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Xiangyin Gu

@kuschonink

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Lens/Pen based Artist
Studio, @ascstudios
PhD Candidate, @rca_soah_research
Associate Lecturer, @csm_news

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From 22 May to 5 June 2026, my photographs and moving-image work 𝘔𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘩𝘪 𝘌 were on view in the six-artist group exhibition 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘗𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 at 幻 Photism Collective Space in Chengdu, curated by Wang Weirong @wangweirong_ , Wo Ruojia and He Bo @hebo_mimic .

The exhibition took the 4.75-inch dimension (the standard jewel case measurement for CD packaging since 1982) as both its physical constraint and conceptual point of departure. It invited participating artists to propose exhibition frameworks beginning from "creating a cover design for one's own record." Proposals spanned reconstructions of vinyl's material life, acoustic documentation, or the rupture between physical substrate and digital interface.

My work traced my paternal great-grandmother's life through an ensemble of eight songs spanning Japanese occupation, early PRC founding, Cultural Revolution, and the post-1980s revival of traditional arts. Initiated in 2019, completed through interviews in 2025, and produced in 2026, the piece treated oral history and regional dialect as forms that entangle personal memory with state history.

I am grateful to the curators for their generosity and care in bringing these artistic practices into dialogue.

Featured Artists:
小能 & EDEN LANOIS
杨莉莎
JIA
顾向寅
金子
VIC

Special Thanks:
The album cover is my photograph of a blackboard sketch left by Yuhao Chen @yuhaoc_studio .
Installation shots by Yucun Meng @mengyucun . by @kuschonink

On 20 May, I presented at 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘦, a participatory workshop convened by @ambarchnetwork at @crasshlive , University of Cambridge, and led by Prof Tina Campt.

I presented a single photograph from my family archive: an original black-and-white negative, a portrait taken in Tiananmen Square on 16 September 1966, right after the third mass Red Guard rally received by Mao. Its surface is ordinary, a souvenir of the Great Exchange of Revolutionary Experiences, and belongs to a visual grammar shared across the posters, illustrations of the period and later echoes in contemporary art practices. Working from this material within my doctoral research on family archives, psychoanalysis, and Cultural Revolution-era memory, I brought the negative alongside its original darkroom print made in Beijing and a 1967 English-translated copy of the Little Red Book, and proposed that the haptic life of these objects, their handling, concealment, and transmission across decades, constitutes an archival register that their iconography alone cannot account for.

I am grateful to the organisers for the care with which the workshop was structured, and to Prof Campt for the time and attention she gave to each project in the room. by @kuschonink

From 19 to 22 May 2026, my single-channel video 𝘔𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘩𝘪 𝘌 (2026) was on view in 𝘎𝘓𝘐𝘛𝘊𝘏 at the Homerton College, University of Cambridge, curated by Kahyun Lee @arte_etc_ with Jinsi Zhang @zhangjinsi as Project Lead. The work traced the life of my paternal great grandmother through oral history, a project initiated in 2019, and combined this testimony with depictions of family letters, family autobiographies and inherited documents. It treated the family archive as a site where personal memory and 20th century Chinese political history meet, and asked how a public history continues to reach the generations that arrive after it. by @kuschonink

This Thursday, I have presented my paper 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬: 𝘋𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 at the V&A, organised by the V&A Research Institute and the National Art Library and Archives. My paper focuses on the bibliomigrancy of 𝘘𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘰 𝘛𝘴𝘦-𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘨 specifically within Suzhou, China. It further proposes questions about the bibliomigrancy of the Little Red Book in other regions of China and abroad. by @kuschonink

I am pleased to share that I will be presenting my research at 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘴: 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵-1945 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 at the V&A South Kensington on 16 April 2026.

My paper examines 𝘘𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘰 𝘛𝘴𝘦-𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘨 through family archive and oral history, focusing on its domestic life, its extraordinary circulation from 1966, and its gradual withdrawal from public view after 1979. by @kuschonink

It is a weird experience to take therapy seriously, or even more so if one has also been sitting at the edge between psychoanalysis and a more scientific tradition of psychology as a discipline. I’m grateful that I have now finished my certificate in therapeutic counselling that gave me a better idea of how the chasm has shaped the mutual discrimination among many schools within the idea of “therapy”. To ask the question what is therapeutic, or perhaps if it is even possible to not fall into the trap of conformism whilst incubating a therapeutic outcome in today’s neoliberal system that we are all dwelling.

The bewildering ethical dimension of therapy is another more intricate issue that is greatly under explored. With gentrification and the most vulnerable group of people almost entirely refused outside any access of “therapy,” what is the role of contemporary therapists after Thomas S. Szasz, who famously criticised the problematic conundrum of agency in our industry.

