BANK is pleased to announce Chen Ruofan’s participation in the 5th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art with her installations Soft Window, Soft Window II, and Diary from the Arctic Circle. The triennial opens on 23 September 2025 at Zhejiang Art Museum, directed by Shi Hui and curated by Jiang Jun, Huang Yan, Assadour Markarov, and Xu Jia, bringing together 45 artists from 17 countries and regions.
Under the core theme Re‑Constellations, the triennial draws from an ancient metaphor shared across civilizations—the starry sky as a textile of woven threads. In response to the systematic marginalization of many non‑Western cosmologies, this edition challenges the dominant universal narrative, seeking connections across differences and links amid fractures, much like ancient stargazers observing the heavens.
Chen’s works emerge from her project shelter that has been presented in BANK. In this project, she translates climate anxiety and ecological shifts into programmable, personal experiences. During a residency on a small Norwegian island, she “archived” intangible elements like wind, waves, and bird migrations, reconstructing tactile environmental responses through video and textile forms.
The exhibition remains on view through 2 November 2025.
On the small island of Fleinvær, located north of the Arctic Circle, Chen Ruofan became acutely aware of the stark transformations in nature: seabirds circle endlessly over a sea that once offered them refuge on solid ice. The plight of the birds is a prophetic omen that will eventually affect all species. Through data modeling, textile, and video, the project translates invisible climatic fluctuations into perceptible visual and tactile experiences, exploring themes of shelter, vulnerability, and coexistence.
The works of Soft Window Series metaphorize the intensifying extreme weather under global warming through window forms pressurized by strong winds—wrenched askew and partially collapsed below the horizon. Quoting the artist’s residency diary: “October 16th, 15 gale force winds still blow. Many thanks to this wood house, secured tightly by the wire rope. It's really good to have you these days.” The shelter of the wooden house is regarded as another layer of clothing, reconsidering the meaning of refuge within an oppressive natural environment. Change occurs like the slow intrusion of dust—not imminent, yet continuously unfolding.
Diary from the Arctic Circle draws from the weather and moods recorded in the artist's diary during her Arctic Circle residency, software was used to simulate each day’s wind, sunlight, turbulence, and shape of the sea. Personal emotions from the diary become parameters that, together with climate data, generate a visual diary of nature.
