Solo Exhibition: The Last Glimpse: A Tribute to Beijing’s Underground Live House Legacy
Artists
From 2017 to 2020, Wenhe Zhao took over 10,000 photos while drifting in and out of Beijing’s underground live music scene—first with a bulky Canon camera, later with a compact point-and-shoot. His aimless, unintentional snapshots were less a deliberate act of documentation than a way to immerse himself in the moment, negotiating reality through the lens. Over time, these photos took on new meaning, becoming anchors of retrospection after the underground scene vanished in 2021.
The show moves away from just being sentimental. In the dialogue between spinning liquor bottles and the precariously tilted brass instrument, the space becomes an active summoning ritual—a failed archive standing against oblivion. In what way do we memorize? Last Glimpse offers a slow but determined way of looking back in this changed world.
-Tingying Ma, 2024 Art Reviewer in Residency at Accent Sisters