JIN YI ZHAI
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS · CONTEMPORARY DIALOGUE
Bringing the master techniques of the Forbidden City and Jiangnan to a wider world
Breaking traditional barriers, transforming a century of conservation philosophy into contemporary aesthetic assets.
Jin Yi Zhai opens a cross-temporal dialogue with contemporary art through the lens of a curator.
Digital Art Exhibitions
Reconstructing a century of craft aesthetics through contemporary technology
2025
"Folding Time" — Digital Art Exhibition
Immersive Digital Exhibition | Shanghai MoCA
Centered on the narrative "A century in one paper, a thousand years in a single sheet,"
using WebGL real-time rendering and particle systems to simulate the texture of Xuan paper fibers and ink diffusion.
Visitors traverse four eras in a digital space: the misty Jiangnan of Suzhou's Gongxiang Lane,
the cosmopolitan elegance of Republican-era Shanghai, the solemn depths of the Forbidden City's red walls,
and a future dialogue of contemporary aesthetics.
Art Curation
A cross-boundary dialogue between traditional craft and contemporary aesthetics
2024
"Su Mounting" — A Contemporary Interpretation
Craft Aesthetics Exhibition | Suzhou Museum
For the first time, the century-old "Jin Yi Zhai" Su-mounting conservation process
was deconstructed and reassembled as contemporary art installations.
Through the re-orchestration of light, shadow, material, and space,
traditional craft is given new life in a contemporary context.
2024
"Masters in the Forbidden City" — Special Exhibition
Documentary-Themed Exhibition | 798 Art District, Beijing
In collaboration with multiple cultural heritage institutions, using the documentary
"Masters in the Forbidden City" as a narrative thread,
presenting the conservation philosophy and craft heritage of three generations of Jin Yi Zhai.
Featuring authentic tools, sample papers, and before-and-after conservation imagery
from the actual conservation workbenches.
Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration
Multi-dimensional practice of conservation philosophy in the contemporary world
2025
Dialogue with Contemporary Artists
Artist Residency Program | West Bund Art Center, Shanghai
Inviting contemporary visual artists, architects, and designers
to draw creative inspiration from Jin Yi Zhai's century of conservation philosophy.
"Can time be conserved?" — the core proposition running through the entire series.
Let what disappears disappear no more. Let what exists exist forever.
Contact for Collaboration