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This year, Manchester celebrates its position as European City of Science 2016. To mark this occasion, CFCCA’s upcoming programme is exploring the boundaries between art and science through the lens of Chinese contemporary art. CFCCA is collaborating with a series of Chinese contemporary artists to explore the interrelationship between art and science, from the creation of a digital graveyard through to debates around e-waste and climate change.

Opening the programme in Gallery 1 is Remnants of an Electronic Past, a solo exhibition from Shanghai based new media artist ‘aaajiao’.

Trained as a computer programmer, aaajiao (b. 1984, Xi’an, China) works extensively with new technologies through his work (even his artist name comes from the handle of his online presence). Through reproduction of sculptural elements to represent a ‘digital graveyard’, aaajiao uses his own unique approach to contemporary technology to contemplate what happens to obsolete versions of software as technology moves forward; asking the question, where does software go to die?

 CFCCA Curator, Ying Tan comments:

As one of the prominent voices in Chinese new media art, aaajiao brings a truly unique perspective to CFCCA’s upcoming art and science programme. We are delighted to be showcasing this fascinating exhibition in the UK and to be adding another layer to Manchester’s diverse European City of Science 2016 programme.

Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (formerly Chinese Arts Centre) is leading the UK in exploring a changing international dynamic. Investigating the most exciting contemporary work coming out of China and East Asia today, CFCCA works with a wide array of partners to embrace a global century where Chinese art is moving firmly centre-stage.

This is the Chinese century and the UK is culturally, as well as economically, a long way from understanding what this means for the global creative community and its audiences. Contemporary art in China and East Asia is a dynamic force, fast gaining momentum, simultaneously driven by and questioning market forces.