Zhang Liaoyuan 张辽源

Zhang Liaoyuan is a multimedia artist based in Hangzhou, whose practice explores the material and conceptual fabric of contemporary life with a focus on creating different means of visual perception.

Zhang's earlier work investigated the social life of common materials, utilizing packing boxes, supermarket locker units, and concrete roadway blocks to construct relatable yet alienating scenarios. A seminal piece from this period, the three-channel video installation “Titanic (2008),” features performers navigating a flooded café, library, and supermarket, serving both as a metaphor for modern-day apathy, as well as human capacity for perseverance. Building on this foundation, Zhang’s practice after 2016 evolved into a deeper interrogation of the technical systems that mediate our reality. His focus shifted toward the inherent logic of image recording, display technologies, and their often-invisible frameworks—such as printer mechanisms or server architectures—that underpin daily life. By deconstructing, revealing, or repurposing these structures, he uncovers their hidden conceptual layers, deeply challenging the audience's viewing habits. Through acts like printing images directly onto functional surfaces, manipulating printing machines settings, and reimagining the framing of photographs, he transmutes utilitarian objects into arresting works that merge peculiarity with familiarity. Through this continuous exploration from tangible object to underlying system, Zhang’s work invites a re-examination of the ordinary structures that shape how we perceive the visual worlds around us.

Zhang Liaoyuan graduated from the New Media Department of the China Academy of Art in 2006, where he now serves as a lecturer.

Submitted by Three Points