Shen Yuan
Dérive
Through a seemingly haphazard layering of glass and porcelain, Dérive by Shen Yuan is part of a larger installation series that address borders and displacement. Sheets of glass and porcelain, two transformational materials of alchemy, are stacked loosely in the shape of melting glaciers that places humans, animals, and nature in the same ecosystem. Migrations of one population into another and the subsequent displacement is emphasized in sharp, jagged edges of the transparent glass—phantasmagoric dreams of a distant place—the migration of not simply physical bodies but also that of political opinions and thoughts. Rigid yet fragile, porcelain and glass highlight that differences in language and habits also can form layers of invisible walls and barriers that are not initially obvious.