Shuyi Cao

September 17, 2024

Shuyi Cao (b. 1990 Guangzhou) is an artist based in New York. Her work has been shown internationally, including recent solo exhibitions at the 11th Biennale nationale de sculpture contemporaine, Quebec (2024) and Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai (2023); duo exhibition at Para Site, Hongkong (2023); and group exhibitions at Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris (2024), He Art Museum, Foshan (2023), Aranya Art Centre, Beidaihe (2023), Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing (2023), Long March Space, Beijing (2023), Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta (2022), Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai (2021), Today Art Museum, Beijing (2021), NARS Foundation, New York (2021); and more. She is the recipient of residencies including Guangdong Times Museum, New Museum NEW INC, Power Station of Art Shanghai, The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art; and Today Art Museum WANG SHIKUO Nomination Award. She received a Bachelor of Laws (2013), an M.A. in Public Administration (2016) from Fudan University in Shanghai, and an M.F.A. in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design, New York (2018).

Can you tell us about your practice?

My practice is based on alchemical approaches to meaning-making and material transformation. My work encompasses mixed-medium sculpture, installation, and video; combining hand-crafted and digital artifacts. Materiality is a vital source of my knowledge and inspiration. My processes amalgamate a wide range of materials, from glass and ceramic making with wild clay, sand, and minerals, to recycled and found materials such as plastic and other urban debris, to digital technologies such as 3D printing and virtual environment simulation.

You mention your practice as one looking at “archeological speculation and ecological fiction”. Can you speak a little more about what that means to you?

These are the overarching themes of my practice, as my works decenter and reposition humans, moving across geological and microscopic scales. It means I am constantly shifting perspectives and focal points to reveal the interconnectedness of the human and nonhuman worlds, viewing our present as reminiscent of primeval and future remains. Through these speculative works, I tell stories of fungi breaking down plastic in the Yunnan rainforest, microorganisms metabolizing nuclear waste in the New Mexico desert, machine-simulated marine plankton in the Cambrian Ocean, mineral elements circulating through biological and geological bodies over billions of years, extracted and disposed of at Guizhou mining sites, and decaying remnants of landfills and shorelines from New York to Quebec that fossilize our contemporary lives.

Your works seem to blur the line between organic and synthetic material intentionally. What about this interests you?

I think the blending of organic and synthetic mirrors our present existence because there is no longer a separation between these two. For instance, consider how we are enveloped by and immersed in plastic, with microplastics now even present within our bodies and bloodstream. In landfills, plastics mixed with idiosyncratic organic matter are becoming new geological layers. Some of my works look like they could be formed in nature yet they are handmade. Much like beavers constructing dams and birds weaving nests from materials around them, we humans too make our world with what’s available. Even birds now incorporate plastic into their nests, drawn to its vivid hues – the most vibrant colors appear in their altered environment.

We have seen your works evolve throughout the years, what has been your approach towards evolving your practice? What has surprised you during the journey so far?

My practice is embedded in my relationship with places and materials, which has always been very intimate. Although I base my work on fieldwork, literature review, and scientific research; I increasingly engage myself in these embodied conversations, letting the material speak for itself, and guiding me to the next place. I had these unique encounters with materials because most of my sculptural skills are self-taught. It is a constant process of negotiating, collaborating, and playing with materials. And they never cease to surprise me. It is almost like a special ritual to connect with your spiritual animal or being. I would like to think artists who deeply engage with materials all have their ritual of searching, recognizing, and connecting with their materials.

If there were no limitations, what sort of alchemy would you want to produce?

If no limitations mean unrestricted by budgets, resources, physicalities, and even my human timeframe, I would love to explore making with altered planetary conditions and scales, whether in a world after or before human existence. It must be very interesting to see how materials interreact, evolve, and decay in these changing environments.

What are you investigating these days? Is there anything we can look forward to seeing in the future?

My recent works center around my ongoing exploration of the multifaceted concept of “offshore,” as elusive and indefinable geographical/psychological boundaries. I just spent a summer visiting different villages and volcanic islands along the shorelines of the Pearl River Delta where my hometown is situated, investigating landscapes that were deeply marked by their oceanic history and reflect the ever-changing relationship between the sea and the land. I am also preparing for a trip later this year to the desert of Central Asia where the Aral Sea used to be. I am very excited about the new works emerging from these adventures!

Shuyi Cao

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