Yidi Wang's Post-Birth Project Explores Motherhood Through Performance and Bacterial Kinship
Yidi Wang, a Chinese artist born in 1999 in Shijiazhuang and currently residing in Chicago, integrates performance, audiovisual installations, and speculative design in her creations. Her Master of Fine Arts in Design for Emerging Technologies shapes her artistic endeavors, such as the project Post-Birth, which simulates pregnancy while cultivating bacteria from her body within an external uterus. This concept developed into a multimedia installation featuring a preserved uterus, bacterial cultures, and surgical instruments. Her related works, Blueprint and Imprint, delve into themes of motherhood and care, with Blueprint showcasing 3D-printed vessels and Imprint displaying silicone casts of Wang's body accompanied by audio poems dedicated to her mother. Wang has exhibited at the Chinese American Museum of Chicago and various locations in Barcelona, New York, and Wisconsin.
Key facts
- Yidi Wang is a Chinese interdisciplinary new media artist born in 1999 in Shijiazhuang, China, living and working in Chicago.
- She holds an MFA in Design for Emerging Technologies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
- Her project Post-Birth involves wearing an external uterus and nurturing bacteria from her body as symbolic offspring.
- The work evolved from performance to a multimedia installation with preserved objects and documentation.
- Related installations include Blueprint, with empty 3D-printed resin uteri, and Imprint, with silicone body casts and audio poems.
- Wang's practice explores motherhood, care, technology, and posthuman narratives, informed by her Chinese family background.
- She has exhibited at venues including the Chinese American Museum of Chicago and Barbara Galeta Contemporary Art Foundation in Barcelona.
- Wang describes her shift to performance as driven by a desire for conceptual expression beyond design's focus on usability.
Entities
Artists
- Yidi Wang
- Julien Delagrange
Institutions
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Chinese American Museum of Chicago
- Barbara Galeta Contemporary Art Foundation
- Mana Contemporary
- No Nation Tangential and Space Lab
- EEA Gallery
- Carolyn S. Mark Gallery
- Contemporary Art Issue
Locations
- Shijiazhuang
- China
- Chicago
- United States
- Barcelona
- Spain
- New York
- Wisconsin