The Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning is currently hosting "Walking in the Sun — Ai Jing Art Exhibition 2026," a major solo retrospective of the multidisciplinary artist Ai Jing. Curated by He Guiyan, the exhibition features a diverse range of works including painting, sculpture, and a significant installation involving 150 bags of black soil transported from the artist's hometown of Shenyang. The show is structured into three thematic sections that explore the artist's personal history and her philosophical engagement with the concept of "walking" as a metaphor for life's journey.
This exhibition represents a significant cultural moment for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, highlighting the evolution of Ai Jing from a celebrated musician to a prominent contemporary visual artist. By blending personal memory with universal questions about modernity and suffering, the show underscores the museum's role in facilitating complex contemporary narratives. The use of raw materials like Shenyang soil emphasizes a growing trend in Chinese contemporary art to reconnect with regional identity and environmental memory within a rapidly urbanizing landscape.