TEXTSCAPE

TEXTSCAPE

Hongtao Zhou

Textscapes are 3D printed documents to reemphasis printing in modern technological world.

May 17 – July 12, 2019

Textscapes are 3D printed documents to reemphasis printing in modern technological world. Printing technology was first created in ancient China to reproduce text using woodblocks, however today’s definition had been widely adopted in 3D printing, an additive process more often to create objects instead of duplicate text. Textscape generates letter-sized 3D documents to visually profile the subject matters of the texts, such as cities, landscapes or figures. These documents make reading process interactive for general audience or blind people, as knowledge as well as art. This series of work has variations of braille, language characters, calligraphies and number systems to bridge the contents and its visuality in architecture, landscape, portraits and abstract matters. 

Hongtao Zhou is an interdisciplinary scholar and artist, he researches, practices and teaches in the areas of Design, Architecture, Exhibition Design, Furniture Design & Fabrication and Contemporary Sculpture & Installation. Hongtao holds a PhD from Purdue University, a MFA from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a MS from Northeast Forest University of China. He is a professor at Tongji College of Design and Innovation (D&I) and a visiting professor at University of Hawaii-Manoa (UHM). Hongtao had been serving as the Director of the UHM Haigo and Irene Shen Architecture Gallery. Currently he is Executive Member and Curator of the National Association of Chinese Artists in American Academia.

Hongtao has exhibited nationally & internationally including Centre Pompidou, Gwangju Design Biennale-South Korea, National Museum of China, Milan Design Week, Milwaukee Art Museum, Chazen Museum of Art, Haggerty Museum of Art, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Charles Allis Art Museum, Honolulu Museum of Art School, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum in Beijing and Taiwan Design Center. He published his work and research in Interior Design, Interni, Design Bureau, Transmaterial, Metropolis, American Craft, Artdaily Zhuangshi Magazine, Modern Weekly and Huffington Post. Centre Pompidou and the University of Virginia collected his work. Hongtao’s work is currently on view in the 2019 Venice Biennale in collaboration with TONTSEN DESIGN in the European Cultural Centre Exhibition.

This exhibition made possible thanks to the MSU College of Arts and Letters, Department of Art, Art History, and Design. Special Thanks to Xia Gao, Associate Professor of Apparel and Textile Design. Work shown made possible by Jiabao Zhu, Project Assistant, Making Lab, Tongji University, College of Design and Innovation (D&I).

For more information about Hongtao Zhou, please click here.