'The Light Between Ancient Cracks' exhibition held in Beijing's Hiart Space

Editor's Note: In "The Light Between Ancient Cracks," ancient objects are presented without labels or context, and Mao Xinguo's "Ink Style" series reveals no explicit narrative. This curatorial decision invites the viewer into a space of quiet contemplation, where time folds and surfaces speak.

Xiu Zhe's collection of "ancient props" includes a ritual mask, weathered wooden figures, fragments of Buddhist statues and utilitarian relics — each bearing the marks of erosion, devotion and loss. Mao Xinguo's "Ink Style" series draws upon calligraphy as form rather than content, reworking ink into presence rather than inscription.

Rather than illustrating one another, the old and the new remain parallel but proximate — resonating through shared sensibilities of material fragility, symbolic ambiguity and aesthetic restraint. In the context of 798's contemporary art landscape, this exhibition reintroduces the archaic not as artifact, but as living aesthetic.

"The Light Between Ancient Cracks" exhibition intersperses Mao Xinguo’s abstract ink works with ancient relics at Hiart Space in Beijing, July 23, 2025. No labels are provided, allowing visual relationships to emerge organically. [Photo by Liu Ziying/China.org.cn]