Guan Xiao’s most recent video, Just a Normal Day, 2019, is bringing together a large and varied amount of different materials in an intimate manner, seemingly hiding its constituents. Different stylised passages, reminiscent of road movies, drive the work forward – heavy use of vernacular and barely discernible experimental electronic music that seem like endless verses of poetry in the wilderness. While the body of a motionless character is altered and hidden in a void, the silhouette, symbols and language of the heavens and the earth are considered at a far distance, evoking the idea of homecoming as much as exile. The personalization of Guan Xiao gradually dissolves in the work; the paraphernalia of civilizations, national boundaries, history, and the present and future fade as well, impelling the narrative to enter into a ceremony of peace and hidden sorrow.

關小最新的錄像（平凡一日，Just a Normal Day,2019）更加醉心於以一種看似私密的方式將數量眾多的素材融合在一起。通過對不同段落的風格化，將敘事以一種公路電影式的方式進行下去。其中大量的人聲囈語以及似有若無的實驗電子樂如同曠野中無所終的詩句。靜止人物的肉體被剪輯隱藏到了虛空之中，天與地的輪廓，符號和語言被消解在某種似“歸途”又似“流放”的遠方。作品中私人化的“關小”逐漸隱沒，民族與國界，歷史、現世與未來的龐雜也逐漸消失，敘事邏輯進入某種隱匿悲傷的平靜之儀式之中。

Guan Xiao (b. 1983) lives and works in Beijing. Her practice focuses primarily on sculpture, video, and installation. Combining a wide array of visual references, Guan Xiao continuously reinvents her biographical details such as identity, personal history, geographical background and the experience of her daily life by inscribing them into her exuberant works. Guan Xiao takes her sculpture and installations as virtual characters or “species” which she imbues with a new, literalized identity. The artist attempts to emphasize the importance of difference by creating purposeful contradictions between the materiality and the concept.

Guan Xiao graduated from the Communication University of China and has exhibited internationally. Her work has been featured at MUDAM (2021); the 34th Bienial de Sao Paulo (2021); Belgrade Biennial (2021); Antenna Space, Shanghai (solo; 2020); Skulpturenpark Cologne (2020); X Museum Triennial (2020); Kunstmuseum Sankt Gallen (2020); Sharjah Art Foundation (2020); Bonner Kunstverein (solo; 2019); Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (solo; 2019); Fellbach Triennial, Fellbach (2019); Honolulu Biennial (2019); Migros Museum, Zürich (2019); Anyang Public Art Project, Anyang (2019); Kunsthalle Winterthur (solo; 2018); High Line, New York (2017); the 57th Venice Biennale, Venice (2017); Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin (2017); M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp (2017); 9th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2016); Jeu de Paume, Paris (solo; 2016); the K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai (2016, solo); ICA, London (solo; 2016); ZKM, Karlsruhe (2016); Shortlist for Hugo Boss Asia Art Award at Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2015); the 13th Biennale de Lyon: La vie modern, Lyon (2015); Antenna Space, Shanghai (solo; 2015); 2015 Triennial: Surround Audience, New Museum, New York (2015); Daimler Contemporary Berlin (2015); Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2015); M HKA Museum, Antwerp (2014); Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin (solo; 2014); 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen (2012) and National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (2007).

Her work is in the collections of Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; Boros Collection, Berlin; Daimler Collection, Stuttgart; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf; Rubell Family Collection, Miami among others.