Acting Class by Tao Hui  Photo: Courtesy of UCCA

Tao Hui's video work Extra on display at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art   Photo: Courtesy of UCCA

Some artworks seek to answer questions, while others look to incite more. When it comes to artist Tao Hui, his works definitely belong to the latter category. Born in 1987, Tao is one of China's emerging young artists who have been highly promoted by galleries and art institutions over the past two years. In 2014, he was selected to participate in the Up-Youth China Young Artists Exhibition, an annual exhibition held by the Times Museum that is gaining rapid clout in introducing young domestic artists.

Last Thursday, three of Tao's works, including his latest Extra, were on display at UCCA (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art) in Beijing, making him the second artist this year to take part in the institution's New Direction project, which aims to introduce potential young artists in the country. Although the exhibit only featured a small amount of Tao's work, it grabbed the attention of a large number of media outlets and visitors.

"If I were to give it (the exhibition) a new name, it would be 'a collection of stories,'" Tao told media at the exhibition.

Tao as storyteller is probably the first impression people have when they view his work. Video installations, microphones, stages, the artistic medium that Tao makes use of seems more suited to a stage play or TV drama. While most "audiences" are drawn in at the beginning by the desire to see how the stories depicted in the artist's installations unfold, by the end most end up left with more questions and less understanding than when they started.

For instance, Acting Class is a video installation that shows a weird classroom full of uncontrollable students shouting, screaming and becoming so hysterical that the students even set one of their number on fire, leaving visitors shocked and wondering what had gotten the protagonists so worked up.

Sucking audiences quickly into his stories then suddenly pulling the rug out from under them is a common tactic used in Tao's works.

In his newest video work Extra, visitors are engulfed in a feeling of sadness as they watch a Chinese family arguing about whether they should cut off the daughter's extra finger.

However, an unconscious glimpse of the glass box beside the video soon deflates viewers' emotions, since the fake smoke emanating from the burned fake finger inside the box reminds audiences that everything they are watching is not real.

Amateur acting classes, remote and lonely villages, as well as unfortunate families, all these settings for Tao's stories seem to reflect a reality that exists in today's society. But meanwhile, they are also accompanied by the weird event that happen as the story unfolds.

Growing up in a constantly changing environment since his family moved from place to place, Tao explains that he, like many others today, has witnessed the stories of many different people.

With his work, he seeks to share his feeling of being trapped in between reality and story with his audience. While his work struggles between reality and absurdity, visitors to his exhibitions can be sure of at least one real thing: The sincerity the artist reveals in telling them such stories.

The UCCA exhibition is scheduled to end on October 19.