The First Beijing Art & Technology Biennale: Synthetic Ecology

Participating Artists

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg
Anna Dumitriu & Alex May
Xiang Jing
Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group
Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr
Patricia Piccinini
Ralf Baecker
Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits
Rimini Protokoll
Liang Shaoji
Sophie Falkeis
Špela Petrič
Susan Schuppli
Suzanne Anker
Terike Haapoja
terra0 (Paul Kolling, Paul Seidler, Max Hampshire)
Ursula Biemann
Art of Bio Machine
Climate Clock

The first Beijing Art and Technology Biennale featuring 50 artists, scientists and ecologists from across the world opened in Beijing last Friday, aiming to discuss issues related to coexistence between human and nature.

Titled Synthetic Ecology, the exhibition covers installations, videos and multimedia works that use advanced technologies such as virtual reality, robot science and materials science to inspire visitors to think about human's future and how to coexist with nature.

It's co-organized by Beijing 798 culture and technology company and Central Academy of Fine Arts at 798 Cube Art Museum, a newly opened gallery transformed from a disused factory.

Half of the works on display are exhibited in China for the first time and many were produced in 2021. Some works are co-created by artists and scientists who are interested in environmental issues such as climate change and global warming.

The highlights include Climate Change, an electronic installation showing how much time the world has left to take action on climate change. It was first installed in New York in 2020 and then many other cities in more than 20 countries installed the same kind of installation, include Glasgow, Berlin, Rome and Seoul. It's also the first time for it to meet the public in China.

Installation view (Photos provide by CAFA Art Museum)