ARTIST STATEMENT
You could say I am a feminist; You could say I am a cyborg; You could say I am a post-human. I create new media work including critical software, electronics, internet, video installations, and real-time performances that lead to discussions. I am an observer of encounters of the female body in different eras and social contexts. I create performances inviting viewers to engage.
Motherhood, parenthood, sex and gender are my way to have conversations with the audience. A critique of power dynamics within the concurrent technological and social systems we’re building around ourselves is central to my work. I am working with biology art. I am seeking to investigate the exemplification of non-human creatures to construct dialogs of gender and rights in posthuman settings.
This endeavor has evolved into a pivotal juncture for introducing and provoking sensorial engagement that entices viewers toward fresh, cutting-edge territories, all through the use of familiar and easily identifiable forms. It raises questions: In what ways does information shed its physical form? How do we see cyborgs being shaped into both technological commodities and cultural icons? And, what leads to the transformation of humans into post-human beings? My present body appears frequently in and around my work, with a raw and exposed vulnerability and strength as powerful methods of forging connections with audiences through the sublime. Each work feels like an endeavor to hack my way out of myself and into closeness with others. (Illinois)
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Yidi Wang is a Chinese interdisciplinary new media artist, educator, and curator whose work spans performance, digital fabrication, and speculative design. She holds an MFA in Design for Emerging Technologies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she transitioned from socially driven interactive design to performance-based, research-led explorations of the body, technology, and posthuman narratives. Her projects critically examine gender, reproduction, and human identity, questioning how emerging technologies both reinforce and disrupt cultural systems of power.
Wang has exhibited widely at venues including the Chinese American Museum of Chicago, the Barbagelata Contemporary Art Foundation in Barcelona, Mana Contemporary, No Nation/Tangential Unspace Lab, EEA Gallery in New York, and the Caroline S. Mark Gallery in Wisconsin. She recently presented her solo exhibition Belongings at the Chinese American Museum of Chicago. Her work has been featured in Artwork Gallery and AI-Tiba9 Magazine, reviewed in the Chicago Reader, and highlighted in a Can TV interview.
© Yidi Wang