Disentangling Entanglement: In Memory of Intimacy, Vulnerability, and Action

Disentangling Entanglement: In Memory of Intimacy, Vulnerability, and Action is an exhibition about how people come together, collaborate, part ways, and continue moving forward.

Over the past decade, amid profound shifts in social values and the conditions of everyday life and social participation in China, many have been brought together by shared concerns, struggles, or ideals into “communities.”* Many later dispersed due to social pressures, shifting relationships, or transitions in individual life stages. This exhibition understands such processes of “gathering and dispersal” as a real and common lived experience—not as a sign of failure, but as different phases within the ongoing movement of personal and collective life.

Disentangling Entanglement attends to moments that are often overlooked yet profoundly shape both individuals and their times: care and tension within community practices; vulnerability and adaptation during halted action; and the emotional and bodily experiences accumulated in everyday labor. The exhibition not only supports activists and artists in transforming these experiences into an open archive, but also fosters an evolving participatory collective creation through the ongoing workshop “Between Rootedness and Diaspora: Mapping Our Interwoven Trajectories.” Through video, sound, text, handicraft, and interactive installations, audiences are invited to slow down, observe, listen, and feel. In addition, the exhibition presents a research-based archive, “Diving into the Deep,” which traces the undercurrents of social change over the past decade, moving beneath and through individual lived experiences. “A Space to Use” opens another place for work, gathering, and process documentation, including the collaborative curatorial process. In making the exhibition, the curatorial team explored the possibilities of non-hierarchical cooperation, practices of care, and collective decision-making in a real-world context.

Disentangling Entanglement is both a retrospective gesture and a public invitation: a space that allows for pausing, looking back, and mourning, in order to reconsider how connections are formed, broken, and carried forward—and how actions that attend to both individual and collective well-being might be inherited and extended over time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disentangling Entanglement is accompanied by related events, including:

OPENING RECEPTION

Thursday, 26 February, 16:00–19:00

A public reception with the artists and co-curators to celebrate the exhibition’s opening with food and drinks.

WORKSHOP
Weaving with Your Body
with ZHU Lina

Saturday, 21 March, 14:00–16:00

We are always surrounded by worlds of “lines,” and we constantly use our bodies as lines. In this body movement workshop led by ZHU Lina, participants will play with real “lines” and weave our own stories across different relationships and slices of the world. Participants are encouraged to wear loose, comfortable clothing suitable for movement.

PERFORMANCE
Retracing My Decade
with Theatre LaStrada

Saturday, 18 April, 14:00–16:00

Playback Theatre transforms audience members’ real-life experiences into spontaneous live performances. Presented by Theatre LaStrada, this event creates a safe and open space for the audience to reflect together on the past ten years, personal growth, and societal changes.

PERFORMANCE
An Archive of Atmosphere
with ZHAO Yiren, Mr. Slicker, huhu, Astronaut Bunny, xiaoshui and Luozha

Sunday, 10 May, 15:00–17:00

As the closing event, this concert approaches sound as an affective archive, capturing collective moods and personal experiences. Featuring creators from different generations, the program includes performances by Mr. Slicker; ZHAO Yiren, along with her friends JI Chenjia and the band Astronaut Bunny; as well as huhu and DJ Luozha.

All events are FREE and OPEN to the public.

For further details and to register for events, please visit the event pages under the “RELATED” section below.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This exhibition Disentangling Entanglement: In Memory of Intimacy, Vulnerability, and Action and related events are presented as the fourth and final season of the ICA's artistic research program Lightless Fires (2024–26), exploring fermentation as a figure and technique of collective memory, autonomous archiving, and writing history.

This exhibition is co-organized by ZHAO Yiren, ZHU Lina, JI Chenjia, BAO Yang, and CHEN Baichao, and realized together with artists and activists: Zijin, Zhu Zi, Money, CHEN Hang, HaiHan, shan, ZHAO Ko, Luozha, Xiaoka, C, Wangxin, and Z. The exhibition is overseen by Michelle Yeonho Hyun, with essential support from YU Jiayi, LIU Aiqian, and TAN Yun. Advisory support by Kouzi. Graphic design by LIU Anqi. Spatial design by FANG Yuan.

The workshop “Between Rootedness and Diaspora: Mapping Our Interwoven Trajectories” was supported by LIAO Zhili, Coco Lai, and Agnes Zhu. The research project “Diving into the Deep” received invaluable support from Luna.

