Ning An

About

Ning An is an interdisciplinary artist who uses humor and uncanny forms to create installations, moving images, and sculptures. He holds an MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art and a BA in Digital Media Art from Beijing Normal University.

Ning An explores the connections between people, society, and art, focusing on relationships and emotional bonds between individuals. He uses himself as a reference and bridge to delve into the deep-seated sadness and anxiety present in everyone’s minds. His works have been exhibited at Royal College of Art and Tate Modern.

“Negative feedback usually comes from the owner who does not belong to you. Vultures do not think that rotten meat is garbage, garbage collectors do not think that beverage cans are garbage, and artists do not think that plastic is garbage. What we have is that society generally and rigidly defines what garbage is through the segmentation of value and function. This is indeed a somewhat unfair tragedy for a bag of garbage. Maybe some of them will feel that it is aimless because they think they still have value. The same is true for you and me. As human beings, while we enjoy the convenience of definition, we are also bearing its consequences – putting ourselves in a wrong supply and demand relationship. That is, when we define garbage, we are also defining ourselves.

I have always cared about people’s living environment, not the physical environment but the mental environment in this society. I am interested in the sources of stress in city life and what people are struggling with, and I try to offer my solutions.

My inspiration comes from my real-life experiences, what I see and hear, and my starting point is usually myself and the friends and family around me. I believe experience is the most important thing because if you haven’t experienced something, then you don’t have the qualification to judge it. Through my art, I aim to address these social definitions and relationships.”