朱思凝在4C Gallery的个展 “波动抉择—不确定的未来”，包含了她在不同时期的五个作品。从主题的跨度来看，其作品的内核含量无疑是广大的，在某种意义上囊括和指涉了后现代社会反复讨论的一切话题。究其观看过程，人被无所不包地囊括在由装置、影像、行为、声音等多媒介构成的场域中。与其说观看者成为跨媒介艺术奇观的一部分，不如说他们更像是同她一起践行一种关于人类学的艺术表达。

Sining Zhu's solo show "Fluctuating Selection- Uncertain Future" at 4C Gallery features five pieces from various times. In terms of theme range, the main content of her works is undeniably vast, embracing and alluding to the problems frequently discussed in contemporary society in different contexts. During the visiting experience, people are immersed in installations, movies, performances, sounds, and other multimedia. However, rather than the audience becoming a part of a cross-media artistic show, it is more like an anthropological art expression as she practices.

人类学，往往是针对人和人的文化进行研究，通过观察不同环境中创造出不同的社会、政治、经济制度和宗教体系等，探求人类存在的本质。而在后现代以及流动的现代性建构的双重社会学语境中，为接近于描绘一种真实的、动态的关系，我们必须积极且多次思考和探查每个生活细微部分的涟漪，以及荡漾之外联结的无限可能性。这样的底层逻辑被朱思凝转化为一种以调研和收集行为基础的创作方式。而在缓慢多次的收集行为中，“重复”成为确定意指和再现历史的过程，宛如将一条条细如蛛丝般的“路径”联袂在一起。就此，细微的存在被察觉，不断再连接，再诠释。

Anthropology usually studies human civilizations and investigates the essence of human existence by examining the development of various social, political, economic, and religious systems, among other things, in multiple situations. To depict an authentic and dynamic relationship in the dual sociological context of postmodernity and fluid modernity construction, we must actively and repeatedly ponder and explore the ripples of each subtle aspect of life and the infinite possibilities and polysemy of connections beyond the ripples. Sining translates this basic logic into a study and collection-based creative process. "Repetition" becomes the process of deciding meaning and repeating history in the slow and repeated collection process, as if linking together the delicate "paths" like fine spider silk. As a result, the subtle existence is constantly detected.

使朱思凝作品超越人类学研究，且充满艺术性的是——再现和真实性不再成为其作品的唯一部分。因为她的作品不是关于诠释的，也并非是反诠释的。其核心在于，作品是具有生命力的，她倾向于关注事件意义背后的无数个连接点，而并非特定文化切片的“文本细读”。只有当他们与每个人的生活经验延展出新的细微的线相连接，才会再生成（或流动）。

Sining's work transcends anthropological research and is rich in artistry because reproduction and authenticity are no longer the only components of her work. Her work is neither about interpretation nor anti-interpretation. It is alive at their core, and she prefers to focus on the numerous connections that underpin the meaning of events rather than on "textual readings" of specific cultural slices. They are only renewed (or flow) when they are linked to the fresh, subtle threads of each person's life experience.

关于朱思凝的个展，在展览生成之前是有关生物学的概念，即有关自然选择的“波动选择”，也包含动植物在相当短暂的进化时间内，以最适宜的生存法则为目标进行演化和改变。这就意味着，世界以超出人类想象的多元方式进行组合和产生，每一环都嵌套上了无限多的连接，和随着变化而变化的、有待被发现的可能性、多态性和不确定性。这也吻合了朱思凝的哲学性思考和创作逻辑。

Regarding Sining's solo exhibition, the concept of biology, specifically "fluctuating selection" of natural selection, which refers to the evolution and change of animals and plants within a relatively short evolutionary time based on the most suitable survival principles, was introduced. The concept means that the world mixes and generates in ways that defy human comprehension, with each link nestled with limitless connections, possibilities, polysemy, and ambiguity waiting to be discovered. Thus, the exhibition theme is consistent with her works' philosophical concepts and creative logic.

What Are We Shedding?  装置艺术，2021

在作品《我们正在蜕去什么？》(What Are We Shedding，2021)中，朱思凝通过收集不同人使用过的面膜，并将其制成透明宛如人类皮肤的衣服，营造出人类蜕皮的假象。而作品《另一种死亡》(The Another Death 2022)被作为它的延伸。艺术家身着其中一件“皮肤”，静静躺在透明亚克力容器中，等待被悬挂起的皮肤衣服中稀释出来的水分打湿，继而以水的形态全部融化消失在容器中，等待最后的汽化。面膜作为一种消费主义的表征，衣服作为一种外延，建立起一个等级森严的审美霸权体系。有关个体的身份认同和意识塑造被无可奈何地淹没在集体的潜移默化中。

"What Are We Shedding?" (2021) by Sining Zhu collects used face masks from different people and transforms them into transparent clothes resembling human skin, creating an illusion of human skin shedding. "The Another Death" (2022) serves as an extension of this work, where the artist wears one of the "skins" and lies quietly in a transparent acrylic container, waiting to be moistened by the water diluted from the soaked skin clothes suspended above, then gradually melting and disappearing in the container, waiting for the final evaporation. Masks as symbols of consumerism and dresses as an extension establish a hierarchical and aesthetic hegemony. The identification of individuals and the shaping of consciousness are helplessly submerged in the collective's subliminal influence.

