The Human and Non-human Interconnectedness in Three Chinese Contemporary Artists

Abstract

Today, we live in an era known as the Anthropo cene. The interconnectedness between humans and other living entities and environments is an essential part of the theme of the Anthropocene and a central concern in contemporary culture and art. Through the emphasis of the role of non human agents, new materialism and posthuman ism radically problematize the binaries of sub ject/object, human/nonhuman, cultural/natural, and mind/body, and challenge the superiority of the human. Although both Chinese and Western scholars widely acknowledge that Chinese tradi tional culture and art are deeply based on less anthropocentric modes of thinking, the contem porary Chinese artists’ expression of the inter connectedness between human and non-human in the context of the Anthropocene still deserve more academic attention. This essay is dedicated to revealing how Chinese contemporary artists perceive our complicated interconnectedness and interdependences with other co-beings and entities by examining the engagement of three artists with non-human agents – silkworm, stone, and plants.