Jichi Zhang

Lives and works in London, UK

Artist statement

Jichi Zhang makes site-responsive installations from materials designed to protect buildings and objects during construction, transport, storage and repair: industrial films, adhesive tapes, architectural coverings and provisional supports. Through restrained actions of folding, leaning, suspending, adhering and tensioning, he places these materials at thresholds between wall, floor, object and air. For Zhang, protection does not eliminate exposure; it redirects it. One surface is kept intact because another receives pressure, dust, deformation or wear. His installations make this redistribution perceptible, using gravity, airflow, adhesion and material fatigue to test how long a temporary relation can hold. Rather than presenting stable objects, works such as Support Room (2026) and by (2026) organise dependencies among material, architecture and the labour required to keep an arrangement in place. Maintenance therefore operates as part of the form. Reinstallation does not restore an original state but begins a new negotiation with a site: components shift, surfaces retain traces and the conditions of care change. This produces a selective continuity in which some parts are preserved, others absorb damage, and others are declared replaceable. Zhang’s current research extends these material tests through installation instructions, condition reports and rules of repair or replacement. Language does not interpret the sculpture; it turns decisions into permissions, actions...

Artwork