MACHAS

Shifting Proximities: Cao Yuxi at Nxt Museum in Amsterdam

Dimensional Sampling is a multi-sensory, fully immersive and evolving art installation in which visitors are invited to engage with the artwork on several levels. Developed in collaboration with Hong Kong-based composer Lawrence Lau, is inspired and sparks reflection on the QR code technology which is omnipresent in China, from paying for goods to identifying senior citizens – and even memorialising the life stories of the dead on tombstones.

Cao believes each artwork as “an ever-evolving, reproducible form” - and Dimensional Sampling is no exception. The first instalment was conceived as a four-chapters opera but later serialised into different formats. “There’s a performance version for live events, that can be executed as a single chapter or as a whole,” recalls Cao. “A rendered version for installation where our presence is not required, the Shenzhen city skyline live show that involved 41 buildings, and the performing piece for Instagram I’ve created during the lockdown.”

“This latest version [of Dimensional Sampling] at the Nxt Museum in Amsterdam is completely remixed, and has evolved in many aspects, both on the visual and music content”, explains Cao. The installation expands on 250 square meters of projection surface.

Shifting Proximities is a collection of eight interactive works built with “modern tools to talk about modern times”, and alongside Cao Yuxi, features works by United Visual Artists, Heleen Blanken, Thijs Biersteker, The Algorithmic Justice League, Roelof Knol, Marshmallow Laser Feast and Lucy McRae and Dr Niels Wouter.

On view until 29 February 2021.

See more of Cao’s work here.