Kexin Hong



Kexin Hong was born in China, lives and works in the Netherlands, as a multidisciplinary artist, she employs a variety of media including, video, sculpture, and digital fabrication as tools to explore political issues on digital platform and sociology.

Kexin Hong is fascinated by the boundaries between reality and virtuality, as well as the real and the imaginary; Her research delves into the impact of post-colonial trauma on the self- projection mechanisms among individuals in the post-truth era. It investigates how these self- projection mechanisms are manipulated by politically motivated power structures in the rapidly evolving landscape of technology, thereby constructing a multitude of projective realities. Kexin perceives these virtual realities as an ouroboros, perpetually self-referential, created based on our subjective emotions and deeply intertwined with collective social and cultural histories.
In other words, she intends to investigate how political images achieve a fictional “authenticity” while affirming themselves in reverse. 


CV
Email
Instagram




Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear
Video- 20mins
Self-publication Novel



Objects In the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear is an art video developed from Kexin’s fictive I-novel to prompt reflection on simulation hypothesis and selfhood in the post-truth era of the virtual world. Kexin realizes that virtual reality extends beyond mere visual perception, but also intersects with psychosocial and self-projection mechanism. In the realm of social psychology, the utilization of self-projection has the potential to destroy our relationship in real life.

Adapted from the novel, Kexin harnessed its structural essence to craft a 20-minute desktop film, which serves as a reflective medium mirroring the narrative arc of her novel. This film is not merely a component of the novel, but also a tangible manifestation of the imaginative realm within which the novel is contextualized. Through this multimedia convergence, a symbiotic narrative space emerges, enhancing the depth and breath of the storytelling experience.

The film allows Kexin to comment on gaze relations in locating the so-called truth, it is this distance that makes “truth” easier to produce and control.





Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
镜中人

Genre: I-Novel
English & Chinese
Type:Softcover page:98 
Dimensions: 128mm * 182 mm 
Author& Graphic Design : Kexin Hong



The novel describes the protagonist is suddenly unable to perceive her own reflection in real life and begins instead to project her missing sense of self onto an online character. This virtual other gradually becomes the fictional reality through which the protagonist confirms her identity. In the end, she disappears without a trace, leaving uncertainty as to whether she ever existed at all. 


"Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.”

This particular phrase is frequently displayed on rear-view mirrors of vehicles as a cautionary reminder to drivers regarding the disparity between perceived distance and actual distance of objects In this novel, Kexin utilizes its optical phenomenon as a metaphor to portray digital platforms in the post-truth era as convex mirrors and mediators that reflect various aspects of reality onto a nonfiction dimension, which is not the opposite of real-life but rather the source of its projection. It manifests the property of in-betweenness that wanders among our constructions of the imagination and reality






Whose craft crafting aircraft?
Deconstructed lcdTV screens/ plastic / indium tin oxide/ glass/ Aluminum
Semiconductor Chip *1
Projector*1
144cm”81cm



Grounded in Deleuze’s theory of the control society, Whose Craft Crafting Aircraft? constructs a digital media archaeological site that interrogates the interplay between digital aesthetics, technological power, and authenticity. The work challenges viewers to reconsider familiar digital forms and the ways in which transparency is transformed into a tool of manipulation in our media-saturated age.

The inclusion of a semiconductor chip—a critical component of modern digital infrastructure—further enriches the conceptual framework. 
 Taiwan has the most advanced chip factory in the world (TSMC); in a period of political tension between China and Taiwan, a CGI team from China employs Minecraft as a medium to create a virtual aircraft carrier film. After the film published online, because of the illegible authenticity of the virtual material, the government successfully exploited this property for its own military-political propaganda purposes, and the apparatus of state power subliminally used this accurate rumor to incite some populists to construct new constitutional propaganda on virtual online platforms. 

