GUAN XIAO
Beijing-based Guan Xiao tries to steer away from the label “postinternet artist,” but it’s obvious the tool is a big part of her creative endeavours. Both her sculptural and video pieces, which are often interconnected, draw on imagery found on the net, treating it both as a source and a platform. Guan juxtaposes elements of the past with her digital finds, creating multimedia installations that disregard linear time and combine the primitive and classical, the crude and the high-tech, in a holistic and often humorous manner. David, her film at the Biennale, is a case in point. Named after Michelangelo’s sculpture, it is an absurdist commentary on the contemporary commercialisation of a centuries-old statue. Guan draws on a variety of online video material, to critique how ktisch and souvenirs are challenging—and sometimes destroying—the integrity of art.