zhixin liao

Place of Residency

Zhixin Liao (*1990 in Guangzhou) currently works and lives in between the Netherlands and Belgium. He uses multi-disciplinary practices to draw attention to the inaccuracies between himself and individual experiences and situations, the ideal of global citizenship, and materials with personal perception. He will participate in numerous artist
projects in 2023/2024 in Europe, including SAFFCA (Southern African Fellowship for Contemporary Art) project in La Cambre Brussels, Greylight Projects in Heerlen, Vincent van Goghhuis AiR in Zundert, and EX PRESSO residency in Roma. His recent solo/group exhibition includes EXODUS, Amsterdam Bijbels Museum x Buitenplaats Doornburgh, 2023; A Glittering Ruin Sucked Upwards, Gosset Brussels, 2022); Screening, u r taking the risk, TENT Museum Rotterdam, 2021; With permission from the officer, PuntWG Amsterdam, 2021 and so on. He was a laureate resident at Belgium HISK from 2021 to 2022. And he got supported by Pictoright Steunfonds (2022), the Encouragement Prize from BRUTUS (2020), and Jong Talent Artists prize (2019-2020) of Mondriaan Fund.

Step to the proletariat (details) 2022 Contract(Property Transfer Agreement 8 pages), digital photography print, imitation antique iron railing, wood pallets and 224 pieces of tiles. :

Artistic Method

Disciplines

painting, installation, video, text

I use multi-disciplinary practices to draw attention to the inaccuracies between individual experiences and situations, concepts and materials. Producing and mimicking things is not just a consequence of thinking, but a physical process that allows room for something else to happen afterward. I am looking for the interval separating perception and site-specific contexts (e.g., situational, political, metaphorical) based on various field studies where
misunderstanding and obscurity are unintentional albeit inevitable factors. In recent years, I have been fascinated by my status as a migrant in Europe, and I use this experience of displacement to reconstruct the relevancy of surrounding events, historical archives, and different bureaus.

Project during Borderland Residence

Year of participation

2023

Collective memories, buried and unknown, can start to bubble up from your subconscious. If you get in touch with the past, the relationship will grow stronger, even if you are from somewhere else. Blocked by the distance of time and yet still alive when you re-encounter them, they can be momentary flashes in your life. But how do we relate to experiencing glimpses of unknown histories today? What would such an encounter mean for our lives?
Somehow, I think that the pandemic period is a trigger. It makes us pause, revisit and rethink
our rational society under the legacy of modernity.
During the residency project, I will keep the connection between my ‘migrant’ life and my research into border cities to develop my artistic project: U R Taking the Risk. I am looking to develop a new understanding of local history archives in post-pandemic times. The border
checkpoint on the E314 highway is my starting point; I am looking for a way to engage with
the city archives, the Gemeente, and the museums of Heerlen and Aachen. I seek to draw a relation between the checkpoint and the surrounding area and landscape, like the Forum Avantis Park, to propose alternative stories (through drawings, installations, or videos) that come together as a site-specific artistic response.

Website

www.liao-zhixin.com

Instagram

@angus_zhixin

@angus_nonex