Drawing inspiration from Minecraft’s iconic pixelated style, the installation deconstructs the cognitive violence inherent in the pixel matrix. While Minecraft’s 8-bit color blocks are celebrated for their distinctive clarity, their algorithmic proliferation exposes a paradox: what is promoted as “absolute clarity” becomes a cognitive filter that obscures reality. This notion resonates with Baudrillard’s assertion that “simulacra have swallowed up reality,” suggesting that the very medium designed to reveal truth may, in fact, conceal it. In this context, Minecraft transcends its identity as a game engine to embody a control device—each block acting both as a grid of data confinement and as a potential site of resistance against hegemonic power.

Whose Craft Crafting Aircraft? invites viewers to engage with these layered narratives and reflect on the dual nature of digital media—its ability to both reveal and obscure, to empower and control. By weaving together insights from digital aesthetics, material critique, and political semiology, the work challenges us to rethink the mechanisms by which modern technology shapes our perception of reality.








Staff Only
Portal Park Online Web Residenc
MaMA Rotterdam/ Het Nieuwe Instituut 


What if the reality you perceive as virtual belongs to someone else?

What if your perception of reality is shaped by what you consider virtual?

Through an interactive digital display, Kexin switches the roles of subject and object, offering a third perspective on our reality shaped by vast data surveillance. She merges personal experiences and fiction in a multimedia short film. 

The story features a protagonist who loses her reflection in real life and projects her identity onto an online persona. This virtual character gradually becomes the protagonist's new reality. Investigating from techno-philosophical and psychoanalytic angles, the narrative explores the power structures' use of self-projection through big data and social media manipulation. 

Kexin guides viewers to rethink the boundaries between self and projection, reality and virtuality, prompting a reflection on these mirrored perspectives.
















The Toughest Vulnerability
Toughened Glasses Film OF IPHONE&HUAWEI / Electric motor
aluminum frame
Electric Installation 
2m*2.5m



The installation is constructed from toughened glass film, a material commonly used to protect the screens of high-tech devices like iPhones. Born in Chinese factories, this never-shattering film is both practical and symbolic. It can fragment internally while maintaining an outward appearance of unity and integrity—an unsettling parallel to the strategies employed by the Chinese government in an accelerationist society.

The structure is designed like the entrance gate of a factory, rising and falling every eight hours, mirroring the rhythm of industrial labor. In its initial state, the gate resists movement due to the pristine integrity of the toughened glass film. Yet, with each cycle of opening and closing, the sheets of film press against and crush one another, gradually softening and weakening. Over time, the once-rigid material becomes increasingly fragile, making the gate easier to manipulate and control.

This transformation encapsulates a broader sociopolitical reality. By exploiting a deeply rooted national inferiority complex and the trauma of cultural invasion, the government fosters a highly unified nationalist ideology. This manufactured unity drives rapid economic growth and offers a fleeting sense of material satisfaction, yet it simultaneously perpetuates cycles of self-exploitation. Through the relentless reactivation of collective trauma, society projects an image of cohesion and strength, but beneath the surface, it is fractured and vulnerable—much like the installation itself.


















Schorching  Whisper
AI generated Video Installation    5’10


What are we really losing as this rapidly changing aesthetic technology overruns our lives? Are we giving those losses enough time to mourn? Or do we not even recognize what we have lost because of the rapidity of change and the numbness of our senses?
People's cognitive capacity as a critical strategy in politics at the moment.

In Lacan's terms, it narrates a “missed encounter” with the reality that, because it is missed, can only be repeated. The repetition of the scenes is dedicated to realize them, not to simulate them, much less to derealized them.
The destructive effect of fire exists only in the real world, just as it scorches people when they touch it. Once it is transformed into a digital form, it is robbed of its most potent properties and transformed into a singular visual effect. But due to the character of Hyperaesthesia of social media, people have numbed in the long stretch of the informational flood.

In this work, I inputted a poem about fire into an AI generator. The generator then collected and analyzed my words as input information to generate its own visual scenario. However, due to the continuous stream of AI-generated images and the viewer's perception of trying to discern the content of each frame, the viewer's sensitivity becomes completely numbed. This silencing effect creates an ideal condition for a certain form of propaganda that aims to induce a systemic level of blindness in opponents, making it difficult for people to see and understand what is happening to them by inundating them with too many signals at once.

