The Natural Contract | 自然契约
Date: 2025.8.22-10.28
Location: Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing, China
Curator: Jo WEI
Artists：Lynn Hershman LEESON, LIANG Shaoji, Melati SURYODARMO, Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, Robert ZHAO Renhui, CAO Shu, YIN Yunya
机构：清华大学艺术博物馆，北京，中国
策展人：魏颖
艺术家：林恩·赫舍曼·利森、梁绍基、麦拉蒂·苏若道默、阿彼察邦·韦拉斯哈古、赵仁辉、曹澍、尹韵雅
Curatorial Text | 展览文字
What is nature? How can humans coexist with it? Especially in the current era of rapid development in biotechnology and artificial intelligence, and amid frequent global ecological crises, nature cannot be viewed merely as scenery for humans to admire or resources for humans to exploit. Instead, it is a coexisting entity that humans must treat as an equal. We can no longer observe nature from the perspective of bystanders; instead, we must redefine the relationship between nature and humans as an integral part of the interconnected web of relationships.
Philosophers throughout history and across cultures have put forward related ideas. For example, Zhuangzi's “Unity of Heaven and Humanity” emphasizes that humans should conform to the laws of nature rather than oppose them. Michel Serres' “Natural Contract” argues that after the social contract, we also need to establish a contract with nature. Like the Philosophy of Ecological Civilization, these ideas hold that humans and nature should be one, forming a symbiotic and reciprocal relationship. This exhibition is based on this line of thinking, attempting to explore the complex relationships between humans, technology, media, and nature within the framework of the “natural contract.” Seven artists from diverse cultural backgrounds—Lynn Hershman Leeson, Liang Shaoji, Melati Suryodarmo, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Zhao Renhui, Cao Shu, and Yin Yunya—contribute a total of 18 works or installations that form the parallel narrative threads of the exhibition. The works encompass installation, bio-media, video, and artificial intelligence, presenting the multifaceted aspects of nature in the contemporary art context: it is both material and concept; it is both other and mirror image. The exhibition also seeks to construct a multi-layered perceptual network, responding to the increasingly tense yet deeply intertwined relationship between nature, technology, and humans. Each artist's work serves as a thread, intertwining across different dimensions. They not only narrate nature but also expand the boundaries of artistic media; they not only respond to the times but also question human existence. Through their works, we can rethink our relationship with nature—between light and shadow, between senses and technology, and between memory and the future.
The “natural contract” signifies a redefining of the relationship between humans and nature. From the classical ideas of “nature loves to hide” and “unity between heaven and humanity” in antiquity, to modern science viewing nature as an object that can be measured and conquered, the relationship between humans and nature has been constantly undergoing reconstruction. Today, through art, we are able to transcend species boundaries and reimagine a new future of symbiotic and reciprocal relationship between humans and media, technology and nature.
TAM Website: The Natural Contract
CGTN：Exhibition reflects on the bonds between human and nature
何为自然？人类如何与之共处？尤其是在生物技术、人工智能迅猛发展的当下，全球生态危机频发之时，自然不能仅仅被视为人类所观赏的风景、所利用的资源，而是一位人类必须平等正视的共存主体。我们不再能以旁观者的姿态凝视自然，而必须作为关系网络中的一环，重设自然与人类的关系。
古今中外的哲人都提出过相关思想，如庄子的“天人合一”， 意在强调人应该顺应自然规律，而非相互对抗；米歇尔·塞尔的“自然契约”则认为在社会契约之后，我们也需要和自然制定契约。和中国目前所主导的生态文明思想一样，这些理论都认为人与自然应为一体，呈现共生互惠的关系。
本次展览正是基于此思想脉络，试图在“自然契约”这一思维框架下，探讨人与技术、媒介、自然之间错综复杂的关系。七位来自多元文化语境的艺术家——林恩·赫舍曼·利森、梁绍基、麦拉蒂·苏若道默、阿彼察邦·韦拉斯哈古、赵仁辉、曹澍与尹韵雅，共18组/件作品构成展览中的平行叙事的线索。作品涵盖装置、生物媒介、影像、人工智能等形式，呈现出自然在当代艺术语境中的多重面貌：它既是材料，也是思想；既是他者，更是镜像。展览亦试图构建出一个多层次的感知网络，回应着自然、技术与人之间日益紧张又深度纠缠的关系。每位艺术家的作品如一根线索，在不同维度上交织和缠绕。他们不仅在叙述自然，也在拓展艺术的媒介边界；他们不仅在回应时代，也在追问人类的存在方式。通过作品，我们得以在光影之间、在感官与技术之间、在记忆与未来之间，重新思索与自然的关系。
“自然契约”意味着人与自然关系的一次重新设定。从一开始的“自然爱隐藏”“天人合一”等古典思想，到现代科学将自然视为可以测量和征服的客体，人与自然的关系始终在进行重构。而如今，通过艺术，我们得以跨越物种的边界，在人与媒介、技术与自然之间，重新想象一种新的未来。
