Press Release
Beiqiu Museum of Contemporary Art presents Tiān Gōng Kāi Wù: Rocks, Fire, Thunder, the first solo exhibition in China by German artist Julius von Bismarck. Drawing inspiration from the seventeenth-century Chinese encyclopedia of technology, Tiangong Kaiwu, the exhibition bridges ancient wisdom and contemporary thought, exploring the interrelations between nature, technology, and humankind.
Bismarck’s artistic practice consistently revolves around the triangular relationship between humankind, nature, and technology. In his art and thinking, “nature” is not external to human, nor does it stand in opposition as a passive material world; rather, nature, for him, is mutually shaped through human perception and experience. Often employing the logic of scientific experiment, he combines satellite data, meteorological instruments, mechanical structures, and moving images, transforming art into a renewed experiment of natural phenomena.
