SPITIRUAL THEATER | exhibition
ZHANG YONGHONG's Spiritual Theater: salvaging poetry from the folds of memory
This exhibition, the first comprehensive presentation of the artist's work outside China, invites you on a journey—not merely a visual spectacle, but a profound exploration into the geological layers of memory and the folds of human emotion.
Within the spiritually-charged garden woven by Zhang Yonghong, we encounter a beauty born of paradox. The cold hardness of ceramic coexists with the softness of textile; the fragility of paper converses with the infinite expansiveness of the digital. The antagonism of these materials deftly metaphors the inherent contradictions of our existence—how rationality and poetry, eternity and transience, are perpetually entangled within the human spirit. Deconstructing the disciplined order of a traditional "garden," the artist reveals to us that true spiritual growth must encompass withered leaves and insect bites, and that the manifestation of spirit requires an embrace of shadows. Love, her work declares, needs no perfect vessel.
Zhang Yonghong's artistic roots lie in her childhood on the vast Xinjiang plains and the rhythmic clatter of her mother's old sewing machine. Her mother's skillful hands, deconstructing and reconstructing old garments, planted the seed of visual experimentation in her heart. Those textile fragments imbued with bodily warmth—the warp and weft of a faded scarf, the frayed edges of denim—ultimately became the core medium for her memory sculptures. The "Textile Archive Project," initiated in 2008, quietly germinated over the years before suddenly sprouting one night in 2021. Her sewing machine stitches replicate the creases of time; balls of white yarn, through processes of tearing and darning, transform into the contour lines of memory.
Here, creation becomes an archaeology within the folds of time and space. As the needle pricks open fault lines of memory, the old fabrics undergo a wondrous material transformation through repeated deconstruction: denim fibers accumulate like geological strata, skeins of wool unravel into abstract mountain ranges, and sewing trajectories solidify into fossilized layers of memory. These entities, existing somewhere between garment and sculpture, are both intimate family totems and a universal map of our shared emotional geology.
It is particularly poignant that the artist admits her finished works often reveal a face unfamiliar even to her upon the completion of the final stitch. This sense of "loss of control" in creation is art's most captivating mirror—it reflects the essentially reconstructive nature of memory itself, and bears witness to the alchemy of salvaging eternal poetry from the ordinary folds of life.
Now, we invite you to slow your pace and immerse yourself in this theater. May these silent textiles and their hardened softness guide you to touch the veins of your own memories, and, in embracing the wild growth of all that is imperfect, catch a glimpse of the spiritual light within.
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"SPIRITUAL THEATER" takes place outside the walls of EAST WEST, in collaboration with masmir studio. This exhibition reinforces the ongoing continuity of the program of cultural projects that will unfold throughout the year in Barcelona and its surroundings, creating opportunities to experience contemporary art in unique and unexpected spaces. By expanding beyond the gallery itself, the initiative opens new contexts for artistic dialogue, curatorial experimentation, and the encounter between audiences and creative practices. With each new exhibition, the project aims to enrich the cultural landscape of Barcelona, bringing together contemporary art, collectible design and thought in settings that resonate with both local and international visitors.
ARTISTS
ZHANG YONGHONG
ORGANIZED BY
YUAN MUSEM
EAST WEST
DATES
OPENING 10.12.2025 from 18:30 to 21:00h
10.12.2025 - 10.02.2026
mon-thu from 9:30 to 18.00h | fri from 9:30 to 13:30h
LOCATION
masmir studio
C/ Ferran Agulló 3, local 2
Barcelona
CURATED BY
Song Tao
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
ZHANG YONGHONG
ZHANG YONGHONG (b. Xinjiang, China) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work moves between textile art, ceramics, painting and mixed media installations. Her practice builds a bridge between the tangible and the intangible, exploring memory, material transformation and the spiritual dimensions of human existence.
Through the interplay of fabric, clay, paper and pigment, Zhang constructs poetic cartographies of the soul—gardens of light and shadow where fragility and resilience coexist. By embracing imperfection and the natural autonomy of materials, she transforms acts of sewing, folding and layering into metaphors of emotional archaeology. Her works often resemble living organisms—woven memories that breathe, heal and unfold in time.
Rooted in childhood memories from the vast landscapes of Xinjiang, Zhang’s artistic journey began with the rhythmic sound of her mother’s vintage sewing machine, which became a metronome of creation and time. Since 2008, her ongoing fabric archive project has evolved into a profound reflection on the relationship between body, memory and matter—where each stitch embodies both loss and rebirth.
Zhang’s artistic language combines philosophical depth and material experimentation, positioning her practice within the broader dialogue between contemporary art and spirituality. Her work invites viewers to contemplate transformation not as destruction, but as the serene act of dancing upon the flowing ruins of life itself.