- X by @kuschonink

This week, I had the opportunity to present my paper 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵-𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦 𝘈𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 at the conference The Avant-Garde, Affectively. The conference was wonderfully convened by Zanë Hadri @zanehadri (University of Leuven) & Susan Best (Griffith University), with Sascha Bru (University of Leuven). The conversations among the presenters and questions raised during the course of the three days are infinitely meaningful. Thierry de Duve's generous and critical keynote speech 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘭 has left strong impressions for everyone present and will be a point of reference in the future. by @kuschonink

Earlier this week at the Henry Moore Institute @henrymooreinstitute in Leeds, I had the opportunity to participate in the 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘤 𝘖𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 symposium organised by Prof. Fiona Crisp @crisp_fiona , where I presented a part of my ongoing research. The quality of the projects and research shared across the symposium was fascinating. The conversation between Prof. Hilde van Gelder @hildevangelder and Prof. Fiona Crisp opened up a number of questions that continue to resonate with all participants. Truly grateful for the generosity of the discussions and the space that was created. by @kuschonink

On 21st Octoboer 2025 I had the chance to take part and present at the 𝘙𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵'𝘴 𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺 conference in Toruń, Poland. My paper, "Root/Route: Screen Memory, Familial Archives, and the Artist's Identity," explored how an artist's identity is formed through the intersection of familial memory, psychoanalysis, and political history—drawing on Freud's concept of 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 and focusing on a family photograph from the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

It was a pleasure to present this work as part of my PhD research at the Royal College of Art, and to engage with fellow scholars thinking through questions of memory, transformation, and belonging in contemporary artistic practice.

The conference panel that I was involved was thoughtfully organised and held online by the Art History Department at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and carried out online.

This is one of my first opportunities to present the main body of my PhD research. The paper examined the legitimacy and critical potential of practice-led inquiry, while engaging with questions raised during the conference—such as the Cultural Revolution’s influence on modern and contemporary Chinese artists, and the place of Roland Barthes’s writings within my reading of Freud’s concept of screen memory. by @kuschonink

Over the past two days I had the chance to take part and present at the 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘳𝘵/𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘮 conference in Zagreb, Croatia. My paper, “Speaking the Unspeakable: Participation, Haunting, and the Politics of Collective Memory,” reflected on the practices of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘢, founded by William Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace. It was a pleasure to work on this as part of my PhD research, extending my earlier engagement with Kentridge’s 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢, which I analysed in detail at a conference in Peking exactly a year ago.

The conference was thoughtfully organised by the committee from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb and carried out with great care and generosity.

@ffzg_unizg @lessgoodidea @williamkentridgestudio @bronwyn_lace by @kuschonink

Xiangyin Gu (b. 1998, China)’s 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 series emerged from a camera malfunction which produced blurred, unfocused photographs taken at his family home, a house built by his grandfather. Rather than being discarded, the images became central to his inquiry into the quiet erosion of photographic memory. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, Gu treats this technical failure not as error but as metaphor: a photographic equivalent of Freud’s screen memory, where distortion becomes a mode of access to the unconscious. Gu explained that the camera is a cruel representation of the world: too honest and precise, offering no space for doubt. By contrast, the malfunctioning camera introduced ambiguity, allowing him to explore memory as something unstable, recursive, and emotionally charged. The uninhabited rooms and architectural motifs dissolve into gradients of light and form, evoking the inarticulate nature of recollection. Photography in Gu’s practice is less about representation than about emotional temperatures—measuring what is left behind after vision fails. Like memories that shift with each recall, Gu’s works carry a mournful elasticity, insisting that what matters in the image is not its accuracy but its persistence.

Xiangyin Gu is a researcher and artist based in London. His interdisciplinary practice bridges writing and photography, with a particular focus on psychoanalytic explorations of memory, trauma, and intergenerational transmission. His work investigates the psychical spaces where temporality and history intersect, challenging conventional modes of representation. His works have been exhibited at the Royal College of Art, Copeland Gallery and FotoFilmic Gallery. He is currently a PhD researcher at the Royal College of Art, London.

Work:
𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 (2025)
Inkjet on Hahnemühle Rag
40 x 53 cm & 80 x 106 cm by @kuschonink

I’m delighted to be part of Room we didn’t build, a group exhibition featuring works by Lujane Pagganwala, Maya Silverberg, and myself. The show opens 16 July at @noritogallery , and runs through 16 August 2025.

Curated around the porous, shifting terrain between memory, material, and perception, Room we didn’t build brings together sculpture, installation, and photography that question what makes a space legible—and what haunts it when it isn’t.

My contribution includes a series of photographic works drawn from the ongoing Failure of Memory project, which explores the latent architectures of loss and remembering. Alongside Maya Silverberg’s illusory surfaces and Lujane Pagganwala’s durational installations, our works unravel how psychic, affective, and cultural traces shape how we inhabit, misremember, or imagine space.

📅 16 July – 16 August 2025
🕕 Opening Reception: 16 July, 6–8 PM
📍 NORITO | First Floor, 19B Beak Street, Carnaby, London W1F 9RP

We look forward to welcoming you into the room we didn’t build—unresolved, affective, and subversive.

@lujane.pagganwala
@maya.silverberg
@kuschonink by @kuschonink