Yichun Yao
- Michael Hanna
- May 2
- 2 min read
Yichun Yao is an installation, video and performance artist as well as a photographer and text artist who has exhibited extensively in London as well as in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, China. Recent exhibitions include galleries, museums, and venues such as Dongchao Rice Mill Contemporary Art Center in Hangzhou, Shanghai Art Museum as well as Regent’s Canal, Koppel Collective Gallery, Millbank Tower, and Triangle Gallery in London. Publications and awards include Yichun being shortlisted at the Royal Academy of Arts, honorable mention at IPPAwards, as well as books New Photography in China and Outlook Art & Design.
The artworks explore the human emotions and perceptions in virtual high tech environments and how advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence have an impact on our psyche and relationships. By using text and conceptual art such as strategic performances surrounding playful violence and installations which represent distortions of objects, animals, and humans, Yichun conveys the authoritative grasp of invasive technologies. Although not included in the article, she often makes art which replicates humorous internet memes and creates video which displays haunting text such as “I see you’re typing, I feel I control everything” alluding to an invasive A.I. algorithm conducting surveillance on our every move invoking an invasion of privacy.
From barriers constructed of literal stone wall installations with illuminating lights representing the disconnect of communication with loved ones through phones and video to installation sculptures almost resembling alien-like eggs, Yichun always has the viewer on their toes questioning their surroundings. She sometimes uses glass and mirrors as a strategic tool to convey notions of repetition and the concealment of information such as text. By forming her conceptual art, Yichun conveys how technologies manipulate and desensitizes us from meaningful sensory experiences. By using clever text, witty performances, and cerebral installations, she has the viewer question the value of technology and encourages us to disconnect from the ‘matrix’, so to speak.
Slapping left, Swiping right (pictured above) depicts a humorous performance of Yichun slapping men as they stand in line waiting for their turn to be smacked in the face. The work plays on the notion of social media but also dating apps like Zoosk, Match, and E-Harmony which often have swiping algorithms to move on to your interest. Yichun suggests the dehumanizing and humiliating experience of being sidelined, whether in a dating app or on social media, by an audience swiftly swiping by looking for instant gratification and a heightened sense of visual stimulation.
Yichun Yao remains a fascinating artist willing to cross mediums and boundaries to express complex concepts and notions regarding our relationship with technology. Through witty commentary and symbolic representation, she instills in us a need to question our value systems and urges us to sideline ourselves from the damaging impacts of advanced technologies such as social media algorithms and artificial intelligence. A thoroughly gifted artist, Yichun expresses how deeper conversation with each other remains increasingly valuable in an age of instant gratification through visual technologies.
