What happens when personal longing, cinematic nostalgia, and historical transitions collide within a delicate sculptural landscape? For artist Cici Wu, the moving image and physical sculpture serve as porous thresholds—conduits through which cultural memory, displaced narratives, and lost time can be tenderly re-examined.
At 47 Canal in Chinatown/Lower East Side, Cici Wu: Auld Lang Syne (prelude) debuts a delicate new body of lantern-like sculptures, projected moving-image installations, and works on paper. Taking its title from the traditional song of reflection and farewell, the exhibition functions as a meditative prelude to Wu’s ongoing inquiry into historical memory, emotional geography, and the passages between past and present.
Lanterns, Light, and Cinematic Memory
Central to Cici Wu’s practice is the creation of custom, hand-crafted camera mechanisms and light-transmitting sculptures. Often constructed from fragile materials like paper, wax, wire, and found glass, her works act as physical receptors of light, casting shadows and delicate projections that evoke early cinematic techniques.
In Auld Lang Syne (prelude), Wu uses translucent materials and subtle illumination to construct an atmospheric, slow-paced gallery environment.
The exhibition underscores several key conceptual threads:
- The Poetics of Farewell: Interrogating the emotional nuance of Auld Lang Syne—a melody associated with nostalgia, endings, and new beginnings—as a lens for cultural transition.
- Sculptural Projections & Shadow Play: Hand-built lantern sculptures that filter light and movement, creating low-tech cinematic projections across the gallery walls.
- Transient Geographies: Tracing real and imagined landscapes between East Asia and the diaspora, mapping how personal nostalgia weaves into broader socio-political histories.
The resulting installation is a quiet, highly intimate experience that invites visitors to pause, slow down, and immerse themselves in the soft play of shadow and light.
Key Visual Highlights & Exhibition Details
1. Hand-Crafted Light & Lantern Sculptures
Intricate, skeletal structures made of bent wire, translucent paper, and glass elements that function both as standalone sculptural objects and as delicate light projectors.
2. Experimental Moving-Image Projections
Atmospheric 16mm film transfers and video works projected onto paper screens, capturing fleeting urban landscapes, water reflections, and quiet interior spaces.
3. Works on Paper & Found Material Assemblages
Delicate drawings, cyanotypes, and light-sensitive works on paper that map out spatial memories and archival fragments.
Why This Exhibition Matters
Cici Wu: Auld Lang Syne (prelude) offers a profoundly poetic and contemplative exhibition in the Chinatown and Lower East Side gallery circuit. By bridging early moving-image apparatuses with sculptural delicacy, Wu creates a unique space for reflection on loss, time, and emotional endurance.
For art lovers, curators, and gallery-goers exploring downtown Manhattan, this exhibition at 47 Canal provides a subtle yet deeply resonant gallery encounter.
Exhibition & Visitor Details
- Exhibition Title: Cici Wu: Auld Lang Syne (prelude)
- Artist: Cici Wu
- Venue: 47 Canal
- Address: 291 Grand Street (2nd Floor), New York, NY 10002
- Admission: Free and open to the public
- Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
