Hang Over Shanghai

Shanghai, China

My parents have recently fallen under the spell of online shopping. My mother obsessively buys cheap "export-quality" items from Taobao live streams—the woman who hadn't purchased a single piece of clothing for me in over twenty years now buries her bed in these acquisitions. My father favors shoddy, inexpensive products like LED lights. Because they burn out so quickly, he often daisy-chains multiple power strips together, crowding one corner with lights of varying brightness and color temperatures. He's also taken to hiding giant bags of snacks beneath my bookshelf. Following these traces, I recently returned to my old desk and opened the second drawer on the left, where I discovered relics from my adolescence. In my junior high school graduation yearbook, at least three people had written in the messages section: "I used to really hate you," before explaining how we later became close friends. I've been wondering when exactly those adolescent emotions began to crystallize—to the point where they felt justified in using a word as strong as "hate."

This new series explores intimacy in the digital age under the framework of cruel optimism, drawing inspiration from Lan Caihe of the Eight Immortals and centering on the concept of trance — a state of daydreaming and idle detachment. Lan Caihe, who came from poverty with no defined gender, unknown age, and often manifested madness, eventually attained immortality. Three faceless, bodiless sculptures wearing flip-flops, inspired by this figure, examine states of possession and dislocation. Each sculpture is inscribed with "Ideally”, “here”, “then what” and “I can not focus”. Jil Sandals, poised as if ascending, steps on the Five of Diamonds and the Two of Clubs from a deck of cards, along with a Joker. The number 52 corresponds to the repeated digits in the artist’s childhood home phone number and is also a homophone for "I love" in Chinese. The Joker’s status and abilities resonate with Lan Caihe’s background, while mosquito coil adorns the vortex. The Wig End is surrounded by crumpled pages from a graduation yearbook, with a partially raised calf evoking a sense of sinking. As for Nester, nestled in its crotch are nine-seasoned olives, purchased online by the artist’s father.

installation view

Jil Sandals
Dimensions variable, 2025
Watercolor and oil on paper-mâché sculpture, playing cards, mosquito coil

Nester

50x22x19 cm, 2025
Watercolor and oil on paper-mâché sculpture, preserved olive

The Wig End
Dimensions variable, 2025
Watercolor and oil on paper-mâché sculpture, yearbook page

installation view, Courtesy of Hang Over Shanghai
Photo credit: Ling Weizheng

Paintings

little home studio session ss 26

expried (that alcohol in the student bar was
50 x 70 cm, oil on canvas, 2025

dm, db.de, didadi
50 x 70 cm, oil on canvas, 2025

riding my e-moto, wandering and wondering what would happen if the overpass collapsed
60 x 80cm, oil on canvas, 2025

looking for a 3-zimmer apt in ffm, or a room, dm
60 x 80cm, oil on canvas, 2025

Loach Water,
Politiken Forhals, Denmark

about the show

Installation view, photo by Jenny Sundby and Zishi Han

Zishi Han and Wei Yang
Hairpin Beneath: The Stone of Three Lives, 2025
HD single-channel video, 29min 48s
Photo by Zishi Han and Wei Yang

Zishi Han and Wei Yang
U, 2025
Inkjet print on paper, robinia wood

u don’t go away, 2025
Resin, LED lights

Souffromage

- a shade of honey dedicated to Monet,
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

about the show

installation view

Photographs by Jens Gerber / courtesy by the artists and Jean-Claude Maier

No more hiding no.1-9
9 framed photographs with mount board,
correction fluid
18 x 24 cm 9 pcs
2025

TTPlayer, Soundcloud
UV print on anodized aluminum, plexiglas
60 x 80 cm
2025

Dissni
UV print on anodized aluminum
60 x 80 cm
2025

Time cooks rain 1
2 framed photography
30 x 40 cm 2 pcs
2025

Time cooks rain 2
Photogram framed with mount board
30 x 40 cm
2025

Photographs by Jens Gerber / courtesy by the artists and Jean-Claude Maier

SculptureCenter,
New York, the United State

about the show
For In Practice, Zishi Han and Wei Yang present a new phase of their ongoing collaborative research project into historical Chinese homoerotic literature, intertwining multiple narratives that explore queer existences in China and of Chinese diaspora. Emerging from their shared interests in the power dynamics inherent in desire and intimacy, the artists’ point of departure is their own translation of
the late Ming dynasty anthology of homoerotic stories 弁而釵 (Biàn ér chai) by the pseudonymous “The Moon-Heart Master of the Drunken West Lake,” the title of which suggests the action of a man removing his ceremonial headgear and donning a woman’s hairpin.

