Real and virtual worlds meet in Chinese artist's new 3-D work

Artist Qiu Anxiong's latest ink animation New Classic of Mountains and Seas III creates a world that blurs the line between virtual and real. Provided To China Daily

In his latest 3-D animation work, Chinese artist Qiu Anxiong shows a man in a black suit and an octopus-shaped mask fall through a city of skyscrapers. Will he die? No one can tell because the lines between reality and the virtual world have blurred.

It's a future world created by the video and animation artist for the final episode of his ink animation trilogy New Classic of Mountains and Seas. The Shanghai-based artist spent three years producing his latest work of 25 minutes to discuss people's confusion and struggle living in a high-tech world, where reality is mixed with the virtual.

The video's two protagonists, a factory worker who is obsessed with computer games and a city-based designer, seem to live totally separated lives. However, their lives intertwine in the virtual world. In it, they build their own ideal land to avoid the real one - dull and full of glorious facades. In it, they can be immortal because they are reborn, again and again. Who is dead and who is not? The question remains open for the audiences.

"The high-tech aspect of our lives, such as virtual reality, has two sides. They offer us great conveniences but also have a negative side," says Qiu, 45.

For the young generations growing up in the internet era, the virtual world is their reality, says the artist.