Oxymoron, which means contradictory rhetoric, refers to the juxtaposition of two semantically contradictory words in language communication, which creates a strong rhetorical effect and makes the expressed meaning stronger. “Unifying contradictory characteristics to achieve a strong expressive effect” is a characteristic that is fully demonstrated in Wang Weijue’s works.

This contradiction is first reflected in the creation of the medium wool fiber. Needle-felted wool is Weijue’s most distinctive creative medium. The wool fiber material looks sweet and soft, but the inside is full of traces of violence in the process of needle-felted wool. Her works are based on this conflict, revealing the conflicts and struggles hidden under the calm and beautiful surface, using “softness” as a weapon to challenge the domestication and shackles represented by “softness”.

This exhibition presents Wang Weijue’s latest series of works “Slamming the door”. This series of works refers to films that use female images as objects of desire, abstracting a series of ambiguous female close-ups, and recreating them with sharp and bright colors like digital layers. These reference images correspond to the needs of the male gaze and are the visual presentation of desire in the commercial chain. In other words, these images are the product of performance, but under the encouragement of algorithms, they form a torrent of information that lead to a new aesthetic standard. Under the repetitive discipline of the media, women are expected to express themselves in a way that conforms to binary and sexualized norms, and are gradually alienated in social media and lose their individual subjectivity. The bright and sharp colors in the works also symbolize instrumental stimulation, which somehow lead to numbness of desire and temptation under mechanical repetition.

By juxtaposing contradictions, Wang Weijue questions the expectations of individuals under the discipline of digital media, aiming to reflect on the profound impact of digital media on our intimacy and perception of desire.

Hidden deep in the third floor is a room that Wei Jue specially customized for this exhibition. The room is wrapped in soft plastic bubble wrap, and inside it is the artist’s latest performance video: Wei Jue wears a bubble wrap suit and interacts with the audience, who can pop the bubbles on Wei Jue at will. This plastic coat, which is neither thick nor thin, gives the performer a fragile but airtight protection, just like the distance between people – in the process of testing and approaching, fun or harm is only a finger’s breadth away.