About
Calayah (b. 2000, China) is a research-based female artist who graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2024.In the same year, she served as a visiting tutor at the University of Westminster. Calayah's works have been exhibited at renowned venues such as Tate Modern and RaidenNST. Additionally, she received a 15,000 RMB grant for a national research project in 2020.
Her artistic practice is characterized by continuous experimentation, combining emerging technologies with contemporary art to explore social issues. Her work primarily involves performance and moving images through mediums such as virtual reality, motion capture, and artificial intelligence. Notably, in 2024, she began an in-depth exploration of "Digital Performance."
Calayah's work challenges societal norms, inviting viewers to critically examine how gender, libido, and the body are influenced by various ideologies. Her critical lens ranges from clinics implanting prosthetic phalluses for women to cultural industries catering to virtual attachments, from AI churches worshiping science to the commercialization of life through body modifications. Her practice interrogates synthetic, moldable, and imitable identities, alongside their generation and regeneration.
Calayah thrives on creating intense tension in her works, presenting an excess that provokes a visceral reaction akin to overindulgence in sweets leading to nausea. Through this aesthetic of excess, she constructs a beautiful yet violently compelling new world. Her works seductively draw viewers in, posing the tantalizing question: will you take a bite?