Film Screening and Q&A (EN)
Guan Xiao and Anna Marckwald

On the occasion of Beijing-based artist Guan Xiao’s exhibition Teenager at Kunsthalle Wien, this screening night features three of her most recent three-channel video works, followed by a conversation with Kunsthalle Wien’s Assistant Curator Anna Marckwald.

Over the past decade Guan Xiao has gained wide recognition for her inventive use of moving image. Fragments of language, sound and imagery collide to create shifting worlds in which the distinctions between the organic and the artificial, the ancient and the futuristic, dissolve. Her videos, which often make use of found footage from the internet, oscillate between the creation of fleeting coherence and its decomposition – the deconstruction of the visual worlds surrounding us.

The film screening is free with a valid exhibition ticket. As part of the event, the exhibition will be open until 21:00.

Programme

Just A Normal Day, 2019 (27 minutes)

Street slang, electronic sounds and road movie rhythms interweave in this three-channel installation. The work addresses the vulnerability of the human body through injury, medical intervention and decay, embedding this exploration in symbolic landscapes of heaven and earth.

Dengue, Dengue, Dengue, 2017 (13 minutes)

This restless triptych evokes a sense of simultaneity where past, present and future press upon one another. In Guan Xiao's dense montage, which consists mainly of found footage from the internet, everyday images are exaggerated and fictionalised.

Weather Forecast, 2016 (13 minutes)

In Weather Forecast, Guan Xiao treats images of people, objects, animals and natural phenomena, also taken from the internet, with equal weight. Guided by the artist's voiceover, the work deals with the disorientation of travel and the non-linear circulation of history and perception.

Q&A Session

After the screening, a half an hour Q&A with the artist, moderated by Anna Marckwald, offers audiences the chance to explore Guan Xiao’s approach to video and her broader practice.

Guan Xiao’s films have been shown internationally at biennials and museums across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Opening on 7 October 2025, Kunsthalle Wien is presenting her first solo exhibition in Austria.