清华大学艺术博物馆官网：展览推荐：自然契约
清华大学艺术博物馆公众号： 新展| 自然契约
清华大学官网：探讨人与自然关系，“自然契约”展览亮相清华艺博
环球网：展览“自然契约”登陆清华艺博 作品涵盖生物媒介、人工智能等形式
南都文化：重思自然与人类的关系，展览“自然契约”登陆清华艺博
澎湃新闻：七位中外艺术家用创作探讨“自然契约“
人民艺术： ”自然契约“展览在清华大学艺术博物馆开幕
Artworks | 作品
Photos of Scene | 现场
Artworks(Captions) | 作品介绍
艺术家| Artists
Lynn Hershman Leeson
Lynn Hershman Leeson (b. 1941) is internationally acclaimed for her visionary art films and interdisciplinary practice. Her over five decades of work consistently engages with cutting-edge science, exploring the complex relationship between technology and humanity through emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and social networks.
She has received a Special Mention at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022), the Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction (2020), and Golden Nica (1999). Her works have been exhibited in over 200 major exhibitions worldwide and are held in collections including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Tate Modern (London), and ZKM | Center for Art and Media (Karlsruhe).
Liang Shaoji
Liang Shaoji (b. 1945) currently works and lives in Tiantai Mountain and Shanghai. he has been indulged in the interdisciplinary creation in terms of art and biology, installation and sculpture, new media and textile. His Nature Series sees the life process of silkworms as creation medium, the interaction in natural world as his artistic language, with time and life as the essential idea. His works are fulfilled with a sense of meditation, philosophy and poetry. From 1986 to 1989, Liang Shaoji studied soft sculpture from Maryn Varbanov at China Academy of Art. In the late 1980s, Liang started experimenting with silkworms.
Selected exhibitions: Liang Shaoji: Phantasmagoria - Annealing 2024, Shanghai Museum of Glass, Shanghai (2024); Liang Shaoji: A Silky Entanglement, Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2021-2022); The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China (touring exhibition), Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Smart Museum of Art (Chicago), U.S.A. (2019-2020); The 3rd Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai (2000); The 5th Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France (2000); The 6th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (1999); The 48th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (1999); China/Avant-Garde Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (1989) etc.
Melati Suryodarmo
Melati Suryodarmo (b. 1969) currently works and lives in Surakarta, Indonesia. Her work stems from ongoing research in the movements of the body and its relationship to the self and the world, articulated in photography, translated into choreographed dances, and enacted in video and live performances.
Over the past two decades, Suryodarmo has performed across the world at Festivals, Biennials, and art museums. Her works are collected by institutions such as Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, National Gallery of Australia, Singapore Art Museum, and Museum MACAN (Jakarta).
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (b. 1970) currently lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Weerasethakul is recognized as a major international filmmaker and visual artist. His works are characterized by their use of non-linear storytelling, often dealing with themes of memory, loss, identity, desire, and history.
His works have won him widespread international recognition and numerous awards, including the Cannes Jury Prize in 2021 for Memoria, his first film shot outside of Thailand. He also won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2010 with Uncle Boonmee, Who Can Recall His Past Lives. His Tropical Malady won the Cannes Competition Jury Prize in 2004. His works are internationally collected by Tate Modern, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; SF MoMA, San Francisco; M+ Museum, Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Singapore Art Museum, and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai and more.
