entire floor is covered by a soft pink carpet. Within the pink bases stand different sizes of glass tubes that resemble a forest of plants, and from there different kinds of green transparent liquid are pumped around from inside.

Seeking to achieve a balance between art, science and technology, Lin’s work offers a new perspective to “examine, expose and re-imagine the working of the self in relation to shifting social and technological realities,” commented consulting curator Alexandra Munroe.

In addition, some archive materials such as the selected texts, drafts and sketches of the exhibited images give viewers an insight into the artist’s thoughts and reconciliation in her artistic practice.

A series of public education events will be held during the exhibition. For more information, go to www.rockbundartmuseum.org.

Exhibition details

Date: Through August 26, 10am-6pm Venue: Rockbund Art Museum Address: 20 Huqiu Rd