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Xi Li 李曦 (b.1997)

Xi Li 李曦 is an interdisciplinary artist. She was born in Harbin, China, and received her education and grew up in both China and New Zealand, based in Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand.  Li earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photo Media from Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design in 2019, where she was honored with the Whitecliffe Photo Media Prize. In 2021 she received Master of Fine Arts (with first class honours) at Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. In the same year, 2021, Li was awarded the Iris Fisher Scholarship.

Li's creative practice encompasses multiple fields, including films, digital images, sculptures, 3D printings, animations, games, virtual reality, installations, performances, photography, and graphic diagrams. She is interested in exploring the complexities of subjective and collective experiences, as well as the aspects constituted by fantasies and desires. Li is committed to combining theoretical research with artistic practice to create expressions and challenges that bridge the two realms. She often works within the research frameworks like psychoanalysis, semiotics and postmodernism. Through capturing visual imagery from macroscopic thinking and subjective perception, she presents self-mythology or critical narratives on themes such as subjectivity, technology, the body, cultural identity, ideology, subcultures, pop culture, globalization, and more.

Li has exhibited her works in various locations across New Zealand and Australia. Her recent solo exhibitions include "The Transcendence Labyrinth of Idols" at Te Tuhi, Auckland, "The Generation of The Hyperreal" at Pah Homestead, Auckland, and "Spirit Ether" at The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023        The Unreliable Landscapes, Unreliable landscapes online exhibition platform, Online
2022        In Touch, Asia New Zealand Foundation, Online
2022        Inhuman Transaction, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2022        Art in the City - Urban Walls, Te Waihorotiu Station (Aotea), Auckland, New Zealand
2022        Transcending Bodies, PhotoAccess Huw Davies Gallery, Griffith ACT, Australia
2021        Cruel Optimism: New Artists Show 2021, Artspace Aotearoa, Auckland, New Zealand
2020        Ratatouille by Fluid Borders, Audio Foundation, Auckland, New Zealand
2020        Free Of Charge, Meanwhile Gallery, Online
2019        Terminal, Sosâge Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2019        Eden Arts Awards, Webb’s, Auckland, New Zealand
2019        The Last Meninas, Pearce Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

Awards and Nominations

2021

2021

2019

2019

Iris Fisher Scholarship 2021

Simon Devitt Prize for Photography 2021 finalist

Whitecliffe College Of Arts And Design-Photo Media Prize 2019

Eden Arts Trust Art Awards 2019 finalist

Books, Publications and References

2023

2023

2023

Unreliable Landscapes newspaper publication, Unreliable Landscapes Project

The Happy Kids Archive publication, The Happy Kids Archive

Cruel Optimism Zine, Artspace Aotearoa

Commissions

Prosperity or Emptiness, Circuit Artist Moving Image Aotearoa New Zealand and Wellington City Council

The Idol Reveal: Transcendence Portrait - Idol III, Te Tuhi

The Idol Reveal: Transcendence Portrait - Idol II, Te Tuhi
The Idol Reveal: Transcendence Portrait - Idol I , Te Tuhi

The Idol Reveal: Infatuation Illuminated Pillars Series, Te Tuhi
Being, Become, Asia New Zealand Foundation
Spirit Ether: Mist, Fluid Borders and The Arts House Trust

Spirit Ether: Isolated, Fluid Borders and The Arts House Trust
Brain Island Special Performance, Fluid Borders and The Arts House Trust
Ritual of Subject: Aggregate of desires, Artspace Aotearoa
Ritual of Subject: The Idol Worship of Cynic, Artspace Aotearoa
Ritual of Subject: The Flattering of Physical Changes, Artspace Aotearoa
Ritual of Subject: The anti-enjoyment mentality of abstinence, Artspace Aotearoa
Ritual of Subject: The grotesque of consumer symbols, Artspace Aotearoa

 

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

2021

2021

2021

2021

2021

SELECTED PRESS

2023

2023

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

2021

Magic Between Worlds: on Masons Screen(reviewed by Sinead Overbye), Circuit Artist Moving Image Aotearoa New Zealand

Exhibition explores culture and celebrity, Times Online

IN TOUCH - Being, Becoming (in conversation with Asia New Zealand Foundation), Asia New Zealand Foundation

Ritual of Feeling (reviewed by Misong Kim), Circuit Artist Moving Image Aotearoa New Zealand

Artist to Watch, METRO Magazine - Spring 2022 Issue 436

Photo-Stories: Virtual Self with artist Xi Li (in conversation with Gabrielle Hall-Lomax), PhotoAccess

Optimism has its precedents: situating the rise of NFTs by Nina Dyer, Aotearoa Digital Arts Network

Xi Li Cruel Optimism Interview (in conversation with Artspace Aotearoa), Artspace Aotearoa

Art, Not Science Episode 34 (in conversation with Abby Cunnane), The Physics Room Contemporary Art Space

CIRCUIT Cast Episode 95 (in conversation with Connor Fitzgerald and Moya Lawson), Circuit Artist Moving Image Aotearoa New Zealand

TEACHING

2023

2022

2021

Lecturer at Whitecliffe College of Arts And Design

Professional Teaching Fellows at Elam School of  Fine Arts at the University of Auckland

Teaching Support at Elam School of Fine Arts at  the University of Auckland

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