Design Trust Grant Recipient | “The World of Lines” by Rui An Ho presented at the exhibition entitled “Chronologies” at Institute of Contemporary Arts at NYU Shanghai

Design Trust Feature Grant recipient Rui An Ho presented the research documentary “The World of Lines” at the exhibition entitled “Chronologies”, at Institute of Contemporary Arts at NYU Shanghai, that examines the history of the textile industry between the ends of two major river systems in China, namely the Pearl River and the Yangtze River. With a focus on the shifting relations between labour, technology, and capital, the project considers the industry’s origins in Shanghai and its surrounding cities in the late nineteenth century, its displacement to Hong Kong in the 1940s through the 1970s and its “return” to the mainland through technological and capital flows as Hong Kong began deindustrialising in the 1980s. Building upon years of fieldwork and archival research across the two regions, the project culminates in a feature-length artistic documentary and book that present the different stories and perspectives collected by the artist and his collaborators.

The exhibition opened on September 18^th 2025 with a special screening for the elderly factory workers who have participated and been interviewed for the research and documentary. Rui An’s previous works including 24 Cinematic Points of View of a Factory Gate in China (2023), Student Bodies (2019), ULTIMATE COIN TEST CHINA HIGH-SPEED RAIL (2018) are also showcased in the exhibition mapping onto dynamic cultural, social and economic landscape of the 20th century in China and East and Southeast Asia. A public sharing was hosted on September 20^th where the grantee Rui An discussed with curators Zian Chen and Joni Zhu, reflecting on how the historical threads within the works respond to shifts in regional economic and social structures.

Rui An Ho is an artist and writer working in the intersections of contemporary art, cinema, performance and theory. Through lectures, essays and films, his research examines the relations between labour, technology and capital across different systems of governance in a global age. He has presented projects at the Shanghai Biennale; Bangkok Art Biennale; Gwangju Biennale; Jakarta Biennale; Kochi-Muziris Biennale; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Kunsthalle Wien; Singapore Art Museum; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; and Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media. He is also recently shortlisted for the Sigg Prize 2025 of M+ Museum. 

Daily screenings of the research film “the World of Lines” (2025, 100’) begin at 11:00, 12:45, 14:30, and 16:15 at Institute of Contemporary Arts at NYU Shanghai untill December 20^th 2025. Stay tuned for more details on the upcoming public programmes of the research in Hong Kong in 2026.