No City Without The Wild
Group Exhibition CAFA Art Museum

Artists: CAO Shu 曹澍 | 

Opening Time  
14:00, January 9, 2026  

Exhibition Dates  
January 9 – March 1, 2026  

Venue  
Gallery C, 3rd Floor, CAFA Art Museum

Emperor Jianwen, while touring a splendid garden, once remarked, “A place that resonates with the heart need not be far away.” This observation speaks to how a space of inner harmony and ease is not necessarily found in distant realms. Yet, as forests and waters recede and skyscrapers rise, does our sense of intimacy with all living beings also grow distant? How will the relationship between humanity and plants, birds, and animals take shape in the future?  

“Wildness,” as defined in ancient texts, signifies “beyond the suburbs lies the pasture, beyond the pasture lies the wilderness.”  

“No City Without The Wild”—inspired by the proverbs “no tree, no forest” and “no water, no abyss”—reveals the interdependence and generative relationship between the whole and its parts.  

The rapid expansion of contemporary urbanization is reshaping primal natural landscapes at an astonishing pace. Skyscrapers and neon vistas have become the everyday scenery of modern cities, while natural lands, former habitats, and memories carrying collective experiences gradually fade amid ongoing development. The concept of “wildness” in this exhibition seeks to construct an open and fluid network of actors. Within this network, humans, natural objects, and technological artifacts interact and influence one another, forming nonlinear, dynamic relationships.  

Lu Linfeng gathers from imagery the poetic traces submerged amid urban development. Wang Yuanhui’s gaze, akin to archaeology, traces the rhythmic pulse of material civilization’s renewal. Chen Yang and Gao Haiying interweave sight and sound, creating a palpable natural pulse. Chen Mo’s potted plants lurk in the crevices of the city, maintaining their forms in silence while tearing through spatial surfaces with their whispers. Liu Yilin’s lines meander and retreat, probing and escaping, touching the virtual through collisions with color blocks. Meanwhile, Sun Yiwu’s scrolls extend the flowing solar terms into an ever-renewing river—spring thunder hidden in ink, the cycle of life etching timeless textures upon tranquil waters. Wen Furong’s surging brushstrokes slice through the canvas, allowing colors to expand and erupt with vibrant vitality. In the project initiated by Jing Siyang and co-created by Ni Erlu and Li Xinxiang, the wilderness breathes in sync with humanity, and souls find solace in nature’s echoes. Cao Shu anchors his gaze on a post-human world governed by technological artifacts, where natural objects like plants grow cyclically under surveillance. Once-fixed ethics linger like spectral algorithms, ambiguously responding to an uncertain future.  

Approaching from diverse perspectives, these works repeatedly inscribe “wildness”—a dynamic territory reshaped by human memory and pushed toward unknown frontiers by technology and material civilization. To traverse this space is to enter both an intersection of matter and spirit and a testing ground for future ethics. This exhibition invites audiences to trace the footsteps of “wildness” together.

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