Renjun Liu
Born in the Hubei province of China, Renjun Liu lives and works in London. As a conceptual artist, he explores the philosophical ideas behind current global sociopolitical issues and investigates the temporal-spatial relationship of his living environment. Believing in the notion that art in which the concepts or ideas involved take precedence over traditional technical and material concerns, Liu articulates his ideas by leveraging multidisciplinary media including video, installation, sculpture, and performance.
Renjun Liu, still from Nothing and Reversed, 2022. Video installation, 184 x 113 x 63 cm.
“I consider that art is a powerful vehicle for conveying philosophical and uplifting ideas, so materials and media should serve the ideas, which is not the case when they reverse.”
About:
Obtaining a BA in Animation at the Wuhan University of Technology in China, Liu is currently pursuing his MFA at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London. His practice transcends the boundaries among different media. To him, his creation is a spontaneous and experimental narration of how he responds to his personal memories, cultural environment, and the relationship between time and space, with the notion of displacement playing a vital role throughout his oeuvre. In his compositions, whether video-based or physical performances, Liu deploys a non-narrative perspective with a minimalist tendency, challenging the norms of time and space.
Renjun Liu, Nothing and Reversed, 2022. Video installation, 184 x 113 x 63 cm.
Both Liu’s Phantom and Opening Doors respond to the current post-pandemic era. The installation Phantom consists of nine mummy-like standing sleeping bags surrounded by fences in an orderly way, whilst there is one more phantom placed on an upper floor, overlooking the exhibition space. Here, Liu summarises how the pandemic has cut off the linkage between time and space and how it has cast a permanent influence on human civilization.
Renjun Liu, Phantom, 2022. Sleeping bag, blue tape, anti-climb temporary fence panel, thermoplastic hi-vis black and yellow fence feet, fence coupler, hollow fiber, wood, steel, 200 x 400 x 400 cm.
Renjun Liu, Phantom, 2022. Sleeping bag, blue tape, hollow fiber, wood, steel, dimensions variable.
Opening Doors is Liu’s first collective artwork in relation to the idea of globalization. During the post-pandemic era, people all over the world are unprecedentedly connected via the Internet. Liu invited global participants to shoot a video of opening a door and randomly shuffled them in a continuous loop. Without clarifying whether the protagonists are entering or leaving a space, Liu plays with the temporal-spatial relationship.
Renjun Liu, Opening Doors, 2022. Film stills.
Renjun Liu, ‘Opening Doors,’ 2022. Short videos, shuffle and loop video player program (colour, sound), continuous loop.
The Poem of the Right Angle and Self-Portrait are manifestations of Liu’s philosophical exploration of the objectification of human figures. In The Poem of the Right Angle, Liu regards himself as the medium, becoming a sculpture that is equivalent to industrial and architectural materials. From states of stillness to trembling, and to the final stage of collapse, Liu pushes his physical limits and composes a poem about the co-existence of tenderness and soreness.
Renjun Liu, The Poem of the Right Angle, 2021. Performance.
Renjun Liu, Documentary video of ‘The Poem of the Right Angle’ performance, 2021.
Presented with a how-to guide, Self-portrait requires Liu’s audience to swipe through their daily photos in their phone’s photo album. The outcome is a fast-flickering film consisting of fragments of images that specifically relate to their owner. Through this piece, Liu expresses his idea that every single image on our phones is an epitome of ourselves which is not necessarily visible or readable to others. At the time when people are swiping through their personal images in quantum space, their physicality transcends to another temporal-spatial dimension.
Renjun Liu, Self-portrait, 2018-ongoing. How-to guide.
Renjun Liu, Self-portrait, 2018-ongoing. iPhone screen recording, length variable.
I Have Been Told Not to Choose Certain Colors When It Comes to Car Purchases After I Came to Melbourne depicts Liu’s personal experience when he first arrived in Melbourne–where someone told him not to choose certain car colours, mentioning the implicit correlation between the colour of vehicles and ethnicity. Inspired by this stereotype, Liu, therefore, placed a video camera over a surveillance camera on the highway and recorded a one-hour video of all kinds of vehicles passing by. Liu then cut out all the cars in colour, so that those missing cars are replaced with glitches in the final video footage. The representation of glitches, acting as a metaphor for the prejudices, stereotypes, and discriminations that are ubiquitous in everyday life, seems trivial and negligible.
Renjun Liu, I Have Been Told Not to Choose Certain Colors When It Comes to Car Purchases After I Came to Melbourne, 2019. Film still.
Renjun Liu, ‘I Have Been Told Not to Choose Certain Colors When It Comes to Car Purchases After I Came to Melbourne,’ 2019. HD video (colour, sound).
Selected Exhibitions
2022
Alone Together, TX Huaihai, Shanghai, China (upcoming)
Duty-Free Art School, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK
Postgraduate Fine Art Show, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK
Masculinity: Invalid Traits, Gallery 46, London, UK
The Joys and Sorrows of Humans Aren’t Interlinked, M P Birla Millennium Art Gallery, London, UK
Chicken Egg, Cookhouse Gallery, London, UK
2021
Connecting, Cookhouse Gallery, London, UK
All images are courtesy of the artist.
Danni Han
Emerging Artists Co-Editor, MADE IN BED