The Found and the Lost Immersive and Interactive Drama Exhibition

"Beyond the script, re-writing with multiple routes for unique experiences."
First Stop of Tour – Beijing Today Art Museum 07/22-10/08

Breaking with the tradition of curating exhibitions based on a single picture book, A Fish That Smiled at Me, Turn Left, Turn Right, The Moon Forgets, Mr. Wing, and Missing My Cat all serve as inspiration for different areas of this exhibition. The design team presents scenes, plots, and characters of each classic work in novel ways, rendering them in an immersive space: the Jimmy Village. There are 9 exhibition areas in the village, including drawings, texts, sound, video, music, lighting, visual art, sculpture, and more. Digital installations and performances aren't missing either, awakening familiar memories and sensations in viewers through stories to empower them for self-healing.

Jimmy Liao's oeuvre has acted as a passageway towards the heart and soul of many modern people. He once expressed, "The deepest darkness is soon to pass, the moon is ready to shine."
This is why the curating team chose the story of The Moon Forgets as the central plot. Every member of the audience is the protagonist, setting out on a dialogue with each exhibition area and the text therein to go through possession and loss. People can also use a mini app on their phone to help the moon retrieve its light (memories) in every area. Immerse yourself in the act of seeking and sharing light. Experience Jimmy's poetic spirit to the fullest through the "light" in each space.

Stage Crew Creates a Performance with Nonlinear Narrative

Jimmy once said, "I often have dozens or even hundreds of individual illustrations that might seem unrelated at first, yet I keep searching for ways to weave them together with a single subject or concept. Shifting again and again, I leave out a few until they form a 'story'."

The curating team is composed of theater professionals, so after giving it a lot of thought, they decided to use five picture books for the script. Other than building narrative spaces for storytelling, they boldly went beyond traditional exhibition methods by figuring out the narrative logic in each of Jimmy's original works, deconstructing their plots, and piecing them back together as a single new story. Each exhibition area has people performing live a new script created by the director based on the five picture books. A drama unfolds between the male and female leads living in the apartments on the sides, the middle-aged man on the harbor, the little hero, and the villagers, delivering a nonlinear narrative that takes place simultaneously in different exhibition areas.

Musician George Chen x Lighting Designer Wang Tien-hung

All of the music heard in the exhibition venue was composed by musician George Chen. According to his textual description for The Found and the Lost:
“"The whistling of trains resounds throughout the railway station. Full of energy, one gets ready to set out with much excitement. A merry piano melody accompanies you as you go after the lost moon and search for that missing cat. The male and female leads of Turn Left, Turn Right dance romantically to the beat of the waltz. Percussion instruments tell of the joys and sorrows of Mr. Wing, prompting us to consider our own life situation. The triple time of the music turns into quadruple time later into the piece. You meet a new friend in A Fish That Smiled at Me. Our life lesson is nothing but learning to grasp (restriction) and let go (freedom)." ”

Lighting is essential for both theater performances and exhibitions. It plays a supportive role: its changes in brightness and color transform the atmosphere in each exhibition area according to its different content, captivating viewers to deliver an immersive experience. Actors benefit equally from well-made lighting, as it helps them become deeply involved in their role and moves the plot. The lighting designer, Wang Tien-hung, is always the first choice for lighting design of Jimmy Liao's exhibitions. For him, his work is always about conveying the fantastical feeling in each of Jimmy's works.

Curator Fan Chao-wei said, "Every small detail in The Found and the Lost has its own reason to be: a pair of wings, a tailor-made sofa, a cat, a painting, a fish, the call from a stranger, the moon, a flower, the light lit in a room at a city by night... They can even become protagonists organically in The Found and the Lost, telling their own stories, long or short, and sharing their own life journeys and the bearable lightness or heaviness of being."

Exhibition Period | July 22 to October 8, 2023
Opening Time | 10:00 to 18:00 (last admission at 17:00), Tue. to Sun. (closed on Mon.)
Exhibition Location | Building 2, Today Art Museum (Pingguo Community, No. 32, Baiziwan Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing)