Lisha Nie is an artist whose work spans various media, including video, digital media, sculpture, and installation. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and a MPS from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. Her works of art derive from her mistrust of the authoritative social and ideological construction, which she describes as “fictional space.” She aims to explore and expose what she terms as “leakages of the real”-moments where reality seeps through these constructed narratives. Her recent exhibitions, screenings, and residencies include at Culture Hub(US), Galaxy Museum of Contemporary Art (China), Rethymno Days Festival (Greece), By Art Matters (China), NARS Foundation (US), and others.
Thank you for joining us, Lisha. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am an artist working in various media, including but not limited to installation, video, sculpture, and painting. I moved a lot and am currently based in New York. I was born in Chongqing, a city in southwest China. There used to be lots of ruins in the city. When I was younger, around 15. I like to go out for a long walk and document them with my junky camera. I was constantly in that illusion of time that when I was walking in the ruins, the buildings were out of function, but if I looked up, I saw very high glass wall buildings under construction. Ruins and concrete are the recurrent subjects in my work. I like to mix objects from different times into a singular space to create the illusion of time, which is a presentation of my reality.
What ideas are you exploring in your practice?
The foundation in my practice is the idea of time. I examine time on various scales, including industrial standards and natural cycles. This exploration extends to discussing how human desire interrupts the life and death cycle, as well as our wish to defy death and achieve eternity.
In 2018, I held a funeral for a clock. In 2019, I made a video installation Endlessly Idle, with Time. It’s based on the fictional story where every character is caged in a rectangular screen, doing things that follow the rhythm of time. All the objects in the video symbolize the idea of standard and efficiency like suit, office chair, and printed paper.
In my 2021 solo exhibition “null,” I placed objects symbolizing artificial eternal qualities into the same space. These included references to Dante Alighieri’s poetry, a replica of Brancusi’s “The Kiss,” and a 3D-printed model of my hand. Text endows ideas with eternity, replicas grant original works eternity, and 3D scanning gives the physical body eternity. In the fictional story I created, all these eventually perish in a great fire—one of the fundamental elements of nature—awaiting rebirth.
Is there any subject or theme you’ve been particularly interested in lately? Could be inspiration from another artist, genre, literature, history, or any other influence.
I am interested in creating a temporary space to reverse the vulnerability we created for ourselves by ourselves. One of the essence of capitalism is competition, which separates the hearts of people. We might still not feel happy in this system no matter how much success we made and how many desires we achieved, as the true happiness comes from love.
One of my recent long term projects is Do Nothing Company. It’s a conceptual brand that promotes to do nothing for financial gain but do things for the gain of love.
How has your work evolved over the last few years? Have you made any shifts in media?
「当你握紧拳头，手中什么也没有，松开双手，你拥有的是一切。」from Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—”When you hold your fist tight, you hold nothing. When you open your hand, you have everything.”—has been haunting me over the years. Now, I am practicing to approach a more fluid way of thinking, making, and living. Through this shift, I feel as though I am stepping out of a space that once felt so narrow.
In the past two years, I went back to school to study art and technology, learning techniques like AI, motion capture, and tracking systems. These skills are now in my toolbox, making my workflow more fluid. However, during my studies, I discovered my deep connection to hand-making because the hand, after all, connects to the heart.
What does “community” mean to you? Does community, art-related or otherwise, influence your work?
Community means we help and take care of each other. Two people are the smallest unit of a community. Many of my ideas come from conversations with others, and I am constantly receiving inspiration from the things and people around me.
Do you have any advice that you would offer to others?
Make a wish.
text & photo courtesy of Lisha Nie
- Website: http://nielisha.com/
- Instagram: @nie.lisha
