"Robert Zhao Renhui: Looking for wilderness" is a piece by Singaporean artist Robert Zhao Renhui, conceived as part of his engagement with "The Productivity of Space" project at Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art. The installation consists of intricately designed wallpaper and 13 screens displaying video footage. The green wallpaper is adorned with regular patterns of villages, ponds, weasels, and thrushes, all of which are real animals that have "encountered" his camera's lens. The video footage showcases films the artist shot in abandoned villages.
In May 2024, he embarked on a meticulous survey of "urban wilderness" areas, often overshadowed, neglected, or obscured by the hustle and bustle of contemporary city life. In the thickets of a wild expanse in Suzhou, he installed a series of infrared cameras, initiating an extensive three-month visual documentation period. Zhao Renhui attempted to track and capture the traces of life from a massive amount of visual materials, and edited it into a comprehensive visual work to explore his long-standing creative theme - the relationship between humans and nature.
