10 Questions with Daiqing Zhang

Daiqing Zhang (b. 1998, Beijing, China) now lives and works in Providence, RI, and Los Angeles, CA, USA. Her practice is informed by phenomena in everyday life and their transcendental and celestial significance. Zhang’s work often takes form in highly crafted experimental instruments underscored by phenomenology, recreating and staging serendipitous moments with hot glass.

Zhang received an MFA in Glass at the Rhode Island School of Design, RI, USA, and a BA in Glass at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Zhang is the recipient and nominee of several domestic and international awards, and she was recently shortlisted for the Stanislav Libenský Award. Zhang has shown independently and collaboratively in national and international exhibitions, including the

Stanislav Libenský Award Exhibition, Prague Gallery, Czech Republic; a solo show, Just Normal, Beijing, China; a three-person show, In Light of Lenses, Ladd Observatory, Providence, RI, USA; a selected group show, I’d Rather Go Blind, curated by Ebony L. Haynes, Gelman Gallery, Providence, RI, USA. She is the recipient of many funds and grants from national and international institutes, including CVG, funded by VIS-A-THON and supported in part by the National Science Foundation, USA. Zhang’s work has been featured in publications nationally and internationally, including New Glass Review 41.

zhangdaiqing.com | @zhang_daiqing

ARTIST STATEMENT

Zhang’s work often takes form in experience-charged installations underscored by phenomenology. They are informed by the moments of subtle phenomena she observed or experienced in everyday life.

Zhang has built a collection of documentation about the experience of having a sensitivity to moments of wonder in everyday life. These archives recorded sensuous imprints in life composed of mundane phenomena. In the collection, there are images and footage of a glimpse of light leaking through cloud crevices, a brush of rainbow appearing before sunset, and an optic projection of her studio created by a spherical vessel that she made. These moments are the gems disguised in the ordinary. In them, Zhang sees us, the beautiful individuals who thrive in the world anonymously.

Inconspicuous phenomena built the world, such as air, dust, and light, guaranteeing our inhabitation on earth, vouching for our traces for being alive, and grounding our perceptions and awareness. They are transcendental and infinite. Zhang feels the urgency to bring these significant ordinaries to the foreground. In the beam of sunshine cast through floating particles, she saw stars dancing slowly in the air. In moments as such, a world beyond its ordinary starts to uncover. There, Zhang realized that we, too, are parts of the imponderable universe. Treasuring the phenomena as evidence of the unfolding world, Zhang recreates/stages these moments of serendipity in space with hot glass.

INTERVIEW

Let’s start talking a little about yourself. What is your personal and artistic background? 

I was born and raised in China and recently graduated from RISD Glass.

How did you get interested in art and start working as an artist? And are you still following the same aspiration?

I remember naturally developing an interest in drawing and crafting as a kid. My parents noticed and cherished this nature of mine. Later on, it became more apparent to me that, compared to other subjects, art was the only one that kept me motivated. Therefore, I got into the art class in my high school and continued pursuing this field ever after.
Looking back now, as a kid, I lived with a highly-tuned sensitivity to my environment. Lots of my early memories are charged with sensuous experiences. When I was about two, my family lived in Paris for several months. Among the blurred memories, one remains vivid. I recall falling asleep on the way to our rented apartment. When my parents finally carried me into our home space, I briefly opened my eyes. The details of how that space was decorated are obscure. However, I remember at the end of the narrow hallway was our living room, and I saw noon-time sunlight pouring in from the windows, gilding the dust floating in the air and everything it touched. The impact of this moment is one that continues to inspire me to this day and orients my practice.

You are originally from China, but you studied and are currently based in the USA. Do you find that moving to the USA helped you or inspired you concerning your artistic work? Did you develop any specific concept or theme that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise?

I moved to the US in 2021 for graduate school. Through the program, I met many like-minded people who inspired me and helped me become more aware of my fascination with phenomena and perception. The collision between thoughts has deepened my inquiry. However, though I am now in a foreign country, I find myself constantly going back to my own culture, parsing the cultural factors that have been nourishing my practice.

Speaking of your work, you primarily work with mixed media installation. How did you develop this practice? And why did you choose this medium specifically? 

