AboutCV                                 Index

Liu Guannan




Power-Narratives Series Self-Portrait2024
This work involves the exchange between images and symbols, as well as the projection of consciousness among subjects. The images in the work originate from the map shapes of the territorial dispute areas on the Sino-Russian northern border. These map shapes have been transformed into images in the manner of Rorschach inkblots, serving as a test of subjective consciousness and mental states. Consequently, concepts such as "a part since ancient times" and "a sacred and indivisible territory" in national consciousness since modernity are transformed into projections of self-consciousness by the discourse subject, ultimately materializing into real territorial boundaries.

variable size, mixed media: iron barbed wire, cold-worked steel, epoxy resin

Social Relationship Rediscovery Series The exception of the exceptions #22022
This project considers using action as a medium to redefine public discourse space in a "state of exception": inviting 4 participants. Each participant will invite a friend to form a team (two people per team). Carrying Bluetooth speakers, they will use an app to connect in public places, engage in discussions on public topics, and broadcast their conversations to the maximum extent possible in the public space context by hanging the speakers on their bodies and turning the volume to the maximum. At this point, the conversation between the two parties will be immediately made public at the scene of the action. 

The change in discourse relations itself is aesthetics.



Power-Narratives Series
Some Reports on Public Intellectuals2021
“Some Reports on Public Intellectuals” was finished in 2021. It is an investigation into theproduction of the topic of "public intellectuals". In the process of producing all socialdiscourse, public intellectuals have been rejected by society, and the discourse they produce is constantly being deconstructed in the process of dissemination. The field of public discourse is a battlefield, and the discussion of public intellectuals is a struggle against the public discourse. In this struggle, people play an instrumental role and speak the words of Power through their own mouths. At the same time, people are not aware of where the words they utter come from, and the whole discourse is told in a way that binds individuals to Power and speaks of their unfulfilled dreams. All dialogues in the work are from the Chinese Internet. Chinese subtitles are abridged according to the current discourse system in mainland China. 
Coincidentally, the Internet in 2022 unleashed a great translation movement for the Chinese context.


Video works, each lasting between 2mins-4mins.


Social Relationship Rediscovery Series  Silence Is Shit2021
“silence Is Shit” is an art project organized by Liu Guannan together with Zheng Wei. Liu Guannan had also participated in the project as an artist and had written the text for the project. “Silence is Shit” had hoped to connect people and art. As a viewer, you could have called the artist’s private phone number at 21:00-22:00 every night during the project, and listened to the artist’s live performance on the other end of the phone. Each artist had his or her own unique way of “performing.” The project had run for one week from July 4, 2021, to July 10, 2021, and had been released on cassette.

a1-echo-of-the-real-7

a2-dialogue-with-the-audience

a3-echo-of-the-real-2

b1-echo-of-the-real-6

b2-echo-of-the-real-8

b3-farewell-to-the-audience


The project was released on cassette by the Sub Jam label.
Power-Narratives SeriesThe Form of Perception of the Invisible object2021

“The Form of Perception of the Invisible object” originates from a private conversation between Zheng Wei and Liu Guannan.
 After self-censorship and to transmit the invisible, the visible part of the conversation was erased and made invisible, while the invisible part of the conversation was processed with sound and made visible, even though the “visible” was incomprehensible.

This sound artwork was first exhibited in the elevator cabin of a 30-floor hotel building（CHAO Hotel，Sanlitun，Beijing）.














Social Relationship Rediscovery Series   Siyong2021
The "Siyong" project aims to reconnect art with the local humanities and emotions of the Hangzhou Bay New Area in Ningbo through artistic methods and image production, that is, to connect people and people with the use of image production as a medium.

Seeking nine individuals who have lived, traveled, or visited Hangzhou Bay New Area to participate in the project. Participants will be asked about their memories of Hangzhou Bay New Area or to describe an unforgettable image of the place.

● Based on the descriptions provided by the nine participants, I will use my imagination to create nine abstract paintings depicting these images.
● Upon completion, the nine paintings will be given to the participants as a token of appreciation for sharing their memories with me. This gesture symbolizes the social relationship between people mediated by images.
● Additionally, I will randomly select memorable fragments from these nine paintings. These fragments will be enlarged and crafted into stainless steel sculptures, which will be installed in various corners of the park (such as on pathways, walls, lawns, etc.), representing scattered memories.

Ningbo is often abbreviated as "Yong," and "Si Yong" implies a flow of thoughts, suggesting the return of fragmented memories to Hangzhou Bay New Area.



Power-Narratives SeriesGreat capital narrative #32020
00:11:07
Power-Narratives SeriesFor the City that Cried Last Night2020
Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang passed away on February 7, 2021. He was one of the first doctors to publicly disclose COVID-19. At the time of his death, in a somewhat hypocritical display of sentiment, the hospital in Wuhan was ordered to "resuscitate" his body.

The events of February 7 shocked me so much, and then made this video work the next day when the whole city was crying. In the video, I let the grand narrative and the individual narrative intertwine into a river with the wailing of the entire city, as short as a few words uploaded on a social platform.

00:00:35
The background music is by artist Ryoji Ikeda.
Illusion | Drawing SeriesDiscourse Production-Red Sun & Lighthouse2020
The "Discourse Production" series of works discuss the particular meaning of social discourse in mainland China. In recent years, a series of discourses have emerged in mainland China has been produced spontaneously by the people. The "Discourse Production" series attempts to respond it in the form of painting and to represent the illusion behind this discourse. 

Red Sun：113×74cm
The term "Red Sun" comes from the sentence "Chairman Mao is our Red Sun". This phrase was very famous in China before the 1990s and is by now a well-known phrase. In this work, the monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square has been erased from the image and replaced with a radiant "red supergiant".


Lighthouse：99×63cm
The word "lighthouse" comes from the phrase "America is the lighthouse of democracy". This phrase was quite popular in China in the 1980s. With the change of time, as one of the results of the current Chinese social discourse production, "lighthouse" means "America is in the dusk" instead of "lighting up the light in the darkness".


sumi ink on paper
Social Relationship Rediscovery Series    We participated in the exploitation of ourselves. 
We exploited the participation in everything.2019
This project had involved artists paying people to return to their own lives. Each project participant had received 100 yuan, which had been used to purchase the participant's project time. The amount of time purchased had depended on the participant's social employment rate.

 For example, 100 yuan had been able to buy 7 hours of a manual laborer's project time, but only 5 minutes of a senior manager's time. During this time, the project's sole requirement had been for participants to return to their own lives and sign a bilateral contract based on the project's conditions. This project had addressed the concepts of contract and work. 

The entire concept of work had encompassed two contradictory aspects: exploitation and participation. Through salary and employment, life had been stripped from the body, no longer attached to anything. No one had ever paid for our lives. Sometimes I had wondered, why not employ people to return to their lives? To let those who were happy, sad, bored, desperate, excited, indifferent, hopeful, or impulsive return to their lives, even if just for a few minutes.

The project had been permanently acquired by the Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art.


subpoplui@gmail.comTEL: +86 136 9927 9947