Weaving the Present

Weaving the Present brings together the art scenes of Shanghai and Vienna in a dialogue between young Chinese and Austrian artists, exploring how craftsmanship and technology meet in the post-digital world, and how digitisation, globalisation and the rediscovery of traditional materials, techniques and myths shape cultural identity. The exhibition marked the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Austria and China and the 20th anniversary of the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna, and was Li Li Ren’s first presentation in Austria.

With Wanbing Huang, Kaja Clara Joo, Simon Lehner, Christiane Peschek, Michael Pöllinger, Noushin Redjaian, Zhao Rundong, Chen Ruofan and Nan Zhang. Li Li Ren showed the hanging textile Where My Body Lies Bare (2026) alongside Earthly Delights I and Earthly Delights III (2024), in which cast fragments of a foot and a hand carry fluid forms of green glass.