In recent years, I have come to recognize that much of my practice originates from a lingering guilt toward my childhood. My early life was enclosed yet content, filled with fantasies about what it meant to grow up. When those fantasies largely unraveled, the rift between imagination and reality left me not only disappointed but also apologetic toward my younger self. This latent guilt gradually led me to probe two interwoven themes: bloodline and what I call the “male condition.”
In the Chinese context, bloodline is profoundly complex. It underpins traditional social structures, organizing a self-centered network according to kinship ties and degrees of relation. Over time, it crystallizes into a kind of sacred genealogy: every individual is born into it, their rights and obligations determined by their place within the web. Yet under the weight of modernization, this bloodline-based order has been forced into radical mutation, provoking crises of meaning and structural dilemmas for both society and the individual.
By the “male condition,” I do not mean men themselves, but rather a latent impulse inscribed in human genes and culture: the drive to dominate, to intrude upon, and to transform the Other. This condition relentlessly pursues power, constantly produces otherness, and oscillates between a longing for strength and a rejection of weakness—only to collapse or drift into disillusionment. I find myself both unable to escape it and profoundly repelled by it. My work often stages this ambivalence, shifting between resistance and a tentative movement toward the Other.
If one has benefited from such a system, yet fails to embody the successful figure its obligations demand, is there another way to repay the debt of happiness? This question has become the central motor of my artistic inquiry. Since 2023, I have been developing the video series Unfilial Son, a concentrated reflection on this dilemma: if the pursuit of success is destined to falter, where else might one turn? The first installment, Refractory, has been completed, while the second, The Never Game of Human Life, is currently in pre-production.
Methodologically, my work revolves around the interplay between media. In my video practice, for instance, my doctoral dissertation, The Analysis and Construction of Fictional Artifacts in Moving Image Art, investigates the integration of installations, sculptures, and props within the moving image—both as a systematic reflection on and an extension of my earlier methods. By inserting fictional artifacts into the image as “plug-ins,” I deliberately create redundancies, testing the limits of the medium. At times, I push this further by generating an excess of information through such artifacts, preventing the audience from constructing a coherent whole. Instead, they are drawn into states of chaos or ambiguity—into what I call “fog.” This fog may redirect attention toward visual experience and emotional intuition rather than interpretation, or it may induce a condition of drifting thoughts, attaining “the same nature as a tranquil dream.”
近年来突然意识到我的实践很多源自对童年的愧疚感。儿时的生活很封闭却满足，对长大充满了幻想。然而随着憧憬大都落空，想象与现实的落差让我除了沮丧，更多的是对小时的自己感到抱歉。这样潜在的愧疚感，也将我逐步引向了对“血缘”、“男性状态”等议题的探索。
血缘在中国语境中非常复杂，它是传统社会结构的基础，塑造了以自我为中心、根据血缘与关系的远近而铺展开的网络。并最终升华成一种神圣谱系，个体生来就被嵌入其中，其权利与义务，皆由其在这张网络中的具体位置所决定。然而在现代化的冲击下，血缘为基础的网络发生了重大的异化，并引发了社会与个体一系列的结构困境与意义危机。
所谓“男性状态”并非指向男性，而是潜伏在人类基因和文化中，粗暴控制、侵入和改造他者的欲望。这种状态不断追逐力量、不断制造他者，深陷对强大的渴望与弱小的排斥中，就必然会面临突然的崩溃或走向幻灭。我难以彻底摆脱它又非常厌恶，因此总是试图挣扎，有时反抗，有时走向他者。
如果享受了系统的好处，却难以成为成功者履行义务，那是否存在另一种偿还幸福的方式？这份疑惑是我创作的核心动力。23年开始策划的影像系列作品“不肖子”正是对“如果成功的追求终将失败，还能去往哪里？”的集中思考，目前完成了系列的第一部《不应期》，正在进行第二部《人生无限游戏》的前期工作。
工作方法上，我特别关注不同媒介间的交织。以影像为例，我的博士论文《影像艺术中虚构人造物的分析与建构》聚焦于影像中装置、雕塑和道具等人造物的融合，是对以往创作方法的系统性梳理与延伸。将虚构人造物作为影像的插件来制造冗余，在媒介的极限之外工作。或进一步通过虚构人造物制造信息过载，令观众无法形成可理解的整体，陷入一种混沌状态，产生“迷雾感”。迷雾可能让人更多关注视觉体验或情感直觉，而非解读。也可能进入了一种无法对外部事物产生强烈的反应、思绪漫游的“宁静的梦幻状态”。
Sun Guaiwu is an artist based in China, whose work spans almost all major media and focuses on the interweaving of different mediums. His doctoral thesis, "The Analysis and Construction of Fictional Artifacts in Moving Image Art," explores the integration of artificial objects like installations, sculptures, and props in video art, while also serving as a systematic review and extension of his previous creative methods. In recent years, his artistic practice has centered on three themes:"Bloodline", "Masculine Condition." His video series "Unfilial Son," which he began planning in 2023, stems from these two themes. The first part of the series, "Refractory," has been completed, and work is currently underway on the second part.
In addition, Guaiwu is a design activist and researcher who sees design as a moral declaration and a medium to inspire discussion. He aspires to generate valuable narratives and thought experiments outside the script of consumerism. In 2017, Guaiwu founded the Mentionso studio, which actively engages in various issues within the Chinese social and cultural context through radical design, design comedy, speculative design, critical design, and social design, striving to act for a better society of tomorrow.
怪悟是一位居住在中国的艺术家，作品几乎涵盖所有主要媒介，并关注不同媒介间的交织。其博士论文《影像艺术中虚构人造物的分析与建构》聚焦于影像中装置、雕塑和道具等人造物的融合，也是对以往创作方法的系统性梳理与延伸。近年他的艺术实践主要围绕“血缘”、“男性状态”两个主题。他于23年开始策划的影像系列作品“不肖子”正是源自这两条路径，目前完成了系列的第一部《不应期》，正在进行第二部的前期工作。此外，怪悟是一名设计行动者和研究者，将设计作为一种道德宣言和激发讨论的媒介，渴望能在消费主义脚本外产生有价值的叙事和思想实验。2017年怪悟创立当代设计团体明想社，针对中国社会及文化语境，用设计激进主义、设计喜剧、思辨设计、批判设计、社会设计等方式，积极介入不同议题，为了明天理想的社会而行动。
2022- PhD, Contemporary Art Practice, Central Academy of Fine Arts, CHN
2015-2017 MA, Design Interactions, Royal College of Art, UK
2012-2015 MA, Art and Design Theory, Northeast Normal University, CHN
2013-2014. MA, Visual Communication, Shih Chien University ( Exchange Course), CHN
2008-2011 BE, Industry Design, Hohai University, CHN
2005-2008 BE, Agricultural Facility of Science and Engineering, Hohai University( no diploma), CHN
2024-2025 Visiting Tutor, School of Continuing Education, Central Academy of Fine Arts
2017-2022 Creative Director, Mentionso
2019 Guest Lecturer, China Academy of Art (Shanghai Campus)
2012-2013 Creative Director, Otacool
Email guaiwuart@gmail.com
Instagram sunguaiwu