New Currents: Wang Yuyu
By Annette Meier

Detail of YUYU WANG’s Pierce the River, 2022, silicone, acrylic, jujube tree thorns, stainless steel, iron wire, and hand-colored beech wood, 280 × 60 × 25 cm. Photo by and courtesy Studio Gallery, Shanghai.
Philosophers throughout history have agonized over the mind-body problem, attempting to describe how human consciousness relates to corporeality. While French polymath René Descartes viewed minds and bodies as separate kinds of “substance,” various Buddhist teachings maintain a holistic approach instead. Contributing to this debate, Chinese artist Wang Yuyu considers physical bodies as entities that evoke the metaphysical, generating a practice that spans sculpture, installation, image-making, and performance.