︎
hua xi zi  滑惜子


边/GRAB AND SHOOT BETWEEN SIDES
THE LAST SHOOT III
WEB CAM DIES IN THE SEA
SHADOW OF THE SHADOW/WANG LIANG WEN JING
IMAGE_EXCHANGE
ACCIDENTAL PHONE CAPTURE SERIES
氣/Qi
HUA清池观看游记/HUA QING CHI TRAVEL NOTES
UN-EXPOSING/影像连结
WHERE ARE YOU FROM
SING INTO THE VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK
WINDOW
The FEEDBACK OF LOOKING
FANTASY OF BEING IN EXILE
100 Ft.
捕/Capture: A Solo Show
降B调的玻璃罩/GLASS COVER IN B FLAT
 THE LAST SHOOT  
SEEING AND HUMMING
 JIYŪ• BUZIYOU/自由·不自由
SEE,AGAIN,THE PASSING OF LIGHT/再び、見る、消え去る光
BE PRESENT WITH THE SHADOW
MANIFESTO
FANTASY FOR SOLITUDE





ABOUT
MYSELF, MY PATHS, AND MY WORKS




I grew up in different cities and socioeconomic realities under the fast-developing China of the 2000s, before moving to and living in the United States at fifteen for even more clashes of cultures and ideologies. Having lived in the US for 11 years, I came back to China in early 2021. I have been aware of and thinking about my fluidity, privilege and limitations when traveling across borders, cultures, ideologies and the firewall.

My practice concerns about the use of the camera, digital network (internet and other telecommunication methods), the performative bodies… as well as the infrastructure of technological production and digital network. My work started from my relationship with the camera, hiding behind the camera machine and observing between places and their people, between the world and the machine (including where image productions happen like film sets). I have also played with materials such as the celluloid film (from scratching it to hand-editing and projecting with a looper), played with analogue video signal (the Sandin Image Processor) to digital video processing softwares.

I seek out ways of autonomy for personal and public lives affected by floating sociopolitical surroundings as well as technological powers. My research has developed from examining the violence in histories of photography, the power dynamics in front of and behind the camera machines, as well as image and cinematic productions to the use of surveillance cameras and facial recognition today. Gradually, my practice has also been growing out two new branches, one that concerns with the medium of internet infrastructure, and the other that is in the performance space. With internet infrastructure, I started to explore in the themes of autonomous and decentralized ways of connections across different internet environments. I am also developing a performing method where I make work in real-time with the camera, projector, monitor, and internet tools, while I might also let go all these machines and explore what my body does in the moment without restrains and control. I call for gatherings and happenings: physically and virtually. I am now asking more about what liveness and interconnectivity could be in the midst of further control of our data and digital rights globally in the post-pandemic era.

I am continuing looking to “un-expose” while gleaning images and sound that are “interconnected” and “telematic” to confront with my complex, intense and unspeakable emotions. These are emotions of trauma that have been produced by twisted and controlled narratives of power, which has sucked all our blood and energy, slowly resulting in forms of shame, destruction and idleness – or one could say it’d be a form of indifference, ignorance in social and political participation – how do we examine different personal traces and ruins? I wish to gather the autonomy and interconnectivity back.

I have been going by the name 滑惜子, or Xizi Hua on official documents; Xizi “Cecilia” Hua at school, Cecilia Hua on jobs and at events; or I could invent a Xi Zi Hua, or a Hua Xi Zi. 滑/hua is a rare last name, 惜子/xi zi means “precious child.” I like hua xi zi better now, but I miss Cecilia. My friends call me cc. 

... and I call myself a media artist now. 
“hua xi zi received her MFA in Film, Video, New Media and Animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and BA in Cinema and Media Studies at University of Southern California. xi zi is also an alumni of classes ‘Machine Language’ and ‘Solidarity Infrastructures taken virtually at the School for Poetic Computation, as well as a member now working with the ‘Grass Stage Theater,’ initiated by Zhao Chuan, from participating in the workshop led by Wu Meng in spring 2023, Shanghai.”


contact me: 
ceciliaxizi<at>gmail<dot>com 

contact for cv