Wang Xin
Hamster Wheel
2016
Metal pipe, steel pipe, light bulb, LCD television, wire
Wang Xin’s “Hamster Wheel” (2016) presents a whimsical commentary that is both humorous and dystopian. The interactive installation manifests as a functional, bright pink, humansized hamster wheel that visitors may enter. As visitors walk, they are faced with a scrolling video displaying motivational slogans about becoming a successful artist - entering a session of selfhypnosis as well as exercise as the hamster wheel spins around in place.
The gleeful joy evoked by the installation’s interactivity forms contrast with the monotonous notion of spinning the wheel or walking on a treadmill - a metaphor for the education and training needed in order to become a successful artist. Conceived to engage both the participant and surrounding observers, Wang’s “Hamster Wheel” also alludes to a certain performative element that exists in the relationship dynamic between artists and the art world.
The work is generously loaned by DE SARTHE Hong Kong.
About Wang Xin
Wang Xin was born in 1983 in Yichang, Hubei, China. She graduated from China Academy of Art with a B.F.A. in 2007 and graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (M.F.A.) in 2011.
Wang Xin's artworks take the form of installations, moving images and new media. Unconsciousness, art world systems, and posthumanism are key features in her creation. She frequently uses language and signs to challenge the status of the artist and the functioning of the art market today. The impact of her bold slogans provides a satirical reading to her own position and relation to the art world, as well as a critique of the larger ecosystem of art. She is also a certificated hypnotist and often explores the creative ways to use hypnosis in art. Wang Xin is also the founder of "The Gallery" project, which is an alternative art space/system.