Stroking, scratching, striking, plucking, scraping, blowing, imagining – this exhibition focuses on the creation of sounds through mechanical processes. The artists explore sound as a sculptural medium, deal with aspects of auditory perception and reflect on the aesthetic and conceptual possibilities of sound-producing objects in space.   Tools include Arduinos, sensors and motors, but also water and air. Only loudspeakers are not permitted.   The exhibition is being held in cooperation with the sound department of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
‍
The work primarily consists of an invisible sound installation and an uncontrollable sound installation, embodying the liberating power of sound—its invisibility and uncontrollability. During my collective university life in China, the sound of chairs scraping against the floor, transmitted through the ceiling, always filled me with inexplicable anxiety and kept me awake. I believe this anxiety stemmed first from the direction and timbre of the sound, and second from the invisibility and uncontrollability of its source. Within an artificially constructed ceiling, two mechanical devices continuously push and pull chairs, generating sharp scraping sounds as they rub against the floor. Passersby beneath the ceiling can clearly hear the noise, yet the installation itself remains perpetually invisible. Another component of the work is the inner mechanism of a clock, embedded with sensors that detect nearby presence. When someone approaches, the clock's time accelerates, and the rhythm of its chimes quickens—as if time itself is fleeing, and the sound is fleeing with it. Furthermore, juxtaposing a visible sound installation with an invisible one prompts reflection: What exactly constitutes a sound installation? If the “installation” component of a “sound installation” remains unseen, does it still qualify as such for the audience? And how crucial are visual elements in defining a sound installation?

Since 27 May, one to three artists have been presenting new works every week in the window of the Kunsthaus Lempertz on Cäcilienstraße. Students participating in Prof. Mischa Kuball's "Urban Stage" seminar explore the urban space opened up by a shop window from their individual perspectives.
‍
The Rooftop Performance project comprises two video installations documenting performances staged on the roof of the same building. This ageing building in Wuhan, China, is a dimly lit, crowded and complex place where young people of modest means gather for entertainment and consumption. For the artist, the rooftop space represents a fascinating and complex terrain – at once public and private, hidden and yet dangerous. Although it is located within the city skyline, it conceals all kinds of dirt and secrets. The rooftop performance is the artist's response to the social plight of Asian women. Through actions such as photography, staging and costume changes, the artist transforms herself from her identity as an artist into an ambiguous portrait of an Asian woman. By revealing her private life, she criticises the living conditions of Asian women, who lack genuine support, authentic private space and stable private property. The interaction with the abandoned plant on the roof focuses on issues of poverty and safety for women. A woman who had been tragically kidnapped and abused once turned to the camera and said, "This world doesn't want me anymore." When the artist saw this dying plant, she immediately remembered these words. By moving the plant from a hidden corner to the highest point of the roof and incorporating a collage poem made up of suicide notes from various women within the work, the plant is imbued with a strong inclination – either towards liberation from its shackles or towards self-destruction.

Throughout the long river of human history, countless transformations and developments have unfolded, with its enduring vitality stemming from the relentless pursuit of knowledge by generation after generation of young people. This exhibition of graduate works from China's nine prestigious art academies stands as the finest interpretation and embodiment of this tenacious and enduring vitality. The ceaseless flow represents not only the inheritance and innovation of culture. Culture, like a river flowing from ancient times, carries the wisdom and civilization of humankind. Within this river flow both ancient traditions and customs, alongside emerging ideas and concepts. They intertwine and merge, collectively propelling the flourishing development of culture. Similarly, within the long river of industrial history, the automotive industry has undergone over a century of sedimentation and takeoff. The rapid ascent of China's automotive industry has launched alongside China's rise on the global stage. This is both a cultural feast and a unique global showcase of China's automotive industry. For the first time in Zhengzhou's history, a graduation exhibition featuring works from nine prestigious art academies is being presented. The exhibition encompasses multiple artistic domains including photography, installation art, sculpture, painting, and design, showcasing over 300 pieces by 169 artists.

This exhibition will center on “plain water” as its core symbol, temporarily endowing it with unique artistic value. Through distinctive rebellious and ironic approaches, it will present easel paintings, video works, and installation art that may seem entirely unrelated to plain water, while attempting to establish their close connections within the same context.      As a ubiquitous daily beverage across vast regions, plain water possesses remarkable efficacy in receiving guests and soothing others—a function I perceive as prescribed and profoundly absurd. The “absurd meaning” inherently assigned to plain water will be ‘disrupted’ and “transformed” in this exhibition through the lens of my lived experiences.