In April, young audiovisual artist Angy He completed her performance in the UFO Terminal, one of the tank venues at the West Bund Museum in Shanghai. Utilizing a unique 360-degree projection screen, her audiovisual composition was fully showcased. Every dot, line, and plane became even more impressive when displayed. It was massive, immersive, and otherworldly. Angy’s creation began as a collaborative project inspired by the classic sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Through iterations and performances in other underground scenes in Shanghai, such as SYSTEM, she developed a narrative depicting the rise of AI and the human response to it. She employed the Max/MSP program and a MIDI controller to create a real-time audiovisual experience.
Angy wasn’t the only artist to perform in the remarkable tank. She refined her project during an initiative called Loading…, launched by UFO Media Lab, one of the oldest art-tech communities in China. Artists from fields including experimental theater, installation art, and audiovisual media came together to collaborate over a two-week period after being selected by a committee. During this time, numerous workshops and talks were organized by renowned artists and tech experts from around the globe, including Byetone and Frankfurt Helmet. The creations weren’t limited in form, allowing artists to experiment with the infinite possibilities of the large screen.
The curiosity of these artists toward the 360-degree screen and its combination with technology was the starting point that brought everyone into the tank. However, for Angy and all participating artists, the two-week experience was even more valuable because it opened things up for communication. It broke social circles within China’s art ecology. Art academy students, design students, and industry veterans came together to share their passion for the arts and technology. The two-week camp served as an exclusive meetup for creators, but the exhibition continues with scheduled performances displayed on the screen.
This is not the first time the Tank Terminals have breathed art into their vast, echoing shells. Born in the 1970s to cradle aviation fuel, these industrial giants slowly fell silent in the early 2000s. A decade later, in 2013, curators began to imagine a new life for them—a metamorphosis from fuel to fire, from storage to stage, from silence to sound. Since their public unveiling in 2019, the tanks have welcomed dancers and dreamers, including the world-renowned Tao Dance Theater, who unfurled their latest work within the embrace of the West Bund Theater. Now, with the arrival of the Loading… Project in late 2023, the UFO Terminal has become a fertile ground for artistic exploration—its round screen: a moon for visions to orbit, a canvas for stories to spiral outward.
When asked what her next steps are, Angy is not sure, since live audiovisual performance in China is still a very underground scene. But one thing is certain: she will remember the insights all her fellow artists shared from their areas and keep using audiovisuals as a form of self-expression. Meanwhile, the exhibition of the two-week workshop Loading…Access has just wrapped up. Although the tank is taking a break now, next time you visit Shanghai and see those uniquely shaped vessels on the west bank of the Huangpu River, take a step inside. The coolest art might be happening there.
Cover Image via Angy He.
