This time, Birdhead expand their ever-growing “Birdhead World” to Italy. As much as Birdhead’s works attest to foreign landscapes and countries traversed, this is the document of an interior journey; a form of introspection. The exhibition invites the audience to enter “Birdhead World” to feel the artists’ emotions, aesthetics and interests. If the audience happens to be “model readers” (a concept created by Umberto Eco), then they will be able to follow Birdhead as they break the shackles of time and reality, hearing the echo from ancient time in contemporary life.

Birdhead have been working in the medium of analog photography since they were established in 2004. Consisting of duo Song Tao (b. 1979) and Ji Weiyu (b. 1980), their aleatory moniker was born of a computer prompt. The prolific duo has since assembled a huge body of work, taking numerous photographs a year and constantly experimenting with analog photography, collage techniques, and other mixed media. Birdhead have exhibited in museums and galleries the world over. Their works are in the permanent collections of the Tate Modern in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation in Switzerland. Birdhead were also nominated for the inaugural Hugo Boss Asia Art Award in 2013. ShanghART Gallery presented Birdhead’s first solo exhibition in 2005.