Han and Yang’s performance-and-video works loosely interpret and transposes the text’s storylines (notably, of an affair between a student and a disguised academician, expressed here in conversations between the student and a close companion) to dwell amidst the blurry boundary between the fictional and the biographical, while drawing on a variety of Chinese historical and contemporary cultural practices, such as poetry, Chinese Opera, literati landscape painting, Danmei literature, C-pop and reality TV shows.

Their exhibition includes a new video alongside sculptures of an overhead net and a fallen gong, creating a visual pun (legible in Mandarin) that plays on the idiomatic impasse of being caught between “two nets,” one in the sky and one on the ground.

Hairpin Beneath 2
钗之后二
2025
HD single-channel video, live performance, light, color, sound
29min 48s

Video CREDITS:

Directed by Zishi Han and Wei Yang
Based on the Story and Characters Created by The Moon-Heart Master of the Drunken West Lake
Adaptation and Screenplay by Wei Yang

Cast (in order of appearance)
Wei Yang, Chengyu Wu, Antone Liu

Editor: Zishi Han
Camera: Wei Yang, Zishi Han
Colorist: John Hussain Flindt, Zishi Han
Set Designer: Wei Yang, Zishi Han
Costume, Hair and Makeup: Xtina Vargas, Chengyu Wu, Antone Liu
Dubbing: Wei Yang
Recording: Zishi Han, Yu Yang
Sound Design: John Hussain Flindt, Zishi Han
Subtitles: Wei Yang, Zishi Han
Proofreading: Claire Kim

Performance CREDITS:

Directed by Wei Yang and Zishi Han
Live Performers (in alphabetical order)
Wei Yang, Yushu Wang, Yimiao Liu, Phoebe Chen, Sylvia Ke

Technician: Zishi Han

SPECIAL THANKS TO
Kyle Dancewicz
Christopher Aque
Claire Kim
Jane DeBevoise
James Gibbel
Kamal Nassif
Ida Schyum
Juri Simoncini
Elisa Diaferia
Giulia Guidi
Augustine Paredes
Hangping Yang
Wanwen Zhang
Jamie Shi
Lorenzo García-Andrade
Junhao Xiang
Nadh Lingyun Cao
Kaixin Chen
Karl Kleim
Bernhard Schreiner
Marius Moll
Siri Black
Sebastian Stöhrer
Stefan Wieland
Hanna-Maria Hammari
Markéta Adamcová
Oscar Kargruber
CFGNY
Covey Gong

Installation View, In Practice: Zishi Han and Wei Yang at Sculpture Center, New York, 2025.
Courtesy: the artists. Photo: Charles Benton

Zishi Han, xoxo, 2025, In Practice: Zishi Han and Wei Yang at Sculpture Center, New York, 2025.
Courtesy: the artists. Photo: Charles Benton

gong gurl
2025
Papier-mâché
23 × 39 × 39 inches
(99 × 99 × 58 cm)

Wei Yang, gong gurl (details)

Eventually Fall
终会坠落

Eventually fall (left)
oil painting, 2025. 100 x 140 cm
Text
Ceramics, 2023. 20 x 30 cm

photo by Augustine Parade

I’ve Known Places
我知道的地方

Favorite person 1 (left), Favorite person 2 (right)
two framed photograph
2024, 20 x 30 cm each
I’ve know places (print)
one print
2024, 1.5 x 2.5 m

I've Known Places is a photography series by the artist that captures the neighborhood of his childhood in the wake of his grandfather's passing. This deeply personal body of work explores themes of belonging, grief, and loss, offering an intimate reflection on how the diasporic experience, memory and home shape personal landscapes. Through poignant visual storytelling, Yang contemplates the transformation of familiar spaces and the evolving sense of self that arises from mourning, evoking a profound connection to the ever changing rhythms of place and memory.

Curated by
Natálie Kubíková, Mia Milgrom

Favorite person 1 (left), Favorite person 2 (right)
two framed photograph
2024, 20 x 30 cm each

_{Installation view Cacophony, AVU Prague 2024}

Favorite person 4
2024, 20 x 25 cm

Favorite person 5
2024, 20 x 25 cm

Sea, and Eight Immortals
八仙与海

Installation view Tofu Collective, Copenhagen, Denmark

In Taoism, the Eight Immortals each embody different facets of human life, representing wealth, poverty, age, youth, masculinity, and femininity. Together, they form a comprehensive tapestry of human experience, reflecting multifaceted personal, cultural, and historical layers.

