exuviae 1, 2021
Aluminium chain barriers, steel chains, bass shakers, ceramic, pump, cleaning liquid, cables, silicon tubes, vibration
Aluminium chain barriers, steel chains, bass shakers, ceramic, pump, cleaning liquid, cables, silicon tubes, vibration
In exuviae, Zishi employs the meandering patterns of “bizarre silk”, popular in Europe in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as a point of departure, where the seamless morphing of out of scale creatures, plants, architecture and landscape fragments disrupts a precise location and context.
Aluminium chain barriers, used to keep insects away, form a flowy and ghostly membrane, vibrating into resonance. The sharp reflection on the metal surface shimmers as it vibrates. The individual links of the chains tap on each other as the vibration spreads through the structure in various intensities. A cacophony is produced as the sculptures become a conduit of sound, reminiscent of the chirping of insects and the noise of machines. Chitosan, an extract from insects' exoskeletons, is suspended in a car wash designed to clean their residue. The pulsing circulation of the liquid has the potential to both nourish and destroy. The work is at once a remnant of bodies, and the failed apparatus where they reside.