ROSIE DING
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024 21g, Selected BFA Themed Exhibition, New York University, New York, NY
2021 Beauty, Created by Experience—Female Artist Invitation Exhibition, Kunqu Institute, Suzhou, China
2020 当速度成为形式 When Speed Becomes Form—Live in Your Screen, Wind H Art Center, Beijing, China
21g
—they say the soul weighs 21 grams
Matter | Consciousness.
What constitutes existence?
Conception | Death.
When the physical body gives way, where does the mind go?
From Buddhism’s vision of life as samsara to Nietzsche’s pursuit of self-realization, humanity—one of the few species capable of metacognition—has long sought to question and understand its own existence. Building on this timeless inquiry, the group exhibition reimagines the forms, stages, and interpretations of being. From ceramics that deconstruct the physical body to video works that challenge notions of reality and consciousness, Ding, Ji, and Xuan explore existence from diverse perspectives and mediums. Through a cyclical narrative of conception, death, and transcendence, they guide viewers on a journey through mortal growth and decay while also proposing alternative possibilities for life. This is a convergence of ideas: a meeting place where the organic collides with the inorganic, the digital presses against the physical, and the cerebral encounters the sensorial.
From left to right: Elaine Qi, Huaijin Li, Rosie Ding, Phoebe Ji, Hezi Xuan
Photographed at opening night
"美，用经历去创造—— ——昆曲专题女性艺术家邀请展"
24位艺术家诠释由女性价值体系形成的美学观
Beauty, Created by Experience—Female Artist Invitation Exhibition
This exhibition celebrates the breadth and creativity of contemporary Chinese art through the works of 24 female artists, showcasing their visionary imagination, technical mastery, and poetic expression across a wide range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, photography, video, performance, installation, printmaking, and NFTs. With its all-female lineup—a striking contrast to the historically low representation of women in major group exhibitions—it seeks to spotlight this often-overlooked group of creatives. Beyond presenting their works, the exhibition poses a thought-provoking question: how might feminine values influence and shape contemporary aesthetics?
"...On the contrary, they embrace openness, adaptability, collaboration, empathy, subtlety, transformation, empowerment, sensitivity, spirituality, gentleness, vulnerability, and an enlightened critical perspective, alongside a profound yearning for equality and truth. In essence, they embody a distinctly feminine value system."
"这24位女性艺术家以她们各自的差异性代表了中国当代艺术的视觉-观念的前沿，以及与后疫情时代相对应的一个新的价值体系。只有当人们聚集在这个空间中共同体验所有作品时，才能感受到中国当代艺术的真正脉搏——一种美感，一股力量，一份来自知识分子的希望，一种由女性价值体系构成的新美学。这一切只有在共同呈现时才会变得与众不同，犹如昆曲传习所的百年历史，其物理特征和历史背景赋予了这些当代艺术在传统和美学方面的开放意义。" — 凤凰艺术
Featured work: Elevation (2020)
“当速度成为形式，在屏幕里生活”
我们该如何在屏幕里生活？
When Speed Becomes Form—Live in Your Screen
Speed, form, and screen—three seemingly unrelated concepts—serve as the foundation for this exhibition’s exploration of contemporary art in the digital age. In 1968, Andy Warhol famously predicted a future where everyone would enjoy “15 minutes of fame.” While his vision has largely come to pass, today’s hyperconnected world moves far faster than he could have imagined, reducing our moments of attention to mere seconds. Curators Xiao Ge and Jonas Stampe have crafted a compelling and cohesive exhibition that examines how digital media and the culture of instant engagement are reshaping art’s relationship with time, technology, and modern life.
This exhibition brings together prominent contemporary Chinese artists, spanning emerging talents and established figures, who have worked across a wide range of mediums throughout their careers. For this project, they were challenged to step into a new format, creating 15 to 60-second videos using only their smartphones. Displayed on 16:9 screens, these works explore the transformative potential of online video and its role in shaping the future of artistic creation, distribution, and evolution.
"在当代社会中，人借由媒介和网络而延展；在展览现场，屏幕借由镜面而延展；通过作品，艺术家使用有限制的手机创作，延展了自身的思考与创作；而每一个观看者，更是可以从这些与抖音快手短视频形似却神不似的作品中，体验到个体在社会中的延展与探索。"
— 凤凰艺术
"In this exhibition, a new temporal realism grounded in seconds creates an instantaneous perspective that delivers a conceptual and visual impact. It offers a glimpse into how "speed" permeates the lives of both viewers and artists, prompting a discussion on the recognition of speed, its manifestations in contemporary art and daily life, and the broader "operating pace" of society as a whole."
丁如许, Untitled (still from the artwork), 2020, single-channel color video, 15 seconds with sound.