LuYang NetiNeti

LuYang (b. Shanghai; lives and works in Tokyo) draws inspiration from science-fiction, manga, gaming, and techno cultures. In their video installations, references to hypermodern technologies blend with ideas for post- or trans-human scenarios for our world. To create their nonbinary avatars, LuYang works with 3D scans of their own body, alluding to the Buddhist wisdom “dokusho dokushi” (you are born alone and you die alone). The ongoing series DOKU features these hybrid “reincarnations” of the artist in sprawling virtual worlds, made using computer game engines and accompanied by intense soundtracks. What emerges from LuYang’s predominantly digital works are fantastic, often painful and shocking images that visualize an interdisciplinary mix of religion, philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and modern technology.

The winner of Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year award in 2022, LuYang presented their first monographic exhibitions in Germany and the United Kingdom that year. The catalogue LuYang NetiNeti puts the focus on the singular DOKU series, which featured prominently at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, and includes knowledgeable and insightful essays on the rising international artist’s practice by Julia Greenway, Paul Luckraft, Livia Monnet and Pao-chen Tang, and an interview by Nora Wölfing.