Vivian Lu & Rose Tianyu Qi
Don’t Look At Me, 150 x 250 x 150 cm; Wax, robotic arm, heat gun, camera, mix material; 2025
Vivian Lu & Rose Tianyu Qi: Don't Look At Me
Opening Reception: Friday, May 1, 2026, 5-8pm
Don't Look At Me is an interactive installation in which a life-cast wax sculpture is progressively destroyed by the attention of its viewers. Cameras track visitor gaze in real time; when a viewer looks at the body, a robotic arm directs heat to the observed area, causing the wax to soften, deform, and disappear. The sculpture does not reset. Over the course of the exhibition, it becomes a record of collective attention — a topography of looking rendered in material loss.
The work draws a line from the oldest structures of social control to the automated surveillance systems of the present. The interaction requires nothing of the viewer but what they already do: look at a body. No conscious decision to participate, yet the system is already running. The viewer becomes both agent and subject of the same apparatus — observing, being observed, and observing themselves within a loop that mirrors the power dynamics we all inhabit. The wax cannot be restored. Neither can we.
Exhibition dates: May 1-29, 2026
Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm
This program is supported by a grant from the Athena Fund.