Robert Zhao Renhui
Robert Zhao Renhui (b. 1983) currently lives and works in Singapore. His works chiefly with photography but often adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, presenting images together with objects. His artistic practice investigates man’s relationship with nature and ecological ethics, questioning how attitudes shape perceptions of nature.
He represented Singapore in their national pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. Recent exhibitions include: 14th Gwangju Biennale Gwangju, South Korea (2023); Material and Object, Tate Modern (2025); Robert Zhao: Seeing the Forest, National Gallery Singapore (2025); Robert Zhao: Sacred in the Rubbish Layer, ShanghART Singapore (2025).
Cao Shu
Cao Shu (b. 1987) currently lives and works in Hangzhou. His works incorporate a diverse range of media, including writing, photography, 3D digital imagery, mixed-media sculpture, and video game installations. His recent interests include topics such as nuclear energy as a ghostly medium, socialist historical science fiction, ant colony algorithms and superindividual life forms, and the relationship between digital technology and memory, etc.
Cao Shu has exhibited at institutions such as M+ Museum, White Rabbit Museum, Macau Museum of Art, and Matadero Madrid Contemporary Art Center, and has been in residence in Switzerland, Yokohama, Munich, and other locations. In addition, the works have also been shortlisted for the main competition units of film festivals around the world, including the Leipzig Documentary and Animation Film Festival, DMZ Docs, Annecy International Animation Festival, Milano Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Film Festival Hannover, etc.
Yin Yunya
Yin Yunya (b. 1990) currently lives and works in Beijing and Chengdu. Her recent research and practice involve an in-depth exploration of the rational aspects revealed in images and the sensual language of different materials. By considering materials as a medium of “language, she connects the spirituality of different materials with the intense and complex doubts of the present, attempting to create a certain context to form a method of interpretation. She graduated from the Beijing Film Academy and the University of the Arts London with a degree in photography.
