Sun Xun’s main oeuvre consists of a series of highly interrogative and impressive animated films, almost always held in black and white. In these, he explores how history is constructed and narrated.

His recent animated films such as ‘Magician’s Lie’ (2005), ‘Mythos’ (2006), and ‘Requiem’ (2007) all feature the same character, namely a magician, easily recognizable and always dressed with a tall hat. In these films, the viewer follow the protagonist’s journey in search of another world, a better place to be. We witness the magician and his expedition through an apocalyptic world where the earth is set on fire in dramatic dream-like scenarios. Sun Xun also touches upon such themes as society’s development and revolution, referencing paraphrases by Marx, Adorno, and Horkheimer. Accompanying the animations, Sun Xun has also made an extensive series of small paintings ‘Shock of Time’ (2006) on various material, all measuring 17 x 25 cm. Here, he also plays with our notion of time, narration, and history. As background material he uses old newspapers, books and other documentary material quoting different passages of the past.
Sun Xun was born in 1980 in Fuxin, China. Today he lives and works in Hangzhou. In 2005 he graduated from the Print-making Department of China Academy of Fine Arts. In 2005 he established Phi Animation Studio.

Recent exhibitions include Mythos, ShanghART F-Space, Shanghai (2007/2008), Refresh: Chinese Emerging Artists, ARARIO, Beijing (2007/2008), Art Did Not Have a Standard, MoCA, Shanghai (2007), China Power Station: Part II, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway (2007), Shouting Truth, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Beijing (2007), Borderline Video Festival, Beijing (2007), 25th Torino Film Festival, Italy (2007), up-and-coming International Film Festival Hannover, Germany (2007), AURORA Film Festival, Norwich, UK(2007), 23rd International Berlin Short Film Festival, Germany (2007), and The 26th Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Uppsala, Sweden (2007), Future Shorts Festival, UK (2007), Split Short-film Festival, Croatia (2007)