Audiences enjoy the Exit exhibition in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: Courtesy of XIXI LIVE

Audiences enjoy the Exit exhibition in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: Courtesy of XIXI LIVE

Audiences enjoy the Exit exhibition in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: Courtesy of XIXI LIVE

As life in China returns to normal, various forms of entertainment, from live concerts to exhibitions, have made comebacks in cities across the country. During the weekends, people have start to queue up at the entrances to various shows like the renowned Claude Monet-themed exhibition in Shanghai and an immersive exhibition featuring a number of veteran and promising artists in Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang Province. 

The ongoing Exit exhibition, the first of its kind at the new XIXI LIVE space in Hangzhou, includes two giant curved LED screens and a narrow pass for visitors, who can enter into an installation made entirely of stairs, passages and corridors. Visiting the exhibition feels like setting out on an expedition through sight and sound as videos play on the two screens and various-sized monitors hidden throughout the installation. 

The participating artists have made use of a combination of computer-generated imagery and sampled reality to create a synergy of visuals and sounds to create an immersive experience of different textures throughout this multi-dimensional structure.

According to curators Guo Xi and Wu Juehui - also members of the UFO Media Lab, the organization behind the exhibition  is not just an exhibition, but an art project involving top media artists in China that creates a unique art tour for visitors. 

"Through time and space, Exit is a port between two points. It is not only a vent for this place, but also the entrance at the other end. Through Exit, we complete the transformation of space and make a break from our daily routines and escape from the world," said Guo. 

Guo, Wu and their artist partners, who include Feng Hao, Kanes, Flow-er and Anyang, have rich experience in planning similar new media exhibitions, but for the exhibition at XIXI LIVE, they felt they needed to do more because the space is designed to act as a stage for live shows, an exhibition space, a live house and more. 

The new space is an experiment by Dong Yilin, XIXI LIVE's founder, to create a place where young people can get together, socialize and entertain themselves. 

"To be honest, I know it is difficult to host such an exhibition at our space, where it is not designed as an exhibition hall. But we finally made it with the help from partners like UFO," said Dong, who has rich experience in organizing live performances and theater productions in Hangzhou. 

Working with the local Hangzhou studio has made Dong's hope that more and more young people will come to the space more of a reality.  


Newspaper headline: Making an 'Exit'