林恩·赫舍曼·利森（Lynn Hershman Leeson）
林恩·赫舍曼·利森生于 1941年,以极具前瞻性的艺术电影和跨学科创作享誉国际。她在半世纪以来的创作始终走在科学的最前沿，通过融合人工智能、基因工程、社交网络等新兴技术，面向科技与人性之间的复杂关系展开探讨。
她曾获得第59届威尼斯双年展的作品双年展特别奖（2022）、林茨电子艺术大奖的荣誉奖（2020）及金尼卡奖（1999）等。她的作品已在全球200多个大型展览中展出，并被众多艺术机构收藏，包括纽约现代艺术博物馆、伦敦泰特现代艺术博物馆、卡尔斯鲁厄艺术与媒体中心（ZKM）等等。
梁绍基
梁绍基生于1945年,现工作和生活于天台山和上海。他潜心于艺术与生物学、装置与雕塑、新媒体、行为的临界点进行探索[1] ，持续以蚕的生命历程为媒介、以与自然互动为特征、以时间、生命为核心的“自然系列”的创作。他的作品充满冥想、哲思和诗性。他曾于1986至1989年在中国美术学院师从万曼（Maryn Varbanov）研究软雕塑，1980年代末开始进行养蚕艺术实验。
其参与的展览包括：梁绍基：溶熔之幻——退火 2024，上海玻璃博物馆，上海（2024）；梁绍基：蚕我 我蚕，上海当代艺术博物馆，上海（2021-2022）；物质的魅力: 来自中国的材料艺术（巡回展），洛杉矶郡艺术博物馆、Smart艺术博物馆（芝加哥），美国（2019-2020）；第三届上海双年展，上海美术馆，上海（2000）；第五届里昂当代艺术双年展，里昂，法国（2000）；第六届伊斯坦布尔双年展，伊斯坦布尔，土耳其（1999）；第四十八届威尼斯双年展，威尼斯，意大利（1999）；中国现代艺术展，中国美术馆，北京（1989）等。
麦拉蒂·苏若道默 （Melati Suryodarmo）
麦拉蒂·苏若道默生于1969年,现工作和生活于印度尼西亚苏腊卡尔塔。她的作品来源于对身体、自身和世界关系的课题研究，并通过摄影、编舞、影片和现场表演等方式来呈现这些概念。
在近二十年内，苏若道默在全世界范围内的艺术节、双年展和美术馆中相继展示和表演，作品亦被众多国际知名美术馆收藏，包括泰特现代美术馆、蓬皮杜艺术中心、奇亚斯玛当代艺术博物馆、澳大利亚国立美术馆、新加坡国家美术馆、雅加达努桑塔拉现当代艺术博物馆等。
阿彼察邦· 韦拉斯哈古（Apichatpong Weerasethakul）
阿彼察邦·韦拉斯哈古生于1970年,现工作和生活于泰国清迈。韦拉斯哈古被公认为重要的国际电影制作人和视觉艺术家。他的作品的特点是使用非线性叙事，通常涉及记忆、失落、身份、欲望和历史等主题。
他的作品赢得了国际广泛认可与多个重要奖项，包括2021年凭借首部海外拍摄电影《记忆》获得戛纳电影节评审团奖。2010年，他凭《能召回前世的布米叔叔》荣获戛纳金棕榈奖；2004年《热带疾病》获得戛纳主竞赛单元评审团奖。其作品被众多国际重要机构收藏，包括英国泰特美术馆、法国蓬皮杜艺术中心、美国旧金山现代艺术博物馆、香港M+博物馆、日本森美术馆、泰国MAIIAM当代美术馆等国际机构。
赵仁辉
赵仁辉生于1983年,现工作和生活于新加坡，他主要以摄影进行创作，同时采用多学科方法将影像与实物并置呈现。他的作品主要探讨人类与大自然的关系、生态伦理课题，同时也关注人类的态度和观点如何影响我们对自然的认知。
他在2024年作为新加坡馆的代表参展威尼斯双年展。近期的展览包括：材料与物体，泰特现代美术馆，伦敦，英国（2025）； 赵仁辉：见·森林，新加坡美术馆（2025）；赵仁辉：垃圾层里的神圣，香格纳新加坡（2025）。
曹澍
曹澍生于1987年,现工作和生活于杭州。他的作品表达媒介融合了写作、摄影、3D 数字影像、综合材料雕塑、电子游戏装置等, 近期作品的议题包括作为幽灵媒介的核能，社会主义历史科幻，超个体生命形态与蚁群算法，数字技术与记忆的关系，加密技术等。
曹澍曾展出于M+博物馆、白兔美术馆、澳门艺术博物馆、Matadero马德里当代艺术中心等机构，并曾驻地于瑞士、横滨、慕尼黑等地。除此之外，曹澍的作品也入围世界各地的影展主竞赛单元，包括莱比锡纪录片与动画电影节、昂西国际动画节、韩国DMZ 纪录片节、米兰电影节、渥太华国际动画节、汉诺威国际短片节等。
尹韵雅
尹韵雅生于1990年，现工作和生活于北京与成都。她近期的研究与实践是关于影像中显现出的理性层面与不同材料中的感性语言的深度考察。通过考量材料作为“语言”的介质，将不同材料的精神性与当下所面临强烈且复杂的疑虑相联结，试图创造某种情境从而形成阐释的方法。她毕业于北京电影学院和伦敦艺术大学摄影专业。
工作团队
总 策 划：鲁晓波
艺术总监：邓 岩
项目策划：陈兴鲁
策 展 人：魏 颖
展览统筹：王晨雅 项目监制：王 鹏 陈兴鲁 葛秀支
设计统筹：王 鹏 视觉设计：孙 杰
展览团队：曾里程 吴俊逸 张 娟 钟鸿文 陈茜媛 万千越 陈嫣然 王 约 翟亚辉 吴 威 白申昊
宣传推广：刘垚梦 周辛欣 肖 非 彭 宇 史笑颜
公共教育：张 明 周 莹 王玟惠 张瑞琪
主办单位：清华大学艺术博物馆