DSL Magazine: Issue 11

81 Slime Engine’s digital online art center was established in 2017 by three artists belonging to the post-90s generation, Li Hanwei (b. 1994), Liu Shuzhen (b. 1995), and Fang Yang (b. 1996). Residing online at the URL http://slimeengine.com , the trio is dedicated to “the development of unprecedented art creation,” intending to expand artmaking beyond the physical and conceptual limitations of time and space. Through exchanges and collaborations with different artists, Slime Engine curate online exhibitions, create and organize performances that use virtual worlds to explore new formats of contemporary art while also confronting and dismantling traditional art practices and exhibition spaces. In the process, Slime Engine provide themselves and other emerging Chinese digital artists the opportunity to showcase their work beyond the Chinese internet and the confines of the local gallery system. One of Slime Engine’s virtual exhibitions, titled Ocean (2019), included works by 99 artists who submitted digital images, videos and 3D models that were embedded in a virtual ocean. Floating on the ocean surface and occasionally half- submerged in the water, some of the artworks are fixed in place as waves crash against them, while more interactive pieces are activated when a user navigates into a certain vicinity of them. The sky above the ocean changes color mimicking daylight cycles, offering visitors a familiar ambience contrasting with the virtual nature of their experience. The juxtaposition of Chinese characters and 3D renders, amorphous figures and Asian female bodies, metallic textures and pastel colors is also reminiscent of the Taobao aesthetics influencing a whole generation of artists. Slime Engine’s take on virtual exhibitions moves beyond singular experiences towards new frontiers of networked collectivity and distributed aesthetics that push through technological and cultural boundaries. 史莱姆引擎 Slime Engine