Out of Body-Miao Xiaochun's Solo Exhibition Review

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TEXT：Sue Wang DATE： 2011.6.23

Out of Body--Miao Xiaochun's Solo Exhibition Poster

Miao Xiaochun’s “Out of Body”

by Gu Zhenqing

“Out-of-body” basically refers to the experiences that one’s consciousness and spirit leave their bodies or even leave the actual world to enter a brand-new dimension.

Miao Xiaochun has a very sensitive perception towards the body of human, and he intentionally created these “out-of-body” experiences. With the help of 3D and filming technologies, he breaks away from his body and surpasses his original desires. With this idea, he has created infinite reincarnations by using the 3D module technology. From creating The Last Judgment in Cyberspace, Microcosm, Restart, to Disillusion, we can see that Miao sometimes uses his free spirit to overlook the world, and sometimes turns his own image into all living beings as if he were omnipresent. The infinite duplicate function of digital technologies has given Miao Xiaochun a chance to get the out-of-body experiences. Moreover, it is worth noticing that Out of Body should also be seen as the result of Miao Xiaochun’s long-time dedication to art. His constant study towards classical works in the history of western art empowers him to recreate and assemble the daily life. Miao Xiaochun ruminates on the past experience and cultural prototypes of European images, and gradually figures out the distance between the reality and the truth. The fact that the real world has been defined again and again by artists from the past, has shrouded the nature and the origin of the objective reality. The phenomenon and essence of the objective world often turn out to be described in texts or as secular visual objects. Therefore, Miao Xiaochun has no choice but to choose the “out-of-body” method to exclude his confusions and objections. With this out-of–body experience, Miao can empty his body and set everything back to zero; during this experience he has got a chance to travel cross various lanes and zones of many dimensions. Through the continuous “out of body” and “re-possession”, he continuously de-constructs and re-constructs his works, and reshuffles them for his audience to whom, Miao travels, like a hypnotist or even a stealer of dreams, between the history and reality, spiritual and material worlds with his free will. And the struggles within his heart can only be reflected or perceived through the figures of his works as a sign of his self awakening.

Miao Xiaochun’s “out of body” is an intentional “out-of” his consciousness. Evidently, he leaves the conventional art experience and established art system behind, because he wishes to step into a lofty and infinite art realm. In fact, what he tries to challenge is not only the nightmare of sub-conscious European experience of images, but the overwhelming logic of western culture as well. Maybe in the not too distant future, through his experiments with traditional Chinese images, Miao Xiaochun will show us a flexible “back-to-body” experience.

Out of Body-Miao Xiaochun's Solo Exhibition 05, Computer Animation, 10min09sec