Tianyi is always in either a second-hand shop or on second-hand sale apps where she encounters found objects, images and footage (and she never feels bored). Her love for used/ collected/ found objects originates from, instead of nostalgia, a haunted feeling experienced in the contemporary days as the past has not been shed away while our world keeps moving, or in fact it can never be...
My Shadow on Your Dust 2025 Three-room total installation, found objects, interactive devices, single-channel video, sound, Arduino.
In My Shadow on Your Dust, Tianyi Zheng traces the fragmented lives of secondhand objects collected in Hiroshima—from antique shops, flea markets, to the forgotten underground storage of Motomachi. These materials become protagonists in a spatial narrative that unfolds across three interconnected rooms: a single-channel video monologue reflecting on displacement and the memory of things; a choreographed series of kinetic installations reanimating objects through programmed motion and light; and a simulated storage room where sensors trigger radio static, flickering lights, and rustling paper, transforming the viewer into an unintentional performer.
By combining DIY electronics, atmospheric sound, and repurposed objects, Zheng constructs a haunted theatre of everyday remains—contemplating the fragile ties between personal history, political absence, and the residues of postwar material culture.
Artist’s Team Voiceover: Yuqi Wang Sound: Vunkwan Tam Technical Support: Ed Lee Translation: Jingwen (Sebun) Li Video Editing: Tianyi Zheng
Presented in Ambient, Environment, Circumstances – The Topography of Contemporary Art Simose Art Museum, Hiroshima, Japan
Curated by Keita Saito with co-curators Takayori Matsuyama, Jingwen Li, and Yoko Negami
Participating artists include: Kaori Endo, Riyoo Kim, Daichi Kukita, Sou Suzuki, Madara Manji; Omyo Cho; Tianyi Zheng; Muhamad Gerly; and Soe Yu Nwe.
