Shitong Zhao

Shitong Zhao is a visual designer and interdisciplinary artist from China. And she has graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Information Experience Design.

She graduated from the Product Design - Vehicle Styling program at the Academy of Art & Design, Tsinghua University in 2018. Due to her spatial shaping abilities, she entered the stage art industry. From 2019 to 2022, she worked as a stage concept designer for the art team, participating in the design of various events including the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, stage design for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2021 (Beijing), fireworks celebration design for the 70th anniversary of China's National Day in 2019 (Beijing), and an internship in 2018 where she contributed to the stage design for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, featuring the theme of "Hangzhou Time” (Jakarta-Jugang).

Due to her interdisciplinary background, Zhao Shitong's creative design span across digital art, installations, spatial design, and performance. By combining skills and perception, she drives the development of holistic, multi-sensory experiential design. Her designs focus on the human experience, incorporating narratives from the perspectives of nature and the future. She is passionate about challenging, breaking, and achieves this through collaboration with various disciplines.

"Get your own soil label" is a research project that utilises soil microbiology to construct an environmental archive. It combines traditional soil testing methods with modern technological interactions to connect people's living environments. The project proposes experimental methods for everyone to participate in and protect the soil environment.

• ‘‘The main geological force shaping the planet - it's no longer rivers, ice or wind, it's humans.”

          ——Colin Waters            

Human activities have led to an unprecedented level of environmental change, and once people become aware of these changes, they are often difficult to reverse. These changes are often subtle and imperceptible. However, soil acts as an archive, recording the changes happening in its surroundings. Therefore, it is our responsibility to document and acknowledge the environmental pollution changes in our immediate surroundings.

This project is to discover and expand the microcosmic world and variations in microbial states, establishing connections with individuals and society. It aims to demonstrate intimacy, interactivity, vulnerability, and reveal the impact of social activities on environmental pollution. This project creates an ecological hierarchy, mapping the microcosmic and virtual worlds of natural species, to correspond to different environmental and spiritual levels of various communities.