Since moving to Shanghai in 2019, I was immediately drawn to the city’s distinctive underground club culture. At its heart was ALL Club, often described as Shanghai’s playground for forward-thinking electronic music. It was here that I learned, absorbed, and experienced performances by both local pioneers and international artists, while also finding myself embraced by a vibrant community, one that included many artist friends I deeply admire, such as Wang Newone, Kim Laughton, Tzusing, Hyph11E, 33EMYBW, among others too many to name.
With the trust of this community, I created posters and visual works for a wide range of artists and labels, including SVBKVLT, Hyperdub, Antigen, Lee Gamble, among others. These collaborations became a fertile ground for experimentation, allowing me to search for my own visual language and narrative. Club culture, with its intensity and openness, continues to be an indispensable source of inspiration within my artistic practice.
In 2020, ALL Club launched a groundbreaking series called SCLERA, which reimagined the usual format of a club night. Instead of a DJ as headliner, visual artists were invited to curate the evening, shaping the concept, choosing performers, and directing the use of the budget provided by the club. I was honored to be the very first artist invited to host one of these unconventional nights.
For my edition, I curated a night under the theme “Kinship.” I created an immersive installation artwork that blended interactive real-time visuals, designed in Unreal Engine, with architectural interventions and atmospheric wall designs. Extending beyond the installation, I also designed two limited-edition T-shirts that were sold on site, turning the event into both a shared experience and a tangible memory.
Here, kinship was not about bloodlines or heritage, but about fleeting bonds formed through sound, movement, and shared presence. In the club, bodies and rhythms intertwined, creating a momentary sense of belonging beyond species, origins, or futures.
NUTEMPOROR, an experimental fashion brand, along with ALL Club are both long-term collaborators of mine. In 2020, I was invited to design the visual identity for their joint club night, developing the main conceptual artwork, visual expressions for the collaborative pieces, and a series of interactive audio-visual projections that lit up the LED screens during the event.
Beyond Shanghai, I have also contributed visuals for club nights in other key cultural hubs, such as OIL Club in Shenzhen, Final Club in Taipei, and Soft Centre in Sydney, extending the energy of Shanghai’s underground scene into a wider global context.
Since leaving Shanghai, I have been searching for my tribe across Berlin and Europe, immersing myself in diverse club cultures and fueling new collaborations. This broader landscape serves not only as inspiration but also as a stage on which I continue to expand my practice, carrying forward the momentum first sparked in Shanghai.
Wang Jingxin 