New media artist LuYang creates immersive installations that drop viewers into videogame-like material worlds using video, sculpture, lighting, and sound. The installations deploy a mixture of Japanese anime aesthetics, make-believe and real scientific explorations, religious iconography, and humorous, sardonic imagery of contemporary tech culture. High-energy soundtracks infiltrate the space, with techno, opera, or death metal reverberating through the galleries. In his new anime for the 59th International Art Exhibition, titled DOKU – Digital Descending (2020-ongoing), the artist creates a fictional storyline marked by the ironic insertion of many real-life current events. In the film, the viewer travels with his protagonist, Doku, on a journey that involves six spiritual reincarnations (including heaven and hell), a revenge shaman, and anxious plane passengers. From afar, LuYang’s spaces resemble the multisensory frenzy of an arcade or fun house. His strange and euphoric works come from his research in neuroscience labs, hip hop influences, goth street style, and the practice of Otaku (a Japanese term for one’s obsession in computers and popular culture niches, like anime and manga), and what one can only imagine to be the deepest corners of the artist’s mind. His world reflects the dynamism of China’s current historical moment and its influences and interpretations within a globalised culture.
Ian Wallace
