Hyundai
About the Exhibition
Jo Wei’s Hyundai Blue Prize Art + Tech exhibition Quasi-Nature responded to the 2019 theme “Future Humanity,” exploring Bio Art and the implications of biotechnological progress. Influenced by the concept of “quasi-object” by anthropologist-philosopher Bruno Latour—which challenges the binary of subject and object, society and nature—the exhibition captured a potential future in which anthropocentric perspectives dissolve, resulting in a “quasi-nature” state of existence.
The first part of the exhibition offered an overview of significant Bio Art creations, featuring works that portray different levels of life: genes, cells, and embryonic tissues. These artworks, created using lab-grown meat or through gene-editing techniques, were united by their association with bioethics and human intervention.
The second section of the exhibition presented the innovative perspectives of younger generations in the Bio Art sphere. In “A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World” (2013), Robert Zhao Renhui showcased human-altered creatures, while other displays featured insects coexisting with humans. Ren Ri and Vivian Xu explored hybrid art forms—Yuansu II (2013), a bee-collaborated piece, and silkworm-driven creations, respectively, hinted at a non-anthropocentric art future. Lin Peiying explored human-virus relations, Liu Wa visualized thoughts through EEG technology, and Tal Danino drew parallels between microbial growth and universe expansion.
The third part of Quasi-Nature was a long term research project called “Lab as the Generator of Surprises,” which investigated how art residency programs at renowned research institutions—CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), the TARA Research Vessel, and SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence institute)— have successfully bridged the gap between the sciences and the arts, resulting in outstanding Bio Art innovation.
Participating Artists
Oron Catts
Tal Danino
Marta De Menezes
Eduardo Kac
Peiying Lin
LIU Wa
LIU Zhangbolong
REN Ri
Devon Ward
Vivian Xu
Robert Zhao Renhui
About the Curator
Jo Wei is a curator and researcher. Her recent research interests include Art, Science and technology in a posthuman context, Bio Art,STS, and others. She is also the founder of the Pan Bio-Art Studio (PBS).
Wei participated in the preparation of the Yuz Museum Shanghai and assisted in its inaugural exhibition, entitled Myth/History (2014). Among her many curations are Towards the Emergence of Resistance: The Eye of Representation (2016, Taikang Space, Beijing) and When Forms do not Become Attitude (2016, CAFAM, Beijing).
Wei is currently a researcher of Art, Science, and Technology (AST) in the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing and was the unit curator of Ethics of Technology (2016) and Post-Life (2018), respectively for the first and second editions of the Beijing Media Art Biennale. An invited speaker for conferences held at Taipei National University of the Arts, Tsinghua University, the Institute of Neurology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), she is also an International Advisor for the European Commission’s 2019 STARTS Prize.
About the Program
Hyundai Blue Prize Art + Tech
Initiated in 2017 by Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Blue Prize has supported emerging curators through Hyundai Blue Prize Art + Tech in China and Hyundai Blue Prize Design in Korea. Since its launch, Hyundai Blue Prize Art + Tech has recognized and nurtured emerging curators in China, providing a platform to engage with the international art scene and develop innovative curatorial perspectives. The program has also served as a valuable training ground for curators across diverse fields. In 2025, the initiative evolved into Hyundai Blue Prize+, expanding its scope to transcend boundaries, cultivate interdisciplinary research, and foster transcultural conversations.
