Jiaxuan Xu

Jiaxuan is a multidisciplinary artist from Beijing who presently resides and studies in London. After graduating from the Beijing Film Academy, she studied Information Experience Design at the Royal College of Art.

Jiaxuan relishes experimenting with various methods of artistic creation and expression. She has a keen interest in digital media, emotions, and the humanities; she is dedicated to producing work that warms and comforts people; and Jiaxuan's work is like a stop on the way where people can reflect on their experiences and regain their strength.

She specializes in film art and audio-visual language and appreciates creative pursuits such as creativity and painting. Her creative output consists of both videos and installations. Her work has been exhibited in London, Paris, Beijing, and Shanghai.

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Degree Details

My works are inspired by collecting people's stories and reshaping everyday objects through memory and emotion into a collection of living beings capable of emitting their white noise. My creations aim to create a multi-sensory interactive experience that explores objects as containers of memory of meaning. In this way, I hope to help people cope with the passing of a loved one or friend while providing a space and vehicle for the association for a broader range of people, allowing each to project their meaning into these containers.

In contemporary society, we often overlook the deep meaning and emotional value that objects carry. However, I firmly believe that every object is a container steeped in memories and emotions and that they serve as a bridge between us and our departed loved ones or friends. By collecting people's stories, I strive to capture the personal and collective memories contained in objects and reshape them into a collection of living beings in the form of creative work.

The process involves selecting, collecting, and reinventing. I select objects that have a special connection to a departed loved one or friend. I then reshape them through artistic techniques, giving them a unique organ-like form and a voice of their own. These sounds are not only the self-expression of the objects but also serve as a bridge to create an emotional connection between the viewer and the objects, creating a holistic perceptual experience and conversation.

My creations aim to go beyond the personal story and provide a space and vehicle for the association for a wider audience. These collections of objects hold deep meaning for the person in question and provide an opportunity for others to engage and empathize. The viewer can project their memories, emotions, and meanings into these containers, interacting with the work and creating a unique experience.

The collection of objects becomes an open space, a bridge between memory, emotion, and meaning. They are both a memorial to a loved one or friend who has passed away and a place for reflection, contemplation, and sharing. Through art, I hope to create a warm and safe inner space for each person to find relief and hope. This approach to creation is a recreation of objects and memories and an exploration of the meaning of life and existence. In the process, each person can resonate with the work and recreate their meanings and feelings.

Description

This project seeks to create a multisensory platform where individuals can memorialize deceased loved ones and gain fortitude and insight from these memories. Through my work, people can rethink everyday objects with memory and emotion. With newly defined vision, touch, and hearing, these memory objects take on the significance and vitality of sentient entities.

The work consists of three parts: physical installation, sound, and interactive projection.

The main part is the physical installation, which consists of five transparent objects that emit their own white noise. When the collection of installations detects the approach of a visitor, each object emits its own white noise, as if telling people something. These objects are made of soft, transparent wax and resin, and their structure and nerves can be seen from the outside. Touching them gives a soft, elastic feeling, as if a kind of organ is in front of the audience. The light and shadow of the objects surround the audience, the interactive projection next to them is a conceptual energy flow that leads people to another level of reflection.

vessels of meaning and significance

Some people mourn the loss of family members or friends for a long time and cannot let go. They often feel disconnected from the world and experience emptiness and loss. I want to do something for these people to make them feel moved and warm. The central message I want to convey is that "although the people we love and our friends may no longer be in this world, their love and care still accompany us." and "They continue to exist in another form within us."

The core of The Ongoing Archive of Memory Object is the vessels that carry specific memories, emotions, and energy. These objects are containers that hold meaning, significance, stories, and experiences that connect us to the past and shape our present. Many objects play ordinary roles in our lives, and the symbolism of objects is highly personalized. These recreated objects are not only meaningful to the people involved, but they also provide a space for unique, free associations and memories for a wider audience. Anyone can project their own ideas and meanings into the vessels.

I hope to go beyond image-based memory. Everyone has essential objects that resonate with them. Autobiographical memory allows for self-reflection and thinking, which subtly impacts our lives. As the saying goes, autobiographical memory will enable us to understand I know my life has meaning. Objects are containers of memory and emotion, and this is where everything begins. When an object carries these functions, it gains energy and meaning. The inspiration for my object creation comes from the concept of Quasi-objects, which transform objects based on different stories and emotions and turns them into visual effects. In the eyes of people full of memories and emotions, objects can even breathe and speak, as if touching them can connect them to people from another world.

The archive is always on

As this is an ongoing piece, viewers who wish to share their memorabilia can go to the artwork website and describe it and get in touch. This is not only a real-time experience in the exhibition, but also a long-term interactive collection that offers a new way of archiving and holding memories and emotions.

demo —

Launch Project

Medium: Multi-sensory installation, interactive projection, mixed media

Size: 300 x 260 x 245 cm

Bring back that memory and that emotion — This project about memory and emotion involves clay installations and animation. From a personal standpoint, I imagine that in a future world, memories will be tangible and superimposed on the real world. As "present tense" individuals, we will require a special bus to get there. By exploring the vehicle that can carry the emotional connection between myself and my deceased grandmother, military chess, I relive the memories and communicate the joy of the present memory. The bus that shuttles between the p