Qianye Lin 林千叶 and Qianhe 'AL' Lin 林千和

Qianye Lin 林千叶 (b. 1995) and Qianhe ‘AL’ Lin 林千和 (b. 1997) are siblings who work as a duo. Born in Zhuhai, China, they moved back and forth between Zhuhai and Tāmaki Makaurau while growing up. Through the manipulation of found and filmed footage and the development of original text-based work, the duo create experimental moving-image, installation and performance works that create mysterious, elusive, alluring bursts of sensation, transforming the gallery into a space for "terror and desire", and asserting power through immersion.

Qianye and Qianhe 'AL's collaboration began in 2020 with a one-night performance and installation piece, What a Thrill, WHAT A SUCCESS!!, at Papatūnga in Parnell train station. Qianye described it as "an apocalyptic celebration", featuring a video edited with childhood cartoon clips and hearts and stars made of metallic tape on the floor. A giant peach and Mandarin text were painted across the walls — drawn from a script that AL wrote and Qianye later performed at the end of the manic night.

Their subsequent work, shown at Physics Room in Ōtautahi, Thus the Blast Carried It, Into the World 它便随着爆破, 冲向了世界 (2021) narrates the story of ‘It’, a formless subject in the process of becoming. By exaggerating the very small and abstract moment of It’s birth, this piece illustrates a fragmented and disrupted relationship between sensibility and meaning, emphasising the constant exchange between oneself and the physical structure of the world. They composed their large-scale three-channel projection like an orchestra — "visuals coming in only when needed" — with the hope that the work would engage the audience on a profound physical level in the enclosed, dimly lit space.

In 人参果之歌 A Very True Heart (2022), commissioned and shown at Te Tuhi in Tāmaki Makaurau, they consolidated three channels into a single 14-metre-long projection. Filmed entirely in the artists’ home studio, the work features Qianye and AL's faces appearing tightly in the frame, gazing at the audience, with a slow and heavy soundtrack. The scenes change from a digitally generated cliff to the sky, featuring artificial rain and a storm. Strange weather, strange action. For this work, they appropriated the story of the Renshen fruit, from Journey to the West, deconstructing and reimagining this mythology.

In 2023, Qianye Lin and Qianhe ‘AL’ Lin initiated The Happy Kids Archive with fellow artists susu 蘇子誠 and JingCheng Zhao.

Coastal Signs press release for Thus the Blast Carried It, Into the World 它便随着爆破, 冲向了世界

James Tapsell-Kururangi In response to Thus the Blast Carried It, Into the World 它便随着爆破, 冲向了世界 by Qianye Lin and Qianhe ‘AL’ Lin

'Ripening Together: Magical Fruit and a Precious Offering in 人参果之歌 A Very True Heart' by Gabi Lardies

Exhibitions:

2024 — The Good You in Aotearoa Contemporary, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, group exhibition

2022 — 人参果之歌 A Very True Heart, in Ata koia!, Te Tuhi, Tāmaki Makaurau, group exhibition

2021 — Thus the Blast Carried It, Into the World 它便随着爆破, 冲向了世界, Coastal Signs, Tāmaki Makaurau

2021 — Thus the Blast Carried It, Into the World 它便随着爆破, 冲向了世界, in Monitor 3.1, The Physics Room, Ōtautahi, group exhibition

2020 — What a thrill, WHAT A SUCCESS!!, Papatūnga, Tāmaki Makaurau

Publication:

2021 — Thus the Blast Carried It, Into the World 它便随着爆破, 冲向了世界, co-published by the artists, New Public, and Coastal Signs