We extend our sincere thanks to YIN Aiwen, XIE Siyan, Zoe Zhao, NIE Xiaoyi, HUANG Xusong, Binhua, Apple, XIANG Jixuan, Green, JIN Linglin, ZHU Jingming, TANG Haoduo, XU Tan, SHAO Zihan, Selena LU, YIN Ran, Heather, Gris, HUANG Yi, GE Lei, FENG Jing, Wuyang, Zijie, AT, ZENG Jiahui, Xiaolan, GUO Yun, GU Gao, Claire Huang, Shin, HAN Yifan, ZHU Shuai, ZHENG Xiaoyu, Takebayashi Katsumasa, TAN Lin, Mizoguchi Satomi, Xiaohua, Leori, HOU Chuchu, ZHANG Yuchen, HAO Yue, Oviya Dhinakar, Ashely Li, Fay Guan, XU Shaoru, and QIN Junning for their help and thoughtful responses at different stages of the exhibition.

We also express our sincere gratitude to the participants of the workshop “Between Rootedness and Diaspora: Mapping Our Interwoven Trajectories”, 小鲤鱼, 子博, 彭易, 阿绿, 阿成, 刘鹏, 乃龙, 李悦, 小项, 小刘, LYU Xiaoai, ZHU Ziyi, ZHANG Yuchen, CHEN Ying, DING Jieyi, 苏千翔, SONG Xiaoyue, GONG Jiaming, Maripaz Sandoval Cascante, JIANG Zihan, WENG Weile, Leah Green, Sydney Yuen, ZHANG Keqin, XING Xiran, Yoana Ivanova Dimitrova, 王宣骐, CAI Jiaxi, SANG Yiran, LI Huiyan, ZHENG Hanxi, YU Yue, GU Jianing, Xizi Cecilia Hua, CHEN Huiyi, SHENG Yan, GU Erchao, LI Huipu, Agnes Zhu, Coco Lai, Faeid, Ada, David O, Michelle, Sarah, Garciel, 小海, Haru, 鹿, 寒粥, 罗渣, 文秀, 占黑, 包旸, 书书, sirui, 夕岸, Diane, Susan, 陈百超, 亮亮, 小葛, 小门, 小牙, 小黑, 阿若, 大力, 猹, Shin, Shan, 浦浦, 智立, 墨鱼, 欣欣, 路苒, 小娟, chuna, Inés Li, 脆, 游乐, 大黄, 肥犬, 蒋蒋, 刘宏伟, 邹金龙, 马静雯, 晴天, 杨韵博, Frank, 浩丞, and 芸。

We also gratefully acknowledge the support of Theatre LaStrada, Yi Talk, Dweller, Trigger, A Pool Without Water, A. Small House, setuptables, and boPOmofo. We thank GU Ya, SHEN Bin, CHEN Wanhao, GE Erquan, HAN Lei, and ZHU Chunjin (Shanghai Zhitong Advertising Co., Ltd.) for exhibition construction, JI Xiaojun, FU Jimin, GU Yisheng, and LI Zhengkuan (Shanghai Heru Culture Communication Co., Ltd.) for technical equipment installation, and ZHANG Zhonge and SUN Dongli for gallery cleaning and maintenance. We sincerely appreciate the support and collaboration of our colleagues and partners across all departments at NYU Shanghai for this exhibition.

This exhibition began with the Dinghaiqiao Mutual Aid Society. We are deeply thankful to the many friends who walked with us along the way, including those we are unable to name individually. It is through these shared and interwoven forms of participation that this exhibition took shape.

*There is no precise English equivalent for 社群 (shè qún), often translated as “community.” Among Chinese activists, it connotes collective action, relational labor, and sustained social engagement. In this exhibition, the term describes not a fixed social form but formations organized through shared intentions and practices. While overlapping with the idea of an “intentional community,” it remains open to varying degrees of structure and commitment. Unless otherwise noted, “community” is used in this process-oriented sense.

Disentangling Entanglement: In Memory of Intimacy, Vulnerability, and Action

Disentangling Entanglement: In Memory of Intimacy, Vulnerability, and Action

Lightless Fires IV

documents

related

Weaving with Your Body

Retracing My Decade

An Archive of Atmosphere

Chronologies

Vitalisms

Sour Things

The Textless Herstory of Textiles

Autonomous Archiving

Scriptorium

Provisional Artistic Studies

Remembering Our Future: shamanism, oracles and AI

The Way to Mandala: The Artistic Practice of Connecting the Self to the Universe

What Can Art Do?

Tabling: Stories of Arrival