2026-02-28 13:00
At ShanghART M50 Space, Liu Yi created a rainy night in Jiangnan.
In the dim space, thousands of suspended stainless steel wires sway gently. Light and shadow interweave, reflecting the fine, scattered strands like drizzle — resembling a curtain of rain drifting from distant mountains.
Each strand of rain emits a trace of emotion. Every thread transmits feeling; every movement continues a line of thought.
The mottled, interlaced light and shadow come from a chaotic dream scene in the giant screen projection.
Amid the misty rain of Jiangnan, scenes and stories from memory unfold one after another. Distant scenes become chaotic and blurred; departed loved ones suddenly appear — familiar yet strange — pursuing, diffusing, and disappearing within smoke and vapor, ultimately falling into chaos…
Multiple frozen moments in the dream, and multiple nodes of the story, appear again like the recurrence of a dream. In a corner of the exhibition hall, they flicker on and off, constantly shifting, jumping within a parallel space between dream and reality.
Young artist Liu Yi excels at capturing complex human emotions and amplifying and conveying them through ink animation and spatial installation.
This is also what makes her work most compelling: viewers immerse themselves in the emotional field she creates, surrounded by it, experiencing it physically, unable to detach for a long time.
Her works leave a strong aftereffect.
It is difficult to imagine that a young, sweet post-90s woman possesses such inner and physical strength.
Each ink animation consists of tens of thousands of hand-drawn drafts; each exhibition site is an immersive environment — all completed independently by her.
For example, in When I Fall Asleep, the Dream Comes, she spent three years creating tens of thousands of drawings in her mountain studio in Hangzhou, integrating dream memory, emotional capture, and natural transformation into a five-minute ink animation.
At the exhibition site, with simple mechanical devices and thousands of stainless steel wires, Liu Yi created an immersive scene, skillfully using ordinary materials to evoke natural forces.
Elements such as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth — vapor and smoke — frequently appear in her work.
Living in Jiangnan, she is drawn to observing the movement of airflows in nature.
Ordinary natural phenomena often hold the greatest power to accumulate energy and move human emotion.
Ink animation has been a medium she has continuously explored in recent years.
Long-term engagement with ink drafts has deepened her understanding of ink’s texture, material properties, and emotional expressiveness.
Yet even after deeper exploration, Liu Yi still believes this seemingly simple medium holds more to be discovered.
On the occasion of her solo exhibition Leap at ShanghART M50 Space, Ding Art invited Liu Yi to discuss her artistic practice and views on ink animation.
DING: Can you introduce the animated ink work in Leap?
Liu Yi:
The creation of When I Fall Asleep, the Dream Comes took three years.
It originated from a recurring dream of sadness. Even after waking, the sadness remained.
This resembles the “information cocoon” phenomenon in reality — if dreams are also datafied, dream types may become limited, just as I repeatedly dream the same dream.
Dreaming is a mysterious ability. One can encounter deceased loved ones and experience impossible realities.
I began wondering: are dreams experiences in parallel time-space? Is our world real — or the dream world?
This imagination led to the film.
DING: What experience do you hope viewers have?
Liu Yi:
The film’s tone is sadness.
The installation invites viewers into a wind-and-rain scene: thousands of stainless steel wires sway gently, refracting projected light like fine rain.
Each line conveys emotion; each sway continues thought.
As viewers walk through and touch the cold wires, it feels like moving through the warp and weft of time and space — immersed in Jiangnan mist, or a deep sorrowful dream.
DING: You are highly sensitive to emotion. How do you capture and express it?
Liu Yi:
Emotion is one of the deepest human experiences.
Mornings and Dusks That Require No Management was inspired by a residency in Cyprus.
The young host stayed to care for his intellectually disabled sister.
He told me: if she were healthy, he would live a normal life.
Three years later, I learned he had quietly liked me.
This subtle feeling moved both me and audiences.
DING: Your work often expresses chaos. Why?
Liu Yi:
Chaos reflects emotional logic.
In the film, dreams follow an internal emotional order.
The child and elderly figure represent my grandmother.
In dreams I pursue her as she dissolves like smoke.
Smoke, fog, water, and fire help express this.
DING: You seem interested in natural elements.
Liu Yi:
Natural elements hold vitality and dual meaning.
Fire represents both light and darkness.
Mist represents secrecy.
Water vapor expresses the fluid boundary between dream and reality.
DING: Is this linked to your environment?
Liu Yi:
Yes. Hangzhou is full of moisture.
From my studio, I watch mist gather and disperse like animation.
Rain is natural — so the installation is simple: moving wires and refracted light.
I’m reminded of Stories of the Sahara by Sanmao, describing vermicelli as frozen spring rain.
DING: Some animation drafts are displayed in lightboxes.
Liu Yi:
Each contains two drawings with a switch.
The flicker represents shifts between parallel spaces — memory and reality.
Each dream is another self’s experience.
DING: Can you describe the hand-drawing process?
Liu Yi:
It is time-consuming:
story → storyboard → key frames → in-betweens → scanning → editing.
A five-second shot requires 50–60 drawings.
I experimented with wet paper scanning to create tear-filled visual distortion.
I also explore animation between dry and wet states of ink.
DING: How do you maintain emotional continuity?
Liu Yi:
During these years, I dreamed of my grandmother more often.
We meet in another time-space and I wake in sadness.
DING: Has this process changed your relationship with ink?
Liu Yi:
Yes.
Ink’s unpredictability offers rich emotional expression.
Different papers create different textures.
DING: Your work often references time and parallel universes.
Liu Yi:
I am curious about the unknown.
Inspired by Zhang Ruoxu’s poem, I used plastic film to create flowing river imagery on stage.
DING: Your work requires immense effort.
Liu Yi:
I complete everything independently.
It demands resilience — I may appear soft, but I am strong.
DING: How do you view ink animation today?
Liu Yi:
It is culturally embedded and emotionally accessible.
It is a medium with strong potential in contemporary art.
Related Artists: LIU YI 刘毅
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