Introduction
Mu Xue is a visual artist based in Amsterdam and Berlin. Her multifaceted practice transits drawing, photography, site-specific installation, performance, and public art. She completed residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2012 and received numerous awards. Mu is a frequent guest lecturer at Dutch art academies and, from
2017 to 2023, tutored at the KABK. Her works span a broad range of collections and are internationally exhibited in galleries and museums such as De Appel Arts Centre, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, and Kunstverein Salzburg. Mu is frequently commissioned for public art projects across the Netherlands, for example, the permanent mural installation "Black Diamond_Panorama" at the Province House of Friesland.
Employing elliptical visual strategies, Mu Xue explores the paradoxical coexistence of the insignificant and the sublime. Her work transcends conventional notions of value, often obscured by politics, technology, and belief systems. She examines different life forms and their transformations through everyday observation, while investigating the individual's existential potential with a distinct perceptual acuity. Her observation often yields a compelling visual form that reflects a cognitive landscape characterized by the ever-changing, non-hierarchical dynamics of being. One key characteristic of Xue Mu's practice is her emphasis on overlooked matters, examining their vulnerability and silent power, which she designates as 'Super Ghosts' - a counter-existence to the "Super Heroes". Edified by studies in the humanities and social sciences, she currently focuses on themes of individuation and the collective unconscious.