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(airy music)

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- I believe artworks are self-portraits.

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It is really difficult not to[br]carry yourself in the works.

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As artists, we tear ourselves[br]apart and reassemble it

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in every piece that we are[br]creating and recreating.

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(airy music continues)

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I started as an engineer[br]basically because I was a student

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who was good at math and physics.

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Art later came into my life

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because the pure pleasure of creating

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got me quite addicted.

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I grew up in the northwest part of China

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in the city that is called Karamay.

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It means black oil in Uyghur[br]language, our local language.

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My grandparents' generation[br]immigrated to that area

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under the state order to[br]develop a city digging oils.

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I have this memory of[br]celebrating oil in my hometown.

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All the families working on oil

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will get this souvenirs from the city.

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It looks like a pyramid,

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and in the middle of it,

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there is a drop of actual crude oil.

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I want to kind of create like[br]a magnified version of that,

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but then at the same time, the bottom

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of the entire work would[br]be a fountain of oil.

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(motor humming)

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I kind of like the air bubble one.

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I feel it's more lively, or[br]if I really want a lot of air,

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I just let the tube expose to the air.

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(liquid gurgling)

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I want it to have this[br]motion inside the oil pan,

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giving this sentient existence.

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It's not just a passive[br]material to be extracted.

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It's a living being[br]beneath the earth's crust

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and transforming the world above it

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with terror and lots of violence.

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(airy music)[br](liquid dripping)

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Growing up in a town that[br]essentially was built

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by immigrants within China,[br]I felt very much connected

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to the idea of going to[br]a place for its resource,

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creating generations and[br]prosperity in that sense.

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That entire idea is parallel[br]to space exploration,

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which is a big part of my practice,

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the idea of people traveling[br]so far going to another planet

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felt like what my[br]grandparents' generation did,

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when they were in their 20s.

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(rocket humming)

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I started working on space exploration

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when I was a grad[br]student in MIT Media Lab.

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I submitted the proposal and made a robot

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that carried my tooth and went to space.

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It was launched as a research project,

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but for me, it is really[br]a performance piece.

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I want a part of me to go to space.

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I wanted to create an avatar[br]that enabled that journey.

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- We count down, the rocket[br]blazes, engines pulse.

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Now we sing like birds[br]breathing cedar air.

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We are made of dust and light.

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(ethereal music)

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- There's something about expedition.

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It's very beautiful, very glorious,

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but at the same time, it's[br]a very lonely journey often.

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Going to Beijing for college

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and going to the United[br]States for grad school,

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I was trying to arrive at[br]somewhere for a better life,

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but then that journey is just pulling me

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further away from my home.

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And I think as humanity,

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we are imagining all[br]this version of futures

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of living on another[br]planet, or living with AI.

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But I feel like as you're[br]leaving your current place,

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some part of yourself died and shed away.

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There is this inevitable death

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that happens along with the[br]growth that we so desire for.

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that happens along with the[br]growth that we so desire for.

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I am thinking a lot about[br]my own reproduction.

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Nowadays, I'm at that age,

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people are just telling me,

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"Oh, you should freeze your eggs.

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Don't even think too much about it."

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I have a level of alienation[br]and fear over that process.

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(gentle music)

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Reproduction technologies claim[br]to solve all the problems,

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but in fact dramatically change our body.

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We freeze time in this biological machine

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because we need to get a better[br]career, we need to go study,

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we haven't found a good partner yet.

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I felt like it's all about productivity,

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whether time is useful or not useful.

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I'm making this collection[br]of objects and sculptures

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about this fear, referencing[br]lots of bone structures,

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but they're all warped and twisted

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as I imagine how our body would change

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through these experiences.

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And I'm cooling down the[br]sculpture to a low temperature,

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so they're gonna freeze,

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kind of having frost[br]growing on the sculpture.

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(dark ethereal music)

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I do believe in science and technology,

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in lots of its methods,

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and its ability to transform the world.

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But at the same time, I'm[br]hoping there is a limit,

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that we can never reach,

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because it also strips away[br]this kind of fundamental idea

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of what it means to be human.

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In this calibrated and measured world,

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art allows beauty and emotions[br]to be part of the process.

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art allows beauty and emotions[br]to be part of the process

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(dark ethereal music continues)