00 ZHANG

This exhibition marks the official UK debut of 00 Zhang’s new interactive game work, Honey, which is currently on display in an alternative format at X Museum, Beijing (until 14 February 2025). It also coincides with 00 Zhang’s showcase with Gazelli Art House in a group presentation at ART SG, Singapore (17–19 January 2025).

Through her multi-faceted practice, 00 Zhang examines the relationship between individuals and broader societal and architectural structures, emphasising the circulation of bodies, memories, and emotions across space and time. The project Honey is an interdisciplinary exploration of biodiversity, ecological crises, and the profound interconnections between species. It delves into the unique qualities of bees, encompassing their ecological networks and complex relationship with human civilisation, commodification and labour. The exhibition also includes a sculpture from 00 Zhang’s Prototype series – intricate biomorphic compositions that blur the lines between human and animal bodies, technological systems, and the physical and virtual worlds.

The title of the game, ‘蜜’ (Honey), carries layered significance in Chinese language. The pictograph not only represents the sweetness of honey but also morphologically traces its producer, the bee (虫, 蜂), and its habitat, the hive (宀). Honey also serves as a metaphor for the sacred – a golden substance flowing between the material and immaterial, embodying prosperity, longevity, and humanity’s quest to comprehend the cosmos. In recent years, resource depletion and ecological crises have dramatically altered the living conditions of countless species, including humans. By highlighting humanity as part of nature rather than distinct from it, Honey invites us to reflect on our interdependent roles within these fragile systems.

GAZELL.iO is proud to present 00 Zhang’s exhibition in which cutting-edge digital and sculptural processes are used to explore multi-species connections and ecological futures. Audiences are invited to engage with the Honey game to experience a trans-dimensional perspective on survival, adaptation, and ecological interdependence within our rapidly shifting world.

Honey (2024) was created with support from the following collaborators:

Technical artist and game design: QianLan Wang

AI engineer and game design: Yiyang Lu

Programmer: Hankun Yu

Sound FX and Concept: 33EMYBW

UI: Huichuan Wang

Dramatrug: Yinuo Chen

Artist assistant: Julia Wu

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00 Zhang (b. 1996) is a Chinese-born London-based emerging artist who is gaining a reputation with her innovative explorations of a sensibility she terms ‘a double-sided exile’ – entwined feelings of dislocation and connection. Thematically her practice investigates the potential of a new form of collective imagination to transcend the borders of national identity, gender, and religion. Her multifaceted practice which includes numerous collaborators, spans sculpture, installation, CGI animation, and interactive digital game environments. Zhang blends embodiment with complex cybernetic concepts, depicting the integration of agents and their environments through elaborate narratives. Exploring the integration of the real world and the virtual, Zhang constructs imaginary worlds that occupy real space – immersive environments that engage viewers and transport them between corporeality and the virtual realm. Zhang currently has newly commissioned work in the exhibition X Virtual Gathering: Honey at X Museum, Beijing (2024). Zhang graduated in 2020 from Central Saint Martins, London, and has exhibited at SPLIT, London (2024); Zabludowicz Collection, London (2023); GIANT, Bournemouth (2023); Broadway Gallery, Nottingham (2022); 789 Nanjing West Road, Shanghai (2022); Thetis S.p.A. Castello, Venice (2022), and Shanghai Coutts Art Center, Shanghai (2021).

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GAZELL.iO is the digital arm of Gazelli Art House, comprising an online Residency programme, NFT drops and collaborations, a dedicated Project Space, and a permanently installed VR Library — all in the heart of Mayfair. Since 2015, the GAZELL.iO Residency has offered a unique insight into the environments of some of the most recognised and upcoming VR, AR, and digital artists. The four-week online Residency allows artists to take creative control, enabling them to showcase their artistic journey and interact with new and existing audiences directly. In 2020, the Project Space was launched to allow artists to showcase their digital artworks in a physical space. By bridging the gap between the digital and physical, NFTs are dropped on the GAZELL.iO Marketplace in conjunction with the Project Space exhibition or artist Residency. GAZELL.iO aims to bring pioneers of digital art and a new generation of artists to a broader audience through its dynamic exhibition and educational programme.