《清洗我，覆盖我》行为艺术，影像，2023

从《从清洗我，覆盖我》(Wash My Body，2023)开始，朱思凝似乎开始找到如何将作品与更大、更广袤的接入口相连方式。当艺术家身披“人体雕塑”伴随海滩日落，她以一种“实在”的方式，紧紧连接着自身与整个自然（宇宙）的关系。她把自己融入全景之中，并且真正感受着每一份震颤的“归属感”，以此朱思凝开启了一种摆脱了人类中心的意识关涉，摆脱以记忆为中心的回溯，以及以目的为考量的终点。

Starting with "Wash My Body" (2023), Sining seems to have found a way to connect her works to more extensive and broader contexts. When the artist wears a "human body sculpture" accompanied by a beach sunset, she tightly binds her relationship with the entire nature (universe) in a "real" way. In this immersive and genuine feeling of the "sense of belonging" of every tremor, Sining has opened up a consciousness of moving away from anthropocentrism, moving away from retrospectives centered on memory, and ending based on purpose.

《寻找腮盖骨》 影像装置艺术，2023

作品《寻找腮盖骨》（scientific rationality，2023）所呈现的是：在淘金的挖掘手段和搜证式的“科学理性”话语体系下，探讨人类工业发展，生物群的离散与迁移，以及后人类主义式语境下的全球化带来的一系列问题。在这种动态适应中，伴随着复杂环境，多因素影响，其表现出可能的疑惑和结果，实际上与“日常生活中每一个细微事件”有极强的相似性。我们很难否定，自然选择的这种“波动选择”指向的是一种排除人类干涉之外的选择。怎样的视角？或宏观，或微观。什么是适当的时间尺度？循环或结束的节点是什么？这些疑问统统是多重宇宙图景上的一根蛛丝，联系交织是唯一确认无疑的因素。

Under the mining techniques and evidential "scientific rationality" discourse system, "Searching for Preopercular Bone" (2023) examines the issues of human industry, the dispersion and migration of biological groups, and some problems brought on by globalization in a posthumanist context. Its manifestations, possible doubts, and outcomes are strikingly comparable to "every subtle event in daily life" in this dynamic, adaptive, and complex environment with numerous influencing elements. It is difficult to contest that this "fluctuating selection" of natural selection indicates a decision that does not include human interference. The global or micro perspective, the proper temporal scale, the change's cycles or endpoints—all of these questions are threads in the many universe panoramas. Revealing and interwoven their relationships are intricate.

纵然朱思凝及其作品背后的思考，依然延续了战后资本主义一贯的反思和叙事方式，却表现出了超越线形历史和二维空间的张力。真正将空间建立起来的，是一种未连接的关涉，一种隔遥相望。这种生动的感受力和参与性，超越了曾经桑塔格所描述的“新感受力”，不再拘泥于艺术的严肃高雅或大众流行与否，不再强调状态与形式，更抛弃以鉴赏为目的的“人”的目光的审美体验。而是全然地投入到一种将生活扩大化，且永远在波动中的人类学图景之中，在一种兼容并蓄中，“通过连接不同语境下的相似问题”，在不确定中开启更大的智性空间。

Although Sining and her works continue the narrative and reflection typical of post-war capitalism, they demonstrate a conflict beyond two-dimensional space and linear history. Unrelated participation or a far-off stare creates space. This vibrant sensibility and participation go beyond the "new sensibility" Sontag described, abandoning the aesthetic experience of the "gaze" with the intention of appreciation and moving beyond concerns with the seriousness and elegance of art or whether it is well-liked by the general public. Instead, it immerses itself in the ever-expanding anthropological panorama, "connecting similar questions in different contexts" and creating a larger intellectual space in the face of uncertainty.

角落

交互装置艺术，嗅觉艺术，2023

本次个展，角落（2023）这件作品像是一个落脚点，艺术家将从旧金山久负盛名的唐人街收集到的棉衣掏空，塞入中国人熟悉的各味香料，摆在落满灰常的角落。地理位置、历史、移民、记忆、消费、多元文化、个人认同、叙事等等，纽结在一起，观者通过自行清扫的方式，切实地连接上了朱思凝人类学地图中的一个星点。

The artist hollows out cotton jackets gathered from San Francisco's renowned Chinatown, fills them with common Chinese spices, and lays them in a corner coated in ash in the piece "Corner" (2023), like a small forgotten space in this solo exhibition. There are connections between geography, history, immigration, memory, consumption, multiculturalism, individual identity, storytelling, and other factors. In this ways, viewers connect to Sining's "ethnographic map" by making the space apparent.

文：景炜