X Museum holds first exhibition at new location

With pink as the thematic thread, the inaugural reopening exhibition showcases 49 artworks, spanning painting, sculpture and installation, from the X Museum’s collection, which consists of more than 1500 artworks primarily by emerging contemporary artists from around the world.

Produced by the museum’s curatorial team, the exhibition brings together creations by celebrated international artists including Heidi Bucher, Nicolas Party and Quarles, as well as emerging domestic artists such as Zhang Zipiao, Li Shurui and Wang Xiaoqu. On view in six galleries, the show is curated in line with the museum’s consistent focus on technology, identity, race and body in contemporary art, dealing with similar themes which are relevant in the post-pandemic era.

Exhibited along with X Pink 101, is Theta’s World, an online game by filmmaker and artist Lawrence Lek. On display on the museum’s second floor, the game is paired with virtual reality goggles, transporting visitors to SimBeijing, an uninhabited city designed for testing driverless cars. Outside the museum, people can access Theta’s World by visiting its official website.

Lek’s game is the latest commission of X Virtual, a digital art platform launched by the museum in 2019 dedicated to artistic virtual world building and research. Last year X Virtual unveiled its first four commissions by four digital artists from China, Britain and Brazil.

Huang remarked that X Virtual embodies that the museum, born and growing in the digital age, embraces new media and technologies to enable art to transcend time and space.

“The younger generations are the hope of the future, and their passion for art and innovative thinking can bring us new perspectives and inspiration. Therefore, we created the X Museum Triennial to give young artists an international platform to showcase their talent and creativity,” Huang said.

The second edition of the museum’s triennial will be staged after X Pink 101 between August and November, focusing on the artistic practice of young Chinese artists and artists of Chinese descent over the last three years, according to Wu, the chief curator.

She added that by the end of this year the museum will hold the first museum solos for two American artists – Alex Gardner and Kylie Manning.

The museum’s reopening celebration also featured a grand gala event called “The New GalaXy” on Saturday evening.

X Pink 101 runs until Aug 6.

If you go:

11 am – 6 pm, Monday to Friday; 11 am - 8 pm, weekends and public holidays
X Museum, Langyuan Station, E1 (Building 10), No.53 Banjieta Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing