Royal College of Art (group residency) / Qinyi Li

photo Simon Beckmann

Royal College of Art (group residency) / Qinyi Li / sculpture

Qinyi Li is a Chinese artist working with slow, time-based kinetic and perceptual installations, using found objects, motor-driven movement, controlled collapse, ambient sound, and materials such as water, wood, ink, and rice paper. In an age defined by speed, clarity, and immediacy, her work slows perception, inviting moments of quiet attention grounded in bodily experience.

Drawing from Chinese cosmology—including the I Ching, Taoist philosophy, Shanshui painting, and Buddhism—Qinyi approaches these traditions as frameworks for exploring change, ambiguity, and interdependence. While rooted in these philosophical lineages, she avoids reproducing cultural forms as fixed symbols. Instead, her works allow form and meaning to remain fluid, unstable, and unresolved.

Her installations unfold as rhizomatic ecosystems, resisting hierarchy and linear progression while evolving through material interdependency and gradual transformation. Shaped by gravity, erosion, dripping, and material flow, these environments reposition familiar matter within unfamiliar configurations, suspending inherited meanings. Through this process, she constructs perceptual conditions in which sensation precedes interpretation, opening space for expanded awareness and a renewed sense of interconnectedness.

In partnership with the Royal College of Art, this group residency at Joya: AiR was curated by guest artist Annie Edwards (GBA 26, MA RCA, BFA) www.annieedwards.com