Shen Xin

New Light

Digital video, color, sound

12 min

2021

This film is comprised of recordings from several different animal sanctuaries and zoos in Minnesota, using a way of looking that sustains several kinds of coexistence. The film presents learning how to count in different languages, and as we read, we see many beasts, brutes, animals, monsters, creatures, critters, beings, and becomings. The 8mm film exists in a static balance, and occasionally the light and shadow approach that of Pointillist painting. The lens does not guide viewers toward any specific viewing method, but rather it preserves the possibility of seeing everything as light and seeing the film in a new light through the act of being seen. In this experimental space, the film focuses on learning words that are related to the multiplicity of individuals and injecting cherished values into those relationships. Echoing this exhibition’s exploration of the form and meaning of dialogue, the open, illuminated environment, created by the two screens that are suspended between the glass exterior walls of Macalline Center of Art, resonates with the site.

About the Artist

Shen Xin (b. 1990, Chengdu, Sichuan) creates moving image installations and performances that empower alternative histories, relations, and potentials between individuals and nation-states. They seek to creates affirmative spaces of belonging that embrace polyphonic narratives and identities. Shen Xin’s most recent work, Brine Lake (A New Body), premiered at the Gwangju Biennale, Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning (2021), and will have its North American premiere in their first US museum solo exhibition at the Walker Art Center (2021).