Muxingye Chen

“Mutual Restraint/Mutual Hacking” is a multidisciplinary art project centered on digital media, exploring cultural identity, fragmented memory, and the role of digital technology in shaping selfhood and social relationships. Rooted in Muxingye’s personal experience as a Chinese migrant in the Netherlands, the project constructs an interactive, sensory environment that reflects the fluidity and reconstruction of identity within the digital and physical worlds.

The project employs the “glitch” as a metaphor to express the fractures and uncertainties inherent in diasporic cultural identity. A glitch, often representing interruptions in technological systems, here symbolizes the continual reshaping and adaptation of identity

Muxingye Chen’s artistic practice involves a deep interdisciplinary exploration combining experimental film, computer-generated imagery, 3D scanning/modeling, field recording, and performance. His work engages with objects, the body, time, and space,creating immersive experiences that evoke both intellectual and emotional responses. Chen approaches his artistic expression through both individual practice and collaborative work, which are essential to the philosophical and research-based dimensions of his creative process.

His core interests lie in two key areas: first, researching Chinese diasporic history begins in the Netherlands, where he organizes fragmented self-identity information,particularly in the context of digital nomadism and post-colonial discourse. Second,Chen explores the complex entanglement between cultural identity, digital technology’s control mechanisms, and post-human theories of body-information-material relationships. His work delves into the cybernetic embodiment of data, the concept of a natural body, and the ethical questions raised by these themes. 

Website: www.muxingyechen.com
Instagram: @muxingye_chen

This work is kindly supported by Stimuleringsfonds.