Don’t mistake the fun, shimmery exterior of the White Rabbit Gallery’s latest exhibition as another glowing new artwork fit for Instagram. The works of Artist Hu Weiyi explore the perils of rapid urbanisation and lost humanity in this thought-provoking exhibition dubbed A Blueprint for Ruins. Spread across the gallery’s four floors, the exhibition elicits images of a not-so-distant future where cities lose their soul to make space for skyscrapers and high-rise buildings and somewhat eerily asks the question: “Where have all the people gone?”
A Blueprint for Ruins, White Rabbit Gallery
A stalwart of contemporary Chinese art in Sydney, the White Rabbit Gallery has been showcasing a variety of profound exhibitions and artworks over the years. Its new exhibition features empty neon-lit rooms and vacant apartment blocks, evoking an uneasy feeling of seeing abandoned city spaces where people should be, a byproduct of over-development.
The rooms feature porcelain artworks, footprints on paper, video projections and a neon room depicting a nightclub devoid of any people. Hu Weiyi says of his layered artworks, “It’s as if every abandoned building, about to disappear, is attempting to sing its last note, and eventually they will come together to form a requiem for an era.”
The exhibition is free to visit and the gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. If you’re planning to visit, don’t forget to grab a drink at the cafe downstairs, under the canopy of empty birdcages. Catch it at the White Rabbit Gallery until May 5, 2024 and get more information about it here.