Furthermore, this collecting behavior, dissecting the structure of language and fabricating virtual situations, is highly reminiscent of how propaganda exploits the cognitive capacity of the public to construct its own ideology. This unseen virtual data generator operates silently, like a flame, forcing individuals to become fuel and then coalescing into a collectivity of narratives.

















0am/12pm

Video Installation/ kitchen /tv screen    7’10
2019



The work is presented in a kitchen.
When domestic scene becomes the vehicle and a part of the work, has it dissolve the boundary between reality and virtuality? 

I employ the dimensional and perceptional discrepancies between the two spaces, in order to connect the real on-site experience and the virtual players’ angle in the game, so that when the audience watches the role trying to escape the virtual world inside the game, he or she may have the similar doubts to the real world. 

The game tells a story of escaping. It’s about how a role trapped in the game manages to escape the endless cycles in the virtual world.
Usually, games are designed to employ the first-person narrative to reinforce the audience’s experience. However, the audience also loses his or her own “body” at the same time. We can’t see our faces or bodes. Rather, we only see the virtual objects in the game. 

The work features the player in the game. As he or she completes the tasks one by one, due to bugs in the game, the player realizes that he or she is trapped inside the endless cycles of the game. While the player becomes fully aware of it, he or she is forced to restart again and again. In the end, the player manages to destroy the virtual space violently. But when the game is finally demolished, the audience thereby sees that the last image shows the real scene where the audience sits. 

The reality is the endless cycle. 





















Unacknowledged Loss

Audio/ online performance vis WhatsApp
2021
https://soundcloud.com/kexin-hong/unacknowledged-loss

The concept of unacknowledged loss stems from the psychological term of Disenfranchised Grief, which refers to the deprivation of citizenship rights. This type of loss is invisible and can be challenging to identify, often accompanied by depression, indescribable pain, and suppressed emotions that are difficult to mourn. It can be challenging to articulate precisely what has been lost, and small emotions may go unnoticed until they become a hybrid of emotions, leading to breakdowns.

Mourning is a natural way for humans to express sadness, but due to the ambiguous nature of the subject and the unacknowledged loss, it can be challenging to cope with. Additionally, the fast pace of society means that we are constantly losing and gaining, and others may criticize and mock our fragility and worthiness of sadness.However, it is essential to recognize that fragility is a part of human nature. 

This work can be played anywhere, at any time, and is an ordinary moment, just like the moment when emotions arise. The audio includes the sound of a keyboard and dialogue from a machine. During the brief pause between the keyboard sounds, we automatically imagine our question based on the previous answer, which is related to each individual's subconscious and the loss of that moment. Interestingly, the answer is actually the question itself, as I am using real-time translation software to type in Chinese and play it in English.

Therefore, when we imagine the question, we have already heard the answer, and the imagination itself is the result.Ultimately, the loss can even be a gain.


Loss is even a gain.



















DESIGN Portfolio
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wB2Wq8-_LDLLzS1dwdmfRLtgePsO8J_w/view?usp=drive_link


Spearheaded a team of 12 to successfully conceptualize and present visual content and campaign proposals for Absolute Vodka, targeting China's youth cultural market. 

Initiatives included brand research, audience analysis, virtual persona development, brand content positioning, visual direction establishment, and 3D imaging.

Orchestrated and designed the visual campaign script for Salomon's collaboration with OUTPUT's represented artist-Timo Helgert, for the XT-6 campaign. 

Responsibilities included storyboard scripting, content communication, layout design, and more. Lead Graphic Designer for GLOW ShenZhen 2020 Art Festival.

Designed the festival's main visual posters, key visual boards, exhibition panel designs, and visual navigation layouts. Innovatively coordinated and designed the main visual contents for the Kering Group's exhibition booth at the Shanghai Import Expo.

Responsibilities encompassed video editing and spatial curation planning.