Rumpelstilzchen
Artists
Su Qiyue, Lan Zhaoxing, Li Baige, Liu Zifeng, Lv Huiyao, Hou Shuai, Meng Deyu, Su Hang, Shan Yuhan, Zhang Renjie
Curator
Zhao Tianrun
2025.03.22 – 2025.05.10
A miller boasted that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king locked her in a room full of straw, demanding she perform the impossible. In despair, a mysterious little man appeared and spun the straw into gold in exchange for gifts: first her necklace, then her ring, and finally, her future firstborn child.
Later, the girl became queen and gave birth. The little man came to claim the child but offered a final chance: if she could guess his name within three days, she could keep her baby. On the third day, a messenger overheard him singing in the forest, revealing his name: Rumpelstilzchen.
Later, the girl became queen and gave birth. The little man came to claim the child but offered a final chance: if she could guess his name within three days, she could keep her baby. On the third day, a messenger overheard him singing in the forest, revealing his name: Rumpelstilzchen.
When humans first lit a fire in a cave, the flickering flames cast moving shadows on the walls, and from that moment, perception began to emerge from darkness. Light illuminated the cave walls, and for the first time, humans “saw” their own existence. From then on, perception became an active shaping—a construction of reality—rather than a passive reception of the external world. At the core of this construction lies naming.
By naming something, it is distinguished from chaotic perception, acquiring clear meaning and position, and imparting a sense of order. In Grimm’s fairy tale, the name “Rumpelstilzchen” is the source of his power: his unspoken name allows him to operate at the edges of reality, ambiguous yet potent; once revealed, he loses his ability to manipulate reality, and his existence becomes unstable.
In phenomenology, the world is not simply “out there” objectively, but appears through perception (Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, 1913). Objects do not manifest based on an existence independent of consciousness, but acquire meaning through the intentionality of consciousness, and are constituted in the process of experience. Rumpelstilzchen is an exhibition about perception, naming, and the construction of reality. It invites viewers into a state of epoché, temporarily suspending established cognitive frameworks to reconsider the role of naming in perception. Here, the relationships between objects are rearranged, images and language hover between the perceptible and imperceptible, and the significance of color, form, and symbols becomes uncertain. Naming, which originally provided stability to perception, is suspended, loosening our sense of reality; the boundaries of things open, and perception, in its flow, reshapes the world.
The works in the exhibition are not merely objects to be seen, but part of a continuous process of naming: forms shift, meanings emerge, and viewing itself becomes participation. In this process, perception is no longer a static confirmation of reality, but a practice, an exploration, an ongoing construction. The fire still burns, the shadows still flicker, the world has yet to settle—can you speak its name?
By naming something, it is distinguished from chaotic perception, acquiring clear meaning and position, and imparting a sense of order. In Grimm’s fairy tale, the name “Rumpelstilzchen” is the source of his power: his unspoken name allows him to operate at the edges of reality, ambiguous yet potent; once revealed, he loses his ability to manipulate reality, and his existence becomes unstable.
In phenomenology, the world is not simply “out there” objectively, but appears through perception (Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, 1913). Objects do not manifest based on an existence independent of consciousness, but acquire meaning through the intentionality of consciousness, and are constituted in the process of experience. Rumpelstilzchen is an exhibition about perception, naming, and the construction of reality. It invites viewers into a state of epoché, temporarily suspending established cognitive frameworks to reconsider the role of naming in perception. Here, the relationships between objects are rearranged, images and language hover between the perceptible and imperceptible, and the significance of color, form, and symbols becomes uncertain. Naming, which originally provided stability to perception, is suspended, loosening our sense of reality; the boundaries of things open, and perception, in its flow, reshapes the world.
The works in the exhibition are not merely objects to be seen, but part of a continuous process of naming: forms shift, meanings emerge, and viewing itself becomes participation. In this process, perception is no longer a static confirmation of reality, but a practice, an exploration, an ongoing construction. The fire still burns, the shadows still flicker, the world has yet to settle—can you speak its name?
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SIMPLE ONE ｜Observe · Discuss Project
The project aims to observe the current state of the art through diversified exhibitions and, through discussions, explore the logic of art development and the multiple possibilities of art in the future that lie beneath the phenomenon.