"CLOUDS OF CROWDS" (云云众生)
Curation: Thomas Charvériat
Coordination: Thomas Bégault & Hugo Bourgade
Artistic Direction: Zane Mellupe
Participating Artists: Christophe Demaître (BE), Yang Longhai (CN), Zane Mellupe (LV), Zou Susu (CN), Wang Dongma (CN), Thomas Charvériat (FR), Zhu Ye (CN), Manels Favre (FR), Tom Lee Pettersen (US), Rob Smith (UK), Doraemoon (FR), Fu Liba (CN), nunu (CN), Klara Pokrzywko (PL-CA), Jean-Pierre Hurel (FR), Florent Nicolas Wendling (FR-US), Zhang Deli (CN).

After Hong-Kong and Roma, island6Lab is putting together a new exhibition entitled ‘Clouds of Crowds’ on Moganshan Road. This will probably be the last exhibition in the well-known red brick building, down the alley of number 120. As a matter of fact, the Arts Center is soon moving to a new and bigger space, but not before offering the public one last and unique multimedia experience.
Brain-stormer Thomas Charvériat is leading his staff through high levels of creativity. Shanghai is the largest and most crowded city in China, with 16 millions inhabitants. Hence, it is the perfect place to open such an exhibition, based on the idea that one single soul can disappear in a crowd and melt into a mass of living bodies. The disappearance of individuality among the crowd will be shown through the new works of island6Lab, which investigates a new artistic dimension with interactive sculptures. The idea beyond the exhibition can be translated into a modernist approach of space, time and environment. Moreover, the merging of personalities, well understood as a challenge in a cosmopolitan city such as Shanghai, is what will put the sounds and visuals into perspective. We aim to give a different understanding of the human condition in regard to the perception of the environment, natural as well as artificial. island6 adheres strictly to the average 'natural' perception which we decompose to build up fictive ‘realities’. In ‘Clouds of Crowds’ the artists will invite the spectator to be part of the artworks, to participate in the nurturing of the pieces.  These canvas-fictions (or mirrors-fictions realised by Wang Dongma) reveal the rich relational communication inherent in materials and forms, which -in its acculturated norm- is no more readable. The artists try to erase the boundaries between past, present and future. In the overall view, we show how in our modern spatially homogenous world 'spatial fossils' are constantly reminding us of another world, a former world in which things were perceived quite differently.
These new artworks come from the collaboration of Zhu Ye (CN) and Christophe Demaître (BE), and the technical support from Thomas Charvériat (FR) and island6Lab. To close the circle, the exhibition will also offer interactive works that are based on motion and music. Sound artists Tom Lee Pettersen (US) and Manels Favre (FR) have worked with the lab to create installations that will again invite spectators to interact with the artistry. Gathered for the event, this new team will engage you into an inner voyage through whispering crowds and a 3 dimensional digital experience. Yang Longhai (CN) is also presenting a whole new collection of artworks, using LED animations and digital videos. He has been working in association with Wang Dongma (CN) on a range of ‘video’ mirrors. The pieces will reflect how much an image can be blurred and lost in the realm of sub-consciousness. Beyond the primarily formal use to which island6 approach art, this exhibition also tries to become a mean of representing the perception of the true selves of people. Therefore, the visible face itself is blurred, cloudy but concealing a subject’s true self.
Artistic director Zane Mellupe (LV) brings Moganshan Road to a different and innovative experience. Associating projections, LED, digital videos and mirrors, she opens a new dimension to the spectator. If you observe crowd behaviour for a specific amount of time, you get the impression that it obeys random rules, a little like clouds blown away by the wind. This idea is expressed through the installation of Rob Smith (UK), who works on a wind-controlled video project displayed from an open window onto Suzhou Creek landscape. Furthermore, the artworks of Zang Deli (CN), who also exhibited her holographic pictures at Blue Lotus in Hong Kong, will give another glimpse of vanishing existence. The opening night will be spiced by a live performance from Doraemoon (Acid Pony Club, FR), a producer working on the idea of mixing crowd whispers and Aeolian beats. In addition, nunu (CN) will perform a conceptual dance to Tom Lee Pettersen’s music.

Thomas Bégault and Hugo Bourgade, co-ordinators of the show, will wait for you, daydreaming, heads up above the clouds.