Ruiqi Zhang
张瑞麒


He is a multimedia artist and educator based in Richmond Virginia. His practice and research press on sensitivity to digital technology when engaged in issues of online identity, media discourse, Internet culture, and critical surroundings. His initial awareness of digital power was formed by and linked through video art, which prompted his further exploration of ideology and cross-cultural experiences in 3D software, moving images, and video installations.

He employed a meandering narration approach to redirect his focus to the potential of reconfiguring autonomy, confrontation, and imagination. Through the organization of various irrelevant materials (3D objects, quotes, found images, theories, and scattered factors) in random juxtapositions, a hybrid stimulus is generated for snap meditation. His idea/method emulates the platform-based algorithmic mechanism, cultivating a non-human-centered perspective to reexamine the locus of our language.


email: info@zhang-ruiqi.com 
instagram: ruiqi_zhang_
about

© Ruiqi Zhang 2024


Ruiqi Zhang
张瑞麒

He is a multimedia artist and educator based in Richmond Virginia. His practice and research press on sensitivity to digital technology when engaged in issues of online identity, media discourse, Internet culture, and critical surroundings. His initial awareness of digital power was formed by and linked through video art, which prompted his further exploration of ideology and cross-cultural experiences in 3D software, moving images, and video installations.

He employed a meandering narration approach to redirect his focus to the potential of reconfiguring autonomy, confrontation, and imagination. Through the organization of various irrelevant materials (3D objects, quotes, found images, theories, and scattered factors) in random juxtapositions, a hybrid stimulus is generated for snap meditation. His idea/method emulates the platform-based algorithmic mechanism, cultivating a non-human-centered perspective to reexamine the locus of our language.

email: info@zhang-ruiqi.com
ins: ruiqi_zhang_
about

The Graceful Site
work in progress, 2024

The Graceful Site is a simulated video work depicting a post-apocalyptic landscape, where chaos reigns, and people hide, yet the economic system continues to function. The site serves as a new field for experimenting with anarchistic economic models, relying on excess heat from cryptocurrency mining and API access to Oracle networks to maintain stable operations.

Monument Emitter
3D rendered video, 06:16, 2023

“When they trumpeted the meliorative power of beauty, they were stating the belief in its capacity to shape human thought and behavior“ (William H. Wilson, 1989). This work reveals the entrenched narratives surrounding monuments and sanitized community consciousness and also prompts how we should understand our historical heritage and the revisionist future. The empty plinths/models were converted into particle emitters in 3D application while associating lawn sprinklers and water droplets, which expand the scope of these revered objects. It offers a meditation space to reconsider the existence of monuments as catalysts for sustainable discourse and engagement.

vimeo

The Burning Tower
4k video, 17:32, 2022

The Burning Tower" (2022)
is a desktop film that provides a concise review of the advancements in 5G communication technology and the evolution of the Internet. It delves into the intricate relationship between conspiracy theories, rumors, and the infrastructure of the network. This film is structured into four interconnected segments and features soundscapes created by sound artists Matt Dowdy & Liza Pittard. These segments continuously strive to rationalize the seemingly irrational act of burning communication towers.

The inspiration for the storyline was drawn from real-world news reports, attempting to envision a plausible scenario behind the burning of a 5G cell tower. This film follows the perspectives of a virtual 3D male and the narration of a female anchor. It explores themes about the pioneering hypertext project, the 5G protocol, and the pathways of submarine optical cables.

vimeo

Manifesto: Art Downgrade
single channel video, 04:22, 2019

Manifesto: Art Downgrade
is a composite concept that combines art and economics, from the research of image production related to the popularity of low-cost smartphones and the slowdown of economic growth in China. Mass production by China's online rural community and developed network infrastructure have created greater market wealth and contribute to emerging Internet cultures. This work advocates evaluate alternative perspectives and decentralization of urban narrative in contemporary art creation. By splicing green screen materials from the Internet and selfie clips made by mobile phones, the manifesto aims to evoke the creative impulse and imagination of ordinary people, to express their voice by using the integration of open-source media, mobile technology, and daily labor in creation.

vimeo

Galaxy Equivalent Parallel Objects
digital video, 25:32, 2019

Galaxy Equivalent Parallel Objects is a fictional autobiographical film about the artist's artistic concepts, childhood anecdotes, and online identity construction strategies. This work explores the contemporary narrative influenced by mobile technology, that restored the viewing experience of people browsing short-video social media through continuous visual and audio stimulation and ever-changing content editing. Self-portraits from different social media filters, found footage from Kwai, consumer product advertisements, vintage animation loops, and dictated family history are collaged in the film, to challenge people’s ability to read complex information.

Inspired by the article Movies and Objects—Is There an Object-Oriented Film Theory? (电影与物——是否存在一种以物为导向的电影理论?) , this widescreen film exams the decentralized creation method and the unconscious montage. By offering the ostensible intellectual questions and irrelevant answers, the dialogue raises questions about how we build connections among disordered footages, and how short-video social media algorithms imperceptibly shaped our way of watching.

vimeo