The tales of the Eight Immortals often depict sea-crossing journeys and transformations, illustrating the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the diasporic experience. Yang's work highlights this fragmented hybridity, akin to how the Immortals' diverse backgrounds and stories symbolize the convergence of personal landscapes. Yang’s series thus echoes the timeless wisdom found in the legends of the Eight Immortals, offering a reinterpretation of connections between past and present, myth and reality, and the individual and the collective. This emphasis underscores the continuous evolution shaped by human experiences.

Installation view Rundgang 2024, Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

（与）海 (and) Sea
Watercolor and Chinese paint on Canvas
2024, 140×100 cm

（与）海, 细节 (and) Sea, details

八仙与海 , 2024
Sea, and Eight Immortals, Sculpture made of PLA, paint
size variable
八仙与海 ( 细节 )
Sea, and Eight Immortals (details)

Hé Hé (Harmony and Union)
和合

和合 Hé Hé
30×30×45cm, 35×30×60cm
聚丙交酯
2023, PLA

During the Qing Dynasty under Emperor Yongzheng's reign (1722 - 1735), Han Shan and Shi De, revered poet-monks of the Tang Dynasty, were celebrated as a harmonious pair. Legend depicts them as fraternal figures, monks who sacrificed personal love for each other's sake. They founded Han Shan Temple, portrayed in artwork with two youths displaying serene expressions—one holding a lotus, the other cradling a spherical vessel, symbolizing profound harmony. These depictions adorn wedding ceremonies, symbolizing enduring unity and happiness. Yang's artwork captures the essence of these immortals, their ribbon belts fluttering in the wind, emphasizing the gestures of iconography and symbolism, and the significance of friendship transcending desire.

Installation view SYMPOSIUM at Netzwerk Seilerei in Frankfurt am Main

Photo by Ian Waelder

和合 Hé Hé
30×30×45cm, 35×30×60cm
聚丙交酯
2023, PLA

Covert Eight Immortals ‘An Ba Xian’
暗八仙

about the show

Stedelijk Museum: When Things Are Beings, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Photo by Augustina Cai

The inspiration for this work was a silver betel set featuring a Chinese motif from the Indonesian island of Java. The set is part of the collection of the Dutch National Museum of World Cultures (NMVW). Wei Yang re-appropriated the form of the betel case and enlarged it.

Betel nut chewing, which has a mild stimulant effect, is a widespread custom in Southeast Asia and other regions of the world. The silver containers in a betel set hold the ingredients used to make so-called betel quids. These sets traditionally played a role in rituals, and were kept at special places in the home for protection against malevolent spirits. Yang’s work refers to the specific subculture of the Peranakan Chinese, descendants of Chinese traders from the southern provinces of China who migrated to the Indonesian archipelago. When Peranakan Chinese artisans started using their own techniques to modify the Javanese silver holders, the objects came to symbolize cultural assimilation in the colonial society.

Yang used domestic, low-cost materials to build the structure which then using papier-maché mixed with materials from Amsterdam’s Asian supermarkets, embracing the betel case / melting pot in a new transcultural skin and a queer motif based on The Eight Immortals, a group of immortals ( 仙, Xian) from Chinese Taoist mythology.

Concept: Amanda Pinatih and Britte Sloothaak (eds)
Contributors: Mira Asriningtyas, Jasmijn Mol, Amanda Pinatih, and Britte Sloothaak

暗八仙
125 × 99.5 × 51cm 2022
纸黏土，金属，卡纸
Stedelijk Museum: When Things Are Beings Curated by Amanda Pinatih and Britte Sloothaak Covert Eight Immortals ‘An Ba Xian’
Sculpture made of paper mache, metal, cardboard

Photo: Gert-Jan van Rooij

Covert Eight Immortals ‘An Ba Xian’ (details)
Photo: Nina Schollaardt

Hang Over Shanghai

Shanghai, China

Paintings

Loach Water,Politiken Forhals, Denmark

Souffromage

- a shade of honey dedicated to Monet, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

SculptureCenter, New York, the United State

Eventually Fall终会坠落

I’ve Known Places我知道的地方

Sea, and Eight Immortals 八仙与海

Hé Hé (Harmony and Union) 和合

Covert Eight Immortals ‘An Ba Xian’ 暗八仙

Loach Water,
Politiken Forhals, Denmark

- a shade of honey dedicated to Monet,
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

SculptureCenter,
New York, the United State

Eventually Fall
终会坠落

I’ve Known Places
我知道的地方

Sea, and Eight Immortals
八仙与海

Hé Hé (Harmony and Union)
和合

Covert Eight Immortals ‘An Ba Xian’
暗八仙