News | Selected Recent Exhibitions by Nan Ke Artists

 

 

 

In memory, time does not move forward in a steady linear flow; rather, it resembles a solid mass that has been cut apart. Like the sharp edges formed when direct summer sunlight is interrupted by an obstruction, its contours appear sudden and precise. Immersed in waves of scorching heat, we experience dizziness, suspension, and a sense of powerlessness.

 

In her solo exhibition 300 Seconds of Dog Days at Qimu Space, Joyce Chonghui Wu presents a meditation on “life in the past.” The series begins with two interconnected photographs: one captures a meaningless, accidental moment extracted from a random video in 2022; the other is an intentionally taken ID-style portrait shot in a street photo booth in 2024. The coordinates of randomness and deliberation, passivity and agency, become the underlying axis of the project.

 

With an academic background related to textiles, fabric, stitching, and structural design become central components of Wu’s practice. Everyday images printed on muslin function as reclaimed fragments of lived experience. These are hand-stitched with ordinary cotton thread onto unfinished earlier works, forming a narrative panorama that feels both provisional and inevitable.

 

“Cleaning” becomes the primary gesture—like a needle capable of piercing solid matter. Guiding the thread through layered surfaces, the act of sewing reconstructs memory and sensation within the accumulation of images. Through this process, the self is dissected, examined, and gradually understood. Once assembled, it is released—cast aside and left behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artist:  Mengfan Bai

 

AKIINOUE is pleased to present Seeing from Moving Borders, the first solo exhibition in Japan by Mengfan Bai, opening on January 17.

 

Born in 1994, Mengfan Bai is a Chinese artist currently based between New York and Shanghai. She received her BFA in Oil Painting from the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu in 2015, and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2018. Her work has been exhibited widely in China and New York, as well as in France and Switzerland.

 

Bai’s practice begins with subtle shifts of light and shadow embedded within landscapes, through which she explores the psychological interactions that arise between constructed urban spaces and the individuals who inhabit them. Attentive to the ambiguity and elusiveness of globalized cityscapes, her work raises the question of where “the real” can be located in an age saturated with images and reproductions. Through compositions structured by points, lines, and planes—at once quiet and tense—Bai presents, in an indirect and contemplative manner, the ways in which abstract sensibilities and artificial landscapes emerge through their mutual interaction.

 

This exhibition presents a new body of paintings developed from images Bai gathered while walking through different cities around the world. Capturing the layered textures unique to overlapping cities, these works reveal not only structural forms and color relationships shared across different urban environments, but also a sense of nostalgia and temporal depth that touches upon the recesses of memory. Through a gaze shaped by movement, invisible connections between cities and the constantly shifting nature of their boundaries quietly come into view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group Exhibition:  A Constellation of Methods

 

ARCH GALLERY (Shanghai) is pleased to announce the group exhibition A Constellation of Methods, on view from January 16 to February 22, 2026, at the Suhe Haus space in Shanghai. The exhibition brings together six artists—Li Qinyang, Shao Jie, Tian Yi, Wang Qiang, Muhan Wu, and Yan Dafu—whose practices center on installation and mixed media. Through their distinct approaches, the exhibition unfolds a set of juxtapositions concerning practice, material, and modes of understanding.

 

“Method” here is understood as an ongoing operational state. Through choices of material, spatial orchestration, the recombination and manipulation of objects, the artists allow experience to emerge, shift, and transform under specific conditions. Practice, in its continual becoming, constructs temporary structures through which understanding may take place.

 

These methods converge into a constellation-like arrangement—maintaining distance from one another while forming tensions through subtle and intermittent connections. Just as constellations are not actual physical entities but viewing systems projected onto the night sky, the practices in this exhibition do not attempt to stabilize meaning. Instead, through divergent procedural paths, they render experience perceptible and open to reflection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exhibition combines contemporary visual languages from both Eastern and Western cultures to uncover deeper cultural connections. "Gathering Light, Casting Shadow" features a model that moves from physical space to cultural realm. Here, "light" represents the gathering of diverse cultural symbols, while "mane" acts as a sensitive medium that sorts complex visual information. "Shadow" illustrates the concept of "Beauty in Harmony," resulting from the interaction and fusion of multiple cultures.

 

Instead of simplifying cultural differences into a linear "contrast-fusion" narrative, the exhibition emphasizes the changes and rebirth of cultural symbols during medium transformation. This aligns with Homi Bhabha's notion of "hybridity," where cultural fusion emerges from confrontation. The exhibition utilizes a curatorial approach of "subtractive presentation," transforming the space into a "dark box" for cultural production, identity reconstruction, and shared values. It invites audiences to engage with the artworks, fostering interactions and conversations under the theme of "Beauty in Harmony and a Unified World."