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TimeXin Liu
(Film 2 of 4) As technology advances and transforms the world around us, artist Xin Liu explores the ways new realities shape our vision of the world and ourselves. “I started to think about the machine eye, and how we’re seeing the world through the eyes of these devices,” states Liu. “That’s how we understand this world.” The artist works at scales that range from the planetary to the molecular, communicating with satellites, decoding her DNA sequence, or crafting miniature models of city skylines. Across all of her work, Liu addresses the uniquely human core of all technological progress, whether found in our pursuit of permanence, our deep desire for connection, or our need to better know ourselves. In this suite of documentary films, the artist travels across time zones, into outer space, and inside her own genome, exploring new possibilities for humanity in our rapidly changing world.
Credits
Executive Producer: Tina Kukielski. Series Producer: Ian Forster. Director of Development: Lolita Fierro. Associate Director of Communications: Hannah DeGarmo. Associate Curator: Jurrell Lewis. Curatorial Assistant: Noor Tamari.
Production Company: Rava Films. Producers: Ava Wiland & Rafael Salazar Moreno. Managing Producer: Danielle Davis.
Director/Producer: Jonna McKone. Cinematography: Jan Inge Solberg. Sound: Kyle Macleod. Field Producer: Cloe Peckford. Assistant Camera/Additional Camera: Will Watson. Editor: Russell Yaffe. Colorist: Russell Yaffe. Sound Mix: Russell Yaffe. Additional Editing: Sam Klein. Music: Spacelute. Composers: Troy Herion & J.R. Narrows. Title Design: Alina Rancier.
Artwork Courtesy: Xin Liu, Make Room LA, Management, & Public Gallery. Archival Footage: Rob Chron, Wenxuan Wang.
Special Thanks: Sórcha Bradford, Royal Greenwich Observatory, Giulia Pappalardo, Somerset House, & Yingtong Lin.
© Art21, Inc. 2025. All rights reserved.
Closed captionsAvailable in English, German, Romanian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian
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Xin Liu was born in 1991 in Xinjiang, China, and currently lives and works between New York City, New York and London, United Kingdom. Liu received a BA and BEng from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, in 2013, an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2015, and an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2017. An artist and engineer, Liu works in a variety of media and contexts, fusing art and science in sculptures, installations, videos, virtual-reality experiences, and publications, amongst other media. Through her work, the artist considers the personal implications of our technological advancements, constructing narratives that provide space to imagine ourselves in a world of rapidly expanding possibilities.
“I started to think about the machine eye, and how we’re seeing the world through the eyes of these devices. That’s how we understand this world.”
Xin Liu