Consectetur Adipiscing

The Magic of Staying: A Summoning Spell of Wealth (2024)

Video installation. Mixed media. Variable dimensions.

Shanshui has been stripped of its historical elegance and reduced to commonplace imagery in contemporary Chinese internet culture. However, the combination of shanshui with tuwei (literally 'taste of the soil', earthiness or vulgarity), nostalgia and low resolution has long been evident on live streaming platforms. It's an aesthetic often found in tiktok special effects aimed at the middle-aged and elderly. Many shanshui elements have been processed using early retouching technology, and these over-retouched images are highly saturated and surreal, creating a kitsch effect that is recognisable to many in China, and which is both wacky and entertaining. This type of visual effect is often mocked and turned into a meme. Drawing on colour theory, my work has examined this genre of landscape painting - the style of the rural photographic studios of the 1990s, the retouching techniques of the early 2000s, and how they have appropriated elements of shanshui to create outdated images considered to be in poor taste. I presented a new account of how shanshui was reduced from elegance to vulgarity, starting with counterfeit products and shanzhai (a Chinese neologism meaning knockoff) culture.

Installation view of The Magic of Staying: A Summoning Spell of Wealth (2024), 294.5*175.5*221 cm.

🔞Enter the forbidden world of Zomia🔞

🔥Are you ready for an experience like no other?🔥

🌊Enter the wild and untamed world of Zomia, where every moment is an adventure waiting to happen!🌊

🌐Escape prying eyes and live out your fantasies in complete anonymity.🌐

👤In the wilds of Zomia, your secrets are safe and your desires can run wild. Lose yourself in the embrace of the unknown and discover who you really are when no one is watching.👤

⚡️Are you ready to break free from the mundane and enter a world of unbridled excitement? Zomia awaits those brave enough to seek it out.⚡️

🔞Your adventure begins now🔞

👉Zomia: Where nature and freedom meet in a sensual dance👈

🌟Discover the unbridled ecstasy of Zomia🌟

🔥Are you ready for an experience that will ignite your senses and awaken your spirit?🔥

🔞Welcome to Zomia, where mystery, adventure and passion await!🔞

🌐Feel the intoxicating lure of Zomia's hidden waterfalls. Let the pure, cascading water caress your skin and ignite your desires.🌐

👤Lose yourself in the enchanting embrace of nature's most tantalising secrets.👤

⚡Are you ready to surrender to the wild and untamed pleasures of Zomia? This is your invitation to explore a seductive paradise.⚡

👉Click here to enter Zomia👈

🌊Zomia: Where desire meets freedom in an unforgettable journey🌊

꧁Mu Chuan꧂

°✩₊CONTACT₊✩°

@1lanren on Instagram

mu0.0chuan@gmail.com

♡*• :: •*♡WELCOME TO MY BIO♡*• :: •*♡

Muchuan Chen (b. 2001) is a London-based Chinese research artist currently completing her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. Chen explores the convergence of landscape painting and ideological influence in the Zomia region. Rooted in the evocative imagery of the Ban Gioc-Detian Falls, these paintings transcend mere decoration to address themes of nationalist pride and territorial sovereignty, while subtly critiquing exploitation and surveillance. Inspired by James C. Scott’s “The Art of Not Being Governed”, Chen sees Zomia as a haven of autonomy that escapes state control. Her practice reflects the changes of recent decades along the Sino-Vietnamese border, where political and commercial encroachments have reshaped the landscape of her childhood.

Chen also treats neon commodities as metaphors of marginalisation to acknowledge the struggles of disenfranchised groups. Emblematic of mass production and low value, these objects have been rendered invisible by the march of urbanisation and minimalism. Neon colours that should attract attention instead remain unseen, a phenomenon that resonates with Zomia’s historical evasion of authority. Her installations are a synthesis of two worlds. By juxtaposing neon commodities with landscape paintings, she traces the anonymity of Zomia’s inhabitants in the context of the global spectacle of modernity. In short, Chen seeks to uncover strategies of liberation and resistance embedded in visual and material culture.