Loading...
Loading...

LIANG Chen

Architect, Artist

Liang Chen attempts at discussing the possibility of a paradox through his dual practice of architecture and art: infinity within the finite. Mathematician Georg Cantor once used the first Hebrew letter, א(Aleph), to signify “the finite/infinite set”, which evokes mysteries, infinity, space-time, as well as their interconnection, boundaries and freedom. Liang Chen tried to discuss the new definition of this symbol.


For any given set of entities, such as a concrete concept, an object, or a space, Liang Chen studies closely their shift, progression and spatial-temporal accumulation over long-term time, multi-layered time, and on large scales. Facilitating bodily immersions, he strives to construct new individual experiences and memories, which he then converts into new space-time through creative intervention. Liang Chen called the working method of "excavating and intervening in the space subconscious with space as the main body called spatial hypnosis".


Influenced by historian Fernand Braudel during his college years, Liang Chen experimented with a long-termed and multi-layered observation of architectural sites. He examined blocks and buildings, the formation of cities and substances, and people's daily behaviors. The discussions on the infiniteness about the longitudinal and time axis are further carried out to explore the clues of the site, and then a specific design method of space intervention is used to penetrate the site and the entire time and space. After a long-term and multi-layered time research of the Northeastern city, Changchun, Liang Chen began to study his hometown Dandong, Liaoning Province, with the same method from 2013. Applying the universe to be the new spatial-temporal coordinate, his analysis spans from the Big Bang, the formation of the earth, to the geology of Dandong, constitution of its landscapes, neighborhoods and streets, and finally ends in the residential building where he grew up, manifested in its three interior decorations from three different periods. Through a sub-conscious recapitulation of childhood city and architectural space, Liang Chen intends to awaken a sub-consciousness of substance and scope. This hometown study and self-analysis became the departure point and source for Liang Chen's work.

On the other hand, built on his research and practical experience in Erguna, Dandong, and Xinjiang, Liang Chen initiated interdisciplinary research "Border Project" in art, architecture, and anthropology. As a critical phenomenon in post-modern global cultural landscape, the temporal and spatial disparity between contemporary art and "local culture" is gradually dissolving and referencing each other, reconstructing the order and boundaries of global public culture. Therefore, the study of local knowledge has become necessary to understand the specific context of contemporary knowledge production. The Border Project focuses on borderlands, which are at the forefront of knowledge production and exchange. Starting from geographical borders, Border Project attempts to explore more possibilities for artistic innovation by taking an interdisciplinary view of the broader borders of culture, history, language, and social milieu.


Born in 1987 in Dandong, Liaoning, China

2006-2011 Studied at Jilin Jianzhu University, Bachelor of Architecture

2011-2015 Worked in Vector Architects, as associate and project architect, completed the Seashore Library and the Courtyard Hybrid projects

2014, 2016 As teaching assistant, completed the open design teaching of Tsinghua University School of Architecture: "The Space of Light" (Dong Gong Group)

2017 Began independent architecture and art practice, founded Studio: Aleph-Liangchen

Currently works and lives in Beijing


AWARD

Robb Report, 2020"Best of the Best" Designer


ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

Singer's House,Erguna,2017-2019,Built

Ale Museum, Beijing,2017, Built

Soka Art Center, Beijing, 2019-, Built

PCCA,Shenzhen,2019-,Built

Zian Art Foundation,2019-, Schematic Design


SOLO EXHIBITION

2021

CHAOS, Harmony, Shanghai, China

Bells of times, BART, Beijing, China

2020

1976/2020, DRC No.12, Beijing, China

2019

Liang Chen: Aleph, A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, China


SOLO ART PROJECT

2020

Other Stones, Shangchuan Island, Jiangmen, China

2019

Wishes on Water, Aranya, Beidaihe, China

2018

Project Aleph 2.0, Aranya, Beidaihe, China

2017

Project Aleph, Aranya, Beidaihe, China


CURATORIAL PROJECT

2022

From Antung to Dandong——Rafts, Broken Bridges and Strangers on the Yalu River,Wind H Art Center,Beijing,China

2020

Space Discipline: some buildings (after reform and opening up) and some architecture (after the Expo in Shanghai), OCAT Shanghai, Shanghai, China

2019

Urban Renewal: Reinvigorating the Old by Infusing with the New, Wide Narrow Alley, Chengdu, China


GROUP EXHIBITION

2021

Coordinate System·Sky Box, Hyundai Motorstudio, Beijing, China

The Methodology of the New Generation, Wind H Art Center, Beijing, China

2020

Evolution, Enjoy Art Museum, Beijing, China

Moving Black Project 3, Taiguli, Beijing, China

2019

At Ease in Xichong, 2019UABB(SHENZHEN) XICHONG SUB-VENUE, Shenzhen, China

Lunar Phases, UCCA, Beijing, China

Lost&Found, UCCA, Beijing, China

Killfish the Heteronym, George V Art Center, Beijing, China

B-Side, George V Art Center, Beijing, China

Moving Black Project 1, Joy City, Beijing, China

Moving Black Project 2, Taohua Street, Suzhou, China

Space Hypnosis Project: No.27 Yard, Neiwubu Street, Beijing, China

The Curation Workshop, OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China

3cm Museum, chi K11, Shenyang,China

2018

A brief history of nomadic, Qianchaoshou Hutong No.22, Beijing, China

History in the Making, Beijing Fashion Institute Rongcheng Fashion Industrial Park, Xiong’an, China


EXHIBITION DESIGN

2022

ON | OFF 2021 Carousel of Progress, HEM, Guangzhou, China

2021

XINGHUI, Nanchizi Museum,Beijing,China

The Artist's Way of Vincent Fang, Soka Art Center, Beijing, China

The Pulse of Modernity, Powerlong Museum, Shanghai, China

2020

QIU Xiaofei, Part I: Red/Part II: Trotskyky grew into a tree, New Century Art Foundation (NCAF), Beijing, China

Embodied Mirror: Performances In Chinese Video Art, New Century Art Foundation (NCAF), Beijing, China

In Memory of Forgotten, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

2019

Lunar Phases, UCCA, Beijing, China

Remapping Reality-Selected Video Collection from Wang Bing, OCAT Shanghai, Shanghai, China

2018

History in the Making, Beijing Fashion Institute Rongcheng Fashion Industrial Park, Xiong’an, China

History in the Making, 798 International Art Exchange Center, Beijing, China


LECTURE

2019

Hypnotize a Space, UCCA, Beijing, China

The Will of Time and Space, A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, China

The long time period and the multi-time period of the space, Renmin University, Beijing, China

2018

<Aleph>: the extension and solidification of the will of time and space, Beijing Jianzhu University, Beijing, China

<Atlas>: The beginning and stretching of the will of time and space, Beijing Jianzhu University, Beijing, China

<Uncovering the Sun>: the unconscious blending and presentation of the will of time and space, Beijing Jianzhu University, Beijing, China

<>: Everything, Black, Darkness, Nothing, Beijing Jianzhu University, Beijing, China

2017

An-tong and I overlap in time and space, Renmin University, Beijing, China

En/