Minimal Logic – Zhang Zhoujie’s Solo Exhibition

Press Release

Whitebox Art Center is pleased to announce the Whitebox Young Artists Project curated by acclaimed designer Song Tao, “Minimal Logic – Zhang Zhoujie Solo Exhibition”, opening on August 25. This exhibition marks Whitebox Art Center’s first collaboration with artist Zhang Zhoujie, and will present a selection of the artist’s forty recent works, among them, “Status#PIS-S” is a commissioned installation for the Whitebox Art Center space.

Zhang Zhoujie, born in 1984, in Ningbo, Hangzhou Province, is an independent designer, and digital artist, as well as, the founder of Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab. He graduated from the Central St. Martin Art and Design Institute in the U.K, and was a visiting researcher at the Architectural Association in the U.K. Since his return to China and the founding of the Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab in 2010, he has been a pioneer in the field of digital creative industry, and is known for the representative series, Triangulation. His works demonstrate distinctive and independent thinking, experimental spirit and futuristic outlookthat explore the evolution and creation of digital forms. His works are presented world wide, and areacquired by many museums, art galleries and private collections. 

This exhibition presents Zhang Zhoujie’s new explorations in the field of digital and media art. Having accumulated experiences over the last four to five years, artist Zhang Zhoujietakes the point and line from computer technology as his medium, to trace the transformations of a point in a sphere, cube and space. Starting with the work “Status#PIC1” series, to the installation, “Status#PIS-S” at the main lobby of the Whitebox Art Center, this work derived from “Status#PIS3-3” is not difficult for the viewers to conceive the logical trajectory Zhang Zhoujie has designed, that those seemingly clean and unrelated points, lines, cubes conjure into myriads of shapes and forms, and their inseparable relationships herald the possibility and continuity in the development of things. Considering the theme of the exhibition, “Minimal Logic”, is also the artist’s way of appropriating the “point” to convey a logical relationship to a digital dimension.

Among the works on view, the installation “Status#PIR3-1” presents forms different from the others. What are conjured by the points and lines are connected by illuminating electric wires, emitting rhythmic red beams, its body of light shows a sense of energy, that interacts with its viewer. The work becomes neither a still image, nor moving images, yet the viewer would be able to perceive the transformation of the work while sensing the energy it emits. This experiment marks Zhang Zhoujie’s new creative experiment, a new breakthrough. His search for the artistic subjectivity through computer technology is centered on logic. What this logic constructs is in essence the methodology for observation and creativity. By adopting logical translations for his work, Zhang attempts to invent a new approach to visual language, with which to introduce perspective for visual and cognitive observation and thinking. To uncover the spirit embedded in the digital art, similar to bearing witness to the creations in the natural world, creating a wonderful world through derivation continues to be artist Zhang Zhoujie’s drive, as well as his goal. 

This exhibition continues to September 20, 2018.

Curatorial Statement

Song Tao

What are the central issues in the digital world?  For Zhang Zhoujie, it’s the building of logic. 

Let it be in the general or narrow sense, what logic constructs is essentially the methodology for observation and creativity. By adopting which, one responds to the digital language system, by way to create new visual language through a logical translation, one addresses certain visual and cognitive observation and thinking perspectives –like a drop in the deep water, we rarely magnify our perspective to observe its transformations. The artist adopts an acute viewpoint to represent the subtle yet vital transformations in the digital world.

His works trace the changes of a point in a sphere, cube and space, to visualize the relationships with the point, and using a “point” to convey the (logical) relationship in the digital dimension. 

Taking the “point” as the origin, what can be constructed, is in essence, infinite.

This is Zhang Zhoujie’s methodology. He isolated the functional aspects of the computer, and assumed the role of the “creator” and presented physical manifestations to execute principles of “purity”, “non-action” and “non-representation”, and allows the computer to proactively create space and constructive infinity.