I didn’t really intentionally decide that installation is my primary medium. It’s more like my interest and intention led me to make works that are the installation kind.
For the last year and a half, I have been seeking seemingly impossible phenomena within the forgotten recesses of the everyday. One evolving series of mine centers around dust. The investigation started with me noticing a beam of sunlight casting through dust in the air. Dancing in the light, the barely noticeable motes became dazzling shimmers. In moments as such, a world beyond its ordinary starts to uncover. I began to research dust and then learned the celestial and transcendental significance of this ordinary thing. I realized that we, too, are parts of the imponderable universe. Treasuring the phenomena as such as the evidence of the unfolding world, I recreate and stage moments of serendipity in space, wanting to share the ephemeral experiences with others.
Instead of “installations”, I consider these works as “situations” where experiences of sensations and perceptions intertwine. In a direct encounter with situations as such, the mundane once again reanimates the viewer’s world, yet at the same time, these objects become thresholds to the immeasurable, holding up the veil between the concrete and the intangible.

In your work, you seem to focus on phenomenology, and you define phenomena as “the evidence of the unfolding world.” What does this represent for you and how do you use these concepts in your work?

Influenced by rationalism, objective science is likely to overlook the everyday experience of the world that we all inhabit. Phenomenology is the philosophic tradition that questions the assumption of an objective reality.
David Abram wrote in his book, The Spell of the Sensuous, that the everyday-life world consists of tangible and intangible “phenomena”. Phenomena can be trees and rivers, seasons and weather, animals and humans, feelings and emotions. We are conditioned to associate reality with scientific explanations. However, our everyday being, like eating, napping, and musing, are all interacting with a familiar world. They are the realities that can not be covered by objective sciences. To know the world is to embrace phenomena. 
Through the medium of glass, in particular, I seek to capture these fleeting phenomenological experiences, imbuing them with significance. I want to see more clearly their tangibility and infinity and the here and beyond. In such a way, the work that I produce is both an inquiry and a shared perceptual encounter performed through glass.

On a general level, what are the main themes you work with? And what do they represent for you? 

Generally, I think a lot of the inconspicuous. In my research on dust, I learned that one theory in astronomy argues that the origin of a star, or one could even say the origin of life, begins with a birth cloud that consists of cosmic dust. The gravitational light that radiates from the cosmic dust attracts other particles. As this cloud of dust grows dense to the point that everything bonds into a solid entity, a star is born. Scientists have analyzed samples of nuclei on Earth and found evidence that connects the world we live to the cosmos beyond. In these significant ordinaries, I see us, beautiful individuals who thrive in the world anonymously. 

Speaking of messages, what is, generally speaking, the reaction to the work you receive from the public? Are the messages you want to communicate easily received? 

Instead of thinking about the message I want to address with a work, I would rather consider the atmospheric sensations it will convey in space. In my work, I create situations where viewers are invited to encounter and activate phenomena in both physical and mental space. My goal is to attune my viewers’ attention to the inconspicuous, causing them to shift their understanding of their perceptions from the ordinary to the extraordinary. 
I like anonymously observing how people interact with my work. Not knowing the presence of the maker, their responses are instinctive and real. This makes it the best opportunity to know if my intention has been conveyed successfully.
In the Sol Koffler version of About Dust. I inserted a piece, The Corner, into one of the gallery’s corners. A glimmer of light from the top illuminated the veil of dust captured inside that blob of glass. At the opening, I saw people crouching down, trying to look at the shine closer. Kids lay on their stomachs and studied this unusual thing. They whispered to their parents, wanting to touch the mass and figure out how the veil of particles was suspended in the air. I find these interactions very beautiful and moving. They are the reminder of how the work can only be considered complete once it has been experienced. 

You have already exhibited extensively and participated in several grants, publications, and events. What did you learn from all these experiences? And how did they influence your work?

The art world is very new to me. I am still learning and figuring things out. I am grateful for those opportunities that I am lucky enough to be part of so far. They benefited my practice and helped it reach more people. More importantly, because of them, precious connections are built. 

Let’s now talk about the future. Are you working on any new project or series? Is there anything you would like to share with our readers? 

Coming out of grad school recently, I am trying to get used to not being close to the shops all the time. I am learning how to be strategic when planning projects. A new thing I am working on slowly continues to explore the idea of material as thresholds to grander realities. I have been thinking about how the gravitational lines are used in describing invisible influences in the region of space in physics, versus in the daily term, a space is commonly understood as empty and non-directional. Relating this notion with glass, I am looking at the gathering rings. They are the clear, subtle circular lines formed when gathering hot glass. They indicate the formation and structure of the mass of transparency. 

And lastly, where do you see yourself and your work five years from now?

I am afraid this question is very hard to answer, as things don’t always turn out as I predict. I can only say I hope, in five years, I can reach a state where I have the support to make works at a larger scale. As my practice gradually developed, I got several back-burner ideas. They are put aside because they either require lots of technological support or are too complicated in construction. For some of them, I’ve made mock-ups and prototypes. I hope five years from now, I will have a team that can help me realize them.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.