YUCHANG XIAO 
 Sculptor of Sentient Anatomies

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Do Cyborgs Dream of Cripped Bodies? Haus der Elektronischen Künste, Basel, Switzerland. 2024.
 

Do Cyborgs Dream of Cripped Bodies?

Haus der Elektronischen Künste, Basel, Switzerland. 2024.

multi-sensory wearable design
 The installation showcased in Tools for Change includes the performance costume from Channels, a short documentary film, an audio-visual interactive system, and projection technology synchronized with Lin’s heartbeat. To authentically recreate the context of the piece, Xiao also handcrafted a life-sized suspended mannequin modeled precisely after Lin’s body and movements, using exact data measurements and custom pattern-making to reconstruct the performance’s dynamic presence.

The concept of Qi that runs throughout the work aligns deeply with the curatorial theme. As Kaganskiy noted, Qi is the vital energy that flows through all beings and objects in Chinese culture, and their work illustrates how technology can act as a medium to transform, harness, and dissolve this energy, ultimately merging it with the human form.
CHANNELSThe Shed, New York, US. 2022.
 

CHANNELS

  The Shed, New York. 2022.

multi-sensory wearable design
In 2022, Xiao was commissioned to design costumes and wearables for artist Yo-Yo Lin's multi-sensory performance at the Shed in New York. In the multisensory performance channels, Yo-Yo Lin explores the intricate pathways of the chronically ill body. Lin understands us all to inhabit multiple bodies: ones made up of what we commonly think of as our physical body composed of its parts and organs, and others seemingly invisible, extending beyond the skin, taking the form of energetic fields and kindred relationships.

Channels fully utilized the performance capabilities at the Griffin Theatre, embedding motion capture, real-time graphics rendering, and live sound transmission all at once. Xiao focused on studying movements and gestures of a disabled and chronologically ill torso, and merged their simulation with technology through couture techniques.

Veles/Тіні
BRIC Arts Center Brooklyn, US. 2023.
 

Veles/Тіні


BRIC Arts Center, Brooklyn. 2023.

 
wearable design
In March 2023, the sold-out multimedia performance, "Veles / Тіні" (Ukrainian for "Ancestral Soul/Shadow”), were staged at the BRIC Arts Center in Brooklyn. Rooted in the concept of spirits of ancestors, the immersive experience VĖLES/Тіні by EYIBRA and Óldo Erréve blends folk and electronic music with 3D holography, capturing the ancient and futuristic aspects of gender in Ukrainian culture. Based on a profound understanding of fabric and form, Xiao created this set of soft yet powerful performance costumes for EYIBRA and used cultural symbols depicted by appliqué to let fashion embody the sacred image in his heart so that he could extend the space for emotional expression in his performance.


MOTHERLINES
Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, Mexico. 2023.

BIGUIDIRIBELA

L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. 2023.
 

MOTHERLINES

Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, Mexico. 2023.

BIGUIDIRIBELA

L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. 2023.

 
wearable design
The second edition of EYIBRA and Xiao’s collaboration takes the stage across three continents. ‘Motherlines’ is a performance that investigates matriarchal lines and the symbol of braid in Ukrainian culture. EYIBRA weaves a soundscape in which her mother and grandmother sing a Ukrainian ritual song related to initiation rites, accentuated by the use of contact microphones fixed within a specially made nail-biting “armor". Commissioned by LACMA Art + Technology Lab, Biguidiribela explores queer identity through the lens of the Muxes of Oaxaca, addressing themes of identity, colonisation, and environment through performance and multimedia.  Xiao’s costume design takes the theme of bodily constitutions and visualize a choreographed passage for EYIBRA’s movement while embedding the act of braiding and weaving through complex making techniques. Combining see-through and opaque, stretch and stiff materials, Xiao wages the dynamic balance to complement the performer’s narrative.

Exclusive Editorial
Numero Magazine, Netherlands. 2023.
NuméroNetherland, 2023.
Exclusive Editorial
SHOT BY ERIKA ASTRID