Xin Liu

The Permanent and the Insatiable: Born to Sea, 2026

Xin Liu's artwork consists of two sculptures made from post-consumer PET bottles, submerged in tanks containing an enzymatic solution. Through a heat-induced chemical reaction, the sculptures gradually disintegrate over the course of the biennale. A continuation of her series of the same name, the work confronts the apparent immortality of human-made materials with the appetites of bio-engineered microbes. Liu's sculptures resemble both industrial and organic forms: the substructure of machinery or the skeleton of a disappeared organism. Blooming when pristine, the sculptures slowly wilt and decay, prompting reflections on what will emerge in its place. Examining the afterlives of materials and infrastructures left in the wake of the vanished sea, Liu's work offers a speculative and practical model to think through impossible scenarios. Bridging contemporary art and advanced scientific research, Liu creates conceptual and material frameworks for understanding the transformation, circulation, and degradation of matter